Monday, June 15, 2009
More reasons to link

Need more reasons to link out from your content? Publishing 2.0 has five. Among them: by linking, you’re creating connections with the broader web community, who are then more likely to link back to you. (This is what I like to call “linking karma”.)

Some tips on linking well:

  • Put the reader first. What further information might they need that’s not available on your site?
  • Start with the obvious: link sources’ names to their websites, book titles to an online bookseller (that specific book’s page, not just the home page), websites to themselves. (Surely the most infuriating thing you can find on the web is an article mentioning a website’s name without sharing its URL, with or without a link.)
  • Don’t forget to link within your site – not just as related stories mentioned within your page template, but as “contextual” links (linking within body text).

Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for links in return – many interview sources will even have websites with media pages that they can mention your article on. You’d be surprised how these small trickles of traffic can add up over time.

- Kat Tancock
About Me
Kat Tancock
Kat Tancock is a freelance writer, editor and digital consultant based in Toronto. She has worked on the sites of major brands including Reader's Digest, Best Health, Canadian Living, Homemakers, Elle Canada and Style at Home and teaches the course Creating Website Editorial at Ryerson University.
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