Follow the Money!
Recently, when I was polishing my content with Yoast, I realized that I had no idea which links connected to content and which to sales. I decided to create a money tree picture or what we call a 'Mud Map' in Australia, to keep track. The list included;
- Name of content
- Internal Links
- External Links
- Sales Links
Simple but effective, as I also tested the links as I read each post in Wordpress and found some were not working or I hadn't placed any, when I was new.
I ruled up an A4 page into 3 columns both sides, so that I could fit 6 on a page. This way, as I checked each post I could refer to each of my titles, to see what I had included and what I should add.
Name of content
Revisiting the actual title was helpful in two ways. I made sure in my own mind that it had a low QSR in Jaaxy and was relevant to my overall content plan on my website. Some titles were definitely too long and as I'm very new and not ranked I took the opportunity to shortened them and changed the permalink too. Then rewrote the Metalink to read better to encourage traffic.
Internal Links
Google doesn't like too many, so I settled on 2 - 3 per post. I liken this to a tree trunk with extended branches. Each branch, takes the reader to a post on my website that gives them more information and possibly a sales link.
External Links
Because we are a community built on collaboration, Google likes us to have links to and from websites not our own. So, if you have read another website to get your research and it seems appropriate, it is good to show a link in your post. Hopefully, down the track others will put links to your website in their posts, and so on. I tend to put these near the bottom of a post, as I don't want them hairing off to buy from someone else, if possible.
Sales Links
Let's be honest. We are all here to build a business, which means you need to put affiliate links in your posts to get sales. Once you have applied and joined an affiliate program, you will need to check and update your links on a regular basis. So, keeping this 'mud map' close by when you create a post is important.
It will also remind you where these links are and that you need to include them in most of your posts. (For the newbies, Google encourages us to also have some posts without sales links. Ones purely informative or entertaining. Commonly known as Cornerstone content.)
I loved being able to see what content I had produced and it gave me a whole list of new content ideas to link with what I have.
I thought I would share this idea. As it is always great to keep track of your progress in a way that helps you see the big picture.
Feel free to ask any questions.
Wishing you all enormous success.
Perhaps you have a system or tips that help you keep track, please feel free to share it.
Have a lovely productive day
Lily ;-)
Recent Comments
65
Love using systems, and this one seems like a great way to get organized and later track what is working and what is not working using some of the other stats that you can gather with available tools...
There are a few areas that many newer members tend to not do when starting out, and tracking data is one. Things like social marketing, lead magnets and generation.and email campaigns are all typical elements that get put on the back burner...
Even when the focus is on content creation, using the SEO techniques and tracking will help to start out. It can be hard to see where improvements can be made unless you do this. It is like flying a plane - you would not want to do this without the instruments that help you (at least I would not)...
Thanks for the share, good tip and advice!
Cheers!
Dave : )
Thank you Lily for sharing your Mud map.
Kyle encourages us to use a spreadsheet with this information in Bootcamp.
Keep up the great work.
All the best,
Maxine
Thanks Maxine. I've never been good at spreadsheets but I will have to learn as my business gets bigger. Too used to pen and paper.
I'm only in level 4 training so far. I'm resisting bootcamp until my website is making some money before I split my focus and create a new website to promote WA.
Lily
Great thoughts and ideas. Still getting the hang of so many elements and learn more each day. Thanks for sharing this. Very helpful!!!
Christine
That is true if you put affiliate links on your webs you will get sales on amazon and referrals too, thanks for publish.
Very informative to a degree but it's not you, it's my lack of knowledge of terminology that I have cowardly been afraid to ask what these terms are. I have an idea, but I want to br sure, so kind and sweet Lily, will you please tell me what links are and the difference in them. You can private message me with the answers unless there is another non-techie that doesn't know it either.
Charlotte
Hi Charlotte,
Totally happy to explain. Up until about a month ago I didn't know what they were either.
A link is like a road sign to another of your posts or you can have a link that will take the reader to an affilate program website.
So the link to your post, would be called an Internal link.
The link for a sale from Amazon or another company would be a sales link.
One link goes to something on your website (Internal) the other type of link goes away from your website to a sale point or another person's website (external)
You put these in your content using a button at the top of Wordpress.
Hope this helps
Lily
May I chime in?
When you link to another website make sure it is a safe website, the one with the green lock. Google does not like it if you use referal websites that are not safe. Another thing is if your website is in English do not refer to a French etc website, Google likes you to stick to one language only. Your link should open in a new window so your reader when clicking out will come back to your post.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Hi Taetske,
Greetings from hot Australia,
I appreciate you mentioning these points. Yes, they make sense. Where do you see the green locks on the external sites?
Is it shown on the actual site when you are there? Or where you put the link?
Open in a new window. Great idea. I saw the reference but didn't know what to do with them. So much to learn.
Brilliant Taetske,
Thanks Lily
Lily, look at the screenshot, top left you see mywealthyaffiliate. com, in front you see the green safety lock.
Sometimes websites are not safe or even dangerous so you should not link to them. When you go to Spam you often see those dangerous ones.
All the best, Taetske
Thanks so much for this Taetske. I found it on your screen view. I guess I've been assuming that my Nortons protection would tell me. I would hate to send someone to an unsafe site.
Have a lovely day
Lily 😊
In the past, I have put a link to sites that I thought gave added information to my post or were the sites I got my information from. These sites did not have a green lock. Just recently it seems that Google is getting a bit difficult.
Many very good sites do not have the green lock but are.respected and ok. As we are members of WA we are being taught these things and it gives your visitor a safe feeling visiting your website.
Greetings from the south of Spain, Taetske
Thanks for the chime in. I have followed you now and would like for you to do the same to me.
Charlotte
Thank you so much Lily. Your explanation really cleared the confusion on what a link is.
Charlotte
I enjoyed this as I’ve written little and I just today posted my first links ... interesting to attach links to ours from outside our own.
Thanks Tim
Yes, that took me a little while to understand but now I get it. Sharing helps all of us.
Lily
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Good work Lily,
I have been back refurbishing my older posts for most of the week too. A few I have rewritten completely.
Over time I would add bits and pieces to them, and forget to add alt tags or something.
I keep track of posts and affiliates in Excel.
I have to redo that too, as I have been changing headlines. Sometimes a ruler and pen and paper seems so much easier.
Now, I am not disagreeing with you, regarding the external links. each to their own.
But. I will put this out there.
For external links I will not link back to someone elses blog.
I know people do it. I am not one of them.
I will only have one or two external links in a post.
Their destination is always to the most authoritive site I can think of,
Department of ? Wikipedia, Association of ? Federation of ?
Affiliate Links, this is part of my clean up too, I am trying to reduce them to no more than two, one at the beginning, one at the call to action in the closing.
Sometimes it is not always possible, if I am referencing another site or company. But, there may be an ulterior motive in me having it there. Using my affiliate link above for example.
Number of links in a post?. In Jays, Live training, he says 10 maximium.
I would not be running 10 links in a post with less than a 1200 word count.
On an average, I think I run about 5, I try not to go overboard anyway.
Thanks for putting your work out there Lily, great that your sharing information within the community and instigating discussion.
Regards,
Michael.
Great points. I love it that we can have a discussion about this, as I'm still learning and trying to keep it simple. Good point about Excel.
I just find that I spend so much time setting it up that I don't get anything else done. My problem, one to fix in the future.
Take care
Lily
TAFE might still have short courses on Excel Lily.
Thanks greensail, that will be a great idea.
Lily 😊