This post was written by Gayla
What, When, Why and How of Blog Linking
One characteristic that I want to be most known for is remaining humble enough to occasionally enjoy rubbing elbows with famed bloggers, but to live daily among the meek. It’s where I feel most comfortable.
When I look at some bloggers who have taken hold of the brass ring and seem to be living life in the fast lane of the blogosphere, one thing I like to do is take a look around their site and see just how fame has changed them.
One of the first places I look for is a links section. I noticed the links when they were among the meek and I notice them when they can officially claim a certain amount of fame. There’s a big difference. Sad, but big.
What I see is a shift of loyalty from linking to the people who helped them climb to linking to the people they believe will keep them secure in the clouds.
About a year ago, I got a very good glimpse at what "famed blogging" does to a person. Someone I had watched climb to fame and fortune from the blogging ghettos seemed to have felt so important that they couldn’t be bothered by a pleasant introduction made to an email list by a new member who was nothing more than excited to be there.
The horrible and degrading email has left a raw and lingering effect on me. That day, when reading the spewing’s of an all important blogger, I vowed to never become one of them.
As a result, on that specific day, I developed my own linking policy. Not one that I make public, just one that I implement as needed.
If I like a blog and want to link to it in my blogroll and the blogger links back to me - I will anchor their link with any keyword or website name they request. However, if I find that I’m linking to someone who no longer links to me - I may consider keeping the link, but I will change the keywords to something that’s a little more beneficial to the success of my blog rather than continuing with a mutual hospitality where I’m left being the only hospitable one.
While my links may or may not be as important as some, I feel that who I link to and how I link to them says a lot about my character. It tells a story of whether I am groveling at the breadcrumbs left behind by fame or whether I’m sharing a common interest in passion with fellow bloggers.
Forget the caviar wishes and champagne dreams - I’ll take a nice cold Coor’s Light, in the bottle and a bag of pretzels any day.
Have you ever thought what your link habits might be saying about you?
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Interesting post! I link to a few big ones that don’t bother linking to me.
I’m confused about what you mean by anchoring a link with keywords. Isn’t the name in the blogroll the name of the blog?