If you read the title thinking this blog post would be about relationship advice, you have come to the right place. I will be talking about your relationship with your readers.

As a blogger, I know that 70% of my readers are first-time visitors, and while I am excited to see new people come, the real heart of my blog community is my regular readers. The people who know us well enough to comment and engage in real dialogue on the blog are people I want to have a relationship with.

So why would I send them away? Why would I include links to other blogs, like this terrific post by ProBlogger on Linking Strategies? Just as I can’t be the only person in the life of people I love, I can’t expect to be the only source of information for my readers. As the writer explains:

We need to get back to the idea of sharing links simply because the information is of value to our readers.

He is absolutely right. Sharing links to good information gives people a reason to stop by my blog on a regular basis. They know they will find a range of information and opinions. If I am afraid my loyal readers will never come back, then I need to work on my content.

The other benefit?  Trackbacks and links help introduce your blog to other members of the social community.  And perhaps at some point I will write something that will interest them enough to comment on,  sharing their “link juice” with me.

As you think about your blogging strategy, it is wonderful to love your readers, but if you do:

Let them go, if they don’t come back, they were never really yours to begin with …

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Roundpeg, an Indianapolis social media firm can help you develop a great linking strategy.