Permalinks are the permanent URL’s to the individual posts on your site. If someone wants to link to a specific article on your site they would use a permalink, you would do the same when linking back to an article on someone else’s site. On SeededBuzz, permalinks are used to direct people to the Seed you planted, or Buzz that your wrote about a Seed.
Finding the permalink is fairly easy. For most sites, if you click on the name of the article, your browser will be redirected to the permalink for it. To practice how to do this go to the URL for the SeededBuzz blog http://www.seededbuzz.com/blog/ . You should see all the blog posts that have been written for SeededBuzz. Clicking on the title of one, for example the one titled SeededBuzz Blog Contest, will take you to the permalink for it. Go ahead and try it. Once you click on it and the page has loaded, look in the section of your browser where you would type in URL’s. You should see this address http://www.seededbuzz.com/blog/seededbuzz-blog-contest/ . This is the permalink for SeededBuzz Blog Contest. Try finding the permalinks for the articles on your site so you can be prepared to use them in the future.
Permalinks are important when using SeededBuzz. They direct potential Buzzers to your full article. Often what happens though. is instead of listing the permalink to the Seed, the Seeder lists the link to their blog in general. This can make it difficult for someone who wants to Buzz your article. If the article you Seeded is several days, weeks or months old, the Buzzer must look through many other articles to find the one you Seeded. This can quickly become frustrating. So frustrating that the Buzzer just gives up looking for it and your Seed does not get buzzed.
Another way permalinks are utilized on SeededBuzz is when you are Buzzing a Seed and must link back to it. Because the purpose of linking back to the Seed is to drive traffic to it, I believe making a proper introduction of the author of the Seed and the Seed itself is important. I usually make this introduction the very first thing in my Buzz. Here is a sample of the general format I use when Buzzing a Seed.
“Today, when I was catching up on my blog reading, I ran across a post that caught my attention. It was written by Melissa and was titled SeededBuzz Blog Contest. I enjoyed what she wrote so much that it inspired me to write my own article about internet contests.”
As you can see, the permalink back to the original article is in that introduction. I also listed the author’s name. Most blog authors appreciate the listing of their name along with their blog post.
If you are wondering how I was able to list the permalink that way, I can show you. It is also something that is fairly easy to do. If you are using wordpress, self hosted word press, or blogger all you have to do is write down the words you want the link to be, for example Seeded Buzz Blog Contest. Highlight them, and in the tools of the section where you write and edit your blog post you should see something that looks like a chain or says Link. Click on it. A little box should pop up asking you to input the link. Click okay or save after you have inserted the permalink and your are done.
If you do not have those options in your tool box you can still list permalinks that way. You would just use html code to do it. This is what that code would look like.
<.a href=”http://www.seededbuzz.com/blog/seededbuzz-blog-contest/”>SeededBuzz Blog Contest</a.>
Remove the dot after this bracket < and the dot before this bracket > I only put those there so that the code would not be embedded. To use the code on your own blog replace the permalink to Seeded Buzz Blog Contest with the permalink you want to use, and replace the title SeededBuzz Blog Contest with your own.
<.a href=”http://www.permalinkhere.com/”>Your Own Title Here</a.> again be sure to remove the dots before and after the brackets.
I hope this helped you understand permalinks and how they are used. If you have any questions, let me know.