Emergency Childcare asked for a link. In a way they’re ‘competition’. But they’re good at what they do. So we linked.

Personally, I don’t have any problem linking to useful services. The more options uk parents and families have to find what they need, the better. Full stop. And to help that, I think we need to be open. So yes, you’ll find links to netmums, mumsnet and other established sites here.

It’s been a little surprising that some “competitor” sites haven’t wanted to reciprocate links. Of course, they’re not under any compunction to, they may not think we’re a useful enough service, or we don’t have a sufficiently large PageRank yet. And I think it’s wrong to expect that, just because A links to B, B should link to A. But the stated reason is that we’re competition.

From a corporate angle, I suppose we should be pleased we’re seen to be competition. (It’s just Vicky and me after all!) And maybe we’re being naive to link to competitor sites. But from a broader perspective I think the “you’re a competitor” line is a little depressing. It means the site owners view the site as more important than the help it provides.

Ho hum. Rant over. Sorry!