Let's Talk About Blogging... Blog Rolls | Blogging

It's no secret that I'm a Blog Whore. I love nothing than to lose myself in the realms of what we call the blogosphere. So it's no great surprise that I like a good Blog Roll. Love em in fact! A blog roll is a great little insight in to the mind of the blogger who's roll I'm perusing. It lets me know a little about the types of blogs they like, and it quite often leads to the discovery of other great blogs to read.

I've noticed lately though that not many bloggers have them anymore. Especially amongst the 'newer' blogging set, Blog Rolls seem to be a dying breed. It saddens me. I think all bloggers should have a Blog Roll somewhere on their blog, and here's why...

Let's start at the very beginning (a very good place to start!) and explore what a Blog Roll actually is.

What is a Blog Roll?

A Blog Roll is a list of blogs or websites that a blogger loves to read.

A Blog Roll can come in many shapes and forms. For example, I have 3 Blog Rolls (see, I told you I was a Blog Whore!). I have a list in my sidebar of the blogs I generally tend to check-out on a daily or weekly basis. Then there is my Ladies I'd Like to Lunch with page. It has two forms, a page on my blog, which can be accessed via the menu bar at the top of the page, and also as a Pinterest board.

These ladies (and one or two men) are top-notch. They're the ones I think give good blog, and who I think you'd enjoy reading too. Not only is it an easy way for me to find and click-through to the words I like to read, but it's also my way of giving a digital tip-of-the-hat, a shout-out if you will, to bloggers who never fail to brighten my day.

Why should I have a Blog Roll?

It's not essential to have a Blog Roll. There are no blogging rules that say you must display who you like to read. Personally, for me, I think it's good blogging etiquette. If there are blogs that you love, show em that love by listing them. If there are bloggers that are always there, reading your words every day, and are super supportive of the things you write and share, add them to you Roll.

There's always the worry that someone might get a little down or disappointed that they don't appear on someone's Blog Roll. And you might not want to appear to play favourites. That's why I think having a couple of Blog Rolls is a good idea. The Blog Roll page I have in my menu bar isn't changed very often. It could actually do with a little updating to be honest as some of those bloggers don't actually blog anymore! But it's a great place to be able to display a bunch of buttons without cluttering up my sidebar.

My Pinterest board is the one I update often, and add new blogs to whenever I find them and want to remember them and let the world know, hey, you should read this. Pinterest makes it really easy to have a constantly updated Blog Roll, and if you're only gonna have a Pinterest Blog Roll then make sure you include a visible link to it somewhere on your blog.

How do I get a Blog Roll?

As I've mentioned above, there a few ways to include a Blog Roll on your blog. In Blogger, you can create a static page and include text links or buttons to all of your faves. Add the link to your sidebar or menu bar and away you go.

I know that in Wordpress you can display a list of links in your sidebar, a nice little line of text that is hyperlinked to the blog you wanna shout about. In Blogger, there is a Link List widget you can add to your sidebar that can be customised to suit your needs. The one I use displays the blogs I've added in the order of their most recent posting. I choose to have their blog name, and the title of their most recent post displayed. You can also choose to just have the blog name, or even include a thumbnail and snippet of their most recent post.

For the sidebar minimalists, having a dedicated Pinterest Blog Roll board means you can just have the one link that people can click on to see who you're currently crushing on. It's easy to do, and again the Pinterest Blog Roll can be updated with ease at any time. You can have a plain text link, or you can go a bit fancier and build a customised Board Widget like the one below (this is the header version, but you can also make it square, as a sidebar, or a complete custom widget to whatever size specs you like. You'll find the Pinterest Widget Builder here). If you'd like help setting up a Blog Roll for your blog lemme know, I'm happy to help a blogger out!

Follow Kylie Purtell - A Study in Contradictions's board Ladies I'd Like to Lunch With on Pinterest.

Some of my favourite blogs have been found via the Blog Roll on someone else's site. I have spent many a night falling down the rabbit hole of Blog Rolls and it saddens me that there aren't more of them.

So consider this my public service announcement to the world of bloggers. Do yourself and your readers a favour and get rolling with a Blog Roll now!

Do you like to check out the Blog Rolls of others? Do you have a Blog Roll yourself? 
If yes, then High Five to you! If no, then why the bloody hell not?!
Linking up with Essentially Jess and Huckleberry Love

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