Before You Link Out To An Interesting Post

Great advice as always Mitch

yes, great advice, this will keep people on your site longer.

Good advice…esp for beginner bloggers. When I first started blogging, I never realized that good content is a click away…right under my nose.

Nice post. I’ve tried to follow this concept on both of my sites, with a reference to the original article included in my post but I always elaborate with my own thoughts and opinions on the topic.

This is definitely one of your better posts Mitch. That’s a very helpful bit of advice. I have been guilty of taking the lazy way out sometimes. I always add my 2 cents, but sometimes that’s not enough to really qualify as useful information to readers. Thanks for the tip

I agree. At least give your opinion on the post and tell me why it is worth you linking to it.
You see that a lot-just a link and a sentence. If you put some words around that link your post will mean something more to the reader. Then maybe you will get a link from someone else.
I bet I’ve done it a few times too though. You are all invited to search around and find out.

Good post idea Mitch!

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You definitely raise a good point - although regurgitated content can sometimes be just as bad as the basic link to other blog posts, especially when your readers read the same blogs as you! I wrote a recent article about this on my blog at:

http://www.communityspark.com/the-dangers-of-using-other-blogs-for-inspiration/

Great point Mitch. Gives me ideas for future articles. Thanks!

FT

Sometimes however it is better to quotes someone’s opinion. It is often hard to explain what someone had in mind. Do you agree with me?

Great article. I wrote something similar on my blog a while ago. If you’re interested, you can read it here.

Respect for Martin Reed - your idea about being careful is a worthy one to be considered.

I do that occasionally I make sure link love is given on sites its great because there are things people have written about but we all have different takes.

My take - You can be evil, but have good content.

much better idea than just linking…

good advice.

Yes, I agree. We make a blog to write our thought and not about cloning John Chow dot com. Thanks John.

Uhhh, okay.

Gotcha doc

Great advice! sometimes, people are all too eager to link their readers to an article, without first giving their opinions. Remember, if a person goes to your blog, he first of all wants to hear what you are going to say!

I do not disagree with the advice of this article, however, it can also be troubling for original authors — especially if the blogger offering their “commentary” is a popular site.

For example:

I broke news on my blog in November about discovering 16GB of inbox storage in my GMail account. It was unheard of, and of course, much discussion occurred throughout the blogosphere.

The problem?

As the original author of the story, I was passed over in favor of these the “popular” bloggers’ commentary. Guess who got all of the traffic? They did. Essentially, they profited off of my own hard work and original story — all I got were a handful of clickbacks.

I posted this story to Digg, Netscape and other sites. My own submissions were ignored in favor of popular sites commenting on my own damn story.

Go figure.

(By the way, this isn’t the FIRST time this has happened — it really changed my perception of the blogosphere and popular user-driven sites such as Digg. Yeah, it put a foul taste in my mouth for sure).

Not sure I agree. When I read my feeds each day I really get tired of seeing the same story over and over and over and over and over again with little difference between the authors.

I have an approach on my blog where I simply post the link and write one or 2 sentences in a daily links post. I think my readers really enjoy it and I don’t go through the effort of writing an entire post around it.

If the story is already fully defined on another blog, why not simply link to it? It provides the original author with the credit, and it doesn’t waste my time nor my readers.

I agree with both doug and Martin. The problem is a lot of the well known bloggers obtain popularity from other bloggers ideas. But when you are talking about making money, you have to take care of yourself and not worry about the other person. Giving credit to the original author is the right thing to do. But sometimes giving them credit also consist of giving them money and readers. A better way to do this is to research the information extensively and find flaws in the authors article. Then link back to it pointing out the mistakes LOL

Yeah I’ve been trying to give a link back to any info I get from other sites. It’s good to read what others are saying on a subject, however you can usually add something useful yourself and even better if you can come up with unique content!

Good post Mitch.

This post was “guest blogged” my me, Mitchell Harper

don’t you mean ‘by me’

Good tip!! I’ve always just linked…hmm…this will change now

Link love, eh — that’s just brilliant, Mitch. It’s refreshing to read about these kinds of things, thanks!

I try to do this as much as possible. But sometimes it’s hard to do. Ya just gotta keep it short and simple or just take words outta peoples mouths.

Thanks for the comments guys. I just got back from an Easter weekend in the outback so I’m stuffed! I’ll post pics on my blog later if you’re interested

Although linking has been like a religion for some, highlighting the best parts in one’s write-up could be more interesting.

All bloggers should think about this before posting. Why send someone directly to another site when you can add your knowledge and keep them on your site?

I try not to unless it is completely relevent to the article.