The Links Are All.
- AnnieI can still hear you saying you would never break the chain.
- Fleetwood Mac, The Chain
It’s true. Even more important than your mouthwatering recipe; more vital than your witty party banter; of higher value than your Bon Appetit-worthy snaps. The Links Are All. The Virtual Vegan Potluck is no more than a glorified blog circle with a bad case of veganus blogus giganticusitis. Without the correct links between one blog and the next, our Dear Readers will be stuck in Appetizers, or Side Dishes or Soups or somewhere else. He or She is dying to see what’s in Breads or Salads or Desserts, but there they are, trapped in the 7-layer dip. So, please, make sure you’ve got the correct links and that they work.
Here’s the good news: Links Are Easy. It’s as simple as inserting an image into your post and then pasting a URL into the appropriate spot. (Blogger bloggers, you’ll be doing an even simpler method of linking within your text.) I’ve detailed the How Tos and What Fors below. This exact same information is also available on the Virtual Vegan Potluck website under How It Works. If you have any questions, you can contact me via the VVP website in the Contact form.
The second VVP update will be published October 24 and will be about time zones, when to schedule your posts and how to schedule them in WordPress and Blogger.
Oh – and a quick and heartfelt thanks for all of the AURV blog birthday wishes! Pretty cool having two birthdays a year, huh?
HOW IT WORKS
I’ve created several buttons (available on the Resources page) that you’ll need for your VVP post – one to use to go to the blog before yours and one to go to the blog following yours. Just copy them and paste them into a folder or spot on your computer where you’ll be able to find them easily. To find the blogs (including links to the sites) that precede and follow yours, please check The Potluck page on the website – this is where I will keep a running and updated list of participants in order. (For detailed information about suggestions and why links are important, please refer to my May 2, 2012 post, Virtual Vegan Potluck: The Links Edition.)
How To Create Links for WORDPRESS Users:
Method 1, Inserting Graphics with Links:
1) It would be helpful to have the rough draft of your post, including photos of your food item, ready before you insert the two graphics.
2) Open your draft post.
3) Scroll to the bottom of your post and hit return one or two times.
4) Click on the camera/musical notes icon at the top of the draft, next to the words Upload/Insert.
5) From the From Computer tab, click on Select Files (or drag in the files).
6) When the graphics have been uploaded insert one (“go back”) then the other (“go forward”) into your post. One graphic should be above the other.
7) Click on the “go back” graphic and then click on the small photo icon at the top left of the graphic.
8) Next to where it says Link URL you’ll see the URL for the photo. Delete this and insert the URL for the blog that precedes yours in the Potluck (i.e., www.nonexistentveganblog.com).
9) Click update. Do the same thing with the “go forward” graphic, except this time, insert the URL for the blog that follows yours.
10) Click update. You are done.
FYI: To have a new window open when a reader clicks the button/image, first click on the image. You’ll see the little photo icon and the delete icon. Click the photo icon. This takes you to the Edit Image window. Go to the Advanced Settings tab and scroll down to the bottom. You’ll see Target then the words, Open Link in a New Window. Click the box to place a check mark in it. Click Update.
Method 2, Linking within Text:
We’ve all done this method. It looks something like this:
To visit the blog that precedes mine in the Potluck, click here!
To visit the blog that follows mine in the Potluck, click here!
To start at the beginning of the Potluck, click here!
(Of course, you will think of a much more clever way to write this – preferably using the name of the preceding and following blogs.)
1) Write your text, inviting readers to move backward and forward through the Potluck. I would suggest that this text be at or near the bottom of your post so it’s the last thing that people read.
2) Highlight the portion of the text that you want to use as a link (i.e., “click here”).
3) At the top of your draft post, click on the little chain link button.
4) At the very top of the window that opens, insert the URL for the blog that precedes yours in the Potluck.
5) Click on the little box that says Open Link in a New Window/Tab.
6) Click Update.
7) Do the same thing for the blog that follows you in the Potluck.
8) You’re done!
Remember, you won’t see a picture/graphic with this method. It’s only text.
I will employ both methods to reinforce that I am part of a circle of bloggers – and I’m going to include a link for people to go to the very beginning of the Potluck (VeganBloggersUnite!), too.
How to Create Links for BLOGGER Users:
Method 1, Linking within Text:
Is the same as Method 2 above. Simply apply a link to text you’ve written.
1) Open your draft post and highlight the text you would like to link.
2) Click Link.
3) In Edit Link, paste in the URL of the blog to which you are linking.
4) Make sure that the Open This Link in a New Window is checked.
5) Click Okay.
6) Repeat this method for the other blog to which you are linking.
7) You’re done.
Method 2, Insert HTML:
Apologies, Blogger bloggers. The method that I used for the last Potluck is not working for me this time around, so please just use the Linking within Text method described above – unless you are way savvier than I in Blogger.
Once more, with feeling: It’s essential once the Potluck is live that you update your links so that they go to the actual posts rather than to the blogs in general. Once the Potluck is over, readers will be able to go from one VVP post to the next without having to search through your blog. Make sense?
Oh, and remember, no animal products should make an appearance in any of your Potluck dishes! Thank you!
And…One year ago today: Simple Side Salad with No-Oil Vinaigrette
