Thanks largely to a post by Dave at Wargaming Tradecraft, I'm trying out LinkWithin. This is the widget now bringing up a group of images and/or links under every post.
It's a good way of highlighting old and possibly related material, but it's very intrusive too, and dominates many of the shorter posts. I also think it distracts from the posts needing more imagination or concentration. It pushes the comments further down as well.
I'll give it time, but I'm very interested in your thoughts on it.
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13 comments:
Personally..I´ve nothing against them but being a bit of a minimalist who likes seeing the "now", I won´t use them, either on my or other peoples blogs.
Cheers
Paul
Sometime's they're interesting, sometimes not, I guess.
I like this widget and use in my own blog and in blogs of others. It's much easier than scrolling all posts down.
I'm not a fan of it, as it tends to add clutter to a page, but I'm not against it.
I've been a "user" for sometime. It's selection process can be a bit "temperamental" at times (for which, read "random"), but once it settles down it's a very accurate reflection of old posts that have some commonality with the tags of your current post.
I have discovered that if it doesn't seem to be working for a couple of weeks (and sometimes it can take days to settle on what's "appropriate" to refer to) a quick email to the producers of the widget resolves the issue within 24 hours.
I have tried it twice now, but in 500+ tagged pages it would only link back a dozen or so. So it never really worked well I thought.
I use it and it seems to work quite well most of the time, I limit it to the minimum of 3 boxes, checking your stats information will give you an idea of it's worth.
I have never had a problem with Linkedwithin and my posts. Quite contrary, 30% of my traffic is attributed to it, which means my older efforts are always being read, which make me feel better about my use of time.
You're right that with shorter posts, it does stand out somewhat.
If you're concerned about real estate, maybe cut it to show just 1 or 2 other articles?
Try it out for a while though and keep an eye on your stats to see how much it's being used - you might find it worth it.
I like it. I'll add it to my stuff!
I like it too, I tend to catch old posts on other folks' blogs who use it. And I have noticed a decided pick-up in some of my own.
Thanks, guys - that's quite a response. I see the minimalist and clutter argument, but also the advantages of improved access.
The speed of settling and reaction to changes I'll keep an eye on over the next little while. That idea of direct contact looks like a useful reserve option.
What I'd really like is a more customisable tool. Has anyone used Outbrain? This is mentioned often as an alternative.
Looks like I'm late to the party but here's my two cents.
Generally, I don't click on them, unless I see a picture of Calvin and Hobbes. That'll get my attention every time. But for my own blog, no, I don't like it. Too messy and I already have enough images going on.
That said, I'm interested to see how it works for you. Happy Blogging.
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