Blair Williams

Everything is an Experiment

prettybar

Customizing Pretty Link Options – Part 1

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This is the second tutorial on how to use the Pretty Link plugin for WordPress. In this one I go over the most customizable link option — the PrettyBar. Next week I'll cover some more of the Link Options, what they are, how they work and how they can help you extend your online presence.

If you'd like to see me do a Tutorial on a certain topic or you have any questions or comments feel free to comment on this post.

Introducing PrettyBar

Introducing PrettyBar

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pretty_bar_exampleOkay, I know … Digg recently had a full revolt on their hands when they released the DiggBar … but trust me, there are plenty of uses for a Digg-Like bar on redirect links for those of us running WordPress based websites. Before you start make sure that you learn ‘how to create a website‘.?In the most recent release of PrettyLink I created a new feature that I think is AWESOME — the “PrettyBar” … This is an optional bar that you can place at the top of the page you redirect your users to. This bar can have your look & feel, links to your site and encourages users to tweet/retweet your link to others! Here are just a few of the uses I came up with for the PrettyBar (off the top of my head):

  1. Viral Twitter Campaigns — Use Pretty Links in your Twitter posts instead of bit.ly or tinyurl.com and use the Pretty Bar. Not only will you be able to accurately track these links in Pretty Link but you'll have a built in way for your link to be re-tweeted.
  2. Website Promotion — If you send out a lot of links, just think of the impact of giving the end viewer of the link a way to get back to your website! You're effectively posting ads out on the internet that have a built in way for users to get back to your site. Even if only a small percentage click the link to your blog, it is better than nothing :).
  3. SEO Link Building — Imagine the possibilities of every URL you post to Twitter, Facebook, or wherever having an automatic link back to you! I mean you can link to news stories, youtube videos, whatever — and get some links back to you.
  4. Sandbox User Comments — okay I haven't gotten this feature fully completed yet 🙂 … but soon, you'll be able to replace all links in your user comments with Pretty Links with (or without) the PrettyBar. This will keep users tethered to your site for a while in a non-threatening way.

Here are some links I've already created with it:

https://blairwilliams.com/x0z

https://blairwilliams.com/j8u

I'm really excited about this feature for my own marketing efforts… Please leave a comment and let me know what you think of this feature!