Dec 20 2007
Short but inspirational. Which do you like best?
Sometimes, I see an icon that catches my eye at FMB or another blog. And I click. So it was when I found Lea’s blog. She says;
I’ve noticed an increasing trend in some of the smaller blogs I use recently which is beginning to be a real turn off…I head over to their post or read it via my feed reader (Google) and I’m faced with a whole load of links to other peoples’ posts or other posts on their blog. I know that it’s good practice to reference out to things you mention but sometimes it feels a little bit like either…
(a) You really don’t want me to stay and read your post by providing all sorts of other things to read instead which might just lead me on a post trail and make me forget where it all started and to come back and read your post (and I’m sure that’s not really what you want)
or…
(b) You’re linking out to some of the external links in the hope that they’ll notice you and ideally link back to you.Whatever the reason, before you go littering your posts with links to other posts, ask yourself this: Is this really and truly adding to the value and content a reader will get or is it just distracting?
For Lea;
Yes, I actually do think introducing your blog is adding value for my readers, because you have a great blog. And I know my readers love my humor and my generosity and the things I find… and yes, they will come back.
For everyone else;
Do read this post… tell me which one you like best. For me, I think #5. And maybe say hi to Lea while you’re there. She’s got some great content there, and I added her blog to my Fuelroll to go back and read more.
Popularity: 12% [?]
Hi Linda - it’s Lea.
Thank you for dropping by my blog and for posting about it. I’m glad you think it’ll add value to your readers
Do you know the sort of linking posts I mean though? The ones where in the first paragraph there are about 6 links to all sorts of other things that really just distract me and lead me off to all sorts of random places - or is that just me?!? Sometimes it’s great to discover new things via links but others you forget where you are and how you actually got there (or again, is that just me?!?!).
Have a Merry Christmas and Very Happy 2008!
Lea
Hi Lea
It’s not just you, I do know what you mean. The funny thing is that some people can link to a whole bunch of sites and not lose their readers… and others will lose their readers.
I think it kind of comes down to the quality of the blog overall. I tend to scroll down a page to see what it looks like before I start reading anything. If there’s more ads than content, I usually don’t read, or leave on the first interesting link.
Congrats on the travel writing gig… hope it comes through! Sounds fun.
: )
Linda
When it comes to quality ……………. feel my width.
Tell me, were the whole Fraccy family trained in the casual and subtle art of nagging? I’m asking for a friend you understand.
Nagging? Moi? I don’t *do* nagging. I just PM and tell you what you need to do and how fast. LOL.
With 8 of us siblings in the fraccy family, we learned to speak to be heard. *wink*
Seasons’ Greetings Linda,
I visited Lea’s blog and liked it. I thought all the points she made were solid but #4 particularly resonated for me. I left a comment on her blog and now I have to figure out how to add her as a friend {scratching head and thinking of eggnog - lol}.
LOL brightfeather. If you’re a member at FMB, just click the pink W in the lower right corner of my Fuel Roll — and then when her screen loads, click “Add to Friends”
Eggnog sounds good. With some Christmas “spirit” in it.
Sometimes I’ll link to lots of people in a post. Often, they’re people I already have links from, and linking to them is my way of telling others that they have great blogs too!
I don’t worry about losing readers. If my blog is good, people will want to read more at it and will come back. It’s kind of like that “if you love something, set it free” thing. I don’t worry and feel insecure that by sending people on to a friend’s blog, I’ll lose a reader. If they like me, setting them “free” and sending readers to a friend doesn’t hurt me at all.
At least I don’t worry about it. And for the reader… well, they don’t have to click the link, do they? No one is forcing them to. If the link is simple and just a word that’s been linkified, what’s the harm?
DP - are you sure that question was for a “friend”? Some birdie (it might’ve been those blue tits over at the junior’s blog) told me you didn’t have any friends. Of course, who believes what they hear from birds? I consider myself your friend… so I guess tits just can’t be believed.
By the way, I loved those stories. #5 was good. The others were all good too though.