I was reading a couple of blogs that I tune into for some good internet tips, blogging tips, etc. I was reading the articles, looking around the site, and I realized that they all had one thing in common: A Blogroll. Thinking about it, I realized 3 major importances of having a blogroll on the sidebar/footer.
What is a blogroll?
My Definition: A Blogroll is a list of sites that you feel are worth mentioning on your sidebar or footer area of your blog. These sites may have personal connections, or you may feel that they deserve a link from you.
Wikipedia’s Definition: A list of blogs, usually placed in the sidebar of a blog, that reads as a list of recommendations by the blogger of other blogs. [Link]
Having a Blogroll by Your Blog.. First Reason:
Provides readers with a personal resource of your recommendations on what they should read (after they are done with your articles).
Having a Blogroll by Your Blog.. Second Reason:
Everybody likes backlinks to their website. If you see a blogroll on a site that you think you would like to add to your list (and vice versa), simply contact them. I’m pretty sure that most of them won’t refuse your offer.
Having a Blogroll by Your Blog.. Last Reason:
Looks impressive to potential advertisers and new visitors. Anybody that sees your list will show that you took some time to develop relations with your common bloggers. Some people choose to link to ONLY the popular blogs to make it seem like they are higher above (in theoretical blogging status) the rest of their competitors. They however, are only kidding themselves.
Conclusion:
A blogroll is a great way to recommend additional resources to your readers, however, please don’t whore your blogroll to some gambling sites or pharmaceutical sites. That just looks retarded, The purpose of it is to highlight a site of interest, not who will pay you $10/month. Also, you’ll get your Pagerank stripped from you and your SEO will die.*
Do you like seeing a Blogroll by the blog you read? If so, why? Additionally, are you going to start using a blogroll after you’ve read this?
*Note – Not 100% accurate.. But a pretty good prediction.
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19 Comments
Thanks for the link!
I am glad that you find my blog useful and worth linking to.
I feel bit bad for not reciprocating blogroll links – which is my policy at moment. I simply can’t fit all sites I want in blogroll so I try to highlight those closest in tone and topics to my blog.
I really need to work on that, maybe create and display mashup feed or something.
Rarst’s last blog post..Moving, creating and even pressing Opera buttons
@ Rarst – No Problem
Keep up the good work.
Brad you wrote :
Having a Blogroll by Your Blog.. Second Reason:
Everybody likes backlinks to their website. If you see a blogroll on a site that you think you would like to add to your list (and vice versa), simply contact them. I’m pretty sure that most of them won’t refuse your offer.
I think it is a new kind of internet diplomatic technics
I think I should try that …
Brad do you agree with reciprocating link exchange ?
@ Brandon – Hmmm… Reciprocating Link Exchanges. I wouldn’t recommend them. The only reason is because large websites that use link exchanges usually have around 100-500 links on a page.. Then if Google finds the page, it will negatively impact the SERP of all the participating sites. It is best to just give backlinks to appropriate neighbourhood blogger’s articles. Meaning, if you’re doing a post about “Ipods” and you see an article relating to it, give a link to it. The owner will usually immediately become aware of the incoming link and will most likely give a link back.
I use the rule: “The more you give (within reason), the more you can get”
I’d agree be careful with any type of exchange and stick to personal exchanges of recommendations. Brad, how would an owner become aware of the incoming link, traffic logs?
Mark’s last blog post..Newspaper Ad Revenues and Accidental Sending
Nice article Brad!
Franklin Bishop’s last blog post..How to Find Your Blog Position on Search Engines
@ Mark – Welcome to the blog.
To answer your question – Wordpress has a built in feature that uses “Google Blog Search” to track all incoming links: http://blogsearch.google.com. If you have an RSS reader, you can simply add the following url to your reader and receive linking updates:
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&q=link:http://yourblog.com/
Obviously replace yourblog.com with your URL.
Good stuff Brad. I look at the blogroll as folks I have created a relationship with, or highly benefited from. I try to organize my blogroll in a manner that it’s easy to see who they are and why I link to them. I do think it’s a great part of the whole networking side of blogging.
Normal Joe’s last blog post..ASUS eePc 2G Surf That I Won From Big Ben Patton And Market Leverage
I agree with linking in posts and reciprocating links that way , but I feel reciprocal links in a blog roll is not a good idea
Nishadha’s last blog post..101 great blogging ideas
Brad, your conclusion for this article is just as important. If the blogroll has irrelevant ones, it might look bad on the blog and could hurt the blog author’s online reputation.
Jonathan Kong’s last blog post..new launch: L’ile aux Ashby – a dazzling collection of intricately designed and hand-made accessories
@ Joe – Well, Thanks for the blogroll so I could create a screenshot for this post
@ Nishadha – As long as you enjoy the blog that you are linking to (and vicea versa) it really can’t hurt. It develops bonds with other bloggers in your niche and you get relevant back links to your website.
@ Jonathan – Yea, I was thinking that too. Random links look suspicious (as in being paid) and irrelevant to anything that the visitor has come looking for. BTW, Welcome to the blog
I definately look at the blog rolls of people. And if I see a problogger, John chow, and then an XYZ that I’ve never heard of it, it makes me want to check them out. It’s also a statement of how current you are with the blogging world, depending on who you have in it.
Thanks for sharing!
Jonathan Muller
mastersofseo’s last blog post..Submitting to Social Media Sites
I don’t pay too much attention to blogrolls since they’re easily purchased. The way I see blogrolls is to find out how well known a blogger is by having how many blogs are having them in their blogroll.
Of course this is a “narrow minded” perception and it actually takes a lot more than that to value a blog.
My BlogRoll (sounds delicious!) is pretty empty right now, I’ve never thought it could be giving my blog a negative image though. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.
Dot Com Dud’s last blog post..How I Promoted My First Blog Contest
Hmmm, if there is one thing that is missing from my blog is the “blogroll”. Gone are the days when two-way link exchanges rule the day. Though I don’t reserve a space for blogroll on my site, I make it up by linking out to my active readers every now and then on my article.
Yan
Yan’s last blog post..By: Joel Drapper
Oh, by the way….how the hell could my last post be “By Joel Drapper”. Commentluv is not giving its love again.
Yan
Yan’s last blog post..By: Joel Drapper
Thanks for your tips
Dhyarga’s last blog post..Membuat blogroll list auto-link exchange di blog kamu yuk!
@ MasterofSeo – Thanks for your input.
Glad to see you back here.
@ Louis – Blogrolls that have the link “Buy your link here” totally throw me off and lowers the blog in my perspective.
@ Dot Com Dud – Welcome to the site! I’d fill your blogroll with blogs that you like, and/or provides the reader with additional reading.
@ Yan – An interesting strategy. Rather than posting it on a sidebar, you integrate it into an article.
@ Yan x2 – lol.. I was wondering what was up with that.
@ Dhyarga – Your Welcome.
I would like to add your blog to my blogroll, if you’ll do the same for me.
Reply me soon
Regards
Sai
Sai’s last blog post..Pre Computer Days
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