The Egotistical Priest
An irreverent and opinionated discussion of the many classes
in the World of Warcraft gaming universe.
Mailbag – On Link Requests
by Vonya
I got an excellent question from a fellow blogger, and I thought my answer might be useful on a broader scale.
I wanted to ask a favor. If you had the time, would you mind perusing my blog and maybe offering a few critiques along the lines of what I could improve or change to make someone (someones? so Hanners doesn’t hurt me) such as yourself would consider linking to me?
If so, it’d be very much appreciated!
And as always, keep up the awesomeness!
Let me begin by saying that I am the worst person I know with regards to keeping up my blogroll. I can barely keep up with my feed reader.
New blogs appear, old blogs slowly collapse and fade away, and I absolutely do not devote enough time to try and keep up with it all.
In other words, I probably am not going to independantly find your blog, even if it’s the most fabulous, hilarious, entertaining, useful blog in the blogosphere.
That means you, oh-blogger-who-wishes-to-be-on-my-sidebar, need to do some work.
Step 1
Comment. Most of us bloggers are pretty terrible about responding to comments, but I absolutely guarantee we read each and every one. And we recognize the names of frequent commenters. ESPECIALLY those who comment intelligently on the subject at hand.
Saying “Wow, nice post!” and then posting a link to your own blog is trolling. It does not count. (I am prepared to count the number of such comments in response to this blog entry and cackle – feel free to use this as an opportunity to pimp yourselves with blatant hilarity in the comments, please).
Believe me, we remember you when you come back and comment. And really, why do you care if you’re in the blogroll of a blog that you don’t read?
In this specific case, I’ve known Misa for a while, as they’ve been a frequent (and ofttimes hilarious) commenter on my site.
Step 2
Link to other blogs (like me).
A link in your sidebar is a great start – it’s a polite nudge. Many bloggers do get notifications when someone links to them, although some blogs get so many that it becomes impossible to keep up with the list (thanks to the magic of RSS, which tells me I’ve been linked to every single time most blogs that have Ego in their sidebar update, I am one of them.)
But when Ego was smaller, I would follow up on every single link to my blog. I still try to – especially when that link is in the body of a post, but it’s become a lot harder to tell the difference between a sidebar link and a post link.
In this case, Misa did have me linked, but the notification got buried in a ton of other links, and I did not see it.
Step 2.5
Write a blog entry in which you link to one of the other blog’s posts. Note, a specific post – don’t link to the base blog site. Link to the post itself.
Misa did a recent post in which my respec to discipline was noted, with a direct link to my blog post about the switch.
Not only did I get another buried link notification, I do have trackbacks turned on for my posts, so I got an EMAIL notification saying that specific post had been linked to.
Trackbacks are rare enough that I follow up on each and every one of them, especially since a lot of times they are rebuttals or further discussion on the subject. And if I was interested enough in the subject to write about it, you can bet I’m interested enough to hear what other people have to say on it!
The trackback got me (and a lot of my viewers) over to Misa’s site that day, and spurred me to add the link to my feed reader.
Not my sidebar. Why? Because, quite frankly, I’m terrified by the links on my sidebar and try to pretend they don’t exist.
Step 3
If all else fails, and the blog you want a link on is still valiantly ignoring your fabulousness and not adding you to their sidebar, send an email.
The one above is a perfect example of a politely worded request for a link. (heck, it wasn’t even that, so much as a request to know how they could earn a link.)
Well, let me tell you, that shamed me right up. In Misa’s case, I’d even added to my feed reader without adding to my blogroll, and if I’m interested enough to have you on the reader, you’re definitely worth putting on my sidebar.
Naturally, I added Misa’s link.
Step 4
There is no step four. If you’ve done all of the above and they still don’t link you, there is no polite way for you to request a link.
Most bloggers will follow your link from Step 1 – when you’re commenting.
It takes a special breed of bull-headedness to require you go all the way to step 3 and submit an email, but what can I say? I’m a special breed of draenei.
You can probably also use tools like Twitter to catch a blogger’s attention, but since my twitter account is so unused that the dustbunnies have declared all out war on the cobwebs, I’m probably not a very good person to ask about that.
January 13th, 2009
Nice post!
Shattersphere.wordpress.com
January 13th, 2009
I’m not after links to my website devoted to random acts of misanthropy, but I read your blog regularly, and a new post is like a Christmas present. Keep up the good work.
January 13th, 2009
LOL @ shatter.
But actually, yes it is a good post. I’ve just started a blog and was wondering how to get linked to. I’ve already followed step 2 by linking to different blogs I like to read, not so much #1. Anyways thanks for the post, it was useful.
January 13th, 2009
This post is fabulously insightful and relevant to my interests. I’d like to hear more about .
http://tehkholabides.blogspot.com
Er…troll off…
January 13th, 2009
Curses! it ate my clever [insert topic of blog here].
January 13th, 2009
Hehe…Since it is somewhat between Christmas and my birthday (this Saturday), I will assume that you mentioning me in your blog is both a late Christmas present and and early birthday surprise!
When I started my blog, (which was your fault, btw, Ego) I linked to my 5 favorite blogs at the time, and as I was pretty to the whole blog scene, it was pretty basic. Kestrel, Matticus, Dwarf Prest, Misery (which I got to from you) and, of course, you! Since then, I’m amassed a long list of blogs I read, but have only added BobTurkey to my sidebar, I guess like you my sidebar is a place of forgetfulness and fear.
The best advice I can give, along with telling everyone to read this post, is to comment, comment, comment, comment, comment. If you read a blog and like it, even a simple “I liked _____ about what you said,” will not only let that person know you’re there and you’re reading, but it will also get you a free link on their page! Whoo!
And with people like Vonya, that’s the only links you’ll ever get until step 3. Hehehe.
And in closing…
Nice Post!
somemuchneededdiscipline.wordpress.com
_Misa
January 13th, 2009
Hmmm…
Always been tempted to start a blog, but there is plenty enough stupid already in the world =)
January 13th, 2009
Or, you can be stupid lucky like me, and somehow end up in Ego’s blogroll, purely because you happened to be linking to her on the day she last updated it. Or something.
I will echo every point Ego made, though: Comment. (I try to reply to all comments on my blog, because I don’t get scads of them like Ego does, and I especially try to reply to first-time commenters.) Link. Email.
January 13th, 2009
First!
frostisthenewblack.blogspot.com
lmao, i have such a hard time getting off my butt and updating the sidebar as well. the bane of bloggers everywhere!
January 13th, 2009
I’ve started a revolution.
January 13th, 2009
Ha… as a new-ish blogger myself, tryign to increase my reader base. I really found this interesting to read. I try to be insightful on my posts and comments, and appreciate the insight to another priest-blogger. Good for you! Blogrolls are hard, because the question that comes out…. especially when you are trying to start (and it gets harder) is WHO do you link? I read WAY too many blogs now to try to fish out the ones I want… so, frankly, I link ones that i try to emulate.
January 13th, 2009
[...] A Post To Call My Own So, in honor of my upcoming birthday (or so I’ll delude myself into thinking), Vonya over at Egotistical Priest has felt it necessary to grace her site with a post expounding on an email I sent her. [...]
January 13th, 2009
@ Shatter – well, you know, we all wanna change the world.
@Derevka – You shame me with your blog, lol. You, sir, are much smarter than me.
@My Trackback – You, my friend, are awesome. Keep up the good work.
_Misa
January 14th, 2009
I’ve no desire to change the world. That implies a grandiose ego that I assure you I am incapable of possessing.
No, my goal is a bit more mundane, I suppose.
I simply wish to destroy it.
January 14th, 2009
Well, just as we are safe from ghosts, vampires, and monsters under the bed, we are safe from wishes too.
=D
January 14th, 2009
You wish.
January 14th, 2009
Interesting and informative post for newish (like myself) bloggers. I happened to check this post out because the title caught my attention on another blogger’s sidebar. And that person’s site I was checking out based on a forum post introducing themselves on Blog Azeroth….
It’s interesting to see how we get led along the way to places and the wonderful accidental bits of information we discover.
As for starting one’s blogroll… I was a bit afraid to list too many people at first. Probably unfounded, but didn’t want anyone to get the wrong idea or think I was just listing everyone and their mother’s blog to try and get link love in return! But I’ve started adding some more as I’ve read their blogs more frequently have been commenting… so at least if one of my readers does take advice from my sidebar, they can see my presence among those comments and know I genuinely enjoy that blog.
*stops and re-reads comment*
And this is where I will end. (When does a comment turn into a post?!)
January 14th, 2009
@Syrana – Somewhere around paragraph three. Oh wait…it qualifies. You know what that means!
Nice post!
somemuchneededdiscipline.wordpress.com
Hehehe.
_Misa
January 14th, 2009
Its always nice to get visitors and i think people read different blogs for different reasons.
Some want a bit of a chickle, others want good information on a certain class/race.
I read them to pass the time at work but i do have a question.
I have been reading yours for a few months and commenting but how come you never put me on the side bar? XD
January 14th, 2009
I’m in her guild and I don’t get any play. Just a hater, IMO.
January 14th, 2009
I know nothing of blogs. I do not own one, nor do I own an RSS, a feed reader, a podcaster, a twitter, a tweeter, or a pumpkin-eater. I also know that I have no recollection of how I found this blog but I do know that I like it for its enlightenement and entertainment.
I also know that the advise given in this article is about approaching someone with some good old fashion politeness, professionalism, and ’straight-shootin’ wrapped up in a tortillia of internet gen-y ethics. While I can’t point at a Feed Reader, I do know that doing unto others, being kind, and directly asking are usually good things.
I really really like Vonya’s writing about the anatomy of a 5-man. While I’ve never done a link, I made several forum posts with our guild that contain the phrases “Do a google search for Ego…..then click 5-man…..and then read that!…….twice!…….please!”
Someday I’ll learn, and then maybe there will be links that say Vendric is Your Friend. Who knows what that would link to. Perhaps a site on hybrids who off heal, or a picture or Tori A at the piano, or a Moonkin who recites old Rod Stewart songs when you push his belly. Untill then, I’ll keep telling my guildies, “Hey you gotta read this Ego thing”……
~V
January 14th, 2009
I have to say linkings on a blog are what got me to Ego in the first place. ( I read here a lot but never post) A link on my raiding forum on a great blog and forum for hunters led me to BRK and his blogroll lead me to Matticus, Too many Annas, Big Bear Butt and here!
At the time I was only really looking for a way to raid my hunter and not flop on my face
I’ll admit reading Matt and Ego did give me the healing bug I had so long ignored since leaving EQ (gasp did I just date myself?)
What is all this rambling about? Update your blogroll!
Its a great way for people to be introduced to new blogs or old blogs they’ve never seen.
@Misa My Bday is Friday…GO CAPRICORNS!
January 15th, 2009
@ Pookie
Hehe. Yay us!
Also, what you said about your travel from BRK-Matticus-Annas-BBB-Ego, Ego was the first blog I read, and it’s still my favorite, so I branched out from her links, decided which blogs I liked, then branched out from those sites’ links, and so on.
My goal is to get linked by all the blogs I actually read, and by at least some of the ones on my sidebar. 98% of the time, those two lists are pretty much the same. Sometimes I have to go “oh, haven’t been on Matticus in two weeks…need to make time to catch up,” or something like that (the blog varies, Matticus was just an example (if you read this, I love you guys (seriously (no, really))))
But for the most part, if I actively keep up with a blog and really like it, I’ll add it to my sidebar.
Anyway…that was long and drawn out, wasn’t it?
Happy Birthday! You know…on Friday!
_Misa
January 15th, 2009
@Everyone….
THIS is why I’ve created the Ultimate Blogroll hehe…it forces me to pay attention to it, updated it, edit it when bloggers wish to be in other categories, etc. I’ll add you all that posted here, but I’m sure most of you are already on it (without even knowing!). I’m so sneaky hehe
I love blog hopping. Thus the blogroll blog has been created (a little while ago now).
So, as it says on the blog, if you’re in the wrong spot just let me know!
Ego, this was a great post. Sometimes you just have to speak up to get a little recognition. Being polite about it will go a long way. Awesome!
http://caitsblogroll.blogspot.com/ <—- My actual blog is [justawowgirl.blogspot.com]