Create shortcut link for adding Alert in Sharepoint 2010

In out-of-box blog template of SharePoint 2010, if we want to set up alert for the blog, we have to go to all site content -> lists -> post and then use the Alert ribbon in the List tab. Or if you are blog contributor, you can click on the quick like "manage posts" to switch to the posts list and then do the Alert setting. Neither of these is straightforward enough.

If we want to add shortcut for adding Alert for this blog, how are we going to do this?

Actually, SharePoint 2010 has centralized Alert management feature and there is a subscription page for every site in the farm. The page path should be similar with this one:
http://woss01/blog/_layouts/SubNew.aspx

As we see, it's under site "_layouts" folder. And it does support the "List" QueryString parameter so that we can pass the List GUID to set up alert for specific list.

To check what's the GUID for your list, we can always go to the list settings page. Right click on "Title, description and navigation" and copy the URL. Paste that into notepad and copy everything after "List=" in the string. That's your URL Encoded GUID for the list.

Once we identify the list URL Encoded GUID, here is the quick link of adding alert for this list:

http://woss01/blog/_layouts/SubNew.aspx?List={3BCE815E-CE60-4BB3-970B-A38D30E95362}