There are quite a few reasons a blogger may want to create URL redirects. One common reason bloggers create them is in an attempt to hide their affiliate links. Another reason I’ve always liked about URL redirects is that you can easily link to the redirect in your posts. Then if you need to later update your redirect link to point somewhere else, all of your old posts now point to the new spot without any manual editing of those posts. This can go a long way towards helping you to avoid broken links.
If you don’t have the technical knowledge to easily create redirect links, you may be interested in using a new WordPress plugin called GoCodes. This plugin was created by Webmaster-Source to allow anyone to easily create URL redirects within WordPress. Once uploaded and activated, you will see the following menu in your dashboard:
In order to use the plugin, you simply need to enter the Key and enter a URL destination where you want the user to be redirected to. You can do this to point people to any location on the internet.
Hi Kyle. I'll head over there to check out what they wrote.
Ironically, I just completed a 7 post series on ...
wonderful,I now intend to do such a menu 
@ Monika - Thanks for the input!
I think that change actually occured a little while ago, as it ...
Kyle,
Thanks for the link. I've been a fan of Hackwordpress since the very beginning of the blog. The 100+ ...
WP 2.6.1. creates the version info between head and /head by itself
the info about tht deletion of the versions number ...
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 9:03 am
This is a primetime example of plugin overkill and the easiest way to make your wordpress installation crawl.
Getting redirect URLs is very easy. I use the fantastic service at snipr.com; I have their bookmarklet dragged to my browser. If I want some quick URL I just click that shortcut and the snipped URL is in my clipboard. How difficult can it be to paste this short URL in my wordpress “write post” page?
I love this blog but apart from interesting WP content, you should try to encourage best practices instead of making WP even more fool-friendly. (I’m an avid RSS reader of this blog so please take my comment as well meaning, not a criticism.)
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 9:44 am
I don’t have any problem creating redirects, but this looks like a much easier way of doing so. Also easier to manage & update. Nice find.
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Thanks for the link. I practically did a double-take when I saw your headline in my feed reader (as I usually do when I see mentions to my work).
Keep up the good work on Hack Wordpress.
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
@ Phoenix - Others have said similar things in the past; however, when I started this blog I wanted to cater to all kinds of readers, including those new to WordPress and blogging.
Here is a post I wrote previously explaining another way to do so manually. It was also linked to in my original post above for those of us that prefer to use less plugins.
@ Llama - Thanks! Glad you found it useful.
@ Redwall_hp - Thanks for stopping by and glad you read our site! I think this will be a very useful plugin for many.
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
I can already think of several ways that this plugin can help me solve problems on my blogs. But I really like your idea of using it for links that you may want to change down the road. I am working on a site for a nonprofit organization and this will come in handy.
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Ah, Phoenix, I just noticed your comment.
“This is a primetime example of plugin overkill and the easiest way to make your wordpress installation crawl.”
Why should it slow-down a WordPress installation? Here’s how the plugin works:
1. “Init” hook calls redirection function during pageloads.
2. The function checks to see if a variable (the redirect key) is being passed. If not, WordPress ignores the remaining parts of the plugin and resumes loading the page. This makes sure that no resources are wasted querying the database. MySQL queries are the biggest resource hog in the WordPress world, and are therefore avoided unless necessary. A function call and an “if” statement are nothing in the grand scheme of WordPress.
I guarantee that this plugin will not cause any substantial slowing of your WP installation. I am opposed to useless plugins that do things that can just as easily be done with theme tweaks, etc. I like to have a snappy WordPress installation, and I abhor pointless plugins. Just because you don’t have a use for it, doesn’t mean others won’t. I originally built it for my own uses, in which services like TinyURL or Snurl would not be sufficient. The plugin has its own niche (and it’s not among WP newbies as you suggest). The plugin’s homepage specifies the niche fairly well, and I suggest reading it before making unfair judgements.
I’m not trying to start an argument here, but I think this needs to be said.
Thursday, March 6th, 2008 at 9:49 pm
The problem is not with this plugin itself. The problem is with having many plugins for paltry purposes such as this one. Soon, people end up with about 60 plugins each of which plays a puny little role. Affects the performance of WP itself, and often of the website too.
Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I do agree with that. I’ve seen all to many plugins that do pointless things like change the “Howdy, user” message, display javascript widgets that could be better inserted into a theme manually, etc.
Friday, March 7th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Hi,
I use Urban Giraffe Redirection and it works great for me, and it also has additional features (such as 404 logging).
Do you know this plug-in I use? Do you have any idea how it compares to GoCodes?
Thanks!
Monday, March 10th, 2008 at 11:54 am
i need some example of a gocode please! i have to use it and i truly cnt understand! help
Thursday, July 10th, 2008 at 4:40 am
Hi, Could you please send me and email how does this plugin work?
I’m newbie and still confused how to use that plugin.
Thanks