The Blogroll and Blogrolling

Various blog authors have different criteria for including other blogs on their blogrolls. These range from matters of common interest to frequency of updates and posts to community relations to link exchange policies. Some blogrolls also simply consist of the list of blogs an author reads. Some news aggregators allow their users to export the list directly to a blog.

With the advent of syndicated newsfeeds, even blogrolls can be and are being syndicated. OPML is one of the popular ways to syndicate a blogroll if a blog author wants others to be able to access the blogs in their blogroll.

Since bloggers are amazing self conscious and competitive, we all scour the web (especially Google and Technorati) in search of sites that link to us. So, if you do add your favorite blogs, your favorite bloggers, and your favorite sites to your blogroll, there is a good chance that you will draw his or her attention.

Another great strategy includes adding a site you love or want to associate with and then go to that site and:

1. Search for an email on the blog — if you find one, send along a nice friendly email just to say “hey.” The email can be anywhere, and it can also exist in a form on a link to a LinkedIn site. Check the “about” page, up and down both content columns (left and right, if applicable) and then you can always do a Google search or even check whois for registration information. There might even be a contact page(go figure for making it easy, eh?)
2. No email?  Well, go to a post that actually resonates with you and make a comment in the comments section, mentioning your inclusion of his or her site in your blogroll. (don’t load up with links — more than one link in a comment usually send your comment into the comment spam box.)