~ All about Link Parties ~
Part 2 – How to link up to a party – this entry
Part 3 – Should you start your own party and how – to come!
All posts to date are HERE.
Welcome back to Part 2!
Today I’m going to help remove the mystery that comes with linking up to a party. You’ll learn how to enter your post at a host’s party, and how to link back to the party within your post via text or a button.
For the record? It’s way harder to read this post than to actually do it. It’s very easy, I promise. Here we go!
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~ How to link your post to a party ~
#1. Create a url for your post.
A url or post address is the special code attributed to your post after it’s published. You will need this url in order to link up to a party.
How to:
Draft up your post, then hit publish. View that specific post (not your home page) and the address shown is your new url you will need to take along with you to the party.
Sample
(wrong) https://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/
(right) https://www.funkyjunkinteriors.net/2011/04/would-you-live-in-this-barn.html
Note: If you’re on a .com, wordpress, or blogger domain, your end extensions will be different. For Blogger, all posts end with html.
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#2. Copy and paste your url into the host’s party link widget in his/her blog.
1. Copy YOUR url:
Select the text by clicking on it, and when it’s highlighted, edit/copy or use the keyboard shortcut:
mac: hold command/select C
pc: hold ctrl/select C
2. Visit the link party desired and select the Add your link button.
(I use Inlinkz. Other blogs may use different but similar link features)
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3. URL: paste in your blog post’s url
To paste your url info, click in the URL space, then edit/paste, or hold command/ctrl, select V
Name: describe your post (it really should read as Describe, not Name imo!)
Email: add your email
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4. Click NEXT STEP
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5. Pick a picture.
6. Choose ‘select’ or ‘crop’.
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7. If you chose crop, select ‘Crop the selected area’.
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And you’re done!
8. RED X
If you see a little red x beside your thumbnail, your host has allowed you to delete your own link.
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~ How to link back to the party ~
Linking back to the host blog is good party etiquette. Your link will alert your readers to the party, which is the ultimate thank-you back to the party host. Some hosts want you to link back, while others don’t mind if you don’t. The majority of hosts prefer that you do though. So here’s how!
How to link with HMTL buttons
1. Funky Junk’s buttons are located under the main header above. Select BUTTONS.
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2. Choose the button of choice, and copy the url inside the scroll box.
3. Once you’ve composed your post, select Edit HTML.
4. Scroll down to the bottom of your post, and paste thebutton html into your html posting area.
(tip) scroll down to the bottom and enter it there so you don’t break your posts’s html – crucial! Unless you understand html of course.
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5. Select COMPOSE to view the button to make sure it works.
You can now move the button anywhere in your post as desired. I like to cut and paste myself but you can try moving it manually too.
tip: if you did the html wrong, your post will not save in draft mode. If that’s the case, undo (ctrl or command Z) and try again.
If done wrong, you’ll be able to publish your post but the button won’t work so always test after you publish.
Just remember, if your post is already published and you select draft afterwards, you’ve removed it off the net, so make sure you republish!
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~ How to link to another blog with text or pictures ~
1.
Text: type it in.
Pic:load the pic.
2.
Text:Highlight by clicking and dragging, then select LINK.
Pic: select the pic, then select LINK. (this may require 2 tries… just make sure the pic has a highlight over it otherwise it did not catch)
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3.
In the ‘To What URL Should this link go?’
Text: Add the party post url or the blog home page url.
Your call. I always use the direct blog post urls myself however either will work fine.
Pic: Add the party post url or the blog home page url.
Only diff is, you’ll see a blank where it says Text to display.
4. Select OK.
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Text: Your linked text will now be in purple. You are linked up!
Tip: I like to also select BOLD ITALIC and UNDERLINE to the linked up text so you can actually SEE the link. On many blogs, a link looks the same as the rest of the text and is impossible to pick out unless you hover your arrow over it. And who does that?!? 🙂
Pic: your pic won’t look any different so it’s best totest the picture after publishing to ensure it works.
Tip: SNS buttons all automatically link back to Funky Junk’s home page. You can change this by selecting the button / LINK / add your chosen url / OK. You may have to do it twice for it to work, it’s a bit glitchy.
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~ Summary ~
Build your post.
Add link back to host blog.
Publish your post for designated url.
Copy your url.
Paste your url into host blog.
Part 3 – When should a blog start hosting their own link party?
How do you get the link widget installed
Coming up next!
Oh my gosh Donna!
I have NEVER done it this way, no wonder I have problems – lol! You have the most awesome series. I’m learning so much from you! Just wish I could hold this IPad (laptop died – boo) to my head and absorb the knowledge.
Thanx again! You ‘da bomb!
Wow, thank you so much!I tried last week to link to a party for the first time, and failed miserably. Can’t wait to try again- this page is now bookmarked! (At least I know how to do that…)
Thank you!! Just in the nick of time too!!! No wonder I never figured that out before, I’ve never even dreamed of hitting that edit html button!!
Thanks so much Donna! I’m definitely going to start linking back within the post now (there are many parties I didn’t join just because the host required it). The bottom of my posts were looking messier and messier with each party; I’m glad you gave me a way to “clean it up”!
Okay I’m back with a question 🙂 I got my first party linked back great but then the next party had a button with no scroll box. I tried copying the link and the image address but neither option got me the actual box in my post. Just a line of code shows up. Any suggestions?
Can I share something?? Yes, okay. thanks. The way that I link back is different. I save all the linky buttons from my favs in a picture folder. (you know how you save any pic) When I want to place the button in my post, I click the add an image button in the regular edit box and paste the image (the blog button) at the end of the post. I then highlight the button and click the “link” option and cut and paste the post url. Done! No need to open the HTML. Hope this makes sense.
You really should write a book/ebook for blogging beginners. There are so many of us who are starting out with very little (if any) knowlege of the computer and blogging. (It would be a best seller!)
Thanks so much for this information! I hope to someday host a link party. I KNOW I’m going to need this!
#5 Heidi, if there is no scroll box, simply treat the button as a picture and follow the picture linkup instructions.
There’s more than one way to bring in a picture as well. You can actually cut and paste if the photo is already online without opening that document. But you may (or may not) have to follow with adding the link up info, depending on if the picture already has or has not that info added from where you grab it.
Lesley, sounds super easy! Do the pictures maintain the linking up info after you bring them in that way? If so, this rocks! I learned something today.
#7 Miss Charming, I’d LOVE to write an ebook on the topic. In fact I have enough published info to fill one. The only prob is, I’d have to write a Blogger AND WordPress one and finish the book before Blogger changes templates again! I can’t keep up with them. 🙂 But it’s been on my mind forever to write one for how to set up a new blog regardless. Thanks for the vote of confidence!
Donna
Very well explained. Of course there will always be glitches and exceptions, but you have covered how it is supposed to work. Most of the time it does.
Looking forward to Part 3.
Thank you Donna!! I have so wanted to know how to put your button in for a link instead of a word link!! Great series!! 🙂
Thank you so much! And your link parties are usually on Saturday? I’m so new to this that all information and tutorials are so handy and thoughtful.
Thanks, Donna. I’ve been wondering how to do this. I usually just figure things out on my own through trial and error, but in this case, I didn’t want to mess with someone else’s blog.
#12 SoupSeeds, my own link party starts every Fri 7pm Pacific thru Sun 11pm. If in doubt, visit the blog face and look to the right sidebar for the button. The info is always there.
Donna
Thanks Donna, you are a great help to all of us out there trying to find our way..It still is not an easy process, however you do it. But so worth it to be able to share our ideas and projects.
Donna, thank you so much!
I just posted my first Linky Party today and I sent folks who need step-by-step to this post.
(And, I might have mentioned your Sat Nite Special. Just maybe.)
You really do have a knack for writing easy to follow tutorials. Thank you all of your time and effort!
great post…sending my readers here again today.
Also… I joined a party today and had a glitch and ended up posting it twice. Not all hostesses give the option to remove your post. Wonder why that is, if it isn’t a default?
Oh well… maybe I’ll get twice the hits!
Pat
Pat, they may not even know about that option. It happens. Why not request it? 🙂
Thanks for sending the masses over!
Donna
#15 Connie, I promise you, it really is easy once you get the hang of it!
Donna
Thanks so much for the answers!! I really appreciate it 🙂
Omg–thank you, thank you, thank you!
My cousin is the only one I have to help me–but she has been traveling and unavailable.
I’ve been asked to share some of my projects in different linky parties–which I know how to do (finally) but I didn’t know how to grab their button and link back to them.
They have been kind enough to forgive me until my cousin returns—
but, yeah! I can do it myself!
t-h-a-n-k y-o-u !!!
Catherine
Donna you are so nice to help everyone out. You are a bundle of information. Good job!!!
Oh, thank you, thank you and thank you some more for this tutorial.
Jess
YES! This is such an AWESOME post!!! Ugh, where was this when I first started trying to link up to parties – just a few weeks ago!!! This info will save a lot of people A LOT of headaches to be sure. I think if I ever decide to host a link party I will certainly link up to this post so everyone gets a great tutorial on how to join (actually, this whole series is excellent!)
Also, I love Lesley’s tip on just saving and uploading the party icon, then creating a link to that icon. HTML can be a scary beast so this is a great option.
Thanks again for another wonderful post!
Take care,
Christina
designingbynumbers.blogspot.com
I just linked up to my first party yesterday, and I thought I had done it exactly right. However tonight I went back to theletteredcottage to see how many people had linked up, and there was a little red x where my thumbnail had been last night. I didn’t delete my own link. Any ideas what might have happened? thanks so much!
Thank you SO MUCH! Am up early on a Saturday and this is exactly what I was hoping to learn to do this week-end! Have only been blogging about two months and have found it both thrilling and inspiring. Love your posts-so informative with great pics and variety of content…Now I can share some of my projects! Yippee!
Thanks so much for taking the time to teach us newbies! This is something that I’ve been too scared to do but all I needed was more information. I found this really helpful and hopefully can work up the courage to try it now! Finally have some followers, haha
Thanks so much for the info! I have wondered about all of this too. I am also a new baby blogger. About a month in. It’s slow going (very!) but I do want to start linking up, so again, thanks again!
I just liked up to my first party, and couldn’t have done this without your awesome tutorial!! This was so very helpful, it covered every step. Thank you, Donna
I so appreciate this post! I could link up to the parties, but I didn’t know how to add buttons to my page. I was just copying the url and pasting that on the post.. this is perfect!
Thank you for your detailed tutorial on linky parties, the best I’ve seen out there. I am having trouble within my wordpress blog as I don’t see an html option to paste their code. Can you help? Much appreciated.
Thank you for your detailed tutorial on Linky Parties! I am having some trouble on my wordpress blog as I don’t see an html tab to paste the code into. Please help. Much appreciated
Thanks for the info! I’m still pretty new to blogging and looking forward to joining link parties! Love your blog!
Hi Donna, this was a really helpful tutorial! Thanks for posting this. 🙂