Blogging

Want to know how to generate more traffic for that Blog post you’ve been slaving over? When used properly, trackbacks are an excellent way to build links and traffic to your blog, not to mention its potential for  building relationships with other bloggers and customers.

So what exactly is Trackback?

Put simply, trackback is a way to notify a website when you post an entry that on your website or blog that references it. When you send it a trackback, a link with a short excerpt of your entry will appear on the referenced website. When you want to trackback, you will need to use a special link provided on the blog you want to reference. Most trackback links appear just after the blog post content and before the comments. Sometimes the link will appear as a plain text link:

Other times it will be a hyperlink:

If the trackback URL is hyperlinked, you’ll need to right click on it and select “Copy link location…” (or your browser’s equivalent), otherwise, you can highlight and copy the link. If you plan to reference more than one blog entry, each trackback URL will need to be copied individually. Note that not all blogs display their trackback URL in plain view so you made need to look on the page source.

Sending A Trackback

Before you publish your blog entry, you’ll need to tell WordPress to send your trackback notices to the websites/blogs you have referenced in your post. Paste the trackback URLs into the box next to “Send Trackbacks To.”In WordPress 1.5, the box appears in the Advanced section below the post content box.

In WordPress 2.0, it’s just below the Upload box. If the Trackback box itself isn’t revealed, click on the ‘+’ sign.

Once you’ve added all the URLs you want to trackback, the moment you hit the Publish button, the blog(s) will be notified. If you’re not a reader, here is a video from Ciaran Doyle on the subject:

Related Articles:
Wordpress Trackback Tutorial
How To Send a Trackback With Blogger
How to Create a Trackback

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