A person is perusing the internet, looking for something interesting to read. Maybe they have a distinctive goal of what they want to read, like they are working on a book report or some research about some future project, or maybe they are just looking for something interesting. They type a few words into the search bar, pick blogs as their primary interest, and they are bombarded with hundreds of different blogs ranging from mild interest in their subject of choice to the holy grail of bloggers.
You want to be that holy grail of bloggers, and it starts with linking to other credible content throughout your blog post. Some of that credible content could be other blog posts of your own, but you also want to lead them to other blogs and online articles that back up what you have to say, or give them more information on a topic you only touched on.
Using Links As A Form Of Citation
It’s likely that some of the ideas you put in your blog post come from somewhere else, so make sure you give credit where credit is due. You shouldn’t be taking anyone’s ideas, or rewriting anything they have written, word for word, as that is plagiarism and a huge no-no in the writing world. But, you can mention something that they’ve talked on, and share a link where people can learn more.
Doing this shows that you too do research, and that you aren’t just making things up as you go along. This proves to your blog readers that you are a professional. They read your blog because you are giving them information they want, and maybe need, and they’ll be happy that you’ve pointed them to even more information that maybe neither of you had in the beginning.
Using Links To Further Educate
The best links you will find in a blog post are the ones that take you where you can learn more, and not just see that what this blog said was credible. Maybe you write an article about how to decorate your backyard as a sanctuary, and you mention putting in a fountain or a small waterfall, because the sound of running water is relaxing. You would then link to either something about how to install waterfalls, or maybe something about why running water is relaxing.
You may have even read a blog post from someone else’s page that inspired you to write your, so make sure to give them credit for that inspiration with a link. They’ll appreciate it, and they may even share your blog post and bring you more viewers.
Another important thing to remember about linking is that you want to hyperlink within text. It just looks gawdy having a long, strung out, link. You also want it to be clickable. Forcing people to copy and paste a link in order to see something is going to get you nowhere.
Originally posted on February 5, 2016 @ 11:32 pm
