There has of late been a lot of discussion within the friends blogs that i read of the merits or otherwise of blogrolls on their blogs and i also got asked via email this morning. Being the blogging tart that i am, how could i resist not doing a blog post on it all. While not totally relevant for my friends over on Livejournal, some of what i am going to say can be applied to the friends list of a livejournal user.
So for those not in the know, a blogroll is a list of links on a blog to other places. There are various ways of creating a blog roll but for me I use Blog Rolling because of the ease of adding links and maintenance of the links. Generally they are sites that i enjoy reading and am happy to recommend but also links i find useful.
So to blog roll or not to blogroll:
Advantages include:
People are more likely to link back to you
More links to and from your website, the better your google page rank will be which means the more hits you should receive
Visitors can find similar blogs to yours and expand their own reading lists
Provides content in the sidebar without really having to produce anything which is always better than blank space
By visiting those blogs via the links on your blogroll, if they use a half way decent statistical reporting - your webpage will show up as a referring link. For example I know 52 people have followed the link from Chickybabe while from Steph there are only 12.
Disadvantages
When i look at my own blog 95% of the time the blogroll is the slowest thing to load which slows down the loading of the rest of the page. Not important for adsl speed demons like us but for dial up users i don’t know how long it would take and whether they have moved on before reading anything
A lot of people get very cliquey over blog rolls and all that goes with it like you delete them, they delete you AND badmouth as childish as it may sound.
Suggestions if your blog roll is giving you angst:
Keep the blogroll but put a maximum number of entries on it and stick to it. If you want to add someone, then someone must go. The tribe has spoken.
Do a post that is linked from your main page that contains your “links” and that people can visit if they want rather than a blogroll on the sidebar
Test and adjust - if something isn’t working then adjust what your doing
Regardless of any of the reasons above, the most important thing is you do what you feel comfortable, afterall its your blog first and foremost.
5 Comments Received
January 29th, 2006 @12:10 am
It sounds… complicated being a roll.!
January 29th, 2006 @10:02 am
Good post, Greg. I have been contemplating the merits of Blogrolls for a couple of months now and even considered dispensing with it completely in recent times, and visiting bloggers through saved bookmarks. After all, if you’re a regular visitor and commenter, does it make a difference? Apparently it does…
I like the convenience factor and the fact that the list is a “recommendation” or a list of “blog friends” but with a list that’s too long, would I be boasting? It’s a sensitive issue.
I like the point you make about stats reporting, and limiting the number on your blogroll. I may even condier changing to that system. Thanks.
The point is, there are no protocols to follow when you add someone, and worse, when you remove their name from the list because they rarely update, or you don’t relate to their blog any more. Either way, people are likely to get upset, and more so with the latter.
January 29th, 2006 @1:29 pm
Jamie - its far more difficult being a croissant i believe!
Chicky - at the end of the day the most important thing is that you do what makes you happiest. If other people can’t handle your decisions so be it,
January 29th, 2006 @2:08 pm
OHHH the drama. I’ve just reviewed my blog roll and given some people the chop. But i LOVE my list. I have trawled the internets for what i consider the best blogs around, and i adore that others might click on it and discover a new blog too. Shame there were only 12 from my blog. lazy bastards, but my list would actually be twenty or so longer if i added all the other blogs i just read and not comment on. I’ve clicked the links on every blog i visit and discovered so many great blogs.
January 29th, 2006 @2:54 pm
Steph- thats exactly my blog roll - they are the ones that i enjoy. Most are blogs but there is also a couple of comic strips and websites that i do enjoy. If someone comes to my page and they leave via one of the links - its so much the better !
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