How to Create a Blogroll

Published on 11 December 2009 by agelfand in The Bat Cave, Wordpress Tutorials

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What Is a Blogroll?

A blogroll is a list of links to Web sites external to your site. Examples are:

  • Industry news
  • Influential bloggers in your field
  • Any information resources you think your visitors will find useful

You might notice that many sites include a Blogroll (or Related Links, Useful Resources, etc.).

blogroll example

This blog roll lists online marketing and Web design resources.

Adding a Blogroll

  1. Log into Wordpress and select Links in the lefthand menu. On your blogroll page, you’ll see all of your existing blogroll links. (You may see a list of links to various Wordpress-related sites—those links are included by default when you install a new Wordpress site. Just delete them.)
  2. To add a new link, select Links»Add New in the lefthand menu.
  3. Type in a title for your link in the Name field. This title will show up in your blogroll as the link text.
  4. Type in a Web address for your link in the Web Address field. (Not sure what to put here? Navigate to the site you are linking to and copy the Web address you see in your browser’s address bar. Paste that text into this field.)
  5. Type in a description of the destination site in the Description field.
  6. Select a category for your link in the Categories section. (Learn how to create blogroll categories in this tutorial.). Select Blogroll if you haven’t created any extra categories.
  7. The Target section allows you to choose whether the link should open in a new browser window or the same browser window. You don’t have to fill in this section. Your link will open in the same window by default. If you want the link to open in a new window, select _blank.

Those are all the steps you need to take in order to get your blogroll started. To learn more about the additional options in the Add New page, check out the Links Manager article in the Wordpress Codex.

Displaying a Blogroll

Now that you’ve created a blogroll, you need to add it to your site.

  1. Select Appearance»Widgets in the lefthand menu. Widgets are little modules you can drag and drop into your widgetized areas (typically sidebars). Available widgets are one the lefthand side of the screen. The various widgetized areas available on your site are on the righthand side of the screen.
    widgets page
  2. Make sure the widgetized area where you want the blogroll is expanded. Click the little “down” arrow to the right of the title to expand it.
  3. The widget that displays your blogroll is called Links. Hover your mouse over the Links widget and drag it into the widgetized area.

    add a links widget

  4. Select the category you want to display or, by default, All Links. (You can use the Links widget multiple times on your site, so you might display links related to a specific topic in their own sections—for example, Web Design Resources and Web Programming Resources.)
  5. Check the Show Link Name checkbox. (You don’t need to worry about the other checkboxes right now.)
  6. Click Save. You’re done!

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