One way to share links from your travel blog is to click the “like” button on one of your recent posts – but that only shares the content on your personal Facebook profile. Albeit with a clean link and thumbnail, as well, as any comments or post title you want to add above it. One problem that many bloggers seem to encounter when they want to post an article to their Facebook fan page is they don’t know how to do so without leaving the ugly URL in the status update box. The fix is really quite simple and will make your travel blog posts on Facebook look so much prettier and enticing to click.
First Step: Do What You’ve Been Doing
When you have a post you want to share on your Facebook fan page, you’ll initially follow the same steps you likely have been already. Simply write the text you want to convey or the title of your travel blog post, i.e. “Should I Buy A Tablet Instead Of A Laptop For My Travels?”, then paste the link to the story right after it. (Continuing the same example: http://foxnomad.com/2012/11/20/should-i-buy-a-tablet-instead-of-a-laptop-for-my-travels/)
- In the status box you’d have this: Should I Buy A Tablet Instead Of A Laptop For My Travels? http://foxnomad.com/2012/11/20/should-i-buy-a-tablet-instead-of-a-laptop-for-my-travels/
Keep in mind I’m just using the title as an example, it really doesn’t matter what text you place before the link.
Wait Until The Link Preview And Thumbnail Show Up
Once you’ve placed your text and link in the status box – you know the drill – wait a few seconds for Facebook to automatically generate a pretty link with preview text and thumbnail. (Next week I’ll be covering how to get a thumbnail on your posted links for those pesky times Facebook refuses to do it.) Once the link is set and appears how you like it, simply highlight and delete the URL you pasted in the status bar. Now you’re left with only the text or title you entered and the pretty link.
This should help keep your travel blog’s Facebook fan page looking clean and potentially increase your click-through rates.
I read somewhere that people are more likely to click on a link within the text description. And we all know how Facebook users love pictures – so now I shorten the link using bit.ly, post a photo, and include the shortened link in the photo description. Not quite as clean looking as what you propose, but provides another option to play with.
Certainly, though I’ve noticed lately Facebook not giving as much attention to photo uploads as it used to.
I had seen some FB updates minus the URL and was wondering how they did it. Thanks for filling us in! 🙂
I think a Facebook update looks a bit cleaner without the link. The point brought up by Amy regarding the likelihood of users to click on a link within the text description is interesting though.