diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index aad62f2b..38b3b18d 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ Your Google Analytics ID goes here along with meta tags for [Google Webmaster To
 
 #### Top Navigation Links
 
-Edit page/post titles and URLs to include in the site's navigation. If you want to add links to other sites you can hardcode them into `navigation.html`.
+Edit page/post titles and URLs to include in the site's navigation. For external links add `external: true`.
 
 ``` yaml
 # sample top navigation links
@@ -79,6 +79,9 @@ links:
     url: /articles
   - title: Other Page
     url: /other-page
+  - title: External Page
+    url: http://mademistakes.com
+    external: true
 ```
 
 #### Other Stuff
diff --git a/_config.yml b/_config.yml
index 7f84086e..2aef965e 100644
--- a/_config.yml
+++ b/_config.yml
@@ -27,7 +27,8 @@ google_verify:      UQj93ERU9zgECodaaXgVpkjrFn9UrDMEzVamacSoQ8Y
 # https://ssl.bing.com/webmaster/configure/verify/ownership Option 2 content= goes here
 bing_verify:        D81F4C18A6CB3018F64D7C827D953DFD
 
-# Internal pages/posts to include in top navigation
+# Links to include in top navigation
+# For external links add external: true
 links:
   - title: About
     url: /about
@@ -35,6 +36,9 @@ links:
     url: /articles
   - title: Theme Setup
     url: /theme-setup
+  - title: Made Mistakes
+    url: http://mademistakes.com
+    external: true
 
 # http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_tz_database_time_zones
 timezone:    America/New_York
diff --git a/_includes/navigation.html b/_includes/navigation.html
index 8ddaaa18..c4382cde 100644
--- a/_includes/navigation.html
+++ b/_includes/navigation.html
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 		<nav role="navigation" itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/SiteNavigationElement">
 		    <ul>
 		        {% for link in site.links %}
-				<li><a href="{{ site.url }}{{ link.url }}">{{ link.title }}</a></li>
+				<li><a href="{% if link.external %}{{ link.url }}{% else %}{{ site.url }}{{ link.url }}{% endif %}" {% if link.external %}target="_blank"{% endif %}>{{ link.title }}</a></li>
 		        {% endfor %}
 		        <li><i class="icon-feed"></i> <a href="{{ site.url }}/feed.xml" title="Atom/RSS feed">Feed</a>
 		    </ul>
diff --git a/theme-setup.md b/theme-setup.md
index a76853f5..6e139e6c 100644
--- a/theme-setup.md
+++ b/theme-setup.md
@@ -60,7 +60,35 @@ minimal-mistakes/
 
 ### _config.yml
 
-Variables you want to update are: site name, description, url[^1], owner info, and your Google Anayltics tracking id and webmaster tool verifications. Most of these variables are used in the .html files found in *_includes* if you need to add or remove anything.
+Most of the variables found here are used in the .html files found in `_includes` if you need to add or remove anything. A good place to start would be to change the title, tagline, description, and url of your site. When working locally comment out `url` or else you will get a bunch of broken links because they are absolute and prefixed with `{{ site.url }}` in the various `_includes` and `_layouts`. Just remember to uncomment `url` when building for deployment or pushing to **gh-pages**...
+
+#### Owner/Author Information
+
+Change your name, bio, and avatar photo (100x100 pixels or larger), Twitter url, email, and Google+ url. If you want to link to an external image on Gravatar or something similiar you'll need to edit the path in `author-bio.html` since it assumes it is located in `\images`.
+
+Including a link to your Google+ profile has the added benefit of displaying [Google Authorship](https://plus.google.com/authorship) in Google search results if you've went ahead and applied for it. Don't have a Google+ account? Just leave it blank and/or remove `<link rel="author" href="{{ site.owner.google_plus }}">` from `head.html`.
+
+#### Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools
+
+Your Google Analytics ID goes here along with meta tags for [Google Webmaster Tools](http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35179) and [Bing Webmaster Tools](https://ssl.bing.com/webmaster/configure/verify/ownershi) site verification.
+
+#### Top Navigation Links
+
+Edit page/post titles and URLs to include in the site's navigation. For external links add `external: true`.
+
+{% highlight yaml %}
+# sample top navigation links
+links:
+  - title: About Page
+    url: /about
+  - title: Articles
+    url: /articles
+  - title: Other Page
+    url: /other-page
+  - title: External Page
+    url: http://mademistakes.com
+    external: true
+{% endhighlight %}
 
 ### Adding Posts and Pages