Hanna from This Garden is Illegal has written a post on Bling for your Blog where she highlights a few personal badges that garden bloggers use to embellish their sites. Each ‘badge’ reveals something about the bloggers taste and style and helps readers identify with the blog.
Permit me to take this a step further.
Each blogger has a blogroll (blogs that they think are worthy of commendation) are placed in a prominent position, usually on a sidebar. This honour roll also personalises the blog and tells readers who the blogger considers important enough to recommend.
But there are a few ways that bloggers try to use blogrolls to maximum effect. Here’s what I’ve seen;
1. Add anyone (and everyone)
This strategy is by far the most effective for showing readers that everyone counts. It also helps other bloggers feel accepted when they stumble across a blog that rates them in their list. Suddenly, one has an obligation to the recommending blog – 1. To possibly reciprocate with a link on their blog, or 2. To start reading the recommending blog.
2. Be Choosy
This can really be an awkward strategy. If you choose some and not others then bloggers could dismiss you as being clicky and perhaps snub your blog. Your choice may be based on blogs that you would recommend; blogs that are of a particular origin; or even blogs that are produced via similar pubshing platforms (eg. blogger blogs).
3. Don’t link to anyone
This strategy is up there with not accepting comments. As the saying goes “No man is an island” so not having a blogroll could ostracise you from the rest of the blogosphere who are looking for community and acceptance.
4. Link only through posts
This is an interesting position to take and one that Darren from Problogger does quite well. He doesn’t have a blogroll but regulary posts articles referring to other sites.
This probably isn’t an exhaustive list of the reasons for bloggers to blogroll so I’m keen to hear your comments on what strategy you employ when it comes to blogrolling!
There are things for and against all methods. I have a looooong list of links on my sidebar which still doesn’t include all of the blogs I access on a fairly regular basis. I feel that I should add the ones who are nice enough to regularly read and comment on my postings, but my links list could become ‘bigger than Ben Hur’.
Although they are on my list, I don’t actually use them to gain access to their blogs – I do that through my Favourites list (which is in several categories, and longer still). I feel that the Links are there more to encourage others to visit them.