The Organised Approach to Websites, Part 3: Playing Favourites

< The Organised Approach to Websites, Part 2: Social Networks : The Organised Approach to Websites, Part 4: Changing your formula >

This post is part of a series.  You can find part 1 here, and part 2 here.


The web is huge.  So many people wanting to have their say; so many sites claiming to be the next big thing.  Everyone wants us to check out their site.  We can't read everything, so what do we do?

We all need to filter out the sites we don't like, and focus on the sites we do like.  It's not our fault if we don't like a site.  Sometimes the site just doesn't offer anything of interest to us.  Not everyone likes the same sites.

What interests you?

Three of my main interests are music, programming, and blogging.  The order of preference can change a lot from one week to the next.  Good job I have more than one interest!

What I've been doing on Entrecard is to go looking for sites that fall into these categories.  There's certainly no shortage of blogs about blogging, but the others are harder.

Decide what you want to read about, and then go looking.

What to do when you arrive

This is the easy part.  Read some posts, leave a comment or two, subscribe to the site.  If you find a post that you really like that is relevant to your own site, link to it.

Don't go overboard leaving loads of comments, and don't ask the other person to exchange links.  If you want to get linked from a site, read my guide on how to initiate a link exchange.

Periodically reviewing sites

It's all too easy to subscribe to more sites than you can keep up with, then unsubscribe from loads in one go out of frustration.  This isn't the best approach as you may lose some of the sites you like in the process.

You could start by keeping track of the posts you like and that you comment on by using starred items in Google Reader.  You can use this to return to posts you've commented on and see if you received a reply.  You might not get a reply to every comment, but if you get no replies whatsoever, ask yourself if that's a site you wish to continue commenting on.

There are always exceptions.  Sometimes a site is so good (or so popular) that you keep commenting even if you never get a reply.

The main thing to consider is whether you still like the content on each site you subscribe to.  Which sites do you skim and which give you things to think about?  Which are enjoyable to read and which are just building up a list of posts that you'll probably never look at?

Remember why you subscribed in the first place.  If a site publishes a great post that makes you subscribe, but there have been no other posts that you've enjoyed since then, maybe it's time to move on.

What are your objectives?

Do you want lots of people to read your site and agree with everything you say?  Do you want lots of sites to read and comment on?  Whatever your goals are, it helps to think about what you want before you go looking for it.  Otherwise, how will you know when you've found it?

My suggestion is to build and strengthen your relationships with like-minded people who write content that you enjoy.  In addition, try to find people who look out for you but who also challenge you.  Look out for them too, and you may start to see why it's not what you know, but who you know...

What do you think?

How many sites do you subscribe to?
Do you review them or do you just let the list keep on growing?
Do you know a few people who challenge you to do better?

Did you like this post? Subscribe today!

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