Reader Emails on Exchanging Links

Lately, I've gotten several emails from readers along this line:

"Hey, John -- great blog and I've enjoyed reading you for a long time. I've started my own blog and was wondering if we can exchange links?"

I no longer respond to these emails, so if you've sent me one of these and haven't heard back, please don't feel offended. It's just that I'm like most people in the Internet age, and find that coping with emails is a huge task. And a BIG impediment to managing my time effectively if I'm not careful.

I used to get loads of these types of emails right after launching Controlled Greed in 2005. Since then they come in cycles -- get them for a while, then none come for a few months at a time.

My advice to anyone starting a blog is this:

• Just blog as much as you can, as best as you can.

• Keep at it and discover if you like it -- especially after you've been blogging six months or more. There are who-knows-how-many blogs out there "orphaned" because the newness of blogging wears off after a while.

• If you do both of those, you'll almost certainly be very pleasantly surprised how many blogs link to you and even refer their readers to specific posts you've put up.

And with that, best wishes to anyone starting a blog. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have over the past few years.

Comments

[David]

Hi John,

I take a similar view of the whole "link exchange" thing.

What I usually tell people (when time allows for a response) is that while I don't participate in quid pro quo blogroll link exchanges, I'm happy to check out their blog, and am always willing to link to a site or a post that I find useful (for myself and my readers). I add that I hope they'll do the same for me.

I've found this puts everyone who contacts me on an equal footing, and it lets people know that I like to link to other bloggers based on merit, as I like. Most people seem to respond pretty well to this!

I also think your advice to bloggers seeking links is very true, and worthwhile.

[CONTROLLED GREED.com]

David: I think some new bloggers may be thinking that link exchanges are a good way of building readership. Which, if it was ever true (and I don't know that), isn't now. Or I should say there are much better ways. Someone, it may have been Joe at The Stalwart, said a while back that blogrolls on blogs "are so 2005". I thought that was a great line!

[David]

"Blogrolls...are so 2005"

Yes, actually one of the cool features of the new Blogger blogs (you might have seen this) is a sidebar gadget called "reading list" or "my blog list". The blog list can be sorted alphabetically or in order of most recently updated blogs. I guess it's still a blogroll, but in an updated format.

I guess I am so early 2006, because I've had the same blog Classic Blogger template since I started!

What does Joe do at the Stalwart? Just link to other bloggers/sites within posts? I've seen his writing at Dealbreaker and Clusterstock but don't get to visit his blog much.

[CONTROLLED GREED.com]

David: With that ".com" in my blog's name, I'm not exactly up-to-the-moment on everything ;-)

Since Joe started writing at those other sites, The Stalwart isn't updated at much as it used to be. But it was/is a great eclectic mix of things, mostly business related. It's not a value blog or investment blog, but good stuff. My hunch (and it's just that, I don't know) is that he's compensated in some manner writing for those other sites.

[Alan]

I too believe that blogroll is outdated. But I wouldn't say no to being included in a blogroll even if my site is not exactly a blog.

[CONTROLLED GREED.com]

Alan: I wouldn't say no, either. Just that asking for link exchanges isn't the best way -- by far -- of promoting one's blog.