Links (or hyperlinks or URLs or whatever you like to call them) are a hugely important part of blogging. In fact, the whole world wide web is essentially a collection of resources, with links between
them.
All blogs make some use of links, of course. You probably already have at least one of the following:
- A navigation menu with links to key pages
- An "About" page or "Start Here" page with links to important / popular posts
- A section in your sidebar that links to popular or recent posts
- A homepage or blog page with excerpts from posts and "read more" links
Today, though, I want to think about using
links within your blog posts. I'll come onto some of the advantages in a moment; first, I want to take a look at exactly how you can work links into your post without them seeming unnecessarily intrusive.
#1: In the Body of Your Text
One simple way to use links is to simply hyperlink a couple of words or a short phrase where appropriate. This is a great way to provide more information on a particular aspect of
your post, without having to go into lots of detail in the post itself.
For instance:
As well as revealing character through dialogue, you can show a lot about a character through the way in which they view the world around them.
#2: As "Further Reading" at the End of Your Post
If you have several articles or posts to share and you don't want readers getting
distracted part-way through your own post, you can simply put them at the end. Some bloggers call this "Further Reading" or similar; others use a plugin to share "Related Posts". Either can work (though a "Related Posts" plugin may be most suited to blogs that have quite a large archive of posts.)
For instance:
Further Reading:
#3: Whenever You're Quoting
Something
Often, quoting another writer or blogger can add extra depth to your post, bringing in a new perspective or voice that you might otherwise struggle to provide. Whenever I quote someone, I link to their blog post (or a sales page for their book, if the quote is from a book). This means readers can easily read more -- or check that I'm not taking the quote out of context! -- if they want to.
For
instance:
"51% of my fiction book sales income for the last year has been from boxsets, rising to 77% of my Kobo fiction sales income. Without box sets, my income would be significantly less – plus, being in multi-author-boxsets enables me to reach new readers."
You can use all three of these techniques either to link to your own posts (or books) or to link out to other people's
work.
So why link at all?
When you link within your own blog readers are likely to stick around longer and read more posts: you've given them some interesting related options. This is good for you (the longer they stick around, the more likely they are to subscribe to your newsletter, buy your book, hire you, etc) ... but also hopefully good for the reader (one of the posts you link to might be just what they needed, and they may have had no idea
it existed deep in your archives).
When you link out to other people, you're introducing readers to helpful resources that they might not have found before and you're positioning yourself as someone knowledgeable about your field, even authoritative (because you know what resources are out there). In many cases, you'll also find that the people you link to are grateful for the
link!
