Teach42

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One of the most significant things about the internet is the able to connect different pieces of it through hyperlinking. In fact, it is often said that hyperlinks are the glue that hold the entire internet together. Can you even imagine an internet without hyperlinks? You’d have to memorize every site you want to visit and type them all in one at a time when you wanted to switch between sites. However, in blogging they have a slew of other purposes.

If you think of blogging as a conversation, it is hyperlinks that allow us to connect the voices together. It is a means for citing information, recognizing original ideas, and giving credit where it’s due. It also allows us to make subtle recommendations for further reading and directs traffic between like minded individuals. Additionally, it provides a reference for the people being linked to, in order to see who has taken their material and spun off of it. There are thousands of plugins, widgets, and snippets of code that are designed to take embedded hyperlinks and add functionality. Some provide previews of the page being linked to, others recognize if it’s media and provide a means for consuming it, while others simple tally the links and aggregate them together.

So what’s the point? If you ain’t linking, then you ain’t thinking. One of the most common questions I get asked is “How do I get people to visit my blog?” Pure and simple, the easiest way is to simply link to others. And not just once either, again and again and again. I may be more egotistical than your average bear, but I certainly don’t think I’m alone amongst bloggers to be keeping an eye on every person who links to me. More often than not, I’m following those links back to see exactly what is being written in reference to my own material. I want to know who is linking to me and why. That has often become the first step to a much more personal relationship. It’s the easiest way to get people’s attention and make them aware of your blog.

So long as we’re on the ego part, let’s just flat out say, most bloggers want a larger audience. Whether you’re willing to make that a priority or not is a whole different conversation. But nobody would mind terribly if more people knew about them and read their work. Google is a big piece of this, and one way that Google determines your page rank is links. Being religious about linking is always something that makes Google happy. Especially if that link winds up being returned.

Image via WikipediaOne thing to keep in mind is that when you’re linking to a blog, there are two ways to do it. There is the general link and the link to the specific post, or permalink. For example, if I wanted to talk about Scott McLeod’s recent blog post regarding how various EduBlogger’s rate according to Technorati, I could do so in three different ways. The first is to refer to Scott McLeod and his blog in general. For this, I would just highlight his name and/or blog and link directly to it, as I did. This allows readers to follow back to Scott, AND if Scott has any sort of EgoFeed created, that link will show up.

However, since I’m referring to a specific post of his, I should also be sure to link directly to the permalink. The permalink usually is available in one of three places: the title of the blog post, the date/time of the post (if it’s hyperlinked) or at the end, referenced by the word Permalink or sometimes Trackback. Copying any of those links and then providing a direct link to them, will not only allow readers to follow through and alert the original author (Scott) of the connection, but it will also send a signal to the BLOG ENGINE, letting it know that I’m linking to it. Some blog engines will then be smart enough to list information about that link as a special comment known as a trackback or pingback.

Finally, the last type of link is linking to a specific comment. Many blog engines assign a different permalink to each individual comment, so if you happen to be referring to one, you can link directly to it. This level of linking is really more of a service to your readers than anything else, as it prevents them from having to search through the post to find what you’re referring to.

And of course, you may find yourself needing to combine all three in a single post, or even a single sentence. For example:

In Scott McLeod’s recent blog post about the Top 50 EduBlogs, Miguel makes a great point about the impact moving your blog to a new URL can have on your ranking.

While that may seem like a little overkill, trust me it isn’t. Each link there serves a very specific purpose and is useful to your readers.

So long as I’m in full disclosure mode, I’ll ‘fess up to the fact that I have one really poor habit I’m trying to break. I tend to write my blog posts in one fell swoop, and then going back and linking everything in. Unfortunately, when I do that, I tend to gloss over some links and rush things, often missing significant links. Case in point, when I missed the link to Lee Kolbert’s Meme on Day 27. Thankfully, she pointed out the error to me and I corrected it. For that reason though, I do recommend that you link as you go. Yes, that’s a personal preference, but I find it to be more efficient. And don’t forget, mo’ links is mo’ better.

So today’s challenge is twofold:
1) Go back through your last few posts and hunt for links that you may have missed. Could you have done a better job? Are there any things that you should have linked that you might have missed? Any places you could have added value by inserting more links?
2) The next blog post you write, go crazy on the linking. Every paragraph, think to yourself… Should this be linked up to something providing more information? Should I include a link to a definition for people that may not know the term? Should I share a few examples via links? It’s OK if it looks silly, it’s just about retraining the brain a little. And sometimes you just gotta dive in headfirst to get some quality swim time in.

What have your own experiences with linking been? Do bother? Are you religious about it? And don’t forget, when you create your blog post, share a link to it here!

One other thing, if you haven’t already listed yourself on the Wiki, please do so! Don’t worry if you haven’t ‘kept up’. This is an ongoing challenge, so even if you’ve only done one day, or have just followed along vicariously, share your own information on the wiki so people can find, visit and support your own efforts to be a better blogger!