Help Prevent Carpel Tunnel - Related Posts WordPress Plug-in
September 21, 2007
You may notice that at the bottom of all of my posts, I had a section titled “Also on Port 16″. Believe it or not, I was generating those by hand.
Let me tell you, that started to be a huge pain.
Last night I installed the “Related Posts” Plug-in, and it’s terrific. In the old days (read: Yesterday), I would publish a post, and then I would have to go and edit every single related post that I had, and add a link back.
Then, I would receive a flood of emails asking me about link backs, from my own posts. I always delete these, which also takes up some time.
With this plug-in, I get this handy dandy list of posts, and I don’t have to do anything.
I was worried that I wouldn’t like what the plug-in pulled, but I am really happy. The related posts are, well, related. Cool huh?
The downside is that I was up last night removing the manually entered related posts section on each and every post. If you happen to see any posts which have two “Also on Port 16″ sections, please let me know.
Who cares about related posts?
Well, I do. If you have a blog, then you should too. You see, I have two types of readers:
- Regular readers - I define them as those who subscribe to my RSS feed or actively check my site for updates.
- Accidental or Transient Readers - Those who either come to my site from search results, Digg, StumbleUpon, or referrals from other blogs.
I greatly appreciate my readers, but I prefer regular readers. So my goal is to turn the transient readers into regular readers. Then regular readers into fans, then fans into addicts, then addicts into cult memebers, and finally, cult members into …
Well, you get the idea. I want you to keep coming back. I want you to tell your friends and family, I want you to tell strangers, I want you to tattoo “Port 16 Forever” in a heart tattoo on the back of your head.
Anyway, I noticed a long time ago that if I had a blog story which sent a lot of search results my way, the new visitors would look at that page, and then be on their merry way. Never to look at my blog again. My cries of abandonment were loud and unending.
But ever since I started placing the related links, as well as the “recent posts” section on the side bar, I keep a number of those readers. Instead of looking at one page and running away, they start reading more and more, and then maybe, just maybe, they subscribe. No one has had the tattoo yet though.
If any of you have the tattoo, send me a picture and I’ll post it.
Also on Port 16:
Posted in 
content rss
September 21st, 2007 at 6:06 pm
You really should have a look at the Ultimate Tag Warrior. I use it to generate my ‘related posts’ list, and the tags list at the top of each post. You can also use it to generate a tag cloud (yeah, I know how you feel about tag clouds) and format any output from the plugin just about any way that makes your heart go pitter-pat.
In other words, it provides a truckload of functionality and customizeability.
September 21st, 2007 at 10:15 pm
I know, you love Ultimate Tag Warrior. I looked at it, and I didn’t see any real advantage to using tags vs categories.
This plug-in worked with what I already had, and that was enough for me. It also can be customized to your hearts content, and I actually started out using a meowing kitten for bullet marks, but decided against it. Litter kept piling up and blocking out the footer.
If I get tired of this one, I will eyeball Tag Warrior. Oh, I don’t have anything against the tag cloud. It sure works better then a list, especially if there are a whole lot of tags.
Thanks Art.