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October 29, 2004
Blogging 101 - The Blogroll
By QBlog in Blogging 101
What is a blogroll?
A blogroll
is simply a list of blogs. Virtually every blog has a blogroll (or should have
one) and it's a good way to showcase other blogs. There is no right or wrong
way to set up a blogroll though many people use some service like Blogrolling.com
to power their links, making them more dynamic. Whether you opt for a service
or to manually add links, if you blog then you definitely need a blogroll.
But what type of blogroll should you set up? Well, there are many different types of blogrolls and I suggest choosing a style that best fits your blog audience, your personality and your blog design. Or you can mix different styles and create your own unique blogroll. It's simple and fun.
Really Long List
The Really Long List is a blogroll that tries to include every blog the blogger has ever read. It can be several hundred links long and is usually not organized into any sort of categories or themes. I don't care for this style because it's just too overwhelming for my sensibilities.Clique List
These blogrolls only list the blogs of personal friends. No outsiders allowed. Such exclusivity generally annoys those not in the clique which is pretty much everyone on the planet.Link Exchange
Link Exchanges aren't so bad but they can morph into Really Long Lists. They work by adding any blog that links back to your blog. So if Blog A links to your blog, you'd add Blog A to your blogroll. Even if Blog A is the worst blog you've ever read, you still add it because you want to get links. Another name for the Link Exchange blogroll is "Link Whore." Another mark against this style is that nobody reading your blogroll knows if you like the listed blogs or not and is less apt to believe they're worth visiting.Google Roll
Popular blogs use the Google Roll to help out less popular blogs. It's a sort of benevolent type thing but there's also the hope that the less popular blog will return the show of support by linking back.Recommended Blogs
A Recommended Blogs list is usually full of blogs that the author really believes are worth reading. Readers can trust that a blog on a Recommended Blogs list is worth reading. Also, the blogger generally reads each of the blogs listed on a regular basis.Topical Lists
Lists that are broken into categories or cover specific topics can be very useful. Such lists can be lengthy at time, but they are carefully arranged into groups and sub-groups to make it easier to understand what each blog discusses. I really like this style and have found it most helpful.Charity Roll
Everyone who's ever run a blogroll has probably come across a dilemma — when is it ok to de-link a blog from the blogroll? I've run into this a few times myself. People can get their feelings hurt if you de-list them and so sometimes links are left up to avoid such a confrontation. Some blogrolls get really long because the author keeps adding people but doesn't cut any blogs for fear of offending someone. I call this the Charity Roll. The way I've dealt with it in the past few months is just to make the quality of the blogroll my top priority, regardless of how someone may feel.
There are other styles and I generally mix a few together with my various blogrolls. Figure out what you want to do with your blogroll and remember, a blogroll can say a lot about your personality. What do you want to say with your blogroll?
Blogging 101 publishes every Friday and the archives can be found by typing "Blogging 101" into the blog search.
Comments
On this blog it's manual.
Do you use an automatic blogroll on this site or do you do it manually since there are a relatively small amount of links?
Posted by: Chris | October 29, 2004 9:49 PM