{"id":120,"date":"2019-07-19T17:32:00","date_gmt":"2019-07-19T17:32:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/campaigndonut.com\/?p=120"},"modified":"2024-05-19T11:07:38","modified_gmt":"2024-05-19T18:07:38","slug":"url-shortener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/campaigndonut.com\/url-shortener\/","title":{"rendered":"URL Shortener \u2014 A Roundup and Review of Services"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Links can get pretty ugly and the last thing you need for your business is to connect your beautiful, well-crafted, protected brand image along side a nasty, 230 character URL. That\u2019s where URL shortener services come in handy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a good chance you\u2019ve seen URL shortener services in action \u2014 and not even realized it. For those who may not be familiar with what a URL shortener is, we have you covered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A URL shortener service takes a long, ugly, nonsensical website address URL, 50, 100, even 200 characters long, and shortens it to a more palatable and pleasing to the eye URL in a standardized format. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TL;DR – Which URL Shortener Is Best<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Just want to know which URL shortener to use?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuttly is full featured and free, but no integrations. If you’re just looking for a simple URL shortener that provides statistics, Cuttly is hard to beat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebrandly is powerful, affordable, and well integrated with other marketing tools and apps. It is not the cheapest, but it is the most forward thinking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GoDaddy is hard to beat if all you need is a simple URL shortener and nothing else. It’s free to use as long as you have an account with them and integrates with domain names purchased through GoDaddy but not assigned to hosting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Example of How URL Shorteners Keep Things Clean and Simple<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have hosted a live stream nearly every week for over a half a year with Steve Edwards of Queen Valley Mule Ranch. During this live stream, Steve will mention a product, service, book, video, or any number of other resources. When he talks about a resource, I hop on the internet and find the link. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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URL shortening becomes very helpful when sharing long links during live streams, keeping links visually appealing and preventing the chat feed from feeling spammy.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

For instance, Steve mentioned Dr. Robert Miller\u2019s book, Imprint Training of the Newborn Foal<\/em>. As soon as he mentioned it, I went to Amazon to find the link and here is what that link looked like.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Imprint-Training-Newborn-Western-Horseman\/dp\/0911647228<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not awful, but certainly not pretty for sharing in the comment section of a live stream. After finding the book on Amazon, I hopped over to a service called Bitly (which we will talk about more below) and shortened that URL to this URL:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/amzn.to\/2S76RIv<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes, there is a random string of numbers and letters at the end, but overall, the URL is easier to look at, and removes the attention from the URL itself and places it back on the actual item we\u2019re sharing, Dr. Robert Miller\u2019s book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amazon has it’s own custom branded URL shortener.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

URL Shortener Features<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While all URL shorteners effectively do the same thing – shorten long URLs, there is actually quite a variety of additional features offered through URL shortener services and these features are really what separates one service from another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Custom Branded Short URL<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Amazon URL featured above is an example of the custom short URL \u2014 the URL domain is tailored to the Amazon brand, \u2018amzn.to\u2019. Another name for a custom short URL is branded short URL because the URL domain is matched to the brand. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A branded URL is a small and very effective way to increase the authority, trust, and legitimacy of your brand. Read our How to Create A Custom Short URL<\/a> article if you\u2019d like to create your own branded short URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Link Analytics and Statistics<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While I can\u2019t remember the first time I ever used a short URL, I do remember that link analytics and statistics was one of the reasons I started using them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all, but many URL shorteners provide a varying range of statistics such as basic \u201chow many people clicked this link\u201d stats, visitor referral source (Facebook, email, direct), and origin location for each click. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Statistics and analytics provide greater insight into how your content is performing and what content you may want to amplify and evolve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mobile Links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Mobile links have become increasingly important in the last five years as more and more companies launch their own mobile apps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s how they work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You receive an email on your phone from a service like Amazon letting you know about a product on sale. You click the link in the email and your Amazon app opens up, bringing the product up on your screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mobile link is what triggers the Amazon app and without it, you\u2019d be referred to the Amazon website through your browser. It may seem trivial, but user experience is increasingly important and for services that rely heavily on a mobile app experience over mobile website compatibility, the mobile link connects the user to the service more quickly and effectively.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While all of the other URL shortener features are still there, some services will use a shortening service specifically for the mobile link feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traffic Routing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While not necessarily an everyday feature, there will be certain times when you may want to direct one user to one page and another user to a different page based on a specific criteria such as user country, user device, language, or other factors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

URL shortener services give you the ability to customize a user\u2019s experience. As is the case with mobile links, it may not seem like an earth-moving feature, but to create a smoother experience catered to a user\u2019s specific need, it is a very important feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

URL Shortener Integrations<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While it may not be immediately apparent why you would want to integrate a URL shortener with other services, as you further develop your content marketing strategy you\u2019ll think up more ways to better represent your brand across every channel and in every location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Integrating your URL shortener with social sharing tools, email services, and other content marketing tools is a very important feature set that is worth taking note of when you go to select a url shortener service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just to provide one example, if you\u2019re using a social media scheduling tool such as Buffer or Hootsuite and want to use your own branded short URL, you will want to make sure that the service you choose has a native integration with the social media scheduling tool you use. Without a native integration, you\u2019ll find yourself doing a lot of manual work or bypassing your shortener altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

URL Shortener Services \u2014 A Roundup<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There is no shortage of URL shortener services. It is a very competitive niche that is evolving every month. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I first began using URL shorteners in my social media posts, the two options I had to choose from were Bitly and Google’s own URL shortener. Since that time, dozens of services have appeared and Google’s service is no longer a thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Below is a roundup of the most worthy players in the URL shortening service. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Capsulink<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\"Capsulink<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here is a summary of what Capsulink has to offer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key Features Offered by Capsulink<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

At the time of this writing, Capsulink doesn’t have a features page, but they do list some of the features in their home page copy. Here are those features taken from their homepage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n