Natasa describes interlinking archived posts as “a blogger’s day in hell!” Strong words but I can’t think of ANY blogging task that horrifies me more than working through old posts to add links to new posts.
It’s incredibly time consuming! And if your main reason for linking posts is to get readers viewing more pages of your blog I’m not convinced of its benefit unless you have a high traffic blog where readers often visit older posts.
BUT…if you want to be a better blogger… make the time to complete this task. Since it forces you to reflect — what you liked or didn’t like about posts you’ve written; your changing writing style; how easy your blog to navigate.
What the task involves
How it works is you look your posts and, where appropriate, link to posts you have written on the same or similar topics. As Ken Allan highlights use links cautiously as you can turn off readers by overlinking.
For example, Adding a RSS Feed From Feedburner To Your Blog post has been linked to the different ways you can set up a subscribe by email feed to your blog and how to redirect all your blog feed to Feedburner!. These feedburner posts could have also been linked to Google Analytics posts.
Where possible it is always better to insert links inside the body of a post rather than use ‘read more on this topic at…’ link at the bottom of your post.
Other Handy Tips
If you really want your readers to follow your links DON”T USE Snap shots on your blog! IMHO they don’t enhance a readers experience and are more likely to encourage readers NOT to check out your links! Read other people’s view here on John Connell’s blog.
I would also recommend switching off Possibly related posts: (automatically generated) on the bottom of your posts. For the same reason I DON”T recommend the use of technorati tags on blog posts — your main aim with links is to encourage readers to view your content!
FINAL THOUGHTS
Interlinking Posts is the Day 4 task as part of the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog. While some tasks are more fun than others; they all do help you become a better blogger. Plenty of time to join us in the challenge — as you can see I’m working through it at my own pace!
What are your tips for interlinking posts? What is your advice for speeding up this process?
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