Etiquette Tuesday: The Link Exchange

To ask or not to ask?? When we started writing this blog, we wanted readers. We wanted to share our love of food with any and everyone who would listen, which was about eight people. We received some much needed advice from our gal pals @ Plastic Pundit (*Unfortunately, they had to end their site). They suggested we ask for link exchanges from other food sites after this idea landed them a spot on TMZ's blog roll in 2008. Great idea. Asking for a link exchange changed our whole foodie life...we got readers, increased our unique hits and finally felt like someone was actually listening!

Now this was no walk in the park, we definitely got our share of the big, fat N-O from some blogs but some were sooooo nice about it. Now we don't think you should just go around asking for link exchanges arbitrarily, make sure you do actually read the blog prior to sending out that "Please link with me" email. We don't, however, think that you have to be some avid reader of the blog to ask for an exchange because really at the end of the day...it's just a link and it's not that serious. Additionally, with so many blogs out there, you will probably have 2-3 blogs that you must read daily and the rest are there for when you have some free time lying around...but you do read them.

Now that blogging has pretty much taking over the Internet waves, link exchanges have become just as important as the credits at the end of your favorite TV show or movie. They are, in a way, free marketing so we understand why people can be touchy about them...but you don't have to be mean. One person sent us the nastiest email for simply asking for an exchange (*we promptly blocked them from any further communication...that is, after we told them just where they could take their blog and shove it...). We say for the hungry blogger: Read on a regular basis and then ask (*Hey, you've done your part by providing them with readership...but don't stop reading once you get what you want, we gotta keep it tactful here folks...). For the blogger that made it: Don't forget where you came from, you didn't always have 100K hits and somebodies link exchange helped you to get there...