How to Point Your WordPress Website to an External URL Multi-Unit
There is a very specific situation that some people find themselves in when it comes to running a WordPress website. It goes a little something like this: You have created a stunning blog post, you’ve written a winning book review and you are now faced with the monumental decision of what to do with your newly acquired social media following. Now, you can take your pick from among the several different options that exist for connecting your content to a platform where you can engage with your audience.
The truth is, not all social media platforms are made equal. Some allow you to connect with your audience in an easier and more engaging manner than others. For example, if you’ve already built a following on Twitter, you might decide to use that platform to grow your blog’s presence. But if you’ve never successfully used Twitter to promote a product or cause, you might decide that it’s better to start from the ground up. After all, what is a Twitter account but a giant advertisement waiting to happen?
So if you find yourself in one of these situations, your quest for high-quality content that will engage your audience may take you to the halls of WordPress and the magical lands of the platform’s many different tools.
The Great WordPress Content Grabber
WordPress has made it incredibly easy for anyone to publish content and create a professional-looking website using the platform’s free blogging tool. In fact, anyone can use WordPress to publish a quick blog post and have it look polished enough to pass for a real, professional news article.
WordPress has also made it quite easy to point your blog to an external URL. When you publish a new blog post, that post will automatically have a unique URL that you can use to point to your content. This is incredibly convenient for those of us who love to blog because it means that we can easily share our content with our followers on social media platforms like Twitter.
There is a very easy way to learn how to do this using the built-in WordPress features. First, you will need to create a new blog post. Once the post is published, navigate to the post’s url in your browser to get to the blog’s content. Notice how the url changes whenever you create a new post.
Then, you will want to visit your blog’s dashboard to find the settings for your blog. From here, you will need to locate the General section of your Settings. Under there, you will find the Permalink Settings. Use the drop-down menu to select the Post Format and from there, you can choose the actual permalink structure that you would like to use (see image below).
Why a Classic Permalink Structure?
If you’ve been following the WordPress news over the past year or two, you may have heard that the platform is moving away from the classic permalink structure in favor of creating more unique and “personal” urls. The truth is, this is a widely-discussed topic in the WordPress world and many users are quite passionate about their choice. If you’re curious, you can read about the many pros and cons associated with each type of url in the following articles:
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The Personal-Style Permalink Structure: An Analysis
If you’re new to WordPress, you may be wondering what the fuss is all about. After all, isn’t a permalink just a fancy name for a plain old URL?
While it’s true that a permalink can be any URL that you want, it still needs to fit the following format:
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This Is A Niche Website
If you’re using WordPress for your blog, you’ll need to ensure that all of your links point to websites within your niche. This is essential to protecting your SEO, or search engine optimization. If Google thinks that your content is relevant to a wide audience, it will rank your content higher in its search results. For example, if you’re writing about fashion and you want to include a link to a fashion blog or a popular fashion website, you may want to use a Classic Permalink Structure.
However, if you’re writing about tech and you want to include a link to a tech blog or a tech website, you may want to use a more unique permalink structure.
The reason behind this is the same as the one behind everything in SEO: If Google thinks that your content is relevant to a wide audience, it will rank your content higher in its search results.
The Personal-Style Permalink Structure: An Analysis (continued)
The key takeaway from this information is that you need to choose a permalink structure that is relevant to your blog’s content. If you’re writing about tech, you might want to use a more unique structure because there aren’t many people out there who are really experts in tech.
On the other hand, if you’re writing about fashion, you may want to use a more classic structure as there are plenty of fashion experts out there who could benefit from your content.
The Pros & Cons Of Each Type Of Permalink Structure
Although there are many reasons why you might want to choose one URL structure over another, there are a few notable advantages and disadvantages to each.
The classic permalink structure has been a part of WordPress for many years now and it still remains one of the most popular options even today. There is a reason for this: It’s quite easy to use and it provides you with all of the necessary information that you need to keep your SEO secure.
One major con associated with a classic permalink structure is that sometimes you may want to link to a different domain than the one that you’re actually on. For example, maybe you have a tech blog that you want to link to a fashion website. In that case, you’ll need to use an additional piece of software to remove the “blog” part from the end of your permalink.
Another con is that sometimes you may want to include a bit more information with your link. For example, maybe you have a blog post about eco-friendly fashion and you want to include a link to a blog post on the topic. In that case, you’ll need to use a special tool to add a description to your link.
On the positive side, a classic permalink structure allows for some interesting SEO opportunities. For example, maybe you have a blog post about tech and you want to include a link to a different article on the subject. If someone clicks on that link, they’ll learn all about tech but they won’t necessarily visit your site because they’re not actually that interested in tech. So in that case, having a classic permalink would be beneficial because they’ll learn about your content while also being redirected to another website.
Creating More Unique Permalink Structures
If you’re a fan of blogging, you may be wondering why you should even consider using a unique permalink structure. After all, isn’t a permalink just a fancy way of saying that you’re linking to the same place?
While it’s true that you can make use of the WordPress built-in URL generator to create unique permalink structures, doing so requires some advanced knowledge of SEO and you may not want to go through all of that trouble just to get a new-fangled URL.
You may also want to consider using a custom domain for your blog. Doing so will give you the ability to choose a permalink structure that is relevant to your blog’s content and it also allows you to include a bit more information with your links. For example, maybe you have a tech blog and you want to link to another article on the subject but you also want to include the name of the company that you work for in your link. Using a custom domain will give you the ability to do that.
Sharing Your Blog Content On Social Media
Sharing your content on social media isn’t a new phenomenon. After all, you’ve been doing this throughout the entire course of your life. The difference now is that you have an entire online community that you can access wherever you go. This is why it’s important to ensure that your content is being shared on social media.
If you create content that is good, you will inevitably find yourself in this situation. Whether you’re a bestselling author who wants to keep their audience engaged or an entrepreneur who wants to grow their network, social media can help.
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