If you read a lot of blogs like I do, I’m sure you’ve come across some with “Related Posts” at the end of each article (like this one). One obvious use of this tactic is to bump up the page views for CPM ads. It’s also a great way to increase “stickiness” – that is, to make your readers stay on your site longer, which in turn increases their chance of clicking on an ad or becoming a subscriber. So how do you do it? Well, you can always write them manually, one by one, but I’m sure you have better uses for your time, so why not try these WordPress plugins?
1. Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP)
If you don’t have the time to test each and every plugin to see what’s best, then YARPP is your safest bet. It’s easy to install with no editing of your WordPress template required. However, it’s in flexibility where this plugin really shines, with plenty of options to suit your every need. As for result relevance, YARPP delivers. Additionally, you can tweak thresholds and how things are computed, if you wish.In the works for future versions are the inclusion of post dates, RSS feed support, and sentence-aware excerpts. Due to its tagging support, the latest version’s compatibility is limited to WordPress 2.5 and up.
WASABI’s installation can be a little more involved than YARPP, but a guide is handy on its dedicated web page. A few people have extended its functionality, which now includes the ability to allow manual correlation of entries using keywords, for those posts with witty titles whose relation to the contents are not readily apparent. There is a version which permits the use of WordPress’ built-in excerpt field, and another with the very useful feature of generating suggested links if the user encounters 404 errors. All of these are available on the WASABI PB Wiki page.
Aizattos is a simple related posts plugin that works right off the bat, which makes it ideal for people who don’t care much for figuring out the technical details. It is said to have evolved from the WASABI plugin, but the two have taken on different paths since. Aizattos can generate related links without requiring you to add any special tags to the posts, and it’s this no-fuss characteristic that makes this plugin a favorite among many bloggers. However, for some reason the developer has taken it down from the original download site, but a fan has made it available again for others to use.
Try to install any of these three and see how it affects your blog’s page views and ad earnings.
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