Blogroll: Use It or Lose It?
Let's talk about blogrolls. Pretty much everyone has one, the question is, Do we need one?
Pro and Con
On the pro side, a blogroll is a good community builder. It tells your readers what blogs you like to visit and where to find interesting content. A blogroll is a good way to create links in and out of your blog, and mutual linking is a good thing. Some blogrolls are even set to update with the title of the most recent post, thus creating specific links to your favorite blogs.
On the con side, the blogroll is another item you have to maintain. You have to pay attention to blogs that have gone dormant, have new feeds, or have new URLs. No blogger could put every blog he or she likes to visit in a blogroll because the list would be huge. So the questions become, Which blogs do you put in your blogroll? and Can you ever remove some blogs to make room for new blogs? Finally, I wonder if anyone really looks at other people's blogrolls (except maybe to look for his or her own blog!).
Format
Now, let's assume that you want to have a blogroll. What's the best way to set it up? Is it better to have one long list or several (one blogroll each for book bloggers, authors, and publishers, for example)? Blogrolls can be alphabetized or arranged by most recent post; they can be static or scrolling. There are a variety of widgets available to spruce up your list; are any worth installing?
Why Do I Care?
My current blogroll is restricted to people who are in the 2009 Read & Review Challenge. I have it set up so the blog with the most recent post is on top. I also use a Blogger feature that lets me show only the first five blogs, but the rest can be revealed by clicking on "see all." (I have a second very short blogroll, which I set up to exchange a couple of links.)
At end of year, when the Read & Review Challenge is over, I am going to have to make some decisions. I can take the blogs I really love and make sure they are in my reader and then delete the blogroll altogether. Or I can rename the blogroll and leave it as is. Or I can start over and add every blog I like to visit (and hope I don't forget anyone or hurt anyone's feelings).
Help! Tell me what you think about blogrolls. Would it be horrible if I simply removed them on December 31? Or is the mutual exchange of links too important? Do you actually maintain your blogroll, adding new blogs and deleting old ones? If you notice your blog in someone's blogroll, do you automatically reciprocate?
57 comments:
I removed mine in favor of the google reader widget. It means that everyone whose blog I put into the book blogs label in my reader has their latest posts put up with links when they come up in the reader. If the blog goes dormant, it just doesn't show up until the person posts again. I have it set for five blogs but anyone can click to see more. It's made life easier and is a great substitute for the blogroll, IMO!
I can't tell you whether you should remove the blogroll or not. I think that it's entirely up to individual bloggers. I always stand by the idea that's it's your blog and you can do whatever you feel best.
As my own blogroll goes, I keep it because it is actually the main source of visiting the blogs. The blogs on my blogroll are the ones that get priority when it comes to visiting, reading and leaving comments.
This is a question for the ages! I often think of deleting mine but then I feel bad about it. I know I hardly ever look at other people's blogroll and they can be cluttery.
I haven't updated mine since forever.
If I'm on someone else's blogroll, I don't add them to mine. I add them to my Google Reader.
I'm curious to see what others think.
Meghan: What a fantastic idea. I'll have to see if the widget is available for Blogger.
Lilly: I know what you mean. That's how I've been reading the R&R posts this year.
Chris: It can make your blog look cluttered. I too add blogs to my reader rather than to my blogroll.
I use Google Reader to see my blogroll and don't actually print the names out on my blog. No space!
Great question. I haven't added a blog roll to my new site. I haven't decided if I'm going to do it or not. It does take up a lot of space and can be difficult to maintain.
I used to look at blogrolls when I first started my blog, but I rarely do these days and will admit that mine is woefully outdated. I have heard that having links like that helps people's rankings on something, but for the life of me, I can't remember what.
I maintain a list of blogs I follow behind the scenes, but have never put it out there on my blog. I'm not sure why...maybe clutter? Although I like what Meghan is going. I might think about that (let us know if blogger has that widget!). Like Kathy said, I used to use blogrolls to expand my horizons, but I rarely use them at all now. I can barely keep up with what I have!
Like Meaghan I have a Google Reader widget. I don't have all blogs automatically show up, though. When I really like a post, I'll click 'share' on my reader. Those are the posts that show up on my sidebar, so there could be multiple posts from one blogger, or it could be a range.
Book Bird Dog: I understand about the space problem.
Jenn: I'll be curious how you handle your blogroll on WordPress
Sandy: We can use a similar widget and there are various options for displaying it.
Jen: I noticed that option to share only some posts. That's a pretty neat idea.
I put a blogroll on my site when I first started, but to be honest, I haven't really kept up with it at all. I don't automatically add people just because they link to me, and I'm starting to feel like it's cluttery. I use GoogleReader to connect to the blogs I follow (and you're right, there are WAY too many there to fit into my blogroll), and I frequently link to other blogs in posts. I've been toying with taking the blogroll off my site for a while because it is just another thing to maintain, and I don't have the time for it. Will be interested to see what else is said about this.
I put a blogroll on my site when I first started, but to be honest, I haven't really kept up with it at all. I don't automatically add people just because they link to me, and I'm starting to feel like it's cluttery. I use GoogleReader to connect to the blogs I follow (and you're right, there are WAY too many there to fit into my blogroll), and I frequently link to other blogs in posts. I've been toying with taking the blogroll off my site for a while because it is just another thing to maintain, and I don't have the time for it. Will be interested to see what else is said about this.
I read blogrolls when I'm checking out a new blog. It tells me what blogs she/he admires and a little about their tastes. It's a way of knowing if we have some things in common.
It's also a way to discover more new blogs. I did that a lot when I was first starting out. For instance, when I saw Bermuda Onion on many blogrolls I knew I had to check her out. I'd like people to find my blog in much the same way.
As to clutter, I've seen some bloggers put their blogrolls on separate pages and I'm toying with that idea. I don't want to get rid of or hide my blogroll. For me it's a useful tool.
You bring up a lot of terrific points. I used to maintain mine when I first started, but now that I follow hundreds a day, mine is a mess. I haven't updated recently and probably should get rid of it!
Interesting discussion. I was actually thinking about this a week or so ago but haven't decided yet what I'm going to do. When I visit a new blog I do sometimes check out their blogroll and I've discovered some great blogs that way. But I am guilty of often neglecting mine!
I do not maintain a blog roll (and don't understand why I receive emails from new book bloggers asking me to put them on mine!). I think blogrolls are good if you are blog hopping but I must admit that I rarely look at other people's blog rolls. The name of the blog alone will rarely encourage me to go check them out.
Like Jen mentioned, I favor the Google Reader widget shared items. If I find a article interesting in my reader, I will share it and it automatically shows up in my sidebar. It displays the title and the name of the blogger. Rather than a blanket list of blog titles/bloggers, it shows people what other blogs/posts I'm actively reading and think are worth sharing with others.
I keep wondering what to do with mine. Not only is it ridiculously long, but I keep going for months without updating it, and I worry that people will take their blogs not being there to mean I don't like them. Yes, paranoia is my middle name. I might try one of those google reader widgets.
I haven't updated mine in a long time. When I first started out, however, I used them to see what other blogs were out there. It seems like there are many other ways to do that now. I rarely look at them on other blogs anymore.
Blogroll helped me a lot when I was a new blogger. I visited the blogrolls to learn about new blogs and I have discovered so many awesome blogs that way.
And although I haven't updated my blogroll for more than 2 years, I'm in favor of one. Meghan's widget idea seems good to me though.
Bermuda (Kathy): I have heard that it is good for your standing too. Which is why I wonder about deleting the blogroll altogether.
Rebecca: I think maintenance is definitely an issue.
Margot: Ah, so blogrolls can help people discover new blogs. That's great to know.
Julie: That's what I'm afraid of -- a bit mess!
Daphne: Again, so good to know that some people really do find them useful.
Natasha: Until this post, I had no idea that there was any way to share Google Reader with my blog readers -- now I see that there are two ways: the Meghan mentions and the one you and Jen noted.
I see the worth of each.
I really like Natasha's widget idea, I think that is the nicest option. I am going to put that on my blog. I struggled with making a link page (because I am lazy) and I only wanted blogs I actually read there and then there are jealousies and questions about why did you not add me to your blog roll / link page. The widget is a perfect option! Find something interesting on ANY blog and boom its there in a blog roll type setting.
I like using blogroll. While a reader is great, I do spend a lot of time blog hopping so this is widget works for me. I also spend a lot of time at my blog so having the blog roll on the front page versus using a reader is functional.
I am mindful of clutter. I have my blogroll view limit set to five and it sits in the bottom half of the page. Having the list with a limited view is functional. On a side note, I've never understood long lists of links running down the sides of blogs. The length of them become wallpaper, background for me. I don't pay attention to them because they go on forever.
My blogroll is placed where only people who are interested in it (including me)using it to find new blogs or to see what's new on other blogs. To me, viewing a blogroll is like looking at bookshelves in someone's house. It tells you something about their reading habits and therefore something about the person.
When I was new, blog rolls were great resources to finding places I wanted to read regularly and to meet other bloggers.
Nymeth,
On Blogger, blogs only show up when they update and I can read a brief description of the post. I find this useful. Blogs that are dormant don't show. I like the option to limit the number of blogs showing.
Does Word Press work differently?
I've been asking the same question as I moved to my new site over the weekend. I love the idea of using the Google Reader widget... I'm off to find it now. Thanks for this post :)
Every few months, I go through my blogroll on my site and delete ones that (a) I don't really read anymore and (b) no longer are updated. (And no, I don't automatically reciprocate if someone adds me to their blogroll.)
As well, a couple times I year I will go through the blogroll of blogs I really love to see if I can find other awesome blogs.
But I don't necessarily think that you need one - if you don't use it on other peoples blogs, then I don't think you should worry about it being horrible to remove it. It's just a feature that doesn't work for you.
I'm very much like Chris. I haven't updated mine for some time, but I'll add someone else's link to my Google Reader if I find mine on their blogroll. I know I need to update my blogroll soon!!
I changed mine to an expandable list a year or so ago, but had woefully neglected it since. It was way out of date from what I really do read on my google reader so I finally deleted it. I prefer less clutter on my sidebars anyway.
I never look a them on other blogs anyway and have been looking for a better 'something'. I've been considering the google reader widget, but that will require me to clean up and organize my googler reader subscriber list first (ha ha).
I'm much more inclined to reciprocate comments with someone who comments on my blog than I am to reciprocate a link on a blogroll.
I've seen a 'recent comments' widget on some wordpress blogs and wish I could find the code to build that.
I actually like Blogger's blogroll. I don't know if my readers like seeing my blogroll or not, but this is how I navigate all the blogs I read. It lists them in order of who has updated recently. And this is how I visit blogs. Some weeks I add new blogs, some weeks I don't. But I think of my blogroll as being kept-up/maintained.
About once a week I go bloghopping, so I love bloglists and blogrolls for that reason. I have found so many great blogs that way. But when I think about the purpose my bloglist serves for me, it doesn't really because I use google reader to keep up on posts. I do keep it though so that someone reading my blog might have the chance to read the wonderful blogs I have listed there if they have never come across them before. As far as maintenance, it is something I do every once in a great while, so that hasn't been an issue. In the end, you have to make the choice that is best for you:)
I almost posted a very similar question a few months ago. I used to have a great widget that only posted the most recently updated blogs on my (very large) blog roll, but unfortunately it didn't work when I upgraded my template, so I removed all blog rolls from my blog.
I don't like having really long blogrolls in the sidebar and I don't like to display the favouritism of only having a few displayed. I think I'm going to continue without one for now, but I do like the idea of a google reader widget.
When I started blogging I read other people's blog rolls a lot in order find new book blogs to read. I haven't really looked at them much since the first few months of blogging.
I really need to update mine though. The hard thing is that I have over 400 blogs in my feed reader (which I'm terrible at keeping up with), and I'm not about to put all of them on there unless I can find some widget that scrolls through the list of blogs. I should at least go through and make sure that the blogs that I have listed haven't disappeared though. It's been about 6 months since I last checked.
Actually I do notice people´s blogrolls. When I find a new blog I really like, I often check the blogroll to see if there are more of the same quality.
I have also run into the problem of length, of course. What I do right now is keep crime fiction blogs on DJs krimiblog. I have a Danish writing blog where I put Danish literary blogs, and my testblog with English non-crime. This works for the time being, but once in a while one has to make tough decisions, I think.
My blog roll was getting so long and time consuming too. Then I finally understood "following". Now all my blogs come up on my dashboard and it makes reading them so much easier. To add a blogger blog I just click follow in the tool bar, to add a different blog like word press I copy the URL and add it manually. People can still check out who you are reading by viewing your profile.
Nymeth, seriously, that's one of the issues I wonder about.
Rhapsody and Violet: I think I probably used other people's blogrolls more when I was starting out than I do now.
Pam: Yes either the one Natasha mentioned or the one Meghan uses. I think I'm going to play around with those.
Color: right now I use my mine for reading all the Read and Review posts and I really like using it. It's nicer in a lot ways than the reader (but slower).
Kim: glad I touched on an issue you've been thinking about.
Court: I think I could do blogroll maintenance a couple of times a year.
Melody: Yes, I'm more inclined to add people to my reader, too.
Suzi: I've thinking of using one of those recent comments widgets too!
Becky: I use mine the same way, but I don't really maintain it because right now it is for challenge members only.
Our blog roll is at the very end of our page and lists the 25 most recent rolling posts - so if the blog is active with a new post it will appear there with a few sentence blurb description along with the post title. I find that more useful to others than just a list of names.
It is tucked out of the way so it doesn't clutter things. But it is something that we use to see what others are up to.
The first time someone leaves a comment on our blog they get added to our blog roll. So our blog roll is mammoth and acts like an archive of all our visitors which we can see behind the scenes but only the most recent 25 get shown to everyone else. We save the Google Reader entries for people who have elected to follow us.
Book Psmith: I like the idea of just going blog hopping. What a super way to find new blogs.
Farmlane (Jackie): Favoritism is one of the issues I'm dealing with.
Alyce: Exactly -- I'm not sure I could put all the blogs in my reader in the blogroll. Decisions, decisions.
Dorte: I'm surprised by how many people really notice the blogroll, which is a good argument for keeping one.
Kaye: I used to use the dashboard too, but for some reason now I'm using Google Reader. I don't know why I switched!
Just wanted to follow up and let you know I found info about a recent comment widget.
I've got it on my test blog for now and I think I'm going to put it on my main blog tomorrow.
I like the idea of making the visitors to my blog more visible.
Here's the link to the recent comments widget for blogger info.
I like having one, but don't add a lot to mine. I would love to see WordPress have something like the other options mention above for Blogger!
While I have Google Reader and "follow" blogs through Blogger (though I'm on WordPress), my blogroll is actually the way I visit most blogs, too! The ones to which I link are the ones I visit frequently. If a blog loses its appeal for me, well... I remove it! Harsh, but true.
I think it's totally up to you what to do about your blogroll, and I love some of the suggestions others have for widgets and other things to let you just view the most recently updated blogs, etc. WordPress doesn't have that capability -- or, at least, I don't know about it! -- or I would use that, too! :)
It's such a tough decision. I admit I don't have one on my blog but not because I don't think it a worthy addition rather mainly because I've just not gotten to it yet. If I do add some sort of link scneario it will almost assuredly be on a separate page so that I don't have to make my readers scroll down the list on the right nav. It's always been a pet peeve of mine to see those long lists of links in nav (posts, categories, tags, links, etc) that never seem to end and you're scrolling down way past the available posts to read the links. Anyway, I digress....
I think there is added value in providing the links as your readers may not be aware of all the blogs you frequent. The question is is that added value worth the work you need to put into it to maintain. If you feel like you won't lose/disappoint your audience and don't want to do the work then I don't see anything wrong with removing it.
This is an issue I have. I used to have a blog roll when I started out, and really loved having it. After some time, though, I felt it wasn't fair to others who visit me if I didn't put them into the blog roll, and it ballooned. I now use Google Reader, as I subscribe to almost a hundred blogs. But then I really still want to put a blog roll up of just the blogs that have the same reading tastes as I, just so my readers know what they're checking out, and also as a reflection of my own. However, I'm afraid that by doing this I might offend others whose blogs I do read, just we don't share much of the same taste for books.
Natasha's idea of sharing posts on Google Reader widget sounds like something I'd like to try out.
See, now, you are a true blogger. I'm helpless in general and helpless to answer this question. I've always kept my blog as simple as can be and just kept a list in my head of bloggers I'd miss if I didn't check in with them three times or so weekly.
It is tricky because I'm sure it varies from person to person. I just added the Blogger feature which is handy because it lists who updates and I'm even able to add my other blog and website showing the last time I updated on them. There are some I need to remove but for the most part they are just listing the blogs that I follow.
Ever since the change with Google my blog never did recover and links are supposed to help not that I'm seeing them help all that much. I guess it's all right if you don't have a list that goes on and on. I was going through my labels and I have 1744 of them so I'm glad they made it so I can list the ones I want because having all of them up which just be insane.
I'm also one of those former newbies that used other people's blog rolls to blog hop.
When I finally understood how useful Google Reader was, I decided I would still keep the blog roll for future newbies to have a jumping off point.
I moved it to a separate page when I changed templates because the new one only allows for four "post-its" at the top. Not all blogs on my blog roll are in my reader and vice-versa, and I bookmark new blogs before putting them on either.
As far as updating goes, I did it sporadically in the past. Because it's no longer on a widget, it will get updated less.
I use my blog roll constantly to keep up with the blogs I read the most. I find when I read blogs in google reader I skim and don't comment, just lurk. Half the blogs in my reader, I follow anonymously (sp?) because I try to keep the following down to a reasonable number. Since I have a tendency to fidget with reader as well, adding and dropping when the #'s get too high or no longer care to read a blog, I'd rather stay in the background.
I fiddle with my blog a lot, so I keep the roll up to date.
I use blog rolls on other bloggers site and blog hop a lot. I have found many new and interesting blogs that way.
I looooove my blogroll! It has the title and time of the last post of all the blogs that I follow, the most recent at the top. I show the first 10, then can click see all to see the rest.
I use it all the time. I use the titles of latest posts to decide if I'm going to pop over and have a read, then use the link to get there!
I can't see myself ever getting rid of it.
Thanks for bringing this up! Great topic!
I tend to use my blogroll as a way to keep track of my favorite blogs, but admit that I haven't updated it in awhile. Don't really check out other people's blogrolls, but have found several new blogs from the comments sections on interesting posts.
Will check out the widget others have mentioned.
I'm currently recreating my blogroll in Wordpress. When I first started blogging, I loved finding new blogs from the blog rolls of my favorite bloggers. So I keep it for that reason...you never know who might want to look at it. It's awfully long, though.
I keep my blog roll on my blog. It's condensed to 10 recent posts because I follow way too many blogs.
I update it quite frequently. It's easy cause it just syncs with Google Reader. Piece of cake. :)
I use a blogger widget for my blogroll so I don't have to maintain it (because realistically, that would not happen). But to be honest I've never paid much attention to other bloggers' blogrolls, so sometimes I wonder if it's entirely necessary. It does take up a lot of space.
I don't have a blog roll - mainly because I don't use them myself. I generally find them to be completely random and I waste a lot of time clicking on links that are of no interest to me. I also find the "you link to me and I'll link to you" thing a bit of a waste of time. I'm much more likely to follow a link in a blogger's post where they have provided some context for the link than a link in their blogroll. As blog is a wordpress one I can have separate pages so i have a page for links to websites and blogs that I like - the page allows me to provide some information over and above the blog's name which I think helps the people who land on the page to find things they might be interested in
I don't have a blogroll. I've been meaning to put one up since I started blogging last spring, but just never did. I do think that if I had one more people might put me on theirs, but it's not that big of a deal. I will say though that in the first month or two I started blogging I found a few blogs, went to their blogrolls, and clicked on the names of blogs that sounded interesting to me, which ended up being helpful in finding more blogs and getting into the community aspect of blogging.
I maintain a blogroll; it just helps me remember who's out there and who I want to read. I use it instead of Google Reader because it shows me when the blog was last updated and I can decide if I want to pop over, without feeling like I have some giant to-do list. For me it's just a more relaxed way of staying in touch with my favorite bloggers. I update it once in a while with blogs new to my reader and delete blogs once in a while if they're dormant or I've lost interest. I have almost only book blogs on my blogroll and I don't check who has or hasn't blogrolled me.
Blogrolls drive me crazy with all that maintenance.
I took mine off when I redesigned. I just couldn't hack keeping track of that on top of everything else.
I wish google reader had a widget...that would automatically update the blog roll when I fiddle with my list...that would make life easier.
I'm new to blogging, but I really like the Google Reader. If a blog has a follower list I will join it -- because it might make them feel good, but then I still put their address into my Google Reader.
I'm kind of up in the air about blogrolls because I don't really use them on other blogs ... and I don't like having to maintain them or risk hurting feelings if I don't include someone or delete someone. I suppose they might be more trouble than they are worth ... to be honest. Actually, now I'm considering deleting the whole thing.
I was tempted by the Google Reader widget mentioned early on in these comments, so I worked this week on getting my Reader organized into folders. It's not entirely done, but the most frequently updated are now categorized. I then went and found the widget code, but was disheartened when I realized it's javascript, something that won't run on wordpress.com blogs. But, after some guesswork, I figured out a way to make it work! I've got a few folders now displaying their most recent posts (titles and authors) in my sidebar! Yay!
Whether blogrolls are important or not, this is a huge step in the right direction for me, who hasn't updated her blogroll in 2+ years. :)
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