Have you ever wondered where do your readers go after reading a particular post? Would you like to know what other articles within your page that might have caught their interest?
In the spirit of sharing, today I’d like to introduce to you a plugin - I’m not too sure if it is the first of its kind but it certainly caught my attention - aptly named Where Did They Go From Here?
What it does is that if there are related links within a page for your readers to explore further, it will detect when the link is clicked and automatically show a list of recently-viewed (recently-clicked) pages or posts. Basically it tells you what grabs the attention of your readers.
You can see it in action here right after this article under the heading of “Readers who viewed this page, also viewed:”
Installation
- Installation is super easy, just download, unzip, upload and activate.
- The plugin should automatically add the list to the bottom of every single page right before the comment form.
What If You Want It Anywhere Else…
Frankly speaking, the installation guide on the plugin page could have been made better. Fact is I had to dig into the comment section to search for users’ suggestions on the “how-to”.
Here’s what you could possibly do..
- Comment out
add_action(’comment_form’,’show_where_they_go’);found at the end of the plugin code and - Add this function call
<?php show_where_they_go(); ?>to yoursingle.phpfile anywhere you want it, preferably right after the post.
Post-Installation
- On your
footer.php, make sure that it has the following line<?php wp_footer(); ?>right before the close of the body and html tags. - Change the variable to show how many links you want to display
$maxLinks = 5;where the default is 5 - You will see a N/A sign when there is nothing clicked
- Compatible with WP 2.6
Download Where Did They Go From Here? v1.4
My Thought
Though it doesn’t tell me who is visiting what, this nifty plugin is a nice complement to my list of related posts. Not only it’s a good way to promote other interesting pages on my site, I could track and study the behavior of my readers. Besides, it works well with most of the related posts plugins.
Let me know what you think?
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About Yan
This little plugin might just solve my issues. I have a few different stats plugins and features, however none of them provide everything I’m looking for. So while this is yet again just one more piece of the pie, I’d rather have 90 different plugins than not know where my readers are coming from or going to. . So thank you for providing me yet one more to install ;-) However if I can ever find one that’s EVERYTHINg, all in one nice tiny little package, I’d be even more thrilled.
@Susan - Hey, though I’m not too sure what your definition of “everything” is, I couldn’t think of one plugin that does everything off my head right now but I’m glad that this tiny plugin helps solve one of your everything.
Thanks for dropping by, Susan.
HI Yan,
It sounds like a good plugin to have. But do you know if it can be used for my WP 2.0? Also will an additional plugin slow down my loading time as I’ve yet to fix my slow loading blog. I have taken out many widgets but still faced this problem.
Peter
@Work At Home Ideas - Peter, I don’t think one additional plugin would make much of a difference. Anyway, this is one plugin you can do without…
Now I’m just making an assumption here, since your site’s loading time is noticeably slow recently, could this be due to your hosting provider? and looking at the email conversation you have with them, I’m a bit skeptical about it.
Ever thought of changing to a more reliable hosting provider?
I never even heard of this plug. I will have to read more about it and maybe try it on another plug to se how it preforms
Bruno Auger’s last blog post..Customer Support: Knowing, Educating and Selling
Yan,
My blog is a WP2.0 so will this plugin work for me as you mentioned it’s for WP2.6. Changing hosting provider is not an option at the moment as my PIPS is tied in with this host. Anyway I will still try to reduce some more widgets, picture urls, hopefully not till my blog becomes somewhat naked.
Peter
Work At Home Ideas’s last blog post..Work At Home Ideas’ Blog Contest
@Bruno Auger - It’s nice of you coming back here again, Bruno. By the way, this is the second time I went over to your blog and for some weird reasons, the CSS is not functioning so everything is at its basic form CSS-less. I remember this time of the year isn’t the CSS-naked month.
@Work At Home Ideas - I think it should work, Peter as this is not a new plugin. It was created somewhere in 2007. I just thought I share it with everyone here.
I will like to try this plugin but i am having so issues with
my new laptop ,i don’t have ftp on it yet.My computer has not arrived here yet.I haven’t learnt how to download stuff on my macbook pro yet. Let me know if you can help me with some technical side of blogging.
tyna’s last blog post..Where Do you Get Stopped?
@tyna - I’m too using the Mac platform for all my blogging needs. So here’s what should do:
1. Install Firefox on your Macbook
2. Download FireFTP which a Firefox extension to do all your FTP task and you are good to go.
Let me know if you need anymore help and since I’m in using Mac too, it shouldn’t be too much of a problem to share some with you.
Interesting one. I am thinking about building up whole “related zone” under my posts. I started with related posts (YARPP plugin) and immediately noticed how pages per visit went up.
I am thinking about adding previous/next post links (no idea how to code that at moment :) ) and random posts.
This could fit very well. Does it create additional load on server or database because of tracking? I am trying to keep things light.
Rarst’s last blog post..Easy hash tricks
@Rarst - I have been using and testing it for last 7 days and all I can say is that I don’t see a drop in my loading time so I guess it’s not much of a burden to the database.
In fact, entrecard and publicity wheel are the real issues if you ask me.
@Yan Shall Blog -
I can live with Entrecard but killed Publicity Wheel after two days, it was unbearable.
Guess I’ll try this one… One more to try. *sigh*
Rarst’s last blog post..Easy hash tricks
Looks like an excellent plug-in to work with the related post plug-in. Thats two you have informed me of today Yan.
Domain Structure’s last blog post..Increase Your Page Views
I have downloaded the firefox and the add on but i don’t know how to use any downloaded software after downloading it am i missing something. @Yan Shall Blog -
tyna’s last blog post..Where Do you Get Stopped?
ah well. it’s reading articles like this that makes me feel a little bit of regret at the fact that my blog’s on blogger. :O guess i’ll have to continue to make do with google analytics for now.
kouji’s last blog post..haiku poem: welcome
This is an interesting plugin. I might try it out on my blog to see how it goes.
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
@kouji - As an ex blogger user I would highly suggest switching to word press. I have found it to be very beneficial. The switch over was quite easy as well..
Domain Structure’s last blog post..Increase Your Page Views
Yet another tool for the WP-admin… Damn, my dashboard is getting crowded, I can recall a plugin that helps with that but I can’t remember it for the life of me…
Good stuff nevertheless…
@Domain Structure - Hope to see it in action on your blog, Brian.
@tyna - I’m sorry to assume that you know about it. I’ve just emailed you with the instruction.
@kouji - You’ll be surprised to learn that you are missing out a whole lot of goodies WordPress can do for your blog…if you stick to blogspot..
@Sly from SlyVisions dot Com - I have no regret using it and I’m pretty sure you won’t either.
@Elijah - I think we are in the same situation where we ask ourselves if we have more room for yet another plugin. It’s nice to see you again, E.
Sounds like a pretty cool plugin
Don’t think I can be bothered though
Right now I am more focused on getting them to my site rather than where they went after
The links also help to improve-lower the page “bounce rate” by creating traffic flow within a site instead of bouncing back to a previous page. So do the related articles links.
Google Analytics offer that tool to see precisely from which page or through which page visitors surfed a site, I look at it sometimes and it gives quite a good idea.
Rado’s last blog post..How Eating Pizza With Your Friends Can…
I don’t thinks plug-in will work with WP-SuperCache :{ unless if it’s using JavaScript
I usually put some Related Posts links at the bottom of the post, hoping they will click on one of them to prevent them from leaving.
Of course, unless they already click on my Top AdSense placement hehe :)
Michael Aulia’s last blog post..9 things to love and hate about Google Chrome
Yan, I’ve always found that statcounter.com provided me with the right information as it tells me exactly where the users go, but it would be interesting to see how this plugin’s information stacks up against statcounter.
Sire’s last blog post..A Blogger’s View On Google Chrome
Oh my God.
Let me be frank. Whenever I saw “Readers who viewed this page, also viewed:” on a blog, I thought the author was simply using two related posts plugins which acted on different principles and therefore produced two different posts lists. One that they will rightfully name Related Posts and another which they will name “Readers who viewed this page, also viewed:” just to promote another set of related posts. It even thougt it was the same thing you were doing here. :d poor me.
I didn’t know it was a whole different world.
I take the advice you gave me about plugins. This is not only good but necessary.
I will go for it as soon as possible.
@Michael Aulia - Well, the plugin does work fine with WP Super Cache as I’m using both plugins here. You make me think of the adsense placement actually. Something worth a ponder.
@Sire - In general, they both serves the same purpose but the plugin is sort of giving your readers another option to see what interest the others. Let’s look at it from SEO standpoint and make a choice.
@AZ Blogging - That’s the beauty of WordPress, there is so much you can do with it. Once you are with WP, there is no turning back. I’m glad you find it useful and yes, they are many more in store.
Awesome post Yan. I will be implementing this soon :)
Syed Balkhi’s last blog post..So Balkhis, Is Entrecard really worth it?
Wow, great plug-in! I’m going to get that sometime this week. Thanks a lot for sharing.
Lucas’s last blog post..Marketing Your Site Through the SitePoint Marketplace
Sorry Yan, I didn’t realize it was for the users benefit. That puts a different spin on it for sure. Reckon I will have to look into it.
Sire’s last blog post..Chitika Has Proven That Their Ads Truly Work
@Syed Balkhi - What a pleasant surprise to see here, Syed and thanks for the compliment.
@Lucas - You are welcome, buddy. There is a nice piece of real estate on your blog where you could create a “related posts zone”.
@Sire - I’m glad you got my point right..yes, it’s yet another way to enhance users’ experience.
Yan, So Many plugins, what does a blogger do???? :)
Great Info buddy, I will give it a test run also. Thanks
@Larry - He goes around looking for the next great plugin and share it to the next blogger. Does that answer your question? :-)
Glad to see you again, Larry.
Yan,
You have found a very good plugin. I will start using it and will see how it helps me..
Looking at the number of comments you are getting. I think you have got a very huge readers.
I also need these many readers…
Nihar’s last blog post..Top Entrecard Droppers in August
>I also need these many readers…
Don’t we all?.. :)
@Yan
By the way it’s indeed lot of comments and I find it bit hard to read. Design kinda blends them with each other and foreground/background color difference is lower than recommended levels.
Rarst’s last blog post..Google Chrome is not a browser
@Nihar - You kid me not, Nihar. You have more subscribers that I could possibly ask for. Anyway, I owe it to a bunch of great people like you (& Rarst) around who has been supporting this blog - always. Thank you, guys..
With regard to the plugin, it isn’t a new one yet I don’t see many are using it so curiosity got the better of me and I like it ever since.
@Rarst - I hear ya, Rarst. I’ll take note of your suggestion and see to it.
Yan,
Yep you are right about the subscribers. but i hardly see the subscribers visiting the website to read the posts :(
I have got lot of subscribers because i also publish posts on Cricket (Sport) .
Nihar’s last blog post..Top Entrecard Droppers in August
@Nihar - Oh yes, Cricket is the most popular sport in your country. I’m struggling to understand the game actually.
Anyway, why don’t you separate the two niches into 2 different blogs?
Hey Yan,
I see you commenting a bit on my blog which I really appreciate.
Just wanted to give u a heads up (I haven’t posted about it yet). I am running a top commentors competition on my blog where you can win $20 and a 125×125 ad on my site for 1 month. At the moment you are leading the charge. So just thought I should let u know of the benefits you could come across. Thanks for commenting, really appreciate it.
@Ryan McLean - Hey Ryan, I’m just reciprocating your comment here and your articles are worth my thoughts anyway so it’s natural thing to do.
I didn’t realize you have a reward for top commentator. It’s such a nice gesture on your part to appreciate your readers. You have a great blog with great contents anyway so keep up the good work, Ryan. You’ll see more of me and I hope you do likewise.
Oh ya, thanks for pointing it to me. Cheers!
Yan,
Managing one blog with my job itself is difficult. Adding one more blog is more difficult. and i have lot of visitors to the current blog when there is cricket. I don’t want to shift it.
I hope some day i also get these many comments within a span of 2 days.
I am still dreaming about it :)
Nihar’s last blog post..Top Entrecard Droppers in August
good plugin…From the comments it looks like there is a good need for this kind of plugin.One that will provide information on readers/Where they come from, where they go?…will try making one good plugin :)
Yan I am also interested in knowing how and where you promote your blog. You seem to be getting lots of comments from all around… :)
I like this plugin. It reminds me of the things you see on CD/DVD retailer sites where it tells you “People who bought this also bought…” etc.
I really like this. I think I will have to download it and include it on my site.
Thanks :)
So this is what you are using. I think this is also helpful to SEO :D
Hussein’s last blog post..Google Going To Buy Digital Point
[WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.
@Nihar - I can understand the hassle of managing more than one blog unless you are doing on full-time basis.
Nihar, I’m pretty sure you’ll be there, just make sure that you are attracting the right kind of audience.
@Rajesh - Rajesh, I’m looking forward to your next great plugin so if there is one bordering on readers appreciation, don’t forget to inform us first-hand.
Now back to your question, I don’t use any other strategy apart from blog commenting and I attribute this to my sincere approach in responding and reciprocating to all my readers’ comments and feedbacks.
I think you do realize by now that I make every effort to response to all the comments the best I can and further more I’ll visit their sites and reciprocate the same.
@Emz - You are welcome…Glad to see you around here again, Emma. If my mind serves me well, you were one of the first commenter on my blog.
Thanks for your support and welcome back to the world of blogging.
@Hussein - Sorri, buddy. I just finish digging your comment out of Akismet folder…
Yes, it certainly has its SEO benefit, no doubt about it.
Yan.. I appear to be having some issues with it. I have downloaded it.. unzipped it.. uploaded it.. but it never appears in my plug-in section. What am I missing?
Domain Structure’s last blog post..Make A Living With AdSense
yan, i jux came across your blog thru your comment on tuk.com. jux wanted to say that i like the look and feel of your blog very much, as well as the wealth of information that it offers…apparently so do many others judging by the number of comments u receive! this plugin will be very useful for me to track my readers’ other interests, thanks!
Anthony Dinh - DiariesOfABlogger’s last blog post..Affiliate Marketing Apprenticeship Program - Lesson 4/13
@Anthony Dinh - DiariesOfABlogger - Appreciate your visit and compliment, Anthony. I just came back from your site and I see that you have a wonderful apprenticeship program for affiliates.
I’ll make it a point later in a day to have a read on those articles. So far, I like what I see. When your ebook on affiliate marketing is ready, I’d love to grab a copy.
@Domain Structure - Brian, did you upload a .txt file or .php file?
Yan,
thanks for the explaining on how to place Where Did They Go From Here code in single.php page.
I have finally placed it and now it is working…
Nihar
Nihar’s last blog post..Google Chrome - How to Browse Privately
@Nihar - You are welcome, buddy. Quiet a few trials and errors before I could get it right as the instruction doesn’t say so. If I remember it well, only one of the methods from one of the commenter works perfectly…
I simply uploaded the file that was in the zip folder. Im assuming it was just a .txt file now that I think about it.
Domain Structure’s last blog post..Coupon Code For A .99 Cent .com Domain From GoDaddy
I’m with Susan, can’t there be more consolidation between plugins, i mean too many and they threaten to slow down our blogs.
I have so many already, but keep coming across cool ones, such as the one you point out.
What’s a WP blogger to do?
Missy’s last blog post..Site Flipping Community SiteRev5, Gives Good Promo
@Missy - I’m not sure if having too many plugins results in slowing down blogs. So many other factors come into play which could cause the slowness: the server connection, the users ISP, too many images etc.
Having “too” many plugins shouldn’t really be an issue as they’re designed to coincide with the WP structure and most of them are coded to a minimum and don’t require much resources.
Emz’s last blog post..Top Commenters - Are you on top?
@Yan Shall Blog - By the way Yan, I love this feature to reply to someone elses comment and the way it places a link in the comment box to that particular comment. Is that a plugin too? :)
Emz’s last blog post..Top Commenters - Are you on top?
Depends on specific plugin. Something that simply inserts bit of code into page may not be performance eater.
But some plugins make queries to SQL. And if plugin has to do that for each page load… And if there are few such plugins… It may add up to considerable slowdown.
But main trouble is probably javascript. Sometimes people stuff way too much of it into blog. Like every widget in existence and five different tracking scripts on top.
Rarst’s last blog post..Blog critique project at BloggingTips.com
@Missy - Well, well, well…I just love fiddling with plugins. Putting one and taking out the other and those that works really good for me have their permanent place on my blog.
What does a WP blogger do?
@Emz - Yes, Emma. It’s a plugin called ‘Comment Remix’ though I would prefer to use ‘Brian Treaded Comments’ but somehow I couldn’t manage to get it right here.
Thanks for the info, as this plugin “brian treaded comments are certainly a valuable resource.
BlogSavvy´s lastest post..Crazy Day at BlogWorld
@Missy - Decide what is absolutely needed and get rid of the one’s that are not.
Plug-in’s may be “cool” but not all are necessary to make your blog a successful one.
Domain Structure’s last blog post..Coupon Code For A .99 Cent .com Domain From GoDaddy
@Domain Structure - you’re right, of course. there’s no question regarding the benefits of moving. perhaps when my bar exam is over.
kouji’s last blog post..haiku poem: conversation
@Yan Shall Blog - not even surprised. :O it’s pretty apparent that there’re quite a lot of things blogger can’t quite do. again, perhaps when i have a bit more time, i’ll pull the trigger.
kouji’s last blog post..haiku poem: conversation
Hi Yan,
I just installed this plugin but somehow it’s not working on my blog. It shows “Readers who viewed this page, also viewed:
“N/A”. I checked the plugin owner’s forum and he says it’s normal and just click one of my inside pages links and that should solve the problem. Well I’ve been clicking many of my inside links but nothing is showing up. Any suggestions.
Peter
Work At Home Ideas´s lastest post..Link Love-Links Round Up No.7