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Do You Give Good Link Love?

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There’s an aspect of blogging rarely spoken about, and it’s a pretty influential component. It’s link love. You can have a blog, but when your links to other sites, sources, and blogs fall short, the content may be sub par in the eyes of a few.

One person stands out in my book as being tops. She shares link love all the time, and moreover, she hunts for the best complementary content to push her message. It’s guaranteed that her fastidiousness will produce extra citations you’ve likely never seen before. Davina Brewer at 3 Hats Communications, is about whom I speak. Check out her blog here, here, and here.

Neicole Crepeau recently launched Friday Fives; a series during which she interviews people on a topic, and they offer five tips. The link love is high-end for all involved, and Neicole is ensured of more traffic to her blog.

To be consistent with links, it takes time. I know I’m guilty when I’m strapped and sometimes will just put the main domain name of a site rather than dive into a blog. That’s just my laziness, too. Or, I’ll easily ad the Twitter ID because I don’t have to go and hunt.

I’ve noticed, however, that when I do take the time to seek out other sites to enhance my message, then people who comment often acknowledge with a “thanks for all the back links.”

My friend John Akerson is good for that; I know when he’s reading he’s all about what’s behind those links. Ray Andrews challenges me, too, when I’m writing, and my readers are always creeping around in my mind when I produce an article.

Earning that recognition for your content (when it’s linked to from others’ blogs) takes time, consistency, cadence, voice, relevance, and confidence.

Have you ever considered how cool it is when someone takes time to search your blog looking for just the right content to add to theirs? It makes me beam, and I vow to do more of that for you.

(Now, how long did that take me? 90 minutes to add all the links and 20 minutes to write the post.)

 

Comments

  1. I love this post- it is old fashioned blogging. Comes right out of the stone age when we didn’t use readers and had to go direct to a blog to read them. I don’t mean that sarcastically either. I think that collectively bloggers were better about sharing the link love in the pre-Twitter/Facebook days.

  2. I agree with Jack. This is great Jayme! I do try to be conscious of giving link love. I know there’s not a lot of juice coming off my site now, but I also know the links get more valuable every week, so I try to think long term and make sure I link to even the bigger sites when appropriate. Thanks for the link and the nice reminder!

  3. I agree with Jack. This is great Jayme! I do try to be conscious of giving link love. I know there’s not a lot of juice coming off my site now, but I also know the links get more valuable every week, so I try to think long term and make sure I link to even the bigger sites when appropriate. Thanks for the link and the nice reminder!

  5. It’s about the blogging approach: are you writing for your readers, trying to share valuable information? Are you writing for the community, being good to your blogger friends? Are you writing for the SEO of your own blog, its short and long tails? 

    I have a blogging peeve: when EVERY link is to one of their own posts. Sets off my ‘douchebag alert’ to code: unfollow. Few folks can get away with this but come on! As bloggers we don’t know everything about everything and another point of links to do validate our claims, bring the argument forward by building on what’s out there. We’re not supposed to all sound a like but kind of hard to tell me you’re an expert when the only thing you seem to know.. is what you keep saying? You’re just repeating yourself. An echo chamber of one is really lame. (And that one give me thoughts, may make a nice title… hmmm..) 

    Don’t get me wrong, we’re also supposed to use our old posts and I do it too, In Moderation. As I write the links I share tend to be specific as to a topic or issue, so I link to specific posts. Sometimes mine, more often .. someone else’s. For some reason, my posts just look nekkid without a least a few links. Plus not everyone in my audience will know what I mean when I talk about this Twitter tool or that PR ‘standard’ so a frame of reference helps the reader follow my rambling thoughts. Anyway, thanks for the shout-out. FWIW.

    • Hey, I only linked two of my posts and it was because it was appropriate to my epic missive; and whatever you do, don’t tell anybody I just figured out how to do this………..

    • I shift things around. Sometimes 75% of links in an article are to my blogs, sometimes to others’ blogs. It depends on the subject and whether I wrote anything on it in recent history that’s worth linking.

      • I’m getting less bashful about linking to my own stuff, call back to what I may have previously said on a certain subject as I move the conversation forward. If you have a huge archive of relevant content by all means, link away as it’s a good way to catch new readers up to speed. I’ve just been turned off reading some bloggers and then seeing it’s nothing but links to their own stuff 100% of the time, post after post. Agree: it’ll depend.

  6. Hi Jayme,
    Well YOU certainly give good link love! So many sprinkled through your post! Good for you! I don’t do so well with that, but I’m working on it. We do have guests, though, every fourth post or so is by a Guest Author. 
    Thanks for linking to our GP by Griddy!You’re right on top of things Jayme!

  7. Jayme, you are a miracle whiz kid! The number of links you included is crazy-wild, and so, so good.  Thanks so much for including me in the party: I really appreciate it!

    You’ve really demonstrated how to link comprehensively, but I don’t know how you remember all the great sites to connect the dots so effectively.  Do you have some kind of superpower memory?

    Thanks again Jayme, for the tip of the hat my way: you’ve inspired me to get better at giving “good link love”.  Cheers!  Kaarina

    • Jayme probably does have a superpower memory! If it helps any, Kaarina, what I do is: “star” posts in my Reader as well as save posts/links in Evernote. That helps a lot when I’m looking for the right links to add.

      • Thanks for that great tip @Shonali:disqus I’ve been an old-school “sign up via email” rather than Reader, so I’m probably way behind the times in terms of being able to quickly save and recover.  Been depending upon memory and bookmarks:) Know nothing about Evernote (and see, I’m not afraid to admit that publicly:)  You’ve got me learning more and more.  Thanks!  Kaarina

        • You’re very welcome! Re: email signups – if you use Gmail, you could set your filters so that those posts/blogs go into a particular folder, get starred, etc. – maybe that will help? I don’t remember the rules for Outlook, it’s been so long since I used it, but I imagine there’s something similar there.

          Evernote is really lovely. I used to use Delicious and while I still have an account there, I almost never look at it. I just like the way Evernote works, and it’s really easy. There are add-ons for almost every browser as well, so give it a try, and just ping me if you need help.

          And as to knowing nothing about it – I can’t even BEGIN to tell you all the things I have NO IDEA about!

    • Did you see she put me with creeping…………next time I want to be cool or confident…………..just sayin’………..

    • Hi Kaarina,

      I use social bookmarking tools to aid my superpower memory when it comes to giving link love, ahem. When I write something I’m usually thinking “dang what did so and so write about that?” and then I look through my bookmarks and insert that URL.

      Sometimes going through my social bookmarks inspires posts, too.

      Jenn

      • Heh. That’s called anal retentive organization; nothing more. Kaarina, don’t let Jenn fool ya; she crosses her t’s twice.

      • Yup. I use StumbleUpon for that so I can go back and search my favorites. There’s likely always some good stuff there.

  8. Thank you for the link love! I do try to give as many links as I can, and I encourage my guest bloggers (would love you to be one any time you want, btw!) to do the same. I know there’s also been an ongoing debate for a while as to how many links are too many, but I honestly don’t think of that; I like to substantiate my posts with outbound links, not just as a way to give link love, but as a way to showcase other good posts and writing. And that’s why I started doing my “weekly roundup” on Sundays too – I thought that would be a nice way to give back a bit.

    • Thanks, Shonali! I’ll guest blog for you any day; ahem, after I use all my hot topics right here first…kidding. Actually, I need to put something oriented to the PR crisis in confidence at your house; would be fitting segue from all you’ve been running. 

  9. Looks like a party over at Soulati-tude! You’ve said it, Jayme. Davina is definitely a great one for link love, too. Honestly, I get self-conscious about it sometimes, thinking, I don’t want people to think I’m just adding a link so they can troop down here and say thank you to the lonely li’l blogger by the bend, you know? But when it fits, it fits, and I’m happy to link away. Also very happy to come, read, and say thank you, so I don’t know where my self-consciousness is coming from. Need to get over myself, I think. @thejackb says this is old fashioned blogging, and I’ll take his word for it (maybe I wasn’t old enough to remember those days ;)). But in any case, blogging is about drawing the people around you close, and I’ve been lacking, too.

    Thank you!

  10. Now how did I know I would be linked to creeping………………..just sayin’……………..:). Next time I want to be cool………..

    So I have to ask and I did see the ping back on my post; I just recently figured out how to link sites when I post (like that’s a shocker, huh?). Will every one I link in my post get a ping back?

    I haven’t done a good job at this but more from lack of curiosity than anything. However, it it helps promote my friends I sure will do a much better job.

    Thanks for sharing; I’m much smarter now than I was before reading this.

    Hope your day is well.

    • So glad you noticed your positioning, King Man. Heh. Yes, when you link to peeps they ought to get a pingback; although, quite frankly, I’m not sure the capacity of those freebie platforms, you know? They might get lost in all that ether.

  11. Jayme,
    You made your point loud and clear. How much appreciation can you show in one post? By looking at the responses, it doesn’t look like it’s ever too much.

    What a coincidence that you’d post this today. I had my post finished and just about the click publish and I remembered I’d forgotten to include any links. Looks like I just scratched the surface.

    Connie

    • Just in case you didn’t think I saw this comment earlier today (I replied to you on Twitter right away) I appreciate you stopping in, Connie. I appreciate new faces in new places! Thanks!

  12. These are some great tips on how to write solid content while sharing relevant links to support your opinions/theories, thank you Jayme… And thank you so much for sharing a link to one of my blog posts – that was very cool of you miss : )

    Keep teaching us solid strategies Jayme : )

      • Hi Bill, nice to meet you, I’ve heard a lot of good things about you : )

        Chili Tequila’s? Those sound dangerous. At one time in my younger days, I would have said “heck ya, I’m in!” But now that I’m older, a couple glasses of wine or a few cold beers is about all I can handle, otherwise I go to sleep early – haha!

        OK, if the tequila is in a margarita with a salted rim glass, I can a few of those too 😛

        Cheers Jayme! 

    • Not sure how you can make me always feel slightly modest with your sincerity, Mark, but there it is — the secret’s out. Thank you. I’m already thinking along those lines; how can I help push that sharp edge so everyone feels more in balance? (My brain cells are on a hamster wheel.) I think it’s time for a chili tequila? Is that what you guys are imbibing down there? I’m in!

  13. Come on, now! You ALWAYS link to blog posts. Don’t be so hard on yourself. I think the difference is in who understands the basics of SEO. If you understand the basics and you genuinely want to help people, you typically take the extra time. Not only does it help the other person’s search, it helps your readers look beyond their own networks.

    • With you and @Shonali:disqus it’s more than just SEO and link love, it also helps connect people across networks. I don’t share a link for the sake of sharing, I do so because it’s on point with what I’m writing, hoping that if a reader takes the time to read some of those links, it’ll bring added value to the post and their reading. I like when I read a post and there’s a good post I hadn’t read, bonus if it’s meeting a good new blogger.

      • D, what a nice thing to say, thank you! I do try to connect people across networks – that’s something I get great pleasure from, and I suspect Gini too. Maybe it’s selfish to do it because it makes me happy… but what the heck – better that than stuffing bonbons down my throat all day, eh?

      • D, what a nice thing to say, thank you! I do try to connect people across networks – that’s something I get great pleasure from, and I suspect Gini too. Maybe it’s selfish to do it because it makes me happy… but what the heck – better that than stuffing bonbons down my throat all day, eh?

  14. Sorry I’m late. This was a very busy day! But what about your Influencer series? Or your PR one? Lots of link love there. I think you sell yourself short! By the way, look for my post tomorrow, which has some link love for you, my friend!

  15. I LOVE link love and I try to do it on a regular basis.  Sorry, @davinabrewer:disqus I do link to my own posts, but only as it is part of a series (Sunday Shares, for example) so that someone walking in blind knows what the heck I’m up to.  I’ll be extra aware now!!

    I think I habitually link to @ginidietrich:disqus ‘s posts or at least highlight her Twitter profile on a regular basis…I’m now moving on to you @soulati:disqus or perhaps @TheJackB:disqus .  

    In all seriousness, I view the link love effect as one that continues to build up our networks, help others out and connect us in really awesome ways.  Thanks for including me here! You rock.

    • I link to myself too Erica, here and there; I have a category dedicated to revisiting old posts, seeing if I’ve learned anything yet. (Jury’s still out on that.) The catch is that it’s not ALL you do, you also link elsewhere.. big diff IMHO. 🙂

  16. Wow – 52 comments and counting! Look at you go! You’re post is proof of how well this works. I know that when I get a pingback, I ALWAYS go check it out and ALWAYS leave a comment. It’s a smart strategy that we could all be better at for sure. I know I could.

    I think you highlighted lack of time as one big reason. I think selfishness is another. Some folks don’t want to share the love because they want to keep folks on their own site instead of sending them elsewhere to check out another link. I think it’s a balance. I think it’s distracting when everything is a link, but I do think it’s helpful to have a few tucked in the article. I do point to my own posts, but hopefully, I don’t do it too much! Please don’t stone me, y’al! Oftentimes, one post spurs another and so on, so I’ll often refer back.

    Anyway, great topic. I haven’t read much, if anything about this. And most importantly, thank YOU for the link love!!!! Really appreciate it!

  17. What an awesome post Jayme! I think @TheJackB:disqus  is right when talking about how this is like an old-time blog post with lots of links all over the place! 

    Don’t you think that Twitter has made us lazy? It’s so easy to tweet out a link, which admittedly has little google juice; however, tweeted links do generate traffic. 

    The other thing I love about this post ?  = the comments!!! It’s so great seeing folks interacting. 

    • If ever you want to bring folks to your house, then definitely give them some link love, eh? You can also see just who cares to return the favor, respect, acknowledgment, etc. Thanks for coming, Jon! P.S. Trying to figure out this inbreeding thing so we can Triberr. Haven’t forgotten!

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