I got an email recently from someone who congratulated me for making his list of the top 42 content marketing blogs. (To understand the relevance of the number 42, see the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Universe).
I should have been honored and thrilled. But there was one little thing that bugged me — the request to use the supplied code to put a graphic with a link to his firm’s site on my blog. [Don’t bother scrolling down, it’s not there]
I imagine that the emailer is counting on the 81 blogs (42 plus the 39 “up and coming” blogs) to post the link, which will drive traffic to his site, and increase his own site’s visibility and Technorati ranking.
Links are currency in the blogosphere. Should I link to this guy’s site just because he ranked me in the top 42?
On the other hand, he did do me the honor of ranking my site in his list of top marketing sites. And since other bloggers on the list have picked up on it and listed all 42 blogs on their sites, they have driven some traffic to my site (which might produce a few more subscribers).
So I’m on the fence on whether or not to put the link on the site. A former colleague of mine used to warn webmasters to “beware of geeks bearing GIFs,” referring to the spate of awards that used to get handed out to sites, solely for the purpose of getting publicity for the award.
I’ll tell you one thing that makes me lean toward doing it, though — my blog is ranked higher than Seth Godin’s blog. So you know it’s a good list.
Ron Shevlin's Marketing Whims 
Making an allusion to Douglas Adams puts you higher than SG in my ratings.
I like your take on this. You are right, awards programs and top blogs lists can be dicey at best.
I guess the best thing that’s happened is a lot of great blogs out there that no one has ever heard of are now being found. We were also sick of all the popularity contests with blog awards, and chose to focus on quality content around, well, content marketing.
Congrats again Ron.
Best
Joe
FYI – Seth Godin is #8 on the most overrated bloggers list.
Interesting…
My side-line personal blog project was recently selected for “sites we love” on a blog I won’t mention. If I put a link back to them on my blog, I get paid for every click through. I’m not sure if that makes it better or worse, but I’m going to do it.