The best places and methods of inserting links into articles has been a question that has been raging since Bill Gates entered into that famous joint venture with IBM.
There really isn’t a one-size-fits-all answer to the question. It depends upon the subject of the article, the length of the article and the purpose of the links in question.
Links can be placed beside an article…usually to the left.
These links usually are for the purpose of directing the reader to related information contained within the article and sometimes leading to sponsored advertisements for products and services that are discussed in the article.
It has been determined that the worst place to put links is at the bottom of an article. They are the least effective and generally overlooked by readers.
Links within an article are considered the most effective placement. Links within an article can be given as an http://www.whatever.com link or embedded within relevant words or phrases and appear as keyword.
It is important that links open in new windows, however, to avoid distracting the reader and also to keep them from surfing away from the site.
Articles that are used for marketing should always contain at least one link in the http:// format because the articles are sometimes used by ezines that are published in plain text and links that are embedded in key words or phrases will not be available to readers to click on.
Writers of articles always want at least one link that can be copied and pasted into an address bar to cover this circumstance of the reproduction of an article.
Links beside or within an article can be helpful to the reader but they should be used with care so as not ever to distract the reader from the article itself.
