Advent of Bloggers 2021: Day 5

I am writing a blog post every day from December 1st to December 24th, 2021, about a blogger whose writing or site I follow. My aim for this series is to help you discover new blogs and to help get the word out about content creators whose blogs I appreciate. You can read more about this series in the inaugural Day 1 post.

@blogroll.org

One of my favourite parts of finding a new personal website is discovering a blogroll, a list of websites that the blogger whose site I am browsing enjoys or subscribes to in their feed reader. Blogrolls make it easy to find new blogs to explore. I have found many good sites through blogrolls. That's why I decided to add one to my own site.

blogroll.org, run by Raymond Hines, takes the concept of a blogroll and mixes it in with other methods of exploring websites to help you find new content on the web. The homepage of blogroll.org is a list of links that spans various topics, from food and drink (the category under which my blog is listed!) to other blogrolls and personal websites. From the homepage alone, you will find plenty of blogs to explore. Each blog is accompanied by a brief description and a link to their website and feed.

blogroll.org also runs a planet. A planet is a site or web page that aggregates posts from different feeds. You can use the planet to find specific articles that may interest you. The planet lists articles with a title, author, and a brief description of the article so you can glance over the page easily and find an article you may want to read.

After exploring the site for a bit, I discovered blogroll.org also has a blog called "On Blogging." The blog, as the name suggests, is devoted to all things blogging, with a particular emphasis on actionable advice that you can take with you into your blogging journey. Many posts are responses to other blog posts about blogging. Some articles that are worth a read are:

• Blogging from insecurity into authenticity
• Keeping it simple
• Free your blog from the tyranny of pace

Wrapping Up

Blogging can be a social medium, so long as you find your community. Doing so can be difficult but tools like blogrolls, planets, and blogging communities help turn blogging into a more social experience, introducing you to new people who share similar interests or just a passion for blogging. I am continually amazed by how many people out there write content on their own blogs where they own the design and how their content is represented. Today, blogs are my go-to place for a lot of reading, especially about technology and websites.

If you run a blog and would like to share a blog, or if you just want to have a chinwag about blogging, you can email me at readers@jamesg.blog. Have a good day! I will see you tomorrow for Day 6 of this series.