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A post by Becky @ PreBlogging.com. I take the more simple approach to blogging topics, i.e. a no nonsense approach to things. This is my 4th guest post here (wow it’s been a month), please check out the other ones , [1] , [2] & [3] and if you like them maybe swing by my own blog !

What is a Blog Roll ?

A blog roll is basically a collection of blogs you recommended and link to. This normally is displayed along the side bar. And getting some people to link to you on their blog roll can really help to start traffic rolling in. Typically blog rolls are displayed on every page, so this means lots of new back links, which will also help your SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages). Being on the blog roll of someone is seen as very much a positive vote for the blogger you are linking.

What should I do with my Blog Roll

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You can use your blog roll as a tool to get other people to link to your blog, i.e. swapping blog roll links. So if you put someone on your blog roll, you should ask them to return the favor. Swapping links is one way of using your blog roll, but you may also want to monetize your blog roll. It can be easier than you think to sell a link on your blog roll. One thing I do is offer links to new people who comment on my blog, and charge anywhere from $5 to $25 a month for the privilege. You can sell it easily to someone who doesn’t have many inlinks.

Optimize Blog Rolling

One thing to remember when arranging to be on someone’s blog roll, is that you can get the person to tweak the link text, you can get them to change it to something that will help you even more. Here on John Cow Dot Com, I have a link on his blog roll with my chosen link text, “Guide to Blogging“. This has two results, one is that I will rank higher for this term in the search engines, and two, if it is catchy enough, a user will click on it as they have something in mind they want to find out by visiting your blog. So you get a visitor who is interested in finding out about that topic and you make the search engines love you that little bit more.

Getting on other people’s Rolls

Lately I’ve come across many great writes via google blog search. Just type in a few key words and find some new blogs. If you find that they have a high number of commentators or many links on Technorati, these are the blogs to invest in sooner rather than later. Typically I will offer some of these bloggers $20 to $50 if they will include me on their roll for a year. To new bloggers, who don’t know the value of what a link or series of links is worth, these seem like really decent offers. And in fact this $20 might even help the blogger to be motivated about posting and getting more infamous in the blogosphere. Getting links to your blog is a key way to increase your traffic and a key way to insure that your blog will continue to grow.

My don’t of blog rolling

I would say that you should try and stay away from the bigger bloggers, like ProBlogger / Shoemoney / John Chow and the likes. These guys have more than enough links to their blogs. Seriously, you can be using your links for better effect than helping these guys further. To me it doesn’t look good if you link one of these guys on your list, in 99% of the cases these guys are not going to care. And they possibly won’t notice it either.

If you look at blogging as a method to capture your readers, you don’t want to be sending them to the guys who are already rich and famous. You want to keep your readers on your page, rather than directing them to some of the so called A-List Bloggers , especially without getting any return from your investment.

Credits

For more interesting ideas you can go to PreBlogging.com and read my 5 Step Guide to Blogging.

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