Title: Adding a shortcode link via pods
Last modified: December 30, 2018

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# Adding a shortcode link via pods

 *  Resolved [benmcd0nald](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benmcd0nald/)
 * (@benmcd0nald)
 * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-a-shortcode-link-via-pods/)
 * Hey,
 * I’m trying to work out how to use the information in a ‘website’ custom field
   to link to a site with html. Something like…..
    - [pods field=”pod_meta_critic_link”][Read Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-a-shortcode-link-via-pods/{@permalink}?output_format=md)[/
      pods]
    - With the field set as ‘output as URL’ the link aspect of it works just fine
      but I need it to display ‘Read Reviews’ and I cant seem to manage to get it
      to do that. I.E. I want to just use that value in the custom field to be the
      link URL (if that makes sense)
    - A bit lost, could someone point me in the right direction?
    - Thanks
       Ben

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

 *  Plugin Contributor [Jim True](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jimtrue/)
 * (@jimtrue)
 * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-a-shortcode-link-via-pods/#post-11068856)
 * My apologies for just now replying to this question, but it looks like whatever
   you typed up above in your question got ‘eaten’ by the forum software.
 * Your question sounds like one that was brought to our Slack Chat, but basically,
   if you want to customize how the output is handled (ie the link says ‘Read Reviews’),
   you’ll probably need to do that with a Pods Template and just call that instead
   with your shortcode, ie:
 * `<a href="{@pod_meta_critic_link,esc_url}">Read Reviews</a>`
 * Save the above as a Pods Template ‘Meta Critic Link’
 * And then in your site instead of calling `[pods field="pod_meta_critic_link"]`,
   call it with `[pods template="Meta Critic Link"]`; as long as you’re in the current
   post, it should call that template above which will call your custom field.
 *  Thread Starter [benmcd0nald](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benmcd0nald/)
 * (@benmcd0nald)
 * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-a-shortcode-link-via-pods/#post-11081423)
 * Hey Jim,
 * Thanks for the reply but I still cant get this working. I’ve set up the template
   as you’ve described above but seem to have the following issues:
 * I’m using the below in the template:
 * [Read Reviews](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-a-shortcode-link-via-pods/{@pod_meta_critic_link,esc_url}?output_format=md)
 * but firstly it seems to try and add the link to my own website URL instead as
   an external URL i.e. [http://www.domainname.com/podinfohere](http://www.domainname.com/podinfohere)
 * secondly it’s not actually using the value in the pod and instead shows [http://www.domainname.com/%7Bproduct_meta_critic_link%7D](http://www.domainname.com/%7Bproduct_meta_critic_link%7D)
 * thirdly as shown above it’s displaying ‘product_meta_critic_link’ instead of ‘
   pod_meta_critic_link’ which is the name of the pod
 * I’m wondering if this might be something to do with me setting up the pod itself
   incorrectly. Any further thoughts of guidance will be appreciated
 * Thanks
    Ben
 *  Plugin Contributor [Jim True](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jimtrue/)
 * (@jimtrue)
 * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-a-shortcode-link-via-pods/#post-11081482)
 * I’m going to suggest you coming over to our Slack Chat during our office hours(
   I’m around most of the days on Monday and Friday and in the mornings during the
   week). It’s easier to help if we can do a back and forth conversation and it 
   looks like the forum software is eating most of your replies.
 * [https://pods.io/chat/](https://pods.io/chat/)
 *  Thread Starter [benmcd0nald](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benmcd0nald/)
 * (@benmcd0nald)
 * [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-a-shortcode-link-via-pods/#post-11081496)
 * No, problem. I’ll try to drop by on Monday
 * Thanks
    Ben

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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## Tags

 * [custom fields](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/custom-fields/)
 * [href](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/href/)
 * [links](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/links/)
 * [url](https://wordpress.org/support/topic-tag/url/)

 * 4 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [benmcd0nald](https://wordpress.org/support/users/benmcd0nald/)
 * Last activity: [7 years, 5 months ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/adding-a-shortcode-link-via-pods/#post-11081496)
 * Status: resolved