When I first started blogging, I didn’t know much about it. The gentleman that I took over the blog from said I might want to go through the blogroll and keep what I liked. Sure…What?
As time went on, though, I learned how important having a blogroll actually is. Through it, I can keep track of what is going on with a lot of other people. Some of them are friends, some of them are competitors. Some of them are both. From their blogrolls, I can visit other blogs, and from their blogrolls…well, you get the idea.
What is a Blogroll, Really?
A blogroll is a list of other blogs. It often shows up on the side of your blog or Web site, and anyone visiting your site can click the links and visit other sites that you have listed. Usually, those sites address issues that you think might be valuable to your readers. Some of the sites may be very serious, and others may be just for fun. Either way, they all relate to you, your beliefs, your business, or your blog in some way.
Blogrolls give your readers and/or customers a chance to learn more about you through the links that you have, so make sure that you don’t put anything in your blogroll that you wouldn’t want others to read. If you frequent a site that makes fun of the President, for example, you might not want that on your blogroll. It could give people that click on it the wrong impression about you.
When you are on the Internet, everything you do is seen by others as a reflection of your personality and beliefs, so make sure you only show customers what you want them to see. It is a bad idea to be dishonest, but it is not necessary to divulge everything about yourself to people that you do not really know.
How Do I Find the Right Blogs For my Blogroll?
Finding the right blogs can come easy, but sometimes one has to look for them. If you already have contact with other bloggers, you may want to include them, provided their blogs are appropriate for your audience. In addition, those bloggers might know others whose blogs would be helpful to your readers or customers.
Searching the Web for blogs on a specific topic or set of topics can also yield many interesting and enlightening blogs that you and others may want to read. It is important, though, to thoroughly check out a blog before putting it on your blogroll, and to go back through that blogroll periodically and make sure that a blog has not drastically changed, disappeared, or been taken over by someone else that has changed the theme of it.
By spending some time with blogs, you can create a blogroll that you and your readers and customers will enjoy, and that will keep you informed and interested in what else is taking place in the world.