Are Your Links Naked?
A properly formed link is an important component of an effective post. It’s easy to dress up your text so your links aren’t hanging out there naked.
NAKED LINKS
Let’s strip away all the confusion and get right to the point: a naked link is a raw web address (also know as an url).
Here’s an example of a naked link:
http://goodtreecompany.com/2009/03/02/the-best-mall-website/
Ugly.
A PROPER LINK
Words are the agent of proper linking within a post. The raw url is seldom used.
The proper way to link the above story would be like this:
See the best mall website on the planet.
Note how the subject of the linked page becomes the words that are linked. Another way of looking at it is to imagine your readers scanning the page. Links pop out of the text. Your reader should be able to identify where the link will take them from the highlighted text.
Read more about the language of linking.
MAKING LINKS IN WORDPRESS
Making a proper link in WordPress is easy:
Highlight the text you want to link and click on the link icon in the toolbar.
When you click on the icon, a little window will pop up. You’ll see a bunch of field to populate:
- URL
- TARGET
- TITLE
The url field is the raw web address. Make sure you include http://
The Target field lets you decide whether you want the link to replace your post n the current browser window or open a new browser window (or tab). Enter one of these phrases:
_self (replaces your page with the linked page in the current window)
_blank (opens a new window for the linked address)
Use _self if you are redirecting to your own content (i.e. another page on your site). Use _blank if you are sending traffic to an external site.
Title (also called Alt Text) are the words that pop up when you hover over a link. They are important for theree reasons:
- Handicapped access
- Add information
- Helps in search
Alt text shouldn’t be a restatement of the linked text. Viewers will often decide whether or not to click based on the alt text. So give them more info or encouragement to click. Pay attention to alt text as you cruise the web and you’ll quickly see what works and what’s lame.
Click on Insert and your proper link is made.
MAKING LINKS ON THE WEB
Here’s a handy trick for making links on many sites that don’t have a link tool. It involves a teeny bit of html, but it’s probably the most useful bit of code you’ll ever learn. It looks like this:
<a href=”http://yoururl.com”>Click Here</a>
Let’s break it down:
<a href=
This is saying “hey, make a link with the following web address.”
“http://yoururl.com”>
Note that the url is enclosed in quotations and a > closes the phrase.
The next part is the text you want linked:
Click Here
Finally, closed out the instruction:
</a>
While we’re here, this nomenclature of brackets <> is pretty universal for web instructions. Here are some other common examples of html tags:
<strong>Makes text bold</strong>
<em>Makes text italic</em>
Em stands for emphasis, btw.
This method of making links works on Flickr and MySpace and certain places on Facebook as well.
THE END
So there you have it. Drop a comment or email me if you have questions about making proper links.
you rock. Now I feel like I know a little html. Thanks for the lesson, Hal.