buckworks - 1:14 am on Dec 15, 2012 (gmt 0)

Style your links discreetly if you want, but please not too discreetly. Make them distinctive enough so the reader has no trouble identifying those words as something to check.

Also, use a hover effect that does something active and obvious on mouseover. A good hover effect confirms for the user, "Yes, you found the link in this paragraph."

I spent several minutes trying to find a link

I don't care how purrrrty the page is to look at; that is bad design.