“Blogroll” is just a fancy name for a list of links to sites you want to promote. A blogroll can be displayed on a sidebar or featured on its own page. I prefer creating a separate blogroll page, to keep the sidebar clean and uncluttered.

WordPress has a built-in link manager, but it can be unwieldy if you are featuring more than a half dozen or so links. Managing a large number of links is much easier if you use an RSS reader with sharing features. (However, only sites that publish an RSS feed can be managed this way. Most blogs automatically publish a feed.)

One big advantage to this approach is that the list automatically updates if you add, remove or update a feed. There’s no additional work to do once it’s set up. Here are basic instructions on how to set up your blogroll using Google Reader or Bloglines - two popular (and free) options.

Google Reader: You can easily set up folders when you subscribe to and view any feed. Just click the button labeled “Feed settings,” scroll to the bottom of the dropdown list and select “New folder.” Name the folder and save. Now that folder will appear on the list when you click “Feed settings.”

Next, go to “Settings” (at top right, next to your email address) and then “Folders and Tags.” You’ll see a list of your folders and tags. Make your blogroll folder public: click the checkbox next to your folder, click “Change sharing,” and select “Public.” Notice that next to each of your public folders is a link labeled “add a blogroll to your site.” Click on the link, and it will bring up a page where you can enter a title and select a color scheme. Select “None” for the color scheme.

Then, copy the HTML snippet that appears in the text box. Go into WordPress and create a new page (not a post), titled Blogroll, Links, or whatever you prefer. Make sure that you are in HTML mode, not Visual mode. Paste the snippet into the text box. You can type in additional links above or below the snippet, if you’d like. Set the page order and publish.

Bloglines: Log into Bloglines classic, not the beta. The “Feeds” tab at left should be selected. To set up a new folder, click “Edit,” then “New folder.” Click “Finished” when you’re done. You can assign feeds to your folder by clicking “Edit Subscription” and choosing the folder. Make sure “Access” is set to “Public.”

At the bottom of the column is a link labeled “Share.” Click it, and you’ll see the Blogroll Wizard, a form where you can create a blogroll. Enter the name of the folder you’d like to share. In “Link Target,” enter _blank to have links open in a new window.)

Click “Generate HTML.” Copy and paste the HTML snippet into a new WordPress page as I described above.