Sheila's Guide To The Good Stuff

Welcome to the October 20, 2010 edition of the Carnival of Cities blog carnival, where we tour the world in a single blog post.  This is a fun way to find new voices and it can also help with link building and SEO.

Thanks very much to the host of the previous edition, Absolutely the Hague!, and I’ll be the next host on the Perceptive Travel blog on November 3rd.

Submissions are due by noon CST on Tuesday, November 2. Submit to the Carnival using this form – a recent post about any aspect of ONE, single city (or a fair-sized town.)

If you’d like to host a future Carnival edition on your blog (December 1, 15 and 29 are open) please contact me at Sheila “at” sheilascarborough “dot” com. Thanks!

Off we go….

Cities in Europe

Berlin, Germany Karen Bryan presents Berlin’s Haus am Checkpoint Charlie Museum posted at Europe A La Carte Blog, saying, “Written by Amanda Kendle of the Europe a la Carte blogging team”

Novi Sad, Serbia Emm presents Novi Sad: Liberty Square and Town Centre posted at Emm in London, saying, “Once you have visited Novi Sad, Serbia, you will see why it is so easy to fall in love with this beautiful city.”

Paris, France Mary Jo Manzanares presents Paris Pantheon: Finding Where the Bodies Are Buried posted at Traveling with MJ, saying, “History, art, and dead bodies. . . all can be found at the Paris Pantheon.”

Den Haag, the Netherlands Monique Rubin presents Duivenvoorde Castle posted at Absolutely The Hague!.

Lausanne, Switzerland JoAnna presents The Olympic Museum | Lausanne, Switzerland posted at Kaleidoscopic Wandering, saying, “I’m a huge fan of the Olympics, so I was smitten to discover the Olympic Museum in Lausanne, Switzerland. It was sort of like the Hard Rock Cafe of athletics, only way classier. The collection of equipment and memorabilia is worth a visit in and of itself.”

Leeds, West Yorkshire, England Darren Cronian presents Family friendly parks in and around Leeds posted at My Life in Leeds.

Camogli, Italy Keith Jenkins presents The colours of Camogli posted at velvet escape’s blog.

Rotterdam, the Netherlands Arwa Lokhandwala presents Museums in Rotterdam posted at NileGuide Rotterdam, saying, “A 2 day travel guide focusing on a selection of the most interesting museums in Rotterdam depicting the city’s cultural and naval heritage.”

Paris, France Jeanne presents Free Wifi Travel Office Paris – Soul Travelers 3 posted at soultravelers3, saying, “Finding great free wifi travel office in Paris”

Ohrid, Macedonia Karen Bryan presents Partying in Ohrid, Macedonia posted at Top Travel Content Europe, saying, “Based on original post by member 501Places.”

Colmar, France Lana presents Colorful Colmar posted at Monaco and Beyond.

Helsinki, Finland BLOGitse presents photos of the weekend #41 posted at BLOGitse/photos, saying, “Welcome to Helsinki!”

London, England Keith Kellett presents St. Pancras posted at Travelrat’s Travels.

Cities in the Americas

New York, New York USA Jennifer Miner presents Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Route in New York City posted at The Vacation Gals, saying, “Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC is iconic to the holiday. Families with young children may be anxious about the crowds, though; here are some tips regarding the Thanksgiving Day Parade route from a former New Yorker.”

Ottawa, Ontario, Canada sheila gallant-halloran presents Fall Rhapsody in the NCC posted at Sheila Gallant-Halloran, saying, “Ottawa is Canada’s capital city – and we have the NCC (National Capital Commission) keep 90 kms of trails and parks in excellent condition in the nearby Gatineau Park – fall rhapsody”

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A long time ago (early 2006) I was a brand-new blogger just getting started growing the BootsnAll Family Travel blog.

There was a lot to learn about how to get traffic to a blog – or from a B2B perspective, how to build a blog that draws a crowd.  One suggestion on a favorite blog of mine (Free Money Finance, still going today) was to build inbound links and traffic by submitting posts to relevant blog carnivals.

A blog carnival is centered on a theme or topic; it’s hosted on one blog but usually rotates hosting duties, and it gathers posts on that topic into one blog post called a Carnival “edition.”  There’s a blog carnival site that helps to organize and standardize the submission process.

In February 2007, I was hired to run a weekly blog carnival for the now-defunct Home Turf Media – it was called the Carnival of Cities and featured blog posts submitted by lots of different blogs, all about any aspect of one, single city (or fair-sized town – we were pretty loose about that and still are.)

Through all the general Web upheaval, I kept up my involvement with the Carnival, and ended up as the owner/host of it.  Sometimes, continuing to take inputs and craft editions seemed kind of silly and outdated; so “old school,” right?

Enter the rise of Twitter and Facebook information sharing with their no follow links, and the increased challenges in building solid inbound links to one’s site for SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)  Suddenly, the chance to get legitimate, decent quality links from another blog, simply by participating in a blog carnival, doesn’t seem so old-fashioned any more.  One downside is that spammers have figured this out, too, so a lot of garbage submissions come in, but hosts are usually pretty ruthless about weeding it out or their Carnival dies.

Here is the latest Carnival of Cities edition, hosted on Absolutely The Hague! based in the Netherlands. Entries are sorted by continent and there’s a nice variety – that’s why we say that we “tour the world in one blog post.”

It so happens that this blog hosts the next Carnival of Cities; this week on Wednesday, October 20.  Given the focus on tourism and travel here, I would love to see more CVB, DMO and tourist board blogs participating.

The submission deadline is noon CST Tuesday, October 19, so get hopping and go here to submit your (one, non-spammy) recent blog post about any aspect of one, single city.

If it’s past the deadline, no worries….I’m also hosting the Carnival on November 3 on the Perceptive Travel blog. The November 17 edition will be hosted on Byteful Travel.

No one will read your blog unless they know about it, so think about submitting to mine or any other Carnival,  and also take a look at this Darren Rowse (ProBlogger) video titled, How I Use Social Media to Promote My Blogs.

Welcome to this edition of the Carnival of Cities, where we tour the world in a single blog post.

Thanks very much to the Perceptive Travel blog for hosting the last edition; I’m still sorting out who will host the next one (am a bit behind on the email stack; sorry.)

If you’d like to host on your blog, please contact me at Sheila “at” sheilascarborough “dot” com. Thanks!

Off we go….

Cities in Africa

Cape Town, South Africa Brian Spencer presents Best Sushi in Cape Town posted at Perceptive Travel Blog.

Cities in the Americas

Shediac, New Brunswick, Canada Anne-Sophie Redisch presents PhotoFriday: A Big Thing in Canada posted at Sophie’s World, saying, “Shediac, NB – the world’s lobster capital – where else but Atlantic Canada!”

Garrison, New York, USA Madeleine Begun Kane presents Get Thee To Troilus And Cressida posted at Mad Kane’s Humor Blog.

Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA Elizabeth R. Rose presents Santa Fe New Mexico – Top things to do and see posted at Examiner – Houston, saying, “Thanks for the opportunity.”

Anchorage, Alaska, USA Glennia presents The Anchorage Museum: A Great Place for Kids of All Ages posted at The Silent I, saying, “From our recent trip to Alaska.”

Omaha, Nebraska, USA Morgan Schwartz presents Body Scanners at Eppley Give Suburban Mom a Cheap Thrill posted at All Cracked Up by Vicky DeCoster, saying, “In between work, errands, and chauffeur service, Moms in Omaha might not have that many opportunities for excitement in their day. One Mom found the new body scanners at Eppley Airport good for a cheap thrill—and a little awkward self reflection.”

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