How Do You Manage Your Blogroll?

Nose Graze Discussion

Different bloggers manage their blogrolls in very different ways. So I’m curious: how do you manage your blogroll?

Do you use your blogroll as a link exchange?

Some people use their blogroll as link exchanges. They sometimes approach people with a simple request like:

I was wondering if you’d like to exchange links? I’ll put your button on my blogroll and you can put mine on yours!

It’s kind of like a business arrangement. Both people get advertising/backlinks out of it. Win-win?

I don’t do this because I think it’s a bit… well… I don’t want to sound like a bitch, but I don’t want to advertise blogs I don’t know and/or don’t read. It’s not that I don’t like showcasing other bloggers, it’s just that I like to be able to vouch for things I put on my blog. It’s the same with promotional posts. My blog isn’t advertising space and I’m not just going to put anything up here. So if I don’t know you or don’t know your blog or don’t read your blog, I’m not putting you on my blogroll.

Do you use your blogroll to show off your friends?

Some people use their blogroll to display who their blogging friends are.

I guess I kind of do this, but not really intentionally. Like, people usually become my friend because they’re on my blogroll.. rather than the other way around, where I’d put people on my blogroll because they’re my friends.

My blogroll is reserved for blogs I follow religiously

They’re the ones I have an email subscription to and check all the time. There are other blogs that I sometimes check but not that religiously, and I’m not subscribed by email. I might be subscribed by RSS or sometimes manually visit the site, but it’s not always a regular thing, so they don’t make it on the blogroll.

Everyone uses it differently… and that’s okay!

I hope I didn’t offend any one with my “I don’t do link exchanges” speech. πŸ˜› I think all bloggers have slightly different criteria for what goes on their blogroll or not. We all use it differently, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s your blog and you can use it however you want!

I use my blogroll as a way of saying “these are my favourite blogs”. How do you use your blogroll?

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28 comments

  1. I am not a fan of people who ask me to exchange blog rolls–especially when they add me then ask me too, it’s kinda awkward to be like ‘no’ so it sometimes leaves me no choice. Like you, I have my blog roll to show my favourite blogs or bloggy friends that I talk to often. I don’t follow people via email though, I tend to do it manually each day.

    Great post, hun! <33

  2. I use mine for blogs that I’ve been to and liked…but mine is kinda sad, because it’s been neglected. I started my list and got a few in before I ran into a fave blog that didn’t have a button, then I got sidetracked, and then got busy and forgot. I should just remove it until I have time to dedicate to getting it right. I haven’t made very many friends at this yet…so it’s really more of a “hey, I liked this blog, you might too” link for me.

  3. My blog roll is basically the blogs I follow, but also the blogs I want EVERYONE to know about as well. And I don’t have too many blogs on there. I need to add a few more I forgot the first time around. I also break up my blog roll based on WHY I loved the blogs. I have a section for blogs I follow because they have awesome reviews, blogs I follow because of the blogger’s personality, etc.

    Stormy @ Book.Blog.Bake. recently posted: Sci-Fi November Introduction!
  4. First off, I am absolutely not offended. ;P Honestly, blog rolls are hard for me to keep up with as well. I no longer have one as a result. At first, it was like you said, if they approached me I’d swap buttons with them, and I even encouraged that! But then, I just got tired of that. So I switched to having everyone I liked, as well as people that I had found because they displayed my button. That just got to be too much of a hassle (plus my blogger gadget kind of broke!), so I just kind of… deleted it. Wasn’t worth it, you know? Awesome post, girly!

    Megan @ The Book Babe's Reads recently posted: Enchanted by Alethea Kontis
  5. I don’t use a blogroll as a random link exchange no. Like I wouldn’t put bloggers I don’t know or talk to on there. I used to do that but then I just came to have too many and I didn’t see the point. Last year I revamped it and only kept (and added a few) from the blogs that I want to tell my followers like “Hey you should follow these fabulous blogs because they’re the shiz!” πŸ˜€

    On that note, I should really go through it and update it I haven’t in a while. Last time I did I found a few blogs on there who I used to follow religiously but had since quit which always makes me sad πŸ™

    1. And that sounds snotty. What I was trying to say is that I’m more about the individual posts, not specific blogs. The posts show up on my feed in Bloglovin so I don’t feel the need to go around to 6 or 8 or whatever blogs daily/however often and see what’s new. If something is of interest, I’ll get to it from Bloglovin.

  6. To begin with, I don’t have a blogroll. I don’t really see the point of it. *shrug* Maybe it’s a way to tell people about the blogs I love, but I really like a lot of blogs, and I don’t want to make anyone feel a little insulted if they’re not there. Which is me speaking from experience, because I sometimes see weekend recaps, and my post is not there, and it’s one of those moments were I can bring in a GIF going: “I thought we were friends!”

    Which is my inner diva just popping up. *shrug*

    I don’t like the idea of using my blog as advertising space either. I wouldn’t mind doing that swap thingy it was for one of the blogs that I love, but someone I never encountered before? No thanks.

    Shannelle C. recently posted: NaNo+Blogging=I Think It Will Be Good
  7. I actually just updated my blogroll. There were a couple blogs on there that I just don’t really follow anymore. It makes me feel guilty, and wonder why the loss of interest. Is it me? Is it them?

    So, I deleted a couple of those links, and added a few more that I “upgraded” from the blogs I follow more casually.

    Lately though I’ve been wondering if it’s even worth having it at all. They don’t seem to get many clicks, according to my stats page, and some of these bloggers have pretty different reading tastes from me. So, if someone randomly found my blog, really liked it, and wanted to find more of the same… the blogs in my blogroll don’t necessarily fit that bill.

    Charleen recently posted: October Mini-Reviews

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