26
Rochelle
I recently wrote about how to add external links to your sidebar menus. Those instructions tell you how to add external links that are either above or below your Site Navigation menu. Since that post I have learned how to add external links to your sidebar menus so that they show up alphabetically along with any other pages you have created. This is one of my favorite mods.
Build A Niche Store member Pip gets credit for this mod. Thank you for sharing, Pip.
My instructions to add external links alphabetically to your site’s sidebar: |
|
| This set of instructions will take visitors from your site, NOT open in a new window or tab. | |
|
Step One
|
|
| Open Notepad (not a word processing program such as Word). Copy and paste the contents of external-link.txt to Notepad. | |
| Note: Change http://externalURL.com to the URL you want to send people to. | |
| Save the file as externalURL.php or whatever you want to name this link, but it must have the .php extension. | |
| Step Two | |
| Upload the file you created in step one to your site’s root folder (where you site’s index.php is located). | |
|
Step Three
|
|
| Log in to your site’s Admin and click on the ‘Content Pages ‘ tab and ‘Create Content Page ‘ link for the template you are using. If you prefer, you can create a new store page instead of a content page. | |
| Enter the following information: | |
|
|
| Note: You MUST include the extension in the ‘Page URL’ name. If your file is google.php then the link must be google.php - INCLUDE the .php or the link won’t work. | |
| Save page and view site for errors. | |
|
.
|
|
You now have a link that takes visitors away from your site that is alphabetically listed in your site’s sidebar menu.
The instructions above will not open a new window or tab. If you prefer to have a new window or tab open then follow these instructions. Be aware, though, if users block popups then the new window or tab may be blank. I know of no way to prevent this.
My instructions to add external links alphabetically to your site’s sidebar: |
|
| This set of instructions will NOT take visitors from your site, as it WILL open in a new window or tab, but it may be blank. | |
|
Step One
|
|
| Open Notepad (not a word processing program such as Word). Copy and paste the following code to Notepad: | |
| <html> <body> <script> window.open(”http://www.externalURL.com”, “_blank”, “”); </script> </body> </html> |
|
| Note: Change http://externalURL.com to the URL you want to send people to. | |
| Save the file as externalURL.html | |
| Note: You can use the actual URL you are sending people to. For example, if you want to add an external link to Google you can save the file as google.html | |
| Step Two | |
| Upload the file you created in step one to your site’s root folder (where you site’s index.php is located). | |
|
Step Three
|
|
| Log in to your site’s Admin and click on the ‘Content Pages ‘ tab and ‘Create Content Page ‘ link for the template you are using. If you prefer, you can create a new store page instead of a content page. | |
| Enter the following information: | |
|
|
| Note: You MUST include the extension in the ‘Page URL’ name. If your file is google.html then the link must be google.html - INCLUDE the .html or the link won’t work. | |
| Save page and view site for errors. | |
|
.
|
|
Rochelle
Related Posts:
Forgive me for being dumb, but why would you want to send people AWAY from your site??
Alice,
Good question. Would you believe there are actually some excellent reasons for sending visitors off your site? (There are.) I think I’ll write a post about it instead of answering here. But I’m currently about to take my daughter to a birthday party so it won’t be until later, possibly not until tomorrow.
Rochelle
Hi Alice-
The best reason I can think of to send people away from my site is to send them to another one of my sites! I use this to send people to my related non-bans site, plus it’s also building links to my non-bans site!
-Gene
Thanks Rochelle for these instructions. There has been several times I wanted to add links but wanted them between or in the middle of my existing content or store pages and couldn’t figure out how to do this. I’ve made navigation links, for example, to particular ebay store pages but they were never positioned where I wanted them so this is great. Your site has a lot of good information and tips!
Sonia
Alice,
I’ve posted about why you would want to send people away from your sites at http://www.nichestorestrategie.....your-site/
Rochelle
Thanks so much for this - I’ve been trying to figure out how to do it!
Hi Rochelle
I Have tried to do the above but with no luck its so confusing when you don`t know how i followed your instructions to the letter but with no joy Help!!!!
To anyone who had problems with this mod: I am so sorry for causing you grief. I had the wrong code and it was causing errors instead of the site you wanted to send people to when clicked. The error is now corrected.
Rochelle