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Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Get More Visits by Hyperlinking Your Signature During #atozchallenge

One of the suggestions you may have come across in the informational posts, tabs, info@ email answers, FAQ, etc., is the advantage of having a having a hyperlink signature.

I'm just going to go Blogging 101 on you here since I know that we have a lot new bloggers joining the the A-Z Challenge.  Besides, I was a math and English teacher and review never hurts.  A hyperlink signature gives readers a "wormhole" directly to your blog.  (I write sci-fi...it's like a Transporter...um Tardis...magic tunnel?  Oh, I got it: apparating.  You read Harry Potter, right?)


So since one of our wonderful co-hosts from last year already explained it so well, I'm just going to say...Take it away, Shannon!  (We miss you...)

When you comment on other people's blogs, you want them to be able to track you down to return the favor.  This can be tricky or time consuming sometimes, so the easier you make it for them to find you, the more likely you are to get a return visit.

Some people have multiple blogs, which makes it hard to know which one you need to visit.  Clicking on each blog to find half of them empty or not having been updated can be frustrating.  The same goes for trying to track down someone's blog when you get bounced all over the place.  When their profile connects with Google+, for instance, you often have to go to the "About" page to track down their blog, though if they update their daily posts there you can click through there instead.

In order to make it easier for people to track you down, follow this method of hyperlinking:

1. Choose your link.  Do you want them to go to your main page, a specific page or a specific post?

2. Choose your signature.  What do you want it to say?  Only a portion of it will be visible.  I'll give an example below.

3. Make your hyperlink.  This is what it looks like:






Notes: You will insert your own URL between the quotes ("http://yourwebsitehere") and your blog or destination in place of "The Warrior Muse" (>Your Website<)

4. Add your signature.  Note that the only things that will be visible after you post are where it says "Shannon at" and "The Warrior Muse."  Anything within the carrots (<,>) is invisible once you hit post.

Note: Make it say whatever you want.  My signature isn't gospel, just an example.  I will often change it for something specific, like a blogfest, so that it says something about the blogfest and directs them to the related post, rather than my overall blog.  (Ex. Shannon, visiting from the A-to-Z Challenge)

5. Post it following your comment!  That simple.

I've become accustomed to typing it out as I go along, but when I first started I used someone's example, made my own, then emailed it to myself so I could always copy it from my email and post it wherever I was commenting.  Figure out what works best for you, and go from there.  People will appreciate you providing them a hyperlink, and you'll appreciate them visiting you. 

May you find your Muse.
Shannon
The Warrior Muse

Hi, Tina again.  I have mine saved in a word processing document that I always open when visiting blogs so it's handy to copy and paste.  I could never remember all those symbols to just type it out...

50 comments:

Empty Nest Insider said...

Thanks for the great suggestions Shannon and Tina! It is a great tool for both blogs and emails.

Julie

LuAnn @ BackPorchervations said...

Great idea! Somewhere deep down inside I knew this, but it is always a good idea to keep reminding ourselves. :O)

JoJo said...

I couldn't make mine work the first year I did A-Z and then last year I forgot to use it the entire time.

Unknown said...

OMD!!! I had NO idea how people did that!!! Thanks you!!!!
((husky hugz))
frum our pack at Love is being owned by a husky

Arlee Bird said...

This is always good info to remind bloggers about. I hate trying to figure out where a blog is when someone has left me a comment.

One important point is to be sure that the comment and the signature are personalized enough to distinguish a comment from spam. If I see a link that looks too commercial or spammy I might avoid going there.

In other words, the comment that says something like "Nice Post. Please visit my blog at Some spammy sounding name. I see that and I probably won't click the link and I'll delete the comment.

Lee
An A to Z Co-Host
Tossing It Out

Yvonne Ventresca said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yvonne Ventresca said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yvonne Ventresca said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Yvonne Ventresca said...

I think I got it to work: Yvonne

Anonymous said...

Thanks for this lesson. I think I got this and the pingback to work (which I tried on a Daily Challenge post a few days ago, but I haven't figured out how to get the entire list of blog links to show up on my blog. You know ...how there's that long list of blogger hyperlinks at the end of the Daily Challenge - when I click on one to go to a specific blog, the list shows up there so I can click to go to another blog. I want to figure this out before A to Z Challenge so I someone will be able to come to my post then click someone else on the list and travel to that post.

Sammy D at www.bemuzin.com

Anonymous said...

Of course, I didn't do it correctly above :-) Scheesh

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

And...
Alex J. Cavanaugh

Anonymous said...

wow. i've been doing it wrong the whole time!

Tina said...

Hey all, I'm co-hosting the IWSG today, so I'll respond to your comments tomorrow. Thanks so much for coming by and giving it a try!
Tina @ Life is Good
A to Z Team @ Blogging From A to Z April Challenge 2014
Co-hosting the IWSG

Rob Z Tobor said...

Damn I have not done this for ages and usually get it wrong....

but......Tally Ho.

Rob Z Tobor

Rob Z Tobor said...

PHew

Tyrean Martinson said...

Great suggestion! It's been a while since I've done this - gotten lazy with the new blogger interface.
TyreansWritingSpot
Does that work?

Julie Cunningham said...

This is great, because I think Blogger is making it almost impossible for newer users to use the old Blogger profile... it took me through a series of 3 warning screens (after hunting for the hidden Revert to Blogger Profile button) about how my functionality would be limited and that I really wanted to keep my Google+ profile. Not for the faint of heart!

Julie @ Julie 2 Jules

Shannon Lawrence said...

Miss you guys, too! Glad I could still help in a teeny way. <3

The Warrior Muse

Unknown said...

This post can't be repeated enough-- great job, Tina, and Shannon!

moltenisa said...

Thanks! This is a great idea :-)
S.A. Molteni at And So it Begins

Anonymous said...

Great idea!

flip mcfliperson said...

You kill me, Rob. But not literally. Usually.

flip mcfliperson said...

from your friend flip over at HILL BLOCKS VIEW

flip mcfliperson said...

PHew

Unknown said...

Thank you! Notes made and I will employ - though you will note, not in this comment as I've not done it yet :)

Gossip_Grl said...

I tried this and I keep getting an error

Elizabeth C. said...

I don't know what I did wrong but neither of these links work. I reread and reread several times and can't see the error.can anybody help me? Pretty please. It won't let me paste in the code to show you. and I don't know how to attach a jpg of it.

Anonymous said...

I've tried this several times now and can't seem to get it to work! What am I doing wrong??
Gail at Making Life An Art

Anonymous said...

hmmm. It worked that time...

Anonymous said...

Great advice - thank you.
Keith Channing
A storey of stories

Magaly Guerrero said...

So very helpful. I can't believe I never thought of it. Thanks so much!

My Fiction and Poetry Site
My Personal Blog

Anonymous said...

Test!

Eva@ Eva Marasca

Mars said...

Thanks for the instructions and going blogging 101 with this, I always seem to have trouble getting this to work properly, so I'm going to try it now...

Mars @ Curling Stones for Lego People

Aditi said...

This is a great tip! Thanks :) First timer at A to Z!! Excited! :)
Aditi, A to Z participant

மதி said...

This is a great tip.. Thanks a lot

GS at Moontime Tunes

Anonymous said...

I always forget this bit, and this year I'm doing two blogs, so it's probably a good idea I start remembering so I can point people to both places.

Patricia Lynne at Patricia Lynne, YA Author & Story Dam

Donna Amis Davis said...

Thank you for this! I JUST now signed up for the A to Z Challenge, and I'm so excited to join all of you.
Donna Amis Davis @ San Diego From A to Z

Unknown said...

I've now been to two blogger blogs and tried to add my signature (I'm a wordpress user but am commenting through my Google+ account, but both times I've been stopped because the link contains h t t p ??

Anonymous said...

Good tip. I shall give it a go. One problem I have come across in this challenge is how difficult it has been to comment on several blogs.
Jude a participant in the A-Z challenge Earth Laughs in Flowers

ICS Cyber Security said...

This is where you’ll be able to see what your signature looks like as you build it. You can even build different signatures to appear on business or personal e-mails.

digital signature Adobe

Unknown said...

I couldn't make mine work the first year I did A-Z and then last year I forgot to use it the entire time.
foto payudara

Paula said...

Smidgen,Snippets,& Bits

BobbieTales said...

Bobbie at The story Realm

Pratikshya said...

Magic Moments

Asha said...

Asha at Parenting in the Wilderness

Sue Starlight said...

Doesn't the link that automatically appears next to the commenter's profile pic do the same thing?

Sue Starlight said...

When I try commenting from my WordPress account, I get an illegal character message. Why? If I comment from my Google account, which I don't want to do, it seems to be accepted. Doesn't the link next to the profile picture do the same thing as a signature? I'll add my signature here as an experiment.

I got this message:

Your HTML cannot be accepted: Reference "“http:" is not allowed: A

Sue Starlight said...

I want to use Sue and wwwdotstranschtdotcom, which is my WordPress site (Space, Time, and Raspberries), NOT my Google user name (Sue Starlight). I'm stumped.

Arlee Bird said...

Not always--it depends on how they've set it up. Yours for example took me first to your Facebook page. Then I had to look around a bit to fit a link--I'd say many people would have missed that link or wouldn't wanted to take the time to look. Other times clicking the link will take one to a Google+ page where no blog link can be found or the blogger's link is intermingled with other blog links that they've shared for other bloggers.

The profile link is great if it is direct and clear. Otherwise you can lose a visitor who doesn't find your site right away. Be sure to test your profile link to make sure that one is taken directly to your blog or to a place that plainly provides links to the blogs you manage. If there are more than one then it's helpful if they are labeled in some way to distinguish defunct or non-a-to-z blogs as such.

Arlee Bird
Tossing It Out