Avoid Losing Readers: Open New Windows!

Links Losing Readers? Try This!

Often, when readers click a link on a page, they are whisked away to another site, sometimes never to return. You can provide readers with the convenience of links, and make it easy for them to return by using a piece of code which ensures the link opens in a new window. By opening a new window, the reader can easily return to your site.

How it Works: Link List Example

Here is part of a link list from author P.n.Elrod’s blog. The way it currently stands:
WRITERS, AGENTS, EDITORS

• P.N. Elrod FaceBook
• Rachel Caine
• Lucienne Diver
• Lee Goldberg
• Agent Research
• Author! Author!

If you click one of the above links, you’ll need to use your browser’s back button to return.  This is a typical link list created with a blogger link list gadget. This is what the code looks like for this partial list:
<p>WRITERS, AGENTS, EDITORS</p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.facebook.com/p.n.elrod#!/p.n.elrod">P.N. Elrod FaceBook</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://www.rachelcaine.com/Rachel_Caine_-_writer/Home.html">Rachel Caine</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://luciennediver.com/">Lucienne Diver</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/">Lee Goldberg</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://www.agentresearch.com/">Agent Research</a></li>
  <li><a href="http://www.annemini.com/">Author! Author!</a></li>
</ul>
Now, here is the readjusted link list:
WRITERS, AGENTS, EDITORS

• P.N. Elrod FaceBook
• Rachel Caine
• Lucienne Diver
• Lee Goldberg
• Agent Research
• Author! Author!

You’ll notice that these links each open  the destination site in a new window. If you look at the code, you’ll see the difference:
<p>WRITERS, AGENTS, EDITORS</p>
<ul>
  <li><a href="http://www.facebook.com/p.n.elrod#!/p.n.elrod" target="_blank">P.N. Elrod FaceBook</a> </li>
  <li><a href="http://www.rachelcaine.com/Rachel_Caine_-_writer/Home.html" target="_blank">Rachel Caine</a> </li>
  <li><a href="http://luciennediver.com/" target="_blank">Lucienne Diver</a> </li>
  <li><a href="http://leegoldberg.typepad.com/" target="_blank">Lee Goldberg</a> </li>
  <li><a href="http://www.agentresearch.com/" target="_blank">Agent Research</a> </li>
  <li><a href="http://www.annemini.com/" target="_blank">Author! Author!</a></li>
</ul>
Each line in the list has the following piece of script added
target="_blank"
Now if you really wanted to, you could manually go through all your links and encode them accordingly, but who has time for that?
Take a tip from me, and download Windows Live Writer, I was able to swap all those links in less than 30 seconds, and you can too! Just one more reason it’s one of my favourite blogging tools.
What is your favourite blogging tool?