Why You Should be Writing a Link Blog
Wednesday 31 January 2007 - Filed under blog
Writing a link blog is more than just killing time. It can do wonders for keeping your blog fresh and even exchanging links.
I see a lot of power bloggers out there on the net that maintain link blogs. I’m sure a lot of you have seen these blog entries that are nothing more than a collection of links with a short blurb.
Maybe it’s because I’m a feed junkie but I find a lot of news that I find interesting but just have no way to turn it into a full blog post without getting boring. How many of you have found something interesting and started writing something only to find out you pretty much said everything you want to say in one paragraph? Happens to me all the time.
With del.icio.us you can set it up to automatically post links at a pre-determined time everyday. You kill two birds with one stone by collecting links to your account and also making a blog post out of those bookmarks.
So here are some benefits of writing a link blog:
1. It helps you from drowning in information
Not only does it give you an outlet but all the links are collected at del.icio.us for future reference. It’ll be a good repository for future material.
2. Helps you maintain posting frequency
Ever feel like you’re having a “no news” day? Lots of stuff going on. Some of it interesting but not enough to write about? Link blogs prevent that from happening. Also, when you stop posting, the intervals keep getting longer. This will keep you in the habit and it’s easy to do.
3. Automatic link love
On WordPress, when you post these links they end up on other WordPress blogs as trackbacks. This is a great way to establish mutual links with each other and also lets the blog being linked that you’re paying attention to them. There’s no additional steps to make this happen, you get it for free by blogging your links.
In fact, some spammers do just that. I’ve noticed some odd incoming links and when I investigate it turns out that someone wrote a script or program that automatically collects interesting links it finds on the web.
You definitely don’t want to be classified as a spammer so here are some guidlines:
1. Be creative with the title and taglines.
Give it personality. Nobody wants to read a collection of plain links. Tell us what it’s about. Be brief but inject it with your own originality.
2. Be selective
Don’t just post anything and everything. Only stuff that’s really interesting or news to you. Otherwise your wasting your reader’s time and ruining your reputation.
In addition to all of the above, link blogs are great for giving you an idea of the person behind the blog. What kind of things matter to them. What news sources they subscribe to. It’ll give you a great insight.
A quick tip
I have separate del.icio.us account solely for my link blog. It keeps it neat and focused. I can reimport them to my main account whenever I want.
So, if you don’t already do a link blog, give it a try. You’ll find a great article showing you how to do it below.
theory.isthereason ยป From Del.icio.us to WordPress: How to automatically post daily links
2007-01-31 » baron
31 January 2007 @ 8:01 pm
What’s wrong with one paragraph? Some people, maybe myself should shut up! LOL
Be safe…
31 January 2007 @ 8:08 pm
lol
Sometimes I end up writing a comment that looks more like blog. Depends on the mood I guess.
Thanks for stopping by.
31 January 2007 @ 8:34 pm
Thanks for all the info on increasing rankings and learning to web-network. I’m interested in hearing more about trackbacks and “blogs that link here” links. What’s the etiquette for this?
31 January 2007 @ 8:38 pm
Well, the easiest guideline is not to trackback junk or shallow comments. WordPress does it automatically if you put any link in there. I think WP users are more tolerant.
Just think of it as a conversation. If you’re pinging back as part of the conversation with something to say then it’s OK. As long as you don’t look like someone seeking cheap links then it’s usually OK.
31 January 2007 @ 11:20 pm
I’ve just started doing this again on my blog. Not daily, but usually I’ll post a roundup of interesting stories I’ve read every 3-4 days.
I’ve found it not only has the affect of letting people know I’m out there, but of forcing me to keep up to date with more of the sites in my niche. Previously, I had a tendency to write one largish post, then stop reading and looking for other material, figuring I’d done my blogging work for the day. It’s helped me personally feel much more connected to the other bloggers in my niche.
1 February 2007 @ 6:10 am
Thanks for being a buddy!
I will link you at my blog. I am having lessons on WebDesign and you give great tips!
Best regards, from sunny Lisbon (Portugal),
Sailor Girl
1 February 2007 @ 3:14 pm
Andy,
It does help get through the dry spells doesn’t it? You can tell a lot about a person by the links they find.
SailorGirl,
Thank you! It’s nice to get a glimpse of life in Portugal. See you around.
2 February 2007 @ 1:57 am
I appreciated this post. It gave me good reasons for occasionally writing a link post. I have seen it done on other blogs, and I had that curious reaction where I was frustrated that the blog had simply posted links, and yet I would use those links to read interesting articles.
Now, I see why. Thank you.
I think you might have gained one more reader.
6 February 2007 @ 5:27 pm
Great thought. I believe i’ll try it out. Incidentally I found this post as a result of your link blogging the last article i posted to my blog, so there’s testimony that it can be fruitful. Now if Andy Beard (http://andybeard.eu) and I could convince everyone to install SpamKarma or Akisment or whatever and put the follow back in the comment links, we could all really juice things up!
6 February 2007 @ 5:33 pm
That’s nice to hear. Thanks for stopping by! It’s a pity that we live in such a spammy world that we can’t trade links with the good folks.
16 February 2007 @ 4:26 pm
[...] wondering why I’ve taken to writing a “Links” post, then you can blame this guy. He writes a pretty convincing [...]