How many of you have seen a URL (uniform resource locator) also known as a website address in a social media post or on a blog that has a billion and one characters? Using a URL Shortener will clean up the excess. Plus, if it is something one wants to share say on Twitter where characters are limited not only does it no longer look unsightly, it doesn’t eat up the 140 character allotment with the URL alone!
What is a Short URL
The Short URL, or as some know them by tiny url or bitly, is a great way to take those long URL’s and get them back under control.
For example, would you rather write Laboratory For Shuttering, Reinforcement, Concrete And Ferroconcrete Operations For Composite-Monolithic And Monolithic Constructions Of The Department Of Technology Of Building Assembly Operations Of The Scientific Research Institute Of The Organization For Building Mechanization And Technical Aid Of The Academy Of Building And Architecture Of The USSR or its abbreviation NIIOMTPLABOPARMBETZHELBETRABSBOMONIMONKONOTDTEKHSTROMONT?
(There’s a little bit of trivia for you – the world’s longest abbreviation.)
So basically, it is just wrapping something big up in a nice little package – or as small as package possible to make it more manageable.
There are many sites that offer URL shorteners. One of my favorite is good o’ Google because you can track how much traffic the shortened URL receives. Other URL shortener websites like bit.ly offer this as well.
By shortening your link URL and having the ability to track its progress you can gain a better handle on how your brand presents online and what type of audience (demographics) you are capturing giving you the ability to appeal more to the most active market hits.
Top 3 URL Shorteners
- Google URL Shortener – https://goo.gl/
- Bitly – https://bitly.com/
- Tiny URL – http://tinyurl.com/
Take your brand up a short step and get to shortening! Get more great information just like this by downloading the Rocks Digital complimentary eBook.
Do you use a URL shortener? If so, which one and are you tracking the clicks you get on them. Comment below.
