My goal with the ‘best of the web’ posts is to provide a service to readers and to help build community with other bloggers by spreading a bit of link love. Another benefit is that it ensures that I read widely on my topics.
However, I feel that I’m spending too much time on these posts. It’s not just the time to compile the post, it’s also the time to sift through RSS feeds and social media recommendations to select the posts. So I’m not sure that merely reducing the number of links would necessarily help.
I’d like some reader feedback and have compiled a couple of polls to help me make some decisions.
Do you find the 'best of the web' link-love posts useful? (You can select more than one answer)
- Yes - as a fellow blogger I appreciate the support and effort to build community. (82%, 23 Votes)
- Yes - as a reader I find the links interesting and informative. (39%, 11 Votes)
- No - the idea is good but they are too long. (7%, 2 Votes)
- No - the idea is good but the links should be more thematically focused. (7%, 2 Votes)
- No - what could be more dull than a list of links; just write me a post! (0%, 0 Votes)
- Other - please reply via the comments or my contact link on the about page (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 28
Loading ...The 'best of the web' link love posts take a long time. What solution would you favour?
- Focus on a narrow theme. (38%, 9 Votes)
- Keep the format but reduce the frequency. (25%, 6 Votes)
- Run a themed carnival where people actually have to submit to you (17%, 4 Votes)
- Do exactly as you are doing now. I don't care if it takes you hours! (8%, 2 Votes)
- Other - please reply via the comments or my contact link on the about page (8%, 2 Votes)
- Axe the format but add the social media recommendations to your RSS feed. (4%, 1 Votes)
- Axe the format since you already share the links on Facebook, StumbleUpon, Twitter, Digg, Google Reader and FriendFeed. (0%, 0 Votes)
Total Voters: 24
Loading ...
I always appreciate link love from you, and I can see that people come my way from your site.
I do think a thematic approach might make things a little easier for you, though. Keep up the fab work!
.-= Angela K. Nickerson´s last blog ..Please Vote for Michelangelo’s Rome! =-.
I always love the link love. For the sake of less time consumption, I do think that you could tighten each post’s theme, do them twice a month and alternate each one between travel and food. That right there would cut the work down to half and still have interesting posts.
.-= kimba´s last blog ..Mercury 20 Presents Painters Tarra Lyons And Joan Weiss =-.
We totally appreciate the links, but have given up writing these posts ourselves for the reasons you cite: they just take too long. Fwiw, we’re experimenting with one-off links (one post with an excerpt of a really good blog post somewhere else, and an invitation for people to make the jump). Good luck with your decision!
.-= jamie´s last blog ..Got Toddlers? Where You Stay Matters =-.
I did these types of posts for a while and then switched to including my Diggs in my feed. Things are trickled down that way and for me it works better.
If you stay with a compilation, I found it worked well to use an offline reader of some kind, like Thunderbird. I read posts and then move the ones I like, as the week moves along, into a folder for the roundup at the end of the week. It made referencing easy. Just a suggestion.
.-= Peter West Carey´s last blog ..Advice For Trekking In The Everest Himalayas =-.
I don’t think I’ve ever done a “best of the Web” type post. So I can’t blame you for giving it a second look. Plus what do you do when it’s been a pretty bad week on the Web? (It’s not very good, but it’s the best
You’re probably better off just writing your own stuff.
I have found oodles of great reads from your posts but can see how they would take forever. Maybe fewer links in the post or less frequent?
.-= shauna´s last blog ..Elie Chain Walk =-.
I really enjoy reading the posts and will often follow a few of the links that interest me. I’ve added a couple of news blogs to my bloglines as a result (Anny Chih for example).
I really appreciate the link love too
.-= jess (fushmush)´s last blog ..Project 52: Week 38 =-.
This is a hard one. Like the other bloggers, I appreciate the link love and know Perceptive Travel gets fed readers from your site. I also find interesting links through your recommendations. However, as a writer and editor, I always fall on the side of advising writers to do what feels most right for them. When I first started at Perceptive Travel I did a link love-type post that was made of my magazine reading. But I have very limited time to write, and frankly wanted to spend it writing my own things, and reviewing books (since I prefer reading books to magazines), so I stopped doing the list.
And other venues, such as your #followfriday format for Twitter, can serve this purpose. I like kimba’s suggestion above. If you want to continue doing it, reduce the frequency and focus on a theme that’s of most interest to you. Peter’s tips also sounds good.
You’re a good writer, so I like to see you spending time on that
.-= Antonia Malchik´s last blog ..Calling the Cows in West Sweden =-.
Hi there,
For your 2nd question I went with the “narrow focus” option, but I also think the blog carnival/invite people to submit links is a good approach also.
Thanks for asking for my opinion
M
.-= wandermom´s last blog ..Kid Friendly Las Vegas =-.