When you want to direct someone to a piece of information on the Web, what do you do? The answer is easy. Give them the URL, right? When you create a link or pass along a link, getting to the website is easy.

What if the website has quite a few pages? You could give the other person the URL for the site and provide instructions as to what links to click from there. An easier way would be to give the URL to the specific page on the website.

Let’s take the logic a step further. When you need to direct someone to a specific paragraph on the page, how do you do it? Up until now, you could say something like, “Go to this URL and scroll down about halfway. Look for a section that starts with these words…”

Well, things have just gotten easier. You have the ability to create a URL that takes people to a specific spot on a webpage.

Let me give you an example. In a post called “How to Easily Export Kindle Notes to Evernote,” I mentioned all your Kindle notes for all your books can be accessed by going to one URL? Did you even know there was such as link? You could go to that post and start reading through it to look for that specific point.

Instead, I used the technique you’ll learn in this post to go straight to that spot in the blog post. Did you click the link? It went to the post, scrolled to the specific spot in the post, and highlighted the text I wanted you to see.

Here’s how to create a link…

On Google Chrome, go to a webpage. Highlight a section, or a paragraph, or even a single sentence. Right-click and choose “Copy link to highlight.” Chrome creates and copies a URL. Why not give that a try as you read this article?

Open a new browser tab and paste that URL. See what happened? Not only did you wind up on the correct page, but the page just scrolled to the section you selected. Plus, you see that section highlighted. How cool is that?

Send the link you created to someone else. Paste it in an email. Put it in a social media post. Send it any way you like. When someone else clicks the link, they land on the specific spot on the page you selected.

What are the practical applications?

When you want to direct people to a specific point in a page, now you know how to create a URL that will do it. When you have a question about something you see on a webpage, create a link to that spot and include it as you ask your question.

Look at questions you receive in your own professional practice. As an example, how many times does someone ask a question covered in detail somewhere on your website? The next time that happens, take five seconds to scroll to the spot where that section is answered, highlight it, right-click and choose “Copy link to highlight.” Paste the resulting URL into an email and send it to the person. You’ve just saved time for both of you.   

In our modern-day world, information is plentiful. Being able to put our hands on that information quickly is the enduring challenge. This little technique, creating a URL to a specific spot on the page makes the job easier.

Can you think of an example of how you need to create a link to some specific part of a webpage today? Take a second to practice this technique so that it can become of your workflow.

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