How to easily create Related posts for wordpress.com blog posts

Posted on April 10, 2009 by Netty Gritty

RELATED POSTS feature is an important addition in any blog, since it gives the casual reader the chance to discover other relevent things easily. For us bloggers, that means more hits from one user.

Unfortunately, the Related Posts feature for wordpress.com doesn’t create links in your blog that lead to YOUR blog. Rather, it shows relevent posts from allover blogosphere. That is good in a way, cos that means, some of your posts have the chance to be showcased in some blogs automatically.

But what if you want to post links in your blog post that lead to resources within your blog? Well, there’s no easy way to do that. But I am going to share the best method that works for me.

In order to follow the tutorial, you need to have Firefox and you also heve to get CoLT installed in your browser. Now the fun begins.

Instructions

After you are done writing a blog post, write the words Related posts in the bottom.

Now view your blog in a new tab/window and choose an approprite tag or category that is relevent to the post you have just written.

Don’t choose a tag or category from under the post, but choose from the sidebar. The tags and categories that appear under blog posts lead to blogs at wordpress.com, but those on the sidebar lead to your own blog!

The posts under the tag or category you have clicked will show up. Glance over the post titles and choose some posts (not more than 5) that relate to your freshly written post in some way.

Right-click on a chosen post title and copy text with link as HTML link.

Copy text with link automatically

Now go back to the “Edit” mode of your freshly written post, choose HTML and paste the copied code.

Repeat the process for the rest of the chosen post titles.

Publish your post and view your new “Related posts” wonder under your blog post!

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Read 4 more wordpress tips

How to showcase post thumbnails as Related Posts in a wordpress.com blog post

How to create a Tags list to easily pick tags for a wordpress.com blog post

How to automatically display recent posts of a specific tag in your wordpress side bar

How to have featured tags along with an icon and tag rss options in a wordpress sidebar

Create free polls and free surveys for your wordpress.com blog

How to figure out the permalink of your wordpress.com blog post even before you publish it

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How to copy text with link from a hyperlink in any site in just three clicks

Posted on April 9, 2009 by Netty Gritty

YOU can learn how to easily copy text with link from any site in just three clicks. Usually it is not so simple. Say, you want to showcase a post of another blogger in your blog. What do you do? You have to first copy the title and paste it. And then you have to copy the link location and link the previously copied title to that url. What if you could do it all in one go, without having to go back-and-forth?

Colt is a Firefox add-on that allows you to do just that.

What is CoLT?

CoLT (short for “Copy Link Text”) is a tiny extension for Firefox which makes it easier than ever to copy a hyperlink’s associated text. For example, if I were to use this extension to copy this link to my blog, the copied text would quite literally be this link to my blog.

CoLT also includes a means of copying both a link’s text and URL at the same time. This feature is particularly handy for bloggers, web developers, or anyone else who finds themselves writing links to other places on the web. The latest release allows users to create an unlimited number of custom formats for copying both the link text and location.

From Born Geek

You can configure the links in these formats – HTML Link, Plain Text, BBCode, Fusetalk, Wikipedia.

Click here to install the extension in your Firefox.

If you want to use it to configure a link to be used in a blog or site, choose HTML link.

Copy text with link for your blog or site

After the copying is done, simply paste it in the desired location of your blog!

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Bookmark, promote or email this post

How to use Addinto to offer social bookmarking and email post options for wordpress.com blogs

Posted on April 6, 2009 by Netty Gritty

ADDINTO is a service that will enable you to offer both social bookmarking and “email a friend” options under wordpress.com blog posts in just one button. You can call it Sharethis for wordpress.com. You cannot use the available drop-down menu they offer (because wordpress won’t allow you javascript), so it doesn’t open right in your blog like Share-this, but in a new window. But it enables you to get email-post and social bookmarking options in just one button.

Sharethis serves multiple purposes, but there's no workable solution for wordpress.com

Addinto lets you bookmark a post in an online social bookmarking site (e.g.: delicious), or to share it in a social networking site (e.g.: Facebook) or simply email it. The reader only has to choose the right tab (Favourites, Articles or Email) to do that.

Addinto lets the reader bookmark a post in 20 social bookmarking sites.

Under the tab "Articles" 14 more options are available

"Email" option lets the reader open her Gmail/Hotmail/Aol account or use an email client (like Microsoft Outlook) or an email form to email the post

If you want to experience the tabbed bliss just click the link below:

Bookmark, promote or email this post

Now how do you use it for your wordpress.com blog posts? Well, why not read the easy instructions and try it!

Instructions:

1.Get the Addinto bookmarklet for the browser of your choice. (I use Firefox). Get the bookmarklet from here. To get the bookmarklet, choose the yellow star.

* You have to perform step no.1 only once.

Addinto bookmarklet for wordpress.com

2. Publish a blog post and view it. Make sure the address bar of your browser shows the blog post url, and not the blog url! To be extra sure, just click the post title.

3. Click the bookmarklet from your browser (Addinto favourites). A new window will open in your browser.

4. Now click inside the address bar and copy the whole address bar. To do this, use the keyboard shortcuts (ctrl+a) and then (ctrl+c).

5. Go back to the edit mode of your post and choose HTML and not the visual mode. Write “Bookmark, promote or email this post” and click the link tab. Paste the copied url.

6. Save the blog post and view it. Click the link “Bookmark, promote or email this post” and experience the magic!

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Bookmark, promote or email this post

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Question
I want to use a button instead of a text link. How do I do that?

Answer
Well, if you prefer buttons, no problem! You can choose your own button and configure it according to your need by using the Addinto button generator!

The button generator does not generate non-javascript code any more – as pointed out by angelbc in a comment below. So, you can’t use the buttons in wordpressdotcom blogs.

Actually, Angelbc was right, they had deleted the non-javascript option, but they have emailed me where it is available. Also Sam has pointed it out in a comment here. Social bookmarking from Addinto for wordpress.com will let you get the code for wordpress.com. Just follow the instructions below!

Addinto button generator (for wordpress.com)

After you publish a post, click the button generator link given above. (You can bookmark it in your browser for quick access.)

You can choose any button you like.

Be careful about some of the parameters.

For the “Type” field choose “Favourites” and

for “Link Type” choose “Simple” (in order to configure a user-friendly social-bookmarking solution that works for wordpress.com).

After you configure the bitton correctly, generate the button code (click the button “GENERATE”) and copy it.

Go back to the “Edit” mode of the blog post and choose the tab “HTML” and not “Visual”. Paste the code at the end of your blog post.

Update the post and view it. Click your new power button and enjoy!!