Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Seeking link exchanges

I recently received the following e-mail (no link love, though)...
Paul,
I recently emailed you about exchanging links on your blogroll. I have the following three blogs that support my law practice.
 
www.criminallawyerillinois.com
www.illinioisdui.us
www.federalcriminallawyer.us
 
Can we exchange links?
Lewis Gainor
No, Mr. Gainor, we cannot exchange links at this time. You see, the blawgs I link to my blawgroll are blawgs that I read on a regular (okay, in some cases, semi-regular) basis. There was no quid pro quo in my linking to them. If the authors responsible for them found my blawg interesting then they were free to link to my blawg. I never emailed anyone asking them for a link exchange. I've also never taken down a link because someone didn't "return the favor."

The blawgosphere is a fairly liquid place. New blawgs come and go on a regular basis. Some folks start a blawg because they have something to say. Others start a blawg because some SEO person told them it was a great way to move their website to the front page of Google or Yahoo! or Bing.

The ones who did it for SEO are pretty easy to spot. Their posts are "keyword rich" and recite the law regarding the classifications of crimes and field sobriety tests. Those blawgs are rarely updated and soon fall into a state of disrepair when the author realizes he has nothing else to say.

On the other hand, the blawgs written by folks who have something to say are interesting and diverse. They are serious and funny. They make you laugh and they make you think. They tell stories. They make analogies. They don't have every possible keyword crammed awkwardly into their posts. They aren't forced.

Lewis, you are more than welcome to link to my blawg. If you want me to link to your blawg, on the other hand, you need to give me a reason why. Stop writing the SEO-style posts. Stop cramming the articles with keywords. Stop trying to sell someone something in every post. Tell a story. Put up a funny picture. Find your point of view and express it.

Don't blawg because you want more "link juice." Blawg because you enjoy sitting down and writing. I'll drop back by your blawg in a while. If I find it more interesting, then I may link to it.

Good luck. In the meantime, check out the following blawgs:

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