When do you share the link love?

Most of you know me through one of several blogs, most notably Freelance Writing Jobs and About Weblogs. Both of these blogs receive great traffic and others see them as a way to bring in traffic to their own blogs. As much as I’d love to link to everyone, I don’t. I believe in sharing the love, but where does one draw the line? Let me explain…

“Please link to me”

My first working hour of the morning is generally spent reading and responding to email. A good chunk of that email is from people asking me to link to their blogs in my blogroll or, sometimes, in my posts. While I’m all about the link love, I turn half of them down. I’m really not a meanie, but I do need to draw the line somewhere. If your blog didn’t make the cut, there are several reasons why this could be:

• Your is blog is irrelevant to the topic. For instance, why would I put a blog about the Crocodile Hunter (yes it’s a real request) on my Freelance Writing blog?
• You’re just using me to pimp your ebook. I’m not going to shill for you. You might ask me to review your book, but unless it’s something really special I’m not going to link to a blog or website whose only sole intention is to sell product. If you want to take advantage of my traffic, I’m more than happy to discuss advertising.
• I don’t like your blog. If your blog is offensive or poorly written, I’m not going to include it on a blog for writers or bloggers.

Sharing the link love

I’m all about giving people chances. I started FWJ to help fellow writers and bloggers find work. If someone needs help with a project or getting a blog off the ground, I’m always the first to volunteer. And unlike certain bloggers who will remain nameless, I’m happy to promote other blogs and bloggers at no cost.

Before it fizzled out, I started the Pay it Forward Tuesday campaign where bloggers who received a mention would pay it forward by introducing another blogger – and so on. I also reward my readers at the end of the year by listing all of their blogs on my annual end of the year link love post. Plus there’s the blog roll, the guest bloggers, and lots of sharing when I come across fun or relevant blogs.

Why I can’t link to everyone

Still, I’m always amazed at the amount of total strangers who write to me on a daily basis saying, “Hi. Great blog. Link to me.” Some of these people never show up again or reciprocate either. I think what people fail to understand is that as a professional blogger, someone whose sole source of income is through blogging, my reputation is at stake. While I would love to link to everyone who writes to me, I really do have to pick and choose.

In addition to the aforementioned Crocodile Hunter fan, I also turned down a blog by someone who wanted me to link to his creative writing blog, but actually turned out to be a racist. I turned down a link to a gun blog because I felt it to be irresponsible and I don’t link to political or religious blogs because I believe political and religious views to be personal.

I would love to link to everyone who asks, but it’s simply not possible. It’s not that I’m a snob, but I do believe you should have something to offer. As a blogger, my name is my brand and it’s all I have.