Sunday, January 22, 2006

Question about Blog Etiquette: how do you request a link?

I have been getting tons of link requests lately, from various sources, and requesting reciprocal links with various of my blogs.

The one thing that seems missing from most of these requests is the requestor's willingness to put skin in the game. So I'm wondering if I have a different concept of appropriate blog etiquette in this regard than most people.

Here's my question:

Doesn't it seem like if you're going to cold-email someone, someone on whose blog you have never so much as commented to establish a blogging relationship, and if you're going to ask that person to exchange links with you because you think our blogs are just so relevant to one another, ad my blog just rocks so hard, then...

...shouldn't I see my blog already linked to by you when I go to check out your blog????

I mean, sure, remove it after a month if I never respond to you. But what is this tactic of approaching me, soliciting me, and then wanting me to be the one who commits first? You'd make a lot more positive impression on me, and seem like more than just a link-whoring type if you went ahead and linked first, asked later.

Am I way off base here? Just asking. Because I've never done this whole cold-email ask for links thing, and I don't judge the very act of doing that. But I do kinda judge the execution on the part of some folks.

What think out there?

Comments:
I'm with you Elisa, I've never asked for links to my own blog, but I usually do grant link requests (though I am sure I don't get near as many as you.) But if the blogger asking for the link isn't already linking to you when they ask, very bad form.

The only time I ever did ask for links, it was for a charity auction I was promoting. Most of the dozen or so folks I approached then were friends (virtual and IRL). The 2-3 that I didn't know personally *were* on my blogroll and regularly appeared as links in my blog BEFORE I asked for a favor.
 
Ha! Yes, umm, it should. Definitely. I would toss a request like that in the trash - unless it's a charitable organization or a charity event.
 
I hate cold-emailing people and only did it once, for the issue I hosted for "The Carnival of Feminists" (which I talk about extensively in my Post Carnival Notes).

You have to judge each request individually. I was promoting a blog project, so I felt I had a reason to cold-email peeps.

It's a fine line, my friend...
 
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