One of the most baffling questions I occasionally get from clients is whether they should add links to their sites. Apparently there’s this rumor going around that authors should not link elsewhere because it encourages visitors to leave their own websites. It seems they mostly get this advice from their writer friends, but I’ve also come across situations where authors have been told by their agents or publishers that linking is Bad, linking is The Devil, and linking is only done at the peril of lost site visitors (and I guess, lost book sales?). I’m not generally in the habit of telling clients that their friends, agents or publishers are wrong, but…their friends, agents or publishers are wrong on this issue.
Imagine an Internet where everyone subscribed to this mentality. How many of your favorite sites would you never have heard of if you only ever found websites through search engines or paid advertisements? Linking is a cornerstone of what the Internet is all about, and without links, there would never have been an Internet Revolution.
A slight twist on this idea, a rumor that I hear just as often, is the concept of never linking to anyone who doesn’t link back to you. At first glance, this seems like a fair compromise, but again, how on earth would this work if everyone did it? No one would want to be the first to link to the other’s site, and so there’d have to be some sort of handshake, mutual back scratching deal. And then you’d have to keep tabs on the sites who’ve agreed to the reciprocal linkage, just in case they ever remove the link to you, because then you’d have to do the same. What are we, five years old? Who has the time—not to mention the childish spitefulness—for that kind of nonsense?
What bothers me the most about the notion of not linking or only doing reciprocal linking is the petty selfishness of it. I’d be willing to bet you that these people who prefer to live on little Internet islands of their own don’t mind at all when other sites link to theirs without asking anything in return. And they don’t consider how on earth anyone would find their websites if everyone adopted the same no-linking policy as they do.
Now, I do understand where all of this is coming from. I understand that when you have a product to promote, on a website that you paid for, then you don’t want that site to just be a short stop on the way to finding a different website or author. If you don’t want to add a bunch of links that take visitors away from your own site, there’s a simple solution, and that’s making your off-site links open in a new browser window. A lot of people know this and do this already, but a lot of people also don’t. You want to make sure that when visitors are done looking at the site you linked to, yours is still sitting there open in a different window. What you absolutely, definitely want to avoid is forcing visitors to use the Back button to return to your site, because chances are, they just won’t bother.
Opening a link in a new window is easy to do:
1. If your site is managed by someone else, ask that person to make sure all off-site links open in a new window.
2. If you have a CMS based blog or website, there should be advanced options when you add a link that’ll let you specify what window to open the link in. The Wordpress link management feature, for example, lets you set the “Target” of a link to “_blank”. This will open a new window.
3. If you have to edit a link code manually to make it open in a new window, the tag you add is target=”blank”. Example:
<a href=”http://www.notmysite.com” target=”_blank”>LINK TEXT</a>
Putting links on your site not only makes you a contributing part of the wonder that is the World Wide Web. It’s also about networking, sharing knowledge and entertainment, and about revealing more of who you are and what you care about.
So please, link often and link fearlessly. You’re not alone out there!
Excellent!
As a blogging book reviewer, I might also add that most people visit and re-visit sites primarily *because it’s enjoyable.* Readers may be tired and busy, but they’re also smart, sensitive, and want to have a good time. If your site is boring or you come across as a selfish, cynical snot, they’re not gonna come back.
And if they don’t come back, they won’t know what you have to sell and they won’t buy it.
by Kimber An October 22nd, 2008 at 7:13 amKimber’s comment reminds me of the ‘how to get published’ advice: First, write a good book. There are a lot of sites I never return to, not so much because they’re boring, but because they’re annoying. Music, automatically opening videos, slow to load, light font on a dark background (absolutely hate those — must be my astigmatism, but I can’t read that combo). Or even something as simple as an entry page. That’s one more click (I’ll accept it if there’s the ‘over 18′ requirement). Dancing fonts, text that flies around the page. I want information when I visit a site.
I learned the ‘new window’ very early on. There’s also a “top” code I use for navigating to other pages within my site.
by Terry Odell October 22nd, 2008 at 7:20 amBecause of the way my mind/memory work, there’s a couple author’s sites I visit frequently primarily *because* they have links I need. (I’m kinda visual. I may forget the name of a site, but I’ll remember where/how I saw it.)
by Lorelie October 22nd, 2008 at 7:50 amThe linking issue is really indicative of your world view. Some people believe in scarcity. If you win, they lose. Some, including myself, believe in world of abundance. If you win, I could win too.
This also applies to reco’ing other author’s books. I don’t think reco’ing other authors has EVER hurt Stephen King’s sales. I suspect just the opposite.
In interesting aside…
by Kimber Chin October 22nd, 2008 at 8:29 amthe most successful businesspeople, that fictional creature Gordon Gekko aside, believe in world of abundance.
As a blogger who writes about my own writing process and books I’ve read/enjoyed I almost feel like its my job as a blogger to provide links to my readers. Links to research sites, links to books I’ve reviewed, links to other sites who have reviewed the same books and links to fun stuff in general. I love websites with lots of links that lead me to sites I might not have otherwise found. I think you also have to have confidence in your ability to keep viewers returning to your website after they’ve clicked away. The content has to be exciting and enjoyable and one of the best ways to do that is to provide links to other exciting sites. For example, I found Romancing the Blog much quicker than I might have otherwise simply by following a random link embedded in a blog post.
Emily
by Emily October 22nd, 2008 at 9:34 amhttp://emilybecher.blogspot.com
This is very interesting and I can’t wait to see what others have to say. I personally have kept my links on my blog to a minimum purely because I don’t want to overwhelm the reader or feel like I’m pushing too many links. However, as a “reader” I like to see what others are link to…as you can tell I’m in limbo…
by Aris Whittier October 22nd, 2008 at 12:30 pmI spend a lot of time at not-my-computer, so I use the links on my blog as my “favorites” menu. I link to places that entertain me, so there’s a fair chance they’ll also entertain my motley handful of readers… and if not, nobody’s threatening to break their fingers if they don’t click the links.
Although…
by Kerry Allen October 22nd, 2008 at 12:46 pmMy life would be boring if I didn’t have a few links. I also wouldn’t have a writing career if some poor soul hadn’t place a link in their blog or website. I would have never known such places as Agent Query, Romancing the Blog, Romance Divas existed if people felt they would be “losing a sale”.
Seriously, what would life be like without LolCat. Dismal. I tell ya. Dismal.
by Nerd Snark October 22nd, 2008 at 1:16 pmAs a reader, I love links on authors’ websites! It gives me a greater insight into who they are as a person, what their interests are, etc. That’s one of the things I love most about going to their websites: getting a peek behind the book to see the person who wrote it.
So, as an author, I do have a page of links. I try to keep it organized (links of interests to other writers, links to other writers, stuff that I’m interested in that often crops up in my writing, etc.), and I keep it on a separate page so it doesn’t overwhelm the visitor.
I agree with the earlier comments about bad websites. Nothing drives me away faster than pale text on a dark background (almost impossible to read), bouncing things, music/sound effects (I listen to iTunes via my computer–can you imagine how annoying it is to suddenly have something else blaring over what you’re listening to?), etc.
And yes, life would be less worth living without LoLCats!
by Dayle October 22nd, 2008 at 2:04 pm[...] bless Romancing The Blog. Vibeke Courtney just wrote today about how short-sighted it is not to link from your site, or to onl…. (She suggests using the target=”_blank” addition to your [...]
by Lilith Saintcrow » Blog Archive » On Linking, Blank Targets, Voter Disenfranchisement, And Cat Love October 22nd, 2008 at 2:20 pmI agree with you 100% on the sharing the linking love. The more incoming links you have, the more the search engines think your site is popular, so the higher you’ll move up in their rankings…. also a very good thing. (In addition to the whole discovering new blogs, sites, places to hang out. I’ve found all sorts of super-cool places thanks to links…. like this one.
)
That being said, I must disagree with opening pages in a new browser window. First, this bit of code doesn’t validate against the web standards, and there will come a day where browsers won’t support this at all. Second, many users don’t like websites that take control over their browsers. I purposely set my browser to behave the way I want it to and when a site forces me to open a new window, that makes me a little annoyed, and that reflects on how long I’ll stick around on the site. And third, most users are used to the back button and don’t realize they’re in a new window. And when the back button doesn’t take them back to the site they want to go to, they get confused and will close everything or just not ever go back to your site.
I can see the allure of a new window to force people to come back to your site, but I’m not really sure it’s going to be the most successful way to do it.
by MJ October 22nd, 2008 at 4:22 pmGood post. And a favorite pet peeve of mine.
This is very interesting and I can’t wait to see what others have to say. I personally have kept my links on my blog to a minimum purely because I don’t want to overwhelm the reader or feel like I’m pushing too many links. However, as a “reader” I like to see what others are link to…as you can tell I’m in limbo…
I think what Vibeke is trying to get at here is that linking should be a vital part of what we do on the web because “information” is the basis for what the web is all about and always has been. So, what’s more natural than linking to the source of information when we do use it?
I tend to believe that where most people make mistakes with links is that they confuse sidebar favorite links and/or links pages with in-context linking. To put this in terms writers should understand even more clearly, in-context links are like direct references or footnotes while link pages can be seen more as bibliographies. By contrast, sidebar favorite links are more our top choices of any of the above, either of buddies, references, or resources - right at our fingertips.
Seriously, if every single link an individual has ever collected are on any of these lists, they are of no use to anyone. Links should be there because they mean something. Don’t be afraid to link in-context when it applies but also don’t add every link in the world to both sidebars or other lists just because it’s “owed” to someone - because unless it means something on your site it’s still going to be meaningless to you. Make it mean something and then it will mean something to your visitors.
by Bev(BB) October 22nd, 2008 at 4:48 pmI agree with you 100%. I try to use as many links as possible, not just on my website, but also on my blog and blog posts elsewhere. I keep track of my stats, and find that the more I link, the more it comes back to me. People find me in the oddest ways, and many times, it’s through links. It’s like leaving footprints. And I just think it’s good karma. You give and you receive. You don’t give TO receive, you just give…and things come back to you in good time.
by Shirley Jump October 23rd, 2008 at 8:50 amDoes that mean you, chicas, will have to eliminate all those links in the sidebars?!
by Tempest Knight October 25th, 2008 at 11:45 am[...] one website to another? Find any good book recommendations that way? I have. And this post over at Romancing the Blog reminded me that linking is alive and well. Not to mention its a great way to support others in our [...]
by Link Swap - The Cata Network Readers’ Lounge October 27th, 2008 at 3:13 pm