» July 27, 2007 in
So a blogger goes out of their way to link to you, YES!!!!, now what? Do you go stop by and say thanks for the link? Or do you just pat yourself on the back and move along?I've always been on the fence with the question but usually stop by and say thanks, however I can't toot my own horn because:
1. I've been guilty of being lazy and not thanking
2. My vanity feed at technorati doesn't catch every link
Today I'm establishing for once and for all, if you link to me, and I know about it, well then, I'm stopping by to say THANK YOU. That should be a no brainer (at least for small fry bloggers).
You could probably go further and then email the blogger as well, or maybe even link back, but let's not get carried away right, lol ;-)
(aside: My latest link came from Daily Tech News where they also posted my video, and I'll be honest, it is very amusing seeing your own talking head on other people's blogs, but I digress)
Do You Say Thanks For The Link? Why or why not?
And what if the blogger has linked to you already, do you say thanks again? The new me says YES. What do you think?
If the answer is a no brainer, why isn't everyone doing it? And what if you are problogger, who probably gets tons of links on some days?
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Ramkarthik says on July 27, 2007
Hey Mark, now you have linked to my blog again. And I do thanks ones who link to me, let it be a small blogger or big blogger. But I guess you have become more of a big blogger now, capturing the minds of many great bloggers out there.
And Mark I also saw your other video about the '31 Day Challenge'. Congrats on getting famous.
Cheers,
Ramkarthik.
thatedeguy says on July 27, 2007
I try to thank everybody at least once, but like you, I sometimes get lazy or just don't catch the link. At the moment, I get few enough links that I can thank those who give them to me, but I think that at some point, when you get to the size of problogger, you have to seriously think about being unable to do all of them so do none of them.
thatedeguy says on July 27, 2007
P.S. You keep getting attractive women for your graphics... where do you get the images. Or are you just lucky enough to have a few hotties roaming around your house with laptops?
45n5 says on July 27, 2007
@Ramkarthik - I'm not famous (yet) lol, thanks again for the mention on your site
@thatedeguy - yeah I get lazy but I'm going to try and change that. the images come from sxc.hu and a few other stock places. As for the women, there are dudes pics coming soon (and anything else), there are many women readers here also so I'll be an equal opportunity picture user.
lucia says on July 27, 2007
I did't know thanking people for links was even done. I don't think I've never received a thank you when I've linked someone else and I don't expect it.
Unless someone leaves a trackback, the only way I know if I was linked is by doing a vanity search and I generally don't bother because I'm linked so rarely.
Adnan says on July 27, 2007
Generally when blog linkbacks are running dry, any site that leaves me a link definitely gets a shoutback and a thankyou if I see it. At times when I get a lot of links due to a big article, it's simply too hard to trackdown all the sites that have linked to me.
45n5 says on July 27, 2007
@lucia - I'm sure many people don't expect a thanks but it probably doesn't hurt to say thanks
@adnan - good rule of thumb, however, when you get an article that get's real popular, wouldn't it be even more important to go track down the links and say hello, make that connection?
Darren says on July 28, 2007
Actually - this is something I think about everyday. When I was starting out with my blogging I spent a lot of time doing things like this:
- thanking people for links
- responding to every comment left on my blogs
- reading others blogs in more detail and commenting regularly etc etc etc
The issue that most bloggers face however is that over time as their blog grows they could quite easily spend all of their time doing these activities and doing very little actual blogging.
It's a tension I feel a lot and something I'm not really sure how to do well. I do thank a lot of people for links, but I'd say it's less than 50% (actually it's probably less than 30%). It also gets hard when a blog links to you every week - I have a couple of blogs that link to me in every second post that they write.... thanking them for each one feels a little odd :-)
Anyway - thanks for the link :-)
If anyone has any ideas on how to do it better - I'm all ears
45n5 says on July 28, 2007
@darren- You're welcome for the link. I wasn't comment phishing by linking you, rather I'm not sure how I would handle saying thank you to everybody while being in your shoes. (although for a small blogger I think it's dumb not to)
Yes it would be weird if somebody linked to me every other post.
Once again I'm not in your shoes, however I wonder if I was if the good rule could be:
Say thanks for EVERY link you possibly can, however never say thanks on a blog more than once per week (or month?).
I also wonder how can we maximize that thank you? I just say "thanks" basically, but what would make the interaction even more valuable? Probably just a thanks is good enough I reckon, but there is a good opportunity to start a relationship there I would think.
Thanks for the comment ;-)
Darren says on July 28, 2007
yeah - I know you weren't comment phishing - no problem there.
I think that your 'rule' is a good one and probably pretty close to what I attempt to do. Of course I tend to get a little muddle headed after a bit and can't remember who i've thanked when etc :-)
I think you're also wise in thinking about how to make the interaction more valuable. It tends to work out a lot better when the comment you leave is more than 'thanks for the link'. For starters I'd think that saying something about their post is a good thing to do - and if possible to add to the conversation in some way on their blog.
Also reading a couple of their other recent posts and commenting can really cement things. Of course now we're talking about some really time consuming activities if there's a lot of links to do. But it all counts.
Darren says on July 28, 2007
two more things that come to mind:
1. return to the blog a day later to check if the conversation has continued
2. send the blogger an email saying a more personal thanks
I think both of these things can really make you stand out and build the relationship. They show you're going out of your way for the other blogger
45n5 says on July 28, 2007
thanks for the pointers darren, I'll for sure try to improve the the connection after it happens
"1. return to the blog a day later to check if the conversation has continued"
No need to return physically, i use and really like this service:
http://commentful.blogflux.com/
this is another popular one but I found it cumbersome to use
http://co.mments.com/
cheers,
mark
Lori says on July 28, 2007
I absolutely say thankyou!! I leave a comment or contact them through email. I also try to return the favor by acknowledging them in a post or link them to my site permantly. I have a section for "blog of the day" and sometimes will put them there. It's the least I could do.
I have been working hard lately to get a few links from higher PR's in order to raise mine. There are many who dont' like to "share" so I'm extremely grateful when someone does it for me.
swollenpickles says on July 29, 2007
The only real links I get are from auto feed scraper sites that have pinched my content! I don't bother thanking them :P
David Airey :: Graphic Designer says on July 29, 2007
Great article, Mark.
Another simple suggestion is to thank the person linking to you using their name. This isn't always obvious via the homepage, such as here in your case.
If it's not obvious I always visit the 'about' page, looking for a name. It just so happens I found out yours that way and started this comment with a more personal tone.
Oh, and so you know, I arrived here via the ProBlogger feed.
Josh says on July 29, 2007
Good to see that some people still believe in the idea of proper manners. I have been raised to thank and to ask nicely. All the vast amounts of blog information has been very helpful. THANKS TO ALL!
Robert MacEwan says on July 29, 2007
Maybe I should start by saying that I came here from problogger. As one of those small fry bloggers you were referring I do make a point of at least trying to thank folks to link to one of my Ubuntu howtos or suggestions.
Not everyone reading this will know how to see who is linking to their site so maybe you could link to a tutorial.
cheers,
macewan
45n5 says on July 29, 2007
@lori, swollenpickles, David Airey, Josh, Robert MacEwan, thanks for the input, processing now.
Woodshed says on July 29, 2007
I'm small enough to always thank people who link. There are a couple of issues that I worry about. The first is foreign language blogs; sometimes Babelfish doesn't make it clear what they're saying about me. Second, people who are linking to my post linking to them. I always thank them but sometimes it's obvious they're doing it for vanity reasons.
Steve Roesler says on July 29, 2007
For sure, I always try and comment with a *thank you* and, if time allows, shoot off an email behind the scenes. At the very least it is a simple courtesy--at most, I've received greater exposure oand a testimonial. Why wouldn't I give thanks for that!
Here's something that just happened, though, that has bugged me. I linked to a post that was really excellent and related well to the topic of the day. Very quickly I received a *thank you* from the person. Just as quickly, I could see that it was an auto-responder form letter. It immediately meant less-than-nothing and actually ticked me off.
If you are going to give out a thank you, then do it from the heart and not a software program. Or don't do it at all.
JHS says on July 29, 2007
I thank the person who linked to me if I know about it.
Is there an easy way to discover such links?
Thanks.
marc eilbeck says on July 29, 2007
I always say thanks for the link if I notice it :D
45n5 says on July 29, 2007
thanks for the comments Woodshed, marc eilbeck, JHS, and Steve Roesler.
I track my comments this way:
http://www.45n5.com/permalink/how-to-know-when-somebody-links-to-your-blog.html
Opal: Vegan Momma says on July 29, 2007
This is something I’m struggling with right now I’m a small fry, but I receive a lot of email from my lurkers I try to respond to them, and the people that have been linking to me on a weekly basis have picked up.
I’ve been leaving a quick reply that lets them know that I’ve read, and then I come back and follow up when I have more time. I like sending a personal email I just started doing it.
I don’t expect to receive attention from a problogger if I like to them I do it occasionally but I mainly recognize the ones just like myself. I guess in the back of my mind I don't want them to think I'm comment phishing because I'm not.
I was shocked when a software developer (Bill Kendrick) stopped by to thank me for writing a personal review about his program, TuxPaint.
Dave Taylor also stopped by my spot when I talked about buying his book about coding. The software developer (David Long) for GrammarianPro sent me a personal email when I emailed him to thank him for creating the software.
I had no idea any of them would do that. I’m small potatoes, lol. It definitely wasn’t expected, but it was appreciated.
Jason says on July 29, 2007
While I'd like to go comment on someone hooking up the incoming link, I don't use WordPress and often have no idea when someone links to me.
But... yeah, I definitely would go chat a little bit.
mike goad says on July 29, 2007
Less than an hour!
Less than an hour from the time I published my post about this until I got a "thank you."
Excellent example for the rest of us!
Thanks!
