We all have probably noticed the short and pretty links on different blogs and Twitter by now. Perhaps we’re unsure of which one we should use, or if it makes any difference.
But it does.
The main reasons people use URL shorteners are to make very long affiliate links shorter and prettier or to track clicks on the links, or both.
So here is a break down of the shorteners I am using and the reasoning behind it.
1.Clicky.me
This shortener is connected to Clicky Web Analytics and we must have an account with them to use it. We can register for it for free, and we can even use the Web Analytics feature for free for one site. It is a great service and I highly recommend it.
Clicky.me isn’t as busy as others so there is still chance you can get some really pretty links.
This shortener has a tracking feature so you can see how many clicks each link received. Also, you can use it to shorten Clickbank linkswhich is a big advantage over some other shorteners (more on that below).
2.Su.pr
This shortener is a part of StumbleUpon and we must have an account with them to use it. Registering an account is free.
There are some great features we can use with Su.pr:
- we can just shorten the URL
- we can write a tweet or a Facebook update with the shortened URL and send it out
- we can schedule the tweet or the update for a later time
The absolute winning feature of this shortener — when someone clicks on an URL shortened with Su.pr, at the top of the screen they will have a StumbleUpon toolbar which increases the chance of the page being “Liked” on Stumble and going viral.
This shortener has a tracking feature and we can use it to shorten Clickbank links.
3.Bit.ly
Bit.ly or Bitly.com is probably the most popular and used shortener out there. We can use it without registering or logging in, but if we want to have the history of clicks and links we should create an account.
We can customize our URLs but since it is so popular we will have to be very creative to get a name that hasn’t been taken yet.
This shortener does have a tracking feature but don’t use it to shorten Clickbank links because people who click on the shortened version of the URL will get a big warning (and we probably won’t make a sale):
4.Goo.gl
Goo.gl is Google’s URL shortener and wedo not need to sign into your Google account to use it. However, if wewant to build our URL history (which we should), then sign in before we shorten our URLs.
This shortener does have a tracking feature but don’t use it to shorten Clickbank links because the URL will be disabled:
Other Options to Consider
Ow.ly is a shortener from HootSuite. We can use Hootsuite for free and they have a tracking feature for Ow.ly links.
Tiny.url or Tinyurl.com is a free shortener that we don’t register for. It doesn’t have tracking feature but it will let us customize the short version of URL if the “custom alias” hasn’t been taken by someone else.
Conclusion
Like it or not, you are probably going to end up using shorteners even if you don’t want to, for example when you tweet using HootSuite or some other management tool. So you might as well pick one shortener and use it all the time to track clicks on your links.
Another benefit is that they help you memorize some of your custom affiliate links, like I can do with my Clicky.me
If you haven’t paid much attention to this before, the start of the new year is the perfect time to give these shorteners a try and start making your links look pretty and track your marketing efforts.
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1 comments
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