Carnival of Healing Hosting Guidelines

Carnival of Healing hosts are given artistic freedom to create their carnivals in whatever way pleases them for the most part. Carnival submissions will be forwarded to the host via email directly from blogcarnival.com as they are received. You can expect them to begin arriving a month prior to your carnival hosting day (deadline for carnival entries is on the Thursday evening, two days prior to your scheduled hosting date).

Here are a few basic instructions and some mandatory inclusions:

1. Agree to a carnival hosting date.
   
   
2. Blog a "content call" on your prior to your hosting date in your blog (this announces your upcoming carnival and requests carnival submissions from your readers).
   
   
3. Include a link to the previous month's carnival.
   
   
4. Include a link to the blog of upcoming month's carnival host.
   
   
5. Include a link to the carnival archive page - http://healing.about.com/od/community/a/carnival.htm
   
   
6. Begin your carnival with a personal introduction. Avoid making your carnival simply a list of links. Do not rely on the Insta-Carnival supplied by Blog Carnival as a format for your carnival. In other words: simply copying-and-pasting the InstaCarnival and posting it without editing it to reflect your personality is BORING! Write your carnival conversational. The idea is to make your carnival interesting for your visitors. Allow your unique personality to add a special touch to it. Have fun!
   
   
7. No more than two links should be given to any blog per carnival.
   
   
8. The "subject line" or "title" of your blog entry must include the name "Carnival of Healing" and # of the carnival you are hosting (see example a) optionally, you can tag on a subtitle of your choosing (see example b).
   Acceptable Title Examples:
   
   a.) Carnival of Healing #200
   b.) Carnival of Healing #221: Less is More
9. Publish your carnival on the assigned carnival date (carnivals are to be posted on the first Saturday of each month).
   
   
10. Be sure to test all your links to make sure they are all working.
    
    
11. Email me at healing@about.com or spiral@spiralvisions.com to let me know your carnival has been published so I can promote it at About Holistic Healing.
12. Hae Fun!!!

Optional: Send trackbacks to the blogs you have featured in your carnival. For blogs that don't accept trackbacks consider posting a comment on the blog to inform bloggers that you have linked them from your blog to theirs.

What Not To Blog:

• Do not feel obligated to include a link to every blogger submission that comes your way. Choose only the best attractions to make your carnival stand out. Think quality, not quantity!
• Avoid blogging submissions that appear to be primarily "self-promotional" in nature. The carnival is meant to be an information resource not a free advertisement avenue. If a carnival submission is a sales pitch for a product, e-book, or some fee-based service, forget it.
• Do not feature blog posts that are "reprints" of articles or other blog posts across the Internet.
• Stay clear of laundry lists or link farms (these are posts that are typically titled "The Top Fifty Websites" about a subject).

Remember, the carnival is being hosted on your blog. Since you're the owner you have discretion to choose what types of links (carnival attractions) you are comfortable with posting in your carnival.

If you are interested in hosting an edition of The Carnival of Healing on your blog please fill out this easy application form.