You may have noticed that I don’t have a blogroll. Or maybe you didn’t. That’s where I need your input. I wonder if the standard blogroll has become irrelevant.
To be honest, when I first started this blog, it went live and started attracting comments before I was ready with all my widgets and sidebar components in place. A blogroll was way down on my list of priorities at the time. Then, with other commitments, I never got around to doing it.
Lately, I’ve found more and more blogrolls are linking to this one. I’m grateful. And, I’m pleased that I’m offering something here that people feel is link-worthy.
But, this attention is has me re-evaluating blogrolls and how the blogging community, specifically in social media, view them. So, today I asked Twitter:
Q: Am I making a huge mistake by not having a blogroll? (My reasoning: it would be absolutely HUGE and I don’t want to offend by exclusion)
Twitter poll: Blog rolls: Yes or No?
Not surprisingly, there were arguments for and against them, and suggestions for how to implement a blogroll.
helenmosher: well i have trouble keeping mine up to date, so I understand yr logic. but it does drive traffic around, so…
geechee_girl: you could always do it the brogan way and make a blog roll page
lil_gruntlings: Blog rolls are somewhat going the way of the dodo.
banannie: I’ve heard that google frowns on blogrolls, there’s no context for the links.
ChefMark: yeah, what does it hurt? But not like the old days with 100 blogs listed, just a dozen or so
GadgetVirtuoso: they’re good but should only link your tops links if anything.
starmike: I peruse them once in a while
islandprincess2: blog roll yes, polls not so much
Karoli: I use my Google reader shared items and list widget as the blogroll. no updating necessary.
vargasl: Company/Niche blog = yes; Personal = no
mikeneumann: blog rolls: no.
candicelee: I say yes. If you’re worried about it being too long, you can create a rotating blogroll to change the urls every day or so.
MRMaguire: I say yes. I find other interesting blogs from someone’s list. That is, if they have a list.
jamienotter: Yes. You don’t have to include everyone. You can rotate people in. But effort is worth it. Link love is still important.
zoonini: Why not make it a Page instead of putting it in your sidebar? You could group the blogs by type, or in some other chunked way.
AdamSinger: do what @ChrisBrogan does and make a page dedicated to them…I think it is a better solution.
rlangdon: I say add only those you are dedicated to reading. People won’t be offended. You are offering value to your readers.
rainesmaker: I like how Renee Blodgett structures her blog roll on the left nav. Down the Avenue, one of my favs. http://bit.ly/INq8
Illig: Blog roll: Considered dropping it. Placed it in an AJAX reveal in lieu of doing so. See upper right hand column: http://is.gd/d0j3
lizstrauss: Lots of solutions. 1st ? Who are you serving?
I’m serving the marketing and social media communities, and those interested in the business applications of social media tools. As well, I use my blog as a calling card for prospective clients and a resource for current clients.
Should I do a selection of top blogs in the sidebar? Will people feel offended for not being on the list, especially if I’m on theirs?
Or do I do a larger list on its own page, as more of a catalogue of all the blogs I reference (lifted from my Google Reader)? If I do a page with a lot of links, does it lose relevancy?
And how about link-love? Does a blog get the same impact from being linked on a separate page vs. in a sidebar? (I seem to receive more Google alerts with a sidebar listing, I assume because the dynamic content on the page is getting re-indexed frequently.)
Or, do I forego a blogroll all together? Does anyone actually look at blogrolls and use them to find new sources and perspectives? I’d save time by not having to do blogroll maintenance.
Help a relatively new blogger out. What would you do?
9 responses so far ↓
1 Ike // Dec 23, 2008 at 2:02 am
Post-roll.
Use a special tag on your Delicious, then embed the widget so it only shows those posts that you want to appear.
That way it’s always fresh, and is a resource people will use and notice.
2 amber of TheAmberShow // Dec 23, 2008 at 2:02 am
I have mine set up as a separate page. This is why:
1. Categories are great. They’re an incentive to add many blogs (share the love!) and you can tell at a glance what I’m into reading. The bigger the better!
2. Huge does not = gross mess on my sidebar. I don’t have to leave people off for the sake of design. In fact, with a page, the bigger the better.
3. I can show other sites besides blogs, like online magazines, photographers and artists I admire, and (eventually) silly sites that I like wasting time with.
3 amber of TheAmberShow // Dec 23, 2008 at 9:14 am
Oh, by the way, I do use blogrolls as resources, both for personal use and for marketing purposes. I love a nice juicy blogroll.
4 Michael Gaines // Dec 23, 2008 at 9:33 am
The reason I like to look at people’s blog rolls is because I figure if I’m at someone’s web site in the first place, chances are I’ll find one or more people with similar interests on the blogroll.
5 Connie Crosby // Dec 23, 2008 at 9:56 am
Great discussion! I’ve had that problem, too, for the same reasons as you Adele. Plus the thought of putting something together and then having to keep it current. The idea of a separate page with categories is a great one. That could be gradually created with a blog post per category as well discussing who you’ve added. I’ll add that to my 2009 “to do” list.
6 Adam Singer // Dec 23, 2008 at 10:14 am
Another solution not mentioned is to do what I do…include a “related posts” section at the end of every one of your posts. Check my blog and go into any single post and you’ll see what I mean.
The benefits of this are you are passing link love to different people you feel are worthwhile daily and forging new connections as a part of your process. You’re not merely giving the same people placement on a static page, you’re integrating them with your content. It also frees you to showcase as many people as you like.
Works for me…just a thought. It is also what I do instead of creating “link posts” – all of my posts become link posts.
7 Adele McAlear // Jan 5, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Wow! You’ve all given me some great feedback and ideas!
Ike – using a speical Delicious tag is a really great idea
Amber – a page with categories is a good idea; I can see it echoing my Google Reader
Michael – point taken about checking out other blog rolls.
Connie – I like the idea of doing a corresponding blog post. Hrrm, I guess I’ve added it to my to do list as well.
Adam – I’ve seen Zemanta, which automates the process of related posts. Do you do yours by hand, and if so, wouldn’t it be time consuming to assemble? Definitely something to think about.
8 Ben // Sep 7, 2009 at 6:27 am
I like the idea of having the page instead of the list on the sidebar and as a single post. Thanks for the tips.
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