My blogroll needs work. There are just too many blogs that I read that are not represented there. Ultimately, I intend to make a post similar to Lee’s excellent resource (though definitely not as extensive) covering the blogs I read in the Search Marketing community (and a little beyond for those who are interested).
And then I read Andy’s addendum to LifeHack’s six blog improvement tips, where he states that it is helpful to add a blogroll. Granted, this isn’t the first time I’ve seen such a comment, and in light of recent events revolving the famous widget of the blogging community, I can only wonder: is MyBlogLog, which I personally feel should be used more as a community rather than just a widget, a suitable blogroll replacement? After all, I am slowly adding myself to the communities of blogs I read (including Andy’s — but for the record, I did that well before this post!).
Andy mentions that “A blogroll is also useful for getting links from popular bloggers. If you’re asking another blogger to link to one of your posts, they’re more likely to do so, if they see they’re on your blogroll already.” While I am inclined to agree, I don’t consider that to be necessarily a truly determining factor. After all, a new blogger can also link out to other blogs that influence them just as well in their actual blog copy. And I’ve acknowledged that good content will be linked to regardless of whether a blogroll is present or not.
So then we revisit MyBlogLog and consider its benefits as a replacement for a blogroll (though it could also be an addition, and I don’t see any harm in that):
Yahoo! is very fortunate to have acquired this gem. MyBlogLog has had a surge in popularity lately. The system enables you to join communities of blogs you like, and I’m slowly beginning to do so (though I need to work on it). Further, much like other social networks, you can befriend your fans (and specify what your connection is to them) and you can also foster networking in other communities by specifying your usernames to a variety of networks:
There’s a lot of promise for this tool, even for non-bloggers (as I am sure there are plenty of MyBlogLog users who don’t necessarily maintain their own blog that use the service).
So with that said, if you actively promote your MyBlogLog persona (and I will begin by doing that right now while also considering a suitable location for the MyBlogLog profile link elsewhere on this site), is that an adequate blogroll replacement?
I would say yes. MyBlogLog essentially is a portal for thousands of users’ blogrolls — all on one site. Being all-inclusive is a rewarding experience for its users and for MyBlogLog.
So in lieu of having your blogroll, linking to contact information with a nice MyBlogLog link isn’t too bad of an idea either. It may not necessarily be as visible on your website, but then again, I barely notice blogrolls either (I almost forgot that I had one prior to this post!)
I had a different feeling about Blogrolls when I created by blog. Rather than have an official “blogroll”, I created a separate page in the blog called “Suggested Sites”. My thinking was that there might be people who value what I might say, and it stood to reason, that if I linked to sites that I found helpful to me, or for whom I considered reputable or readable, or whatever, I was providing a value in that list. The sites I choose are added with thought behind it, rather than because “its just what bloggers do” or to get a link back from somebody.
Most blogrolls are essentially mini-communities. You can tell who hangs out with who in one glance. But is that enough user information? It wasn’t to me. I wanted to add a site and write something about it next to their site name.
The little extra’s like that aren’t in MyBlogRoll. Yet 🙂
Exactly my thoughts. That’s exactly what I intend to do eventually. I will likely make my own page in due time — it won’t be an official “blogroll” for the same reasons you specify.