Hyperlink Know-how Part 2

In last month's FIRE STAR PRESS blog post I wrote about how to hyperlink words on Blogger. You can access this post by clicking HERE. This is part of my series which began with my post about putting together an online media kit which you can find by clicking HERE.

This month I'll demonstrate how to hyperlink words using a Microsoft Word document. If you use a Mac computer or a different word processing program, the process for will probably be similar.

I find that there are certain links, such as those for my author platform social media sites and my purchase links for my books, which I use over and over. It can be time-consuming and a hassle to type the descriptive words and hyperlink them from scratch every time I wish to use them. I have found that by formatting the information in a Word document, and then hyperlinking those words, I can copy and paste the information from the Word document to either an email or a blog post. What is more, the hyperlinked words stay hyperlinked.

Here is how I go about it:

1.  In my Word document, I format the information I want in the proper font (one that is compatible with the available fonts on my email program and Blogger), font size, and lay-out. 

I save this in My Documents as part of my online media kit. Links like the one below I save on my desktop where I can find and access it easily. To begin the hyperlinking process, I highlight the word I wish to hyperlink. In this case, it is my personal website.

Very important!

I cannot stress this enough.

A word of caution if you plan to put together a grouping of words like author platform links or book purchase links, whether you are doing it on a Word document or directly into a blog page:

Do not use the TAB button on your computer keyboard to separate the words you wish hyperlinked.

Use the SPACE BAR.

Here is the problem if you use the TAB key. The tab will connect word one with word two. Then what can happen when you hyperlink the first word and accidentally pick up the tab in your hyperlink, you are unable to hyperlink word two because it is already connected to word one by the tab.

I like to use two spaces, a character, and then two more spaces to separate my words I wish to hyperlink. In this example, I use vertical bars, but there are other options. 

Word  |  Word  ~  Word  *  Word  <>  Word  /  Word  #  Word

Choose a style that fits you, or just use spaces. Just be sure to separate your words to be hyperlinked using the space bar. And, when highlighting the word to be hyperlinked, do your best to not catch any of the spaces or the separators.

Yes

NO!

3. Go to Insert on the command tools ribbon and click on Hyperlink. You can also use the shortcut command <CTRL>+K.


4. This will bring up the Insert Hyperlink command box. Set the Link to: to Existing File or Web Page. Set the Look in: to Current Folder if you are copying the link from a Word document or to Browsed Pages  if you are copying the link from the web.

5. The next step is to copy the URL, or web address, of the site to which you wish to link the word(s) you have highlighted. You can go directly to the site on your web browser.:

Or, you can do it this way. What I have done is put the links at the bottom of the page below my formatted section I intend to copy and paste to emails and blog pages, etc. and save it as part of my permanent record. You can do it either way. 




Highlight the URL of the website to which you wish to connect your word(s), and use either the shortcut command <CTRL>+C or right-click your mouse or touch pad and click on Copy.

6. Down at the bottom under Address:, Paste your link by using the shortcut command <CTRL>+V or by Right-clicking on your mouse or touch pad and clicking on Paste. Now your link is in the command box. Click on the OK button.

7. Now your word is hyperlinked to the website to which you connected it. Continue to hyperlink all the words you need hyperlinked. Save your document with a descriptive name.

8. Once you get your Word document formatted, hyperlinked and saved. you can copy and paste the section you need to your email or blog post. Not only does the font style and size stay the same, but the hyperlinks transfer. You will see this very same grouping copy and pasted from my word document to the bottom of this blog post.
 

 Zina Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her historical novels. Her novel, Family Secrets, was published by Fire Star Press in October 2014 and her novelette, AChristmas Promise, was published by Prairie Rose Publications in November 2014. The first two novellas in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series, Big Meadows Valentine and A Resurrected Heart, are now available.

The author is a member of Women Writing the West, American Night Writers Association, and Modesto Writers Meet Up. She currently lives with her husband in California near the “Gateway to Yosemite.” She enjoys any kind of history including family history. When she is not piecing together novel plots, she pieces together quilt blocks.

AUTHOR LINKS:

WEBSITE  |  BLOG  |  FACEBOOK  |  PINTEREST  

GOODREADS   |  AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE

Hyperlink Know-how Part 1

 As promised on my last month's FIRE STAR PRESS blog post about putting together an online media kit which you can find by clicking HERE, I'm going to share with you how to hyperlink words. This month I'll demonstrate how to hyperlink using the Blogger blog service. If you use a different blogging or website service, the process for your blog or website host will probably be similar.

You can just copy and paste a URL, or web address, directly into a blog. For example, the web address for my novel, Family Secrets published by FIRE STAR PRESS looks like this:  

http://prairierosepublications.com/OTHER-IMPRINTS/FIRE-STAR-PRESS/


I prefer to hyperlink descriptive words to direct the reader to the web page. It is neater, more concise and more descriptive. I can word it something like:

Read about Family Secrets by Zina Abbott by clicking HERE.

Or I can word it as follows:

Read more about Family Secrets by Zina Abbott on the FIRE STAR PRESS website. 

Either way, by clicking on the hyperlinked words, the reader will direct the web browser to open a new page with the website page linked to the words in the blog post. Whichever style is used, I believe it looks much cleaner than just hyperlinking the URL. Here is how to hyperlink words in Blogger step by step:

1. Type the words in the blog window/page. Using your mouse or touch pad, highlight the words you want hyperlinked. Then click on the Link icon in the toolbar.

 2.  This will bring up an Edit Link command box. You will be interested in the section that links your words to a web address.

  3.  Next, on your web browser, open a new window and bring up the URL, or web address, of the site to which you wish to connect your hyperlinked words. Note in the example below I have one window for Mozilla Firefox Start Page, one for Blogger Fire Star Press and one for Prairie Rose Publications, which happens to host the Family Secrets page of their imprint Fire Star Press. Highlight that web page's URL and Copy using either the <CTRL>+C command, or by right-clicking on your mouse or touch pad and selecting Copy.

4.  Toggle back to the page for your blog post. In the Web address window of the Edit Link command box, Paste the URL you just highlighted using either the <CTRL>+V command or by right-clicking on your mouse or touch pad and selecting Paste. Note that the words you have highlighted to be hyperlinked are in the Text to display window. 

5. I always use the Test this link function to bring up the URL I pasted into into the Link to:Web address window to make sure the link is correct. If the webpage does not come up properly, I find out why not and redo the link so it works.

 
6.  I prefer to have my links open in a new window, so I check the Open this link in a new window command. Then click on OK.

7. Once the Edit Link command box closes, the words you highlighted are now hyperlinked, or connected, to the website. When you hover over the hyperlinked text, information about the link plus options to either change or remove the link are made available.
 

 8. And, once again, here is what that hyperlinked text looks like in the blog post. click on the following link and let it take you to the FIRE STAR PRESS page for the book:

Read more about Family Secrets by Zina Abbott on the FIRE STAR PRESS website.

Next month I'll cover how to make life easier by hyperlinking information you regularly use in Microsoft Word so you can copy and paste it to an email, blog post or where you want it. 

 Zina Abbott is the pen name used by Robyn Echols for her historical novels. Her novel, Family Secrets, was published by Fire Star Press in October 2014 and her novelette, AChristmas Promise, was published by Prairie Rose Publications in November 2014. The first two novellas in the Eastern Sierra Brides 1884 series, Big Meadows Valentine and A Resurrected Heart, are now available.

The author is a member of Women Writing the West, American Night Writers Association, and Modesto Writers Meet Up. She currently lives with her husband in California near the “Gateway to Yosemite.” She enjoys any kind of history including family history. When she is not piecing together novel plots, she pieces together quilt blocks.

Please visit the Zina Abbott’s Amazon Author Page by clicking HERE.

Zina Abbott Author Links:

Website  |  Blog     |  Pinterest  |  Facebook  |  Goodreads