Day: July 6, 2004

Let’s go through an example of using a trackback, step by step.

1. First, make a post on your own blog that talks about Chasing the Wind. “Michael said something interesting at “Chasing the Wind.”
• If you’re on Livejournal, at the bottom of the post you just made it says “Link.” Click it, and that’s your “permalink” for that post, and it appears in your browser’s address bar. It’ll look like this: http://www.livejournal.com/~spinthemoon/5108.html
• If you’re on blogger.com, your permalink can be found by clicking on the timestamp; e.g. http://courtneycs.blogspot.com/2004/07/testing-1-2-3.html .
2. Now come to Chasing the Wind and find this post. You can find my permalink by clicking on the title, “Blogger Tip: Trackback Pings Redux.” The permalink for this post is http://www.chasingthewind.net/index.php?p=177 and should be listed in your browser’s address bar.
3. Once you click the title of this post, look at the bottom of my post but before the comments begin. There should be a link that says, “Trackback URI”. When your mouseover it, and if your browser supports it, it should say http://www.chasingthewind.net/wordpress/wp-trackback.php/177. Put your mouse on it, right-click it, and choose “Copy shortcut”.
4. Ok, now you have all the information you need to fill out the SimpleTracks form. There are five lines to fill out:
• Trackback URL: That’s my trackback entry where you’re trying to get a link back to your site. Right-click on that field and choose “Paste.” If you did Step 3 properly above, it should fill the field in with http://www.chasingthewind.net/wordpress/wp-trackback.php/177
• Your permalink URL: That’s the link where you’re talking about me, your permalink. Put http://www.livejournal.com/~spinthemoon/5108.html or http://courtneycs.blogspot.com/2004/07/testing-1-2-3.html
• Title: That’s the title of your post, “Mosquitos R Us” or “Testing 1-2-3”.
• Except: A short blurb that summarizes your post: “Michael gets bit by mosquitos, too” or “Chasing the Wind never supplies #2 pencils.”
• Your Blog Name: Spin the Moon or Spritzy.
5. Press “Submit” and wait 10 seconds or so. You should get a message that says Pinging http://www.chasingthewind.net/wordpress/wp-trackback.php/177… Success!

That’s it; you have a new link on my site that points back to your site, increasing the number of readers for both of us. Practice on this post if you want to. 🙂