Over the next week or so, i’ll be examining this blog bit by bit and stripping out all the crap. No more Mr Nice guy. That includes deleting or reducing the number of sites i link to. For example, i’ll be getting rid of the links to the rubbish sites i own you know the one’s

I’ve started by erasing the sponsored link in the footer. I was examining wordpress terms and conditions and the GPL and believe i’m within my rights to remove any sponsored links as wordpress is after all open source and making money or benefiting in traffic and ultimately financial form on the back of it’s free themes is technically wrong.

Anyhow, on closer examination, there is a loophole which says the theme author basically has the last word on whether or not any links or material have to remain part of the theme. As i can see no evidence or bundled terms and conditions from the author, i can only assume it’s up to me how i edit/use the theme and it’s links.

So it’s a gray area, and one i’ll take full advantage of, but if anyone has a problem with it, let me know

Now, removing the original designers link would be a bad act, i wouldn’t go that far.. but the sponsored link goes. On a side note, the sponsored link and designer both have a PR7, so that’s the sort of power blog backlinks give you. At present they both have about 300 backlinks from this blog (PR3), and that’s just one blog. This theme is probably used by hundreds if not thousands of bloggers.

So basically, i’ll be SEOing this blog to ensure i get the best possible results both now and come the next PR update around September. I’ve had a lot of requests for blogroll exchanges but for now, i’ll not be going down that road. I’m a predicted PR5, and if i keep the pace up, i could go even further, so i don’t want to jepordise that PR by linking to lower ranked sites.

It’s selfish, it’s not sporting, but watch’ya gonna do about it Although i don’t believe PR is everything, it equals cash, and that’s what i need to survive. Text link Ads, ReviewMe.. all those lads won’t look at you without PR, so it’s not true that PR doesn’t mean anything.