Beware of Using Hyperlinks in Online Technical Writing, Research, and Reports

Doing technical writing online and producing papers, research reports, and even e-books has become easier over the years. Also, we now have the ability to put hyperlinks right inside the technical writing itself. It's very easy to send someone to a hyperlink, which goes to another website in lieu of the citation. Unfortunately, this can also get you into a lot of trouble. Let me explain.

You see, we have many people who have joined our think tank and they write various research papers, and e-books. Most of them put hyperlinks into their work, but what we've noticed over time is that after a few years many of these old hyperlinks to websites are no longer available online. Or worse, the website domain name has changed hands, and there is completely different data at that particular website.

Sometimes you get a 404 broken link, and other times the new website owner has redirected all incoming traffic to their main site, or home page. This causes a problem because it makes the person who wrote the research paper or report online look really stupid, as if they don't know what they're doing. Worse, it causes people not to trust the writer, or the paper including all the data and information within.

This is why I often warn technical writers who are producing reports and research online to beware of using hyperlinks. It is much better to cite the author or other researchers that produced the information that helped you come to your conclusions with enough information that the reader can look them up on the search engine if they so desire. This is much better off than putting in hyperlinks.

In fact, even NASA has rearranged all their websites so that many of the hyperlinks that once went to information that was relevant or valuable, now goes to a page which tells the Internet surfer that what you are looking for is no longer here. That doesn't do anyone any good. Please consider all this.

Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank. Lance Winslow believes if you are doing research you need to verify some information by phone; Verizon Cellular.

Note: All of Lance Winslow's articles are written by him, not by Automated Software, any Computer Program, or Artificially Intelligent Software. None of his articles are outsourced, PLR Content or written by ghost writers. Lance Winslow believes those who use these strategies lack integrity and mislead the reader. Indeed, those who use such cheating tools, crutches, and tricks of the trade may even be breaking the law by misleading the consumer and misrepresenting themselves in online marketing, which he finds completely unacceptable.

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