Well, sometimes I forget this, but an outbound link in every post keeps the link love alive. When you blog, whatever credibility and authority you have is granted by others. The best & cheapest way to build up your credibility and authority is to regularly link out to good stuff.

Regular webmasters, who frequently exchange links in an effort to boost their search authority scores, are told that when in doubt it is best not to link. Blogging is the other way round. It is best to be known as the gal or guy who is all about gratuitous linking.

Some small changes in your outbound linking strategies on a post by post basis may present opportunities for you to make more money, but I tend to think the money does a good job taking care of itself if your blog is interesting.

Linking out is a form of free marketing. Linking to useful resources means:

• you raise your credibility in the eyes of viewers
• you make your site easier to link to, as the people you link at may want to link back, and nobody wants to read a dead end site

Some of the people you link at will never link back, and it is best if it is that way. When people are new to the web (at least the commercial bits of it) some people feel they need paid in one way or another for anything they do for others. When you are new and you reference quality stuff it helps associate you with the quality sites. That in itself is a form of pay

If your site contents are found interesting by a large number of people then the overflowing cup theory works well. You can’t give too much away on the web, especially on the well socially connected pieces.

There is little reason to worry about what machines think of your site. If humans like it you will do well. Add links whenever it makes sense and, like karma, the link love comes back around. Regularly linking out improves your linkability 🙂