How to Ensure You Enter Perfect Web Addresses Every Time

When entering obscure text like a Web address URL into an e-mail message, e-newsletter, or Web page, the chances of making an error can be high. Today's hyperlinks can contain a variety of different characters. For the hyperlink to work correctly, we must ensure that every character that makes up a Web address is correct. Yet the cryptic nature of working with hyperlinks and Web addresses combined with the risk of simple typing errors can sometimes cause problems. Here's how to prevent these kinds of errors every time.

When typing a Web address, we can easily add an extra space or two at the end of a URL by mistake. If we're using plain text, providing the Web address itself is correct, that may not cause problems. However, if such a Web address is intended to be a "clickable" hyperlink and we mistakenly include one or more spaces at the end of the URL, usually, although the resulting hyperlink may still be "clickable", the destination web address will be wrong and most likely result in a "dead link". Such a simple oversight could be bad news if you're promoting an affiliate product or service to a list of 100,000 + subscribers, as all 100,000 + only see a dead link rather than the product or service you're promoting.

How to Avoid Creating Faulty Web Addresses

Key tip: you can prevent entering a bad Web address by first testing your Web address in a web browser before using sharing it in your communications with others. Always get into the habit of entering a Web address into a Web browser and test your hyperlink. When you're satisfied that the link is correct, instead of typing your newly verified Web address into your destination document, simply highlight / select the entire Web address in the browser Address bar, then copy and paste directly into your email newsletter or web page.

Benefits:

• Reduces the amount of typing required.
• Allows you to verify a Web address before sharing with others.
• You can copy and paste a verified Web address directly to the location you want, rather than risk introducing errors by further typing.
• Prevents potentially massive re-work.
• Ensures that your professional reputation and status as an e-publisher is not damaged.

If The Web Address That Results Is The Same As The One You Originally Entered ...

In this scenario, (1) you enter your (source) Web address link, (2) the correct page then displays, and (3) the (destination) Web address that appears in the browser Address bar, is the same as the Web address you originally entered.

Action to take:

Copy the Web address to the Windows clipboard. Then paste the copied Web address into your document at the location you want.

How:

• To select or highlight the Web address, often, you may only need place your mouse pointer in some empty space within the Address bar a short distance to the right of your Web address, and click your left or right mouse button. Or you can simply click an insertion point somewhere to the right of your web address within the Address bar to insert a flashing cursor, then drag across to the left to select / highlight the web address.
• With your web address highlighted, to copy to the Windows clipboard,usually, you can open the browser Edit menu and choose Copy. Or you may have the option to right-click over the highlighted web address and likewise choose the Copy command.
• Paste the copied web address into a new Windows Notepad window, or you may want to try pasting at the location you want directly into your email or Web page window.

If The Web Address That Appears Is Different To The One You Entered ...

In this scenario, (1) you enter your (source) Web address link, (2) the correct page then displays,and (3) the (destination) Web address that appears in the browser Address bar is different tothe Web address you originally entered. For example: an affiliate web address often goes to a different URL to that which you enter as the source link..

Action to take:

Here, you'll want to copy only the source Web address to the Windows clipboard and paste into your destination document, since that Web address automatically reroutes to the final Web address.

How:

• First, simply test your Web address in a web browser window. If the Web link behaves as you expect, then simply delete the final destination Web address that resulted and re-enter your source Web address into your Web browser Address Bar.
• Next, select or highlight your source Web address. Often, you may only need place your mouse pointer in some empty space within the Address bar a short distance to the right of your Web address and click your left or right mouse button. Or you can simply click an insertion point somewhere to the right of your Web address within the Address bar to insert a flashing cursor, then drag across to the left to select / highlight the Web address.
• With your highlighted source Web address, to copy to the Windows clipboard, usually, you can open the browser Edit menu and choose Copy. Or you may have the option to right-click over the highlighted Web address and likewise choose the Copy command.
• Paste the copied Web address into a new Windows Notepad window, or you may want to try pasting at the location you want directly into your email or web page window.

How To Recover From Sending A Bad Web Address

When a Web address mistake is made and sent to a large list, sometimes, you can feel enormous panic. At best, you can feel tense and edgy. At such times, the additional tension we generate means we can be easy prey to making even further errors.

• Therefore, first and foremost, relax. There's nothing you can do about the first error, however, you can fix it now and by working calmly and carefully, prevent further errors getting through.
• Then, to be doubly sure that your remedy does indeed repair your earlier error, send your corrected message only to yourself first before sending to your main list.
• When you receive the new "test" message, click the edited Web address to prove that the hyperlink action works as expected. When you're satisfied, you can re-send to your entire list with confidence.
• Correct the mistake as outlined in one of the options above using your now verified as correct Web link.
• Apologize to your recipients for the mistake made earlier.
• Re-send your corrected message or Web page link.