My friend David St. Lawrence at Ripples was writing about the phenomenon, of the all but coronated Democratic Presidential nominee, John Kerry.
In his post, David makes the case, that Democratic primary voters were following patterns, of decisions made previously. A voter would cast their ballot for the most successful appearing candidate because others already had.
The theory follows that of Solomon Asch of Princeton University, who posited that people will choose against their own best decisions, rather than be separate from the group. In effect, we are heavily influenced by the previous decisions of others.
David's post got me thinking about blogs and blog linking behaviour.
You didn't really think I was going to do a column on US politics did you?
In the world of blogging, there is what some people refer to as the "A List". Those are the big name bloggers, who receive thousands and thousands of visitors per day. "A List" bloggers receive more readers in an hour, than the majority of bloggers will receive in an entire year.
Many new and limited readership bloggers immediately link their blogs to the big names. While I am not criticising the action, based on the quality of the big name blogs, it is in keeping with Solomon Asch's findings.
Bloggers link to the blogs that are already heavily linked.
The reasons for that linking will vary from one individual blogger to another.
Some link for reasons of writing on the same topic, and of sharing similar views. Many links are created because the blogger has read the major league blogs and enjoyed their content. Those are valid linking choices.
On the other hand, a case could be made that the link was created simply because everyone else had one.
A more reasonable linking strategy for new and smaller readership blogs is to seek out and find other smaller blogs. Exchange links with them. In fact, they are far more likely to be receptive to a link exchange than the big time people.
It's not that the name bloggers won't link back to you. It's because they receive so many requests, they are forced to choose. That means the choice is unlikely to be your smaller blog, unless you provide exceptional quality of posts.
That is not to say the big names won't link back to your post. Some of them will if your content is what interests them and their readers. That is rare, however, for a new and relatively obscure blog. Many of you will post in my comments about an exception. That is good, as far as it goes. Someone wins the lottery too.
A more reliable, although much slower way to heavy readership, is to provide top quality content. That high quality will help you get many links and exchanges, from other less well known (but also top quality blogs).
Those smaller blogs should be your linking choices and link exchange targets.
Link freely to less well known blogs, that you enjoy reading, even if they don't link back. By that, I don't mean only the big name blogs either. It can also mean some very limited readership blogs. If you and your readers enjoy them, link to them.
Just because everyone else links to a blog, doesn't mean that you should.
In fact, you can start your own trend, by linking to those relatively unknown blogs you enjoy. Link to some quality blogs that have very few incoming links. Soon, if Asch is correct, other bloggers will link to them too.
The newly popular bloggers will appreciate it.
Make your own linking choices.
March to your own drummer.
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