Libdemblogs.co.uk is an aggregator site, taking feeds from most Lib Dem blogs (currently 213 of them) and displaying extracts of posts in reverse chronological order.  It is very capably maintained by Ryan Cullen, who responds to emails quickly and deserves ‘props’ (whatever they are) for his efforts.

It’s what makes the Lib Dem Blogosphere different. Other bloggers are dependent on reciprocal links, and so established bloggers become the gatekeepers of what does and does not ‘make it’. New bloggers can get themselves added to libdemblogs and suddenly have access to a large readership, and so because of this it seems normal for blogs to seemingly rise out of nowhere to become regular reads.

So what’s the problem?

The downside to Lib Dem Blogs is that many Lib Dem Bloggers – and other bloggers – choose to link back to libdemblogs rather than create their own blogroll. It’s very tempting: Why link to a specific lib dem blog when you can link to libdemblogs and catch them all in one go? No-one’s offended, no-one’s upset they’ve been left out – politicially it’s smart. But in terms of letting the LD Blogosphere compete with the Tory and Libertarian blogosphere, it’s working against us.

We want LD blogs to compete properly with the rest, we’re going to have to start telling Google and Wikio, “Hey, Google, Wikio: I like this blog. This blog is good!” because, if we don’t, Google and Wikio will presume no-one, in fact, likes that blog. No-one thinks that blog is good.

We tell ‘the internet’ that we like a blog by linking to it. It’s that simple.

Of the top 5 Lib Dems on Wikio on the Wikio rankings – Lib Dem Voice, Peter Black AM, Quaequam Blog!, People’s Republic and the Yorksher Gob only Peter Black links to individual lib dem blogs. James Graham’s Quaequam Blog features a feed widget (or a feejit) of libdemblogs but then only links to blogs affliated with other parties (or none at all).

How did these blogs get their position in the Wikio rankings? Simple: By being linked to by others.

So, I’m laying down the gauntlet here, and I’m asking Lib Dem bloggers – if they haven’t already – to create their own blogrolls. Link to the blogs you read, you admire and you enjoy.  Ask them to link back to you.

Let’s get back to basics and begin linking to each other, rather than depending exclusively on a hub.

What are the benefits? For starters you’ll be helping drive traffic to sites you like, and that means that more people will get to read what they have to say.   In turn, this will increase traffic to the the LD Blogosphere as a whole. This is a good thing, because it means our message (whatever that might be) is more widely read.

Second, and crucially, Wikio Rankings depend on the number of links, and presumably the ranking of the site doing the linking. The higher up the rankings you are,  the more ‘good’ you do – for the LD blogging community – when you link out. If you just link to libdemblogs then the only site that benefits is libdemblogs.

Example: Say “Blog X” has gone from tiny to extremely popular – it gets readers from across the political spectrum, way beyond the usual crowd of LD bloggers, but it doesn’t link to any other blogs. People visit it, but then they have a dead end. Imagine it’s someone who’s never even considered looking at the Lib Dem Blogosphere before – do we want them to simply walk away, or do we want to offer them more: Hey, like this? Then why not try this?

So that’s my message for today. If, when you’re creating your shiny new blogroll you happen to include this blog, please do let me know and I’ll link you back in return (assuming I don’t already).