Blog, WordPress

Alternative to LinkWithin

It's been a while that I was looking for alternative to LinkWithin. LinkWithin is actually cool and very useful plugin, until you made changes to your blog. I recall that a few days after using the plugin, the bounce rate dropped significantly. It means that it worked as it supposed to.

The problem appeared when I deleted several posts, and the deleted posts kept appearing in LinkWithin. It's certainly annoying, and hence I reported it to LinkWithin hoping that the issue would be resolved. A few days later, the deleted posts disappeared, but it brought another problem: LinkWithin gave links to latest posts only, regardless the post that I opened.

Finally I decided to give a try for Related Posts Thumbnails plugin.

When I installed Related Posts Thumbnails plugin for the first time, the boxes appeared, the links were correct, but no image was displayed. Apparently that the theme I use did not support Featured Image. The theme that support Featured Image, there will be a menu at the right column, below Post Tags, when you Edit Post or Add New Post.

Here are the steps you need to do to install Related Posts Thumbnails plugin:
  1. In WP Dashboard, scroll down, click Media at Setting menu. Change Thumbnail Size number according to your taste. I used 100 x 100. Save.
  2. If your theme hasn't supported Featured Image yet, open function.php, insert the following script, then save:

    if ( function_exists( 'add_theme_support' )) {
    add_theme_support( 'post-thumbnails' );
    set_post_thumbnail_size( 100, 100, true );
    }
  3. Download Generate Post Thumbnails plugin to automatically add Featured Image to your published posts. Install, activate, and run it. Wait until it's finished.

    Take a look at the messages to find out whether all posts can be processed without any problems. In my case, not all posts could be processed, and I had to add the Featured Image manually to several posts.
  4. Download Related Posts Thumbnails plugin , install, and activate it. If there are links with no photos, then you need to add the Featured Image manually to the posts

The good thing about Related Posts Thumbnails is that there's no default backlink to the creator, unless you decide to put it.

PS.
I decided to drop the plugin at The Aroengbinang Travelog a while ago, as I didn't see any significant impact to the bounce rate data as before. I suspect that there's already a high degree of blindness to image links. Besides, I want the site to be lighter by using less plugin.

, seorang pejalan musiman dan penyuka sejarah. Penduduk Jakarta yang sedang tinggal di Cikarang Utara. Diperbarui: January 16, 2012.

Leave comments

Type it first, then click "Login ..." or "Posting".

« Newer©2021 FollowOlder »

Treat me for a cup of coffee, or just pray for those who make your life better.