Bill Myers

Is your web site accidentally sending your visitors to the exits? Here's how to prevent it.

In almost every article on my web site, you'll find clickable links to resources, reference materials and examples of things covered in the article. These links provide readers a way to instantly find more information on the subject being covered.

But if coded incorrectly, providing links to pages outside of your own site can immediately boot visitors off your site when they click the link.

Obviously, kicking visitors off your site is not a good idea. But you probably don't want to quit using outside links in your web pages.

So what do you do?

The answer is easy. Whenever you code a clickable link to page outside of your own web site, always include the 'target="_blank" parameter in the HTML code for the link.

Using the target="_blank" parameter causes the clicked link to open a new browser window with the linked page contents, while leaving your site still visible in the original browser window on the visitor's computer screen.

This means your readers able to click links and see pages on other sites, yet never be booted off your site when a link is clicked.

It's a small detail, but an important one. (See full article with examples about this on our web site).