As I have been gradually adding more features to my blog here I noticed something that is not widely addressed. At least it never came to my attention before as I was learning about creating the 125 X 125 ads I use in the right sidebar. I have done these ads before and not thought about it either. The common way to write the code for a clickable link behind a graphic or picture closes your blog page to take the visitor to the link they just clicked on.

This is a ‘non-desirable activity’ in my book! Yes, I want them to click on the link, but keep the blog there as well. I want a new page to open for them, leaving the blog page open for them to return to. You want this too, right?  . . . say yes!

You certainly don’t need to allow people to accidentally leave your page until they are ready to. And we all know how many times we get distracted by the links we click on and don’t always go back to the original site when it has disappeared from our browser.

If you click on one of the ads on this blog you will see that it now opens a new window, leaving the blog page sitting right there waiting for you to return. I know you don’t believe me, so try it. Hehe, just for practice, really!

OK, so here is what you do about it. All you need to do is add a little bit more code to the link code you already have for the graphic. All it takes is this –

target=”_blank”

Here is an example of where you place this minor bit of code–<a href=”http://makeinternetmarketingmoney.com/pdf-power-brand” target=”_blank”><img src=”http://www.makeinternetmarketingmoney.com/images/pdf-pb.gif” width=”125″ height=”125″ border=”0″></a>

The thing you must pay close attention to is the quotes ( “ ) see how there is a quote at the end of pdf-power-brand” and the two within the added code, target=”_blank”

The term ‘blank’ is for a new page, you may have seen this before.

It’s interesting to note that as I wanted to figure out exactly how to do this I visited several sites so I could look at their code, and you know what? I couldn’t find one that was doing this. Everyone was letting the new page blow away their page when someone clicked on a link. Sure this may be a small thing, but if you have studied the making of a sales page, the cardinal rule is that you never, never, never - did I say, never? Never provide a link where someone can click off the page and get lost. So why is it not important here with a blog as well?

If someone just landed on your main page and got distracted, heaven forbid, by one of your ad links and got taken away from the blog – got real excited, bought something and never came back. Maybe they don’t come back to receive all the great free content you have, get top know you more, and – well you get it.

So go fix your links that can take people away from your blog and you will feel like you’ve accomplished something – it’s called ‘saving traffic’! It takes effort to get, so take a little more to save it. Help readers get the value you intend for them.

There is a nice site I found that has some great tutorials that help with doing HTML. If you are like me and don’t know it well enough to remember exactly what to do a week later, this site can come in handy. They didn’t have this exact code example there which is why I had to extrapolate a little, but it is a good site for HTML coding help. It’s a resource I will use again, I found it well laid out and easy to use.

http://csshtmltutorial.com/

John Halderman

For a couple of weeks now a group of students mentoring under Alex Jeffreys has been building a community of blogs to both help each of their business’s as well as help each other as a group. This blog is one of those blogs. The system of blogs is building larger and larger as the 500 people taking Alex’s training are gradually get their blogs set up and running. If you don’t have a clue as to the potential power of such a group of people blogging together, stick around!

As a group we are putting up vast amounts of useful information not only about setting up blogs, but about all aspects of running a successful online business. We are interacting with each other gradually forming relationships which will lead to business associations. We are explaining and defining what we are doing while following the guidance of a proven online success. We are helping each other to succeed in many ways, from technical ‘how to’ to motivation. The power of many blogs linking together in various random ways will benefit everyone with their site traffic.

But here’s the thing, this group of blogs is not only a benefit to the coaching students but to anyone who gets involved. Think about it, what is the power of watching and following an already proven success formula? For those in the coaching group, I hope you see what you have developing here. If you participate you will get pushed up with the group through the ever increasing traffic.

And for those not in the coaching – I hope you see the potential here for you as well. Getting involved with this blog group will benefit anyone participating through the traffic flowing throughout. You can find details about what everyone is doing just by circulating to the various blogs, it’s almost like getting the coaching. If you want to know generally what we are doing you can get Alex’s free list buiding report on the plan we are following, of course the more detailed video version is offered as well which will just broaden your understanding and clarify exactly how it all works.

This is not a closed group, we openly accept participation from everyone, in fact that’s what we want, as should you if you want to build a presence online. Ad links, make comments and help out as you can, and you will see reciprocation. If you think success modeling is beneficial, if you think a group of like minded people is valuable, if you think building a list is critical, and if you think getting ‘well connected’ is powerful – this is the place.

Stick around - watch, learn and participate.

As with anything, this resource must be used to be of value. Information really only has potential value, it’s only when purposeful action is applied, based on the information, that the power is released.