Why You Need A Blogroll.

I am of the school of thought that sites, blogs, and communities alike should have a link or blog section in an easy to find place. Some think that this only takes visitors off of your site so they don't want to include one but here's my case for the blogroll.
What a blogroll does for you:
A blogroll does send traffic to other sites, this is true. However, sending traffic to another person is also a great way to introduce yourself to that company/person/or site owner. I have met some very high profile people that I thought would never give me the time of day that way. Boosting your network is the lifeblood of your site or blog so a link to another site at the very least might bring some awareness from someone else in the industry and at best, give you a linkback from their site.
Caveat: Choose your blogroll carefully, there are a lot of people on Twitter following everyone under the sun in hopes of a return follow. This is spammy and cheesy so pick other sites that you actually like and read.
A blogroll makes your site a resource for your followers and enhances their experience there. I have certain sites and blogs that I consider to have excellent blogrolls and link sections so I frequent them more often than I would if they just posted their own content. People that are internet savvy are trusting Google search less and less and the authors of their favorite blogs more and more (more on that tomorrow) on where they should go online and what they should read. Visitors that trust your judgement and advice will see your recommendations of other sites to visit as helpful so make sure and post them!

~ Caitlin McCabe, Director of Social Media