How To Deal With Requests For Reciprocal Links

On each of my other blogs,
I get at least a request a day from sites
asking for reciprocal links
or mentions
or offering me “free” posts.

I prefer not to link to strangers.
I prefer not to post guest pieces from strangers.

So what do I do?
I ask if they’re interested in completing
a short interview (3-5 questions)
via email.
I then post their answers,
linking back to them,
using them as “experts”
(everyone is an expert in something).

But wait, isn’t this a lot of work?
It would be if everyone said yes.
Fortunately for me,
only about 24% say “yes, send me the questions.”
And then 46% of those don’t bother answering them.