Updated Blogroll Page

Last year, I did an extensive overhaul of my blogroll page. In addition to adding links to many new blogs, I created a section in which I highlighted active blogs that were at least one year old at the time, providing a short description to tell readers what each highlighted blog is about.

The blogs on my blogroll page focus on dividend growth investing (DGI) and other forms of passive income generation, and many are about pursuing financial independence. I find it fascinating to scan the many blogs out there from time-to-time to see what others think about these topics. Sometimes, someone else's unique way of thinking spawns new ideas in my mind...

Because I find blogs with public portfolios particularly useful, I include a separate link to public portfolios on my blogroll page, marked with a ¶.

Twice last year, I did research on the stock holdings of other DGI bloggers and published articles on my findings. In February 2014, I compiled a spreadsheet combining the holdings of 20 public portfolios and revealed the 31 most popular dividend growth stocks held by these bloggers. To date, that post has received 2,680 page views and it remains the most popular post on DivGro.

In October, I wrote a follow-up article for Seeking Alpha. I scanned the public portfolios of 61 DGI bloggers on my blogroll and compiled a portfolio of 52 stocks, called The Blogger's Dividend Growth Portfolio. So far, the article has received 4,869 page views. At the time, McDonald's (NYSE:MCD), Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), and AT&T (NYSE:T) topped the list of most popular dividend growth stocks held by DGI bloggers on my blogroll.

One of the problems with having a blogroll is that links can get stale if the linked blogs disappear, or, perhaps worse, if linked blogs become dormant because bloggers stopped posting altogether. One of my readers shared his frustration about this situation and suggested that such blogs should be removed.

Instead of removing links to dormant blogs altogether, I decided to create a new section called Dormant Blogs to list those links. The reason I don't like removing links altogether is that we all know that life happens. Perhaps inactivity on a blog is due to unavoidable circumstances, or just because the blogger wants to take a break. Removing such links permanently doesn't seem right. Also, perhaps a dormant blog nevertheless contains useful (albeit dated) information!

I made another change to my blogroll. I created a new section called DGI Honor Roll to list active DGI blogs that are at least two years old. For me, active means a blog with weekly posts, on average. I'm willing to make exceptions, especially for blogs containing less frequent but more comprehensive, in-depth articles. Since I value blogs that include a public portfolio highly, a blog needs to be exceptional to make the honor roll if it doesn't include a public portfolio.

While several great blogs may qualify for the honor roll based on the active and age criteria, one additional criterium is that the blog needs to be about dividend growth investing in a significant way. Although I'm interested in other forms of passive income generation and in other ways of pursuing financial independence, DivGro is about DGI and so that's what the honor roll will highlight.

Finally, I don't actively look for new blogs to include on my blogroll page. If you read this and you have a blog that is not listed, please nominate it for inclusion. You can do this by providing information (such as a link to your blog) in a comment below this post, or on the blogroll page. Feel free to nominate other blogs, too!

And, while I don't require that you add DivGro to your blogroll, I sure would appreciate the favor!

Full Disclosure: Long MCD, T