The Knitting Fiend

I haven’t blogged about blogging in so long! But, I found a plugin called aLinks; if you blog with Wordpress, I think you’ll really like it!

What does this plug in do? It lets you specify keyphrases, say Amazon.com, and automatically turns them into links with url’s you specify.

How will I use this? Well, suppose there is a knitting author whose books I like to reference, I can enter her name into the “key phrases” list and associate it with a particular URL. Later, when I mention her name in my blog, the name will automatically become a link to that URL. Like this: Barbara Walker.

But you think, “Uhhmmm, Lucia, I already know how to write links.”

I know! But the key is: I didn’t need to code the link when I wrote this article. I entered the URL in aLinks, and now every mention of ‘Barbara Walker’ in every post, including those in the archives, has become a link! (Notice: when used in standard mode, the module only “linkifies” the first citation of “Barbara Walker” in a particular post. )

Of course, I can also associate links with names of my favorite blogs. And get this: If the bloggers change their URL, (as JenLa did recently) Wordpress will fix the URL even in old posts!

Ok…

I bet you’ll want to practice right away. So, visit Headzoo, download the aLinks plug in, read the upload directions in their handy pdf file and install the plug in. (Remember to set write permissions for two folders after uploading the folder.)

After installing, go to your WP Management screen , find ‘aLinks’ and click. Scan dow to find “Key Phrases”, then click! Scroll down to “General Keyphrases”. Enter The Knitting Fiend into your phrase list, enter Lucia is a link whore whatever you like in the description, and then slap either http://www.theknittingfiend.com/blog or http://www.thedietdiary.com/blog in the url box. Then click “update keyphrase”.

Next, blog and mention you heard about the plugin at The Knitting Fiend. Don’t code any html. When you post your blog, you’ll see the link!

Why do all this? ‘Cuz I am a link whore. Because you will want to see how easy and convenient the plug in makes setting links to blogs you mention frequently!