What Happens to Blogs that Don't "Join the Conversation"

Today I randomly learned about two good blogs - one on Section 1983 law, and the other on federal criminal law.  I'd never heard of them because they don't have meaningful blogrolls, and they don't link to other blogs in their posts.  I did a brief Google and Technorati search of these two blogs, and guess what - almost no one else has heard of them!  In short, they haven't "joined the conversation," and it has cost them readers

A common failing of new bloggers is thinking they can just write stuff, pretending that other similary situated bloggers aren't out there.  Sadly, those blogs aren't widely read.  A while back I wrote a post about blogging.  Two things I said then remain more true now that there are more blogs (and thus, it's easier to get lost in the shuffle):

5. Link Early, Link Often.
In this post I link to nearly 30 other blawgs. Do you think I do this because I want to run the risk that you will click on the link, find a better post, and forget all about me? Of course not! Every blawgger can find out who is linking to him (See, Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, below). Since blawgging is such a lonely enterprise, we are flattered when other people link to us. We read the post to read about ourselves, much the same way that you always look for your own face in a group picture. Thus, I’ve enticed a couple of dozen people to read this post on Notes From the (Legal) Underground, all by doing the right thing, namely, linking to other people.

6. Build a Blogroll.
On the side of Evan’s blawg, you’ll see a lot of blawgs. They’re all part of his blogroll. You should have one too, for at least two reasons. First of all, I click through other blawgs from my site’s blawgroll. Thus, these other blogs can see that I’m linking to them, and wonder why. (See, Link Early, Link Often, above). Second, your favorite blawg might not follow this advice and cause you to forget about them. You want to be able to find your favorite blawgs? How better to do so than to put them on the one blawg you’ll always remeber?

You can read the rest of the post here.

Comments

[Doug B.]

Are the two blogs you found so unworthy that you can't provide a link for the curious?

[Mike]

Hah. I was going to link to the blogs, but then I felt like the post would seem too critical of them personally, and thus I omitted the links. Here they are:

http://federalcrimesblog.com/
http://www.searchandseizurelaw.com/

Mike