Editing the Blogroll or Links
How to adapt the Links widget on the sidebar to show your other websites, blogs or any other links that are important to you.
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Click on the button to download a pdf of this page.
First, a glossary (important = read it to understand this e-course fully):
Blog = an online diary that can be adapted for business purposes.
Domain name or URL = the web address of your blog or website.
Categories = archived topic pages to store posts for research or retrieval purposes.
Permalink = each posts’ own specific URL created from its headline or title.
Link = an interactive method of getting to another website or blog.
Widget = blogging programme for the sidebar
Let’s get your links up on your sidebar
First you need to upload your Links widget into your sidebar (if you don’t know how to do this, see my visual e-course ‘What and how to use widgets’):
Now if you look at Blogroll you will see Wordpress has given links to its own websites. I will show you how to put in your own weblinks instead.
First go back to your dashboard (see dashboard link above your blog) and click on ‘Links’ in the left sidebar:
It will take you to the edit links page where you will see the two links Wordpress has already given you:
If you mouse over Wordpress.com the two links Edit | Delete will appear. Click on edit to take you to the next page:
The two fields in yellow are the ones that can be changed into your own information.
Click inside the fields and rewrite your website/blog’s title in the top field and type in its URL in the bottom field:
Don’t forget to put in a description for SEO purposes, click the _blank button so the link opens in a new page and change the identity so it shows it’s one of your websites/blogs. Don’t bother with the advanced section. Don’t forget to click the ‘Update Link’ button. You will then see your new link in the edit links page:
Do the same with the other link and change it to another one of your websites or blogs, mouse-over the wordpress.org link to get the delete link.
If you want to add a new link, select ‘Add New’ from the left sidebar:
Fill in all the necessary fields as before, click the ‘Edit’ button to take you back to the edit links page:
and then check your blog (via the ‘View Site’ link next to your blog’s title in the blue bar) to check your amended links widget:
And if you don’t like the word ‘Blogroll’ you can change it to another name, as well as create other named blogrolls. (Confusingly, they call these Link Categories, not to be confused with the archive categories.) First, go to your dashboard and click on ‘Link Categories’ under the Links menu. If you mouse over the name ‘Blogroll’ you’ll get the links Edit | Quick Edit. Click on Edit.
Edit the word ‘Blogroll’ to a name you prefer, for example, ‘My other sites’:
Don’t forget to click on ‘Update Category’, which will lead you to the page showing the new link category:
And you can view your new links widget title on the blog through clicking on the ‘View Site’ link next to the blog’s name at the top of the menu.
You can create more blogrolls for other kinds of links and give them different names, such as ‘Recommended Reading’. Just add another name in the yellow Link Category name field and click on ‘Add Category’:
And your new link category will be listed:
Although it will not show up until you have put some links into it. So let’s create a new link to another blog as you’ve done before with your own external links. Go to ‘Add New’, put in the details, and don’t forget to select the new link category:
And view your new link widget automatically created for you on the blog’s sidebar when you click on the ‘View Site’ link next to the blog’s title.
Learn more about improving your blog through my other visual blogging e-courses and click on the fairy blog mother logo to ask any questions you may have.
© Alice Elliott 2009
