Do you want to use 3waylinks.net with your WordPress blog? Here are the steps:
(Click on the images to see it illustrated). Download the plugin zip file, unzip it and copy it in the plugins directory of your wordpress installation. If you are using plugins like Pluginstaller or One Click Plugin Updater, copy the link to the zip file (http://www.seo-traffic-guide.de/threewl_php_page.zip) and install it. Next activate the plugin.
Make sure that your WordPress setup supports Permalinks (Go to settings->Permalinks and choose day and name.
Go to “Settings” -> “3WL Links Page” and read the latest instructions. If you want you can already decide on on a page title and page slug (This will become your links page filename in 3waylinks). You can enter that later on, too.
Open a new tab or browser window and log into 3Waylinks. Click on “Add New Domain” (or “edit” on an existing domain if you want to switch), and enter all the stuff needed for 3waylinks – description, keywords, etc.
In the Header and Footer fields just enter “ ”. These fields are checked in the next step at 3waylinks although they are not needed for the PHP code or the wordpress plugin. “ ” actually does nothing but insert a space character to satisfy the check.
Duplicate the page name and page slug (links page name) or decide on name and slug if you haven’t yet. Note that your slug should not end in .php. The wordpress plugin is technically the same as the Inline PHP code, so there is no need for .php ending. Just give it a speaking name like “other-sites” or “good-resources”, etc.
Click on “Preview” to be able to go to the next step. (Don’t worry, the preview will not look like your page you will only see the generated links code. The layout and design of you wordpress blog will be applied to your links page automatically later on).
Go back to 3waylinks and on the links page copy the 3waylinks ID that is marked in bold and written quite big there.
Return to the 3waylinks plugins page, paste the number into the “Your 3Waylinks Site ID” field, click “Update Options” and “Create page”.
Then verify that the link shows up on your home page, and click on the link to make sure it opens correctly. If your theme does not create links to your pages automatically, you have to insert a link somewhere on your start page (e.g. in your blogroll) .Take care that you build your link the same way as you entered it to 3WL (If you entered “resources” in 3WL, you have to build a link to “http://www.mydomain.com/resources”…)
After that return to 3waylinks (You should still be on the “Download Script Page”) and click on the “Verify” button.
If you get a warning like on this picture, just ignore it. The plugin takes care of all PHP things, don’t worry just proceed like in these instructions here…
That should have been it. If you run into problems or have suggestions, feel free to contact me or discuss it on the 3waylinks forum.






Hi,
I have a problem I be honest it`s my own fault but don`t know how to fix this.
When you go to my blog you see at the top 4 links 3 ( sites) and 1 ( resources) that where the links I create with your plugin I couldn`t find the link so I clicked 4 times update. Now my question is can you tell me after the plugin had created the link where can I find that code?.
I tough I was smart I deleted the plugin so the links will disappear but that didn`t work.
Waiting for your answer
arian
The Netherlands
Hi Arian
The plugin creates a normal wordpress page. If you want to get rid of the links page and start all over anew, just go to “Manage pages” find the page with the title and slug you enteredd in the plugin and delete it from there.
Mike
Will it still work if I set my page that was created to private? It’s a wordpress blog.
Hi Steve
Private pages cannot be accessed by anyone who is not logged in on your blog, so it won’t work for the search engine robots and it won’t work for the reviewer – so to make it short: it is not possible to have the plugin page as a private page.
Mike
I hope this doesn’t come off as a dumb question, but what is the value in a 3 way link plugin? Are you just optimizing the permalink structure, or am I missing something else here?
Hi Ryan
It seems you are missing a crucial thing: This plugin is only of use if you are a member of 3waylinks.net from Jon Leger If not, then this totally useless for you.
@Michael ~ Ahh, I get it now. I just read Jon’s page about his 3 way linking scheme. Thanks for filling me in with what was going on and sharing the link. I would recommend that people be a little careful with this tactic. There was a large group of real estate agents that got a penalty from big G a couple of years ago for excessive 3 ways.
That is why I love 3waylinks.net… The links are built in a very natural way(not all at once), the inclusion standards are high so you won’t get links from bad neighbourhoods and there is a good variety in link anchor and way the links page is built…I am using it for one and a half years now and it has helped me tremendously on every site I use it (you can put in 50 domains!)
Mike
@Mike ~ That sounds fairly natural. IMO still manipulative, but definitely on the whiter side of gray. If you are getting a good number of strong inbound links over time, I am sure that it has helped your rankings. Running a good blog such as seo-traffic-guide.de probably doesn’t hurt either
Thanks for the conversation. Do you have a Twitter ID? Mine is http://twitter.com/RyanRE
On the whiter side of grey
yeah that is a good description …
I do have a twitter id (http://twitter.com/video_mike) but to be honest I do not really use it…
Mike
Hi Michael,
I am trying to setup the plugin but I can’t seem to find my 3WL ID. Where exactly is it? Thanks!
Hi Alex – are you a member of the 3WL forum? I just posted an instructions post there, becuase exactly the same was asked.
in short: click on edit on the domain in 3WL and take the ID from the URL
Mike
YES! I am the same guy! Thank you for your help Michael!
im trying to install it but for some reason i can’t seem to find it i don’t think its going to work for me since i can’t find it it says im missing something
Hi Almir
Perhaps it is a little bit hidden in the first sentence, but you have to be a paying member of 3waylinks in order to be able to use the plugin…
i have a doubt.. is 3 way link exchanging a legal one ?
Hi Sandeep
It is perfectly legal – but I guess your question is not whether it is legal but whether it adheres to googles guidelines (That is a difference, google is not the law). 3 way linking done manually is perfectly fine with googles guidelines. The automatic paid service is somewhere in the very light grey area in my opinion. You don’t get paid links, you rather pay a service that helps you find link exchange partners, so that is a difference.
Michael, thanks for the clarification to Sandeep. Now I can study more into implementing a 3 way linking strategy without having nightmares.
you need to be very wary hen using such tactics
It works “only of use if you are a member”. My question is how many members are there? This would be crucial info for a prospective member like myself.
the system works as soon as there are enough members for your 250 links cell…but in fact there are several thousand members on the system by now…
Thanks for providing an easier way to implement 3waylink….I had tried over 20 attempts on different days with different sites and could not get it to work with the method on the 3way site.
Thank You! Thank You!
Greg
Thanks for the plugin, Michael, certainly very helpful!! Just one question, how can I show only the page Title as asked on the plugin setup page or as asked under the Links Page Customization of the 3waylinks site setup and not both – seems sort of redundant and odd, see here: http://toptradeleads.com/related-resources/
Thanks,
Tom
Hi Tom
Currently there is no way to circumvent this, I tried to persuade Jon to offer a php version without the title, but he has not answered yet. Another possibility would be to include a filter in the plugin code, maybe I’ll go for that. If this is worth something to you, consider making a donation for the development of the plugin…
Mike
Thanks for the explanation as I was tinkering with it for a while, but could not get it done. Appreciate your time and work on this – just made a donation…
Tom
Hi.. I love the idea of 3Wl and the Plugin , but i don’t know it’s just not work for my wordpress when I used your plugin 3WL said that it couldn’t find the page link, so I use maual (the page link I’m exctract on my public html) but what 3WL said..?? it couldn’t find the link on my home page , it not make sense becouse I have put my link on blogroll, text widgets, post..
I have submitt ticket to jon leger but I’m not satisfied with the answer..couse it not work…
Could you help me…???
Hello Luhur
Please use the contact form(http://www.seo-traffic-guide.de/contact/) and send me your page details, I will have look at your site, maybe I can help.
Mike
Michael, I’ve downloaded the plugin and followed the instructions but it doesn’t seem to create the links page… Any help appreciated.
Bill
Hi Bill
please use the contact page and send me your URL, plus a detailed description what you tried and if there were any error messages, please include the choosen slug, I will then have a look and I am sure we’ll get this running for you
Mike
I’ve tried installing the 3-way link page several times (I’m a member) via you great plug in but I keep on getting this on the page.
PostHeaderIcon Resources
August 12th, 2009
Warning: Division by zero in /home/waylink3/public_html/links.php on line 95
Warning: Division by zero in /home/waylink3/public_html/links.php on line 96
Also when I tried to verify the links page, 3-way finds a 404 eoor page.
Help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
Most probably you did not save your 3WL ID, but I can’t tell without more info.
Dear readers:
If you encounter problems with the plugin, please contact me directly via the contact form on this site and send at least the domain, you are trying to install on and as much info as you can.
PLease do this privately as this info is not for the public eye…
Mike
ACK! Help – this is the error that I get:
Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
The request line contained invalid characters following the protocol string.
——————————————————————————–
Apache/1.3.39 Server at jl.1waylinks.net Port 80
In fact if you go to the site, and click on RESOURCES you’ll see it… what’s wrong? I thought I did everything correctly.
Sigh.
M
Hello Mohamed
Are you trying to install 3WL on your 1waylinks donor blog?
If I remember correctly, this is not allowed and will not work.
Another possibility could be that your 3WLwas not saved correcty, double check that you put in the correct 3WL ID.
If that does not work, too, you have to file a ticket http://www.askjonleger.com
Mike
Hi Mike,
Thanks for the quick reply.
Darn. The code was entered correctly BUT there was an extra space in it. I copied & pasted and the extra space must have come with it. Next version, why not do a TRIM of that field?
Thanks for the hint!
Mohamed
Hi Mohamed
Thanks for that useful bit of info – I never thought of extra spaces and that this could lead to problems…
I instantly created a new version of the plugin and updated the repository – Thanks for bringing this to my attention!
Mike
Hi Mike:
Thanks for the plug-in. I’m having a problem. When I set up my page and then click on the link to it from the home page I get error msg:
Bad Request
Your browser sent a request that this server could not understand.
The request line contained invalid characters following the protocol string.
Apache/1.3.39 Server at jl.1waylinks.net Port 80
Any ideas on a fix?
Thanks,
Dan
Hi Daniel
Most probably you entered your 3WL ID by copy and paste and a space got copied with it. That extra space is sent to the server and causes this error message.
Did you use the newest version of the 3WL plugin(0.4)? In that version I corrected the plugin so that it trims away any superfluous spaces.
Mike
I’ve followed your instructions and now have a Resource page that got created but I still have a problem. Every time I ask 3waylinks to validate and activate, I get this error message “Page retrieval failed. Error code = 404 ” but the page is there. What am I doing wrong?
Kalynn
Hi Kalynn
Please contact me via my Contact page (http://www.seo-traffic-guide.de/contact/) with your site details and I will have a look for you.
Mike
Great job with the plugin. I just signed up and used it myself. It works great!
Hi Michael, I’m experiencing the exact same problem as Kalynn. Are you able to help me too please?
Nevermind Michael. I’ve managed to get it to work at the end. Now just waiting for step 3, which is review stage. Thanks anyway. Couldn’t have done it without reading through your tutorial many times. You’ve saved me from all the hassles!
Hi Andrew
Nice to hear that people are actually reading my tutorial
Mike
what was the fix?
I am using Yola, I don’t even know if this works with Yola, I can’t upload the file it was ‘failure’. So I am very lost as to what to do now and how to make it all work.
It doesn’t work with yola just with WordPress.(the self hosted version) Michael is there any kind of footprint that google could read? I have struggle with putting the settings right, but I think I just need to read the instructions properly
Thanks for this article, you save me
Mike,
I have 8 blogs that I am trying to set up with 3WL. But, I keep getting this error message from 3WL’s whenever I go to review the page from 3WL:
Your form submission contained the following errors:
1. Page retrieval failed. Error code = 404
I have read the instructions over and over again and can not figure out what step I am missing. All of the setups give this error message.
Can you tell me what I am doing wrong.
Hi Fred
Apparently your link setup in the 3WL backend has an error.
I’ll send you an email on how we can work this out.
Mike
Hmm…I tried to send you an email. This is the result:
… while talking to air-dd02.mail.aol.com.:
…
550 5.1.1 … User unknown
I think it would have been a good idea to leave a real email address if you are expecting to get help…
Mike,
Sorry for the inconvenience. I just found out that there is a problem with that address. Please use the one in this message instead.
Hi Fred,
I sent you an email, let’s see where the problem lies…
Great plugin Michael, it made the installations a snap. But do you think the credit link is leaving a dangerous footprint? I noticed even with the box unchecked it is being placed on the page.
Hi Dave
I just re-checked the behaviour and on my blogs it works just fine.
Did you click the update settings button after unchecking the box?
Mike
Thanks for another great post Michael. I had never heard of 3 way linking before. I was only aware of reciprocal and one way links. Thanks so much for introducing me to these new links. Thanks!
My question is why get one 3 way link, when you could have 2 normal links?
Is one 3 way better than 2 reciprocal?
I think this is hard to measure – if you get very good targeted reciprocal links I would go for it, too.
It is just in general they don#t have too much weight any more. So yes, I would say one 3waylink is better than 2 reciprocal.
Mike
Hi Michael, thanks for the great plugin. I have a question about the permalinks setting–does it have to be “day and name”? I currently use custom–/%category%/%postname%/ –and my post are indexed this way.
Is it possible to use the plugin with this custom setting?
Thanks,
Bruce
Hi Bruce
Yes it is possible to use your permalinks settings – it is just a suggestion, in fact any permalinks settings other than standard is fine
mike
Mike,
I finally nailed it!! and am I glad I did!!
It took me about 20 minutes to set it up (all the way to site validation on 3WL), but I guess it was just a learning experience and next time it will definitely take me 5 minutes tops.
What a wonderful plugin you have developed. I have no spare money for now, but count on me once I do.
Take care,
Jorge R.
I thought two way links were the best way tho make a link exchange. Now there is a three way?
Hi Den
Actually 2way (or called reciprocal) is not the best way to make a link exchange as this can be easily determined.
Mike
I think it very disappoiting you do not offer a Video tutorial .
The direction here are totally confusing .
Hi Dan
Hmm – I spent quite some time to help other 3waylinks users make the installation process easier. I do not get paid by Jon Leger for that, I just did it to help others.
I am open to suggestions if I am asked politely.
So what is you contribution? Why don’t you make the video tutorial? Or why don’t you start with saying “Hello” or maybe even with a small “Thank you”?
Why don’t you just use the PHP installation process with header and footer like it is provided with 3waylinks – no one forces you to use my free plugin here that significantly makes the process easier.
I can tell you what I deem disappointing:
People who take it for granted that others on the Internet do the work for them and don’t care to show a minimum of politeness …
Mike
My point is I have no clue if I am done installation ?
Also is the same site id used for every site I use plugin on ?
Hi Dan
You are done with the installation when your site has been approved in the 3WL backend – that can take some time, as the support guys over there have to review your site.
You get a new site ID for every domain you enter in the 3WL system. The site ID is shown in bold letters in the 3WL “add domain”-process for every domain you add.
Mike
Another thing:
Use the 3WL forum – there are plenty of members over there who are happy to answer your questions if they are asked in a polite way.
Mike
Excuse me mike why are you being so rude ? I just made a statement about the 3waylinks not having a video tutorial and I was disappointed .Anyone would assume this site was a product of 3waylinks. Take a chill pill ,I see know one having to make a kissy post to make a post .
Hi Dan
Anyone who actually bothers to read what Jon Leger wrote at the page where he is linking to my site here or reads what I wrote on the plugin page should be able to tell that this site is not part of the 3waylinks business.
May I quote you:
That is not 3waylinks, that is me.
I have no problems with posts that are not kissy post, if it were like that I would have just deleted your post.
I am open to critical posts and actually think a video tutorial might be a good idea.
What I don’t like is your tone.
Mike
I enjoyed reading this post about Installation instructions for the 3waylinks wordpress plugin. Really interesting. I will come back to visit this blog again.
Mike,
Followed all the steps here and I still get the error on 3WL’s page, “Page retrieval failed. Error code = 404″. I let WP create the page, used my ID code, and created a link to the page on my WP blogroll. Still get the error Any ideas??
Brian
Nevermind, I figured it out…can’t use the .php extension on the file name if you’re using WP to create the page. whew.
Brian
Hi Mike,
I followed the instructions and kept getting this error when trying to validate:
“1. Page retrieval failed. Error code = 404″
help with this would be great,
Scott
Hi Scott
404 means “page not found” – your 3WL backend settings do not match the actual URL of the resource site. On top of that you seem not to have configured the 3WL ID correctly (maybe missed the save button?).
Michael
I want to use this but I’m scared of paying money for something I don’t really know will work. Do you think there is a free alternative that one can try first?
Hi Henry
I don’t know of any free alternatives, but there is a 7$ free trial.
I think it is a fair deal to be able to test it for $7 …
Mike
3waylinks.net and other john legger site has been hacked!!
How about members 3waylinks? I’m worried about this!!!
Thanks
Hi Lou
I noticed that today, too – Unfortunately Jon is away for a anniversary trip for this week so I fear it will not be fixed until he is back.
I checked whether the link pages are still working and they do – so the system will continue working.
It is a really bad thing for Jon and all his users but currently it does not seem to be a security threat for us.
Mike
Hey Mike
Thanks for the Plugin. Took just a few minutes to install and setup. A real time-saver.
You my friend are a “God-Send”, I wasted 7 hours yesterday not knowing how to get my site validated. The tech support that I got from APS Training was a .1 on a scale of 1 to 10. The support you get from 3WayLink is in the negatives based on the non existent phone number and the 1 day turn around time for an answer that did not even pertain to my question!!
I am forever grateful that you have put this together!!!!!!!!
Peace and Happiness!!
Peter
I was easily able to get this working on 4 sites and then I have not been able to add another site since. I keep getting 404 error page not found when the page is clearly found. It work so well the first few times and now over three hours and I can’t not get any sites verified does this plugin not work with the new wordpress update. Any help would be great as I am ready to throw my PC out a window.
sorry I got it…. just needed sleep