Don't use tr.im

by pcgun007

Posted: 10 years ago 11 replies

PRODUCT REVIEWS

We affiliate marketers always try to hide affiliate links with short url service. 4 month ago I found a short url service tr.im
It is really a simple design then tunyurl and bitly so I started to shorting my affiliate url with this site. Today I realize tr.im delete links after some days. In 4 month I have hided 70% of my affiliate with this searvice.. I think I have lost my many sells for this mistake.

[Google's short service goog.l also delete usl sometimes..]

#affiliate #mistake #short url #trim

vishwa 10 years ago

So sorry for that. Always choose reliable url shorten services like tiny url, bit.ly etc.
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- Alexa Smith Banned 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by vishwa
  
  So sorry for that. Always choose reliable url shorten services like tiny url, bit.ly etc.
  
  Sorry, Vishwa, but bit.ly and tinyurl are actually two of the least reliable.
  
  A few years ago, many hundreds of Warriors lost all their tinyurl links overnight. Some of them had even been unwise enough to put those links on other people's sites, and could do nothing corrective about it.
  
  Bit.ly is notoriously unreliable: The .ly domain space to be considered unsafe | :Ben Metcalfe Blog
  
  (And quite apart from that, there are large numbers of people who refuse to click on bit.ly links. The people using them, here, in their signature-files, have little conception of how much traffic they're losing by using them as their low-quality/careless/unprofessional way of trying to track the clicks.)
  
  What makes sense is never to let any part of your business be dependent on the continuity and goodwill and reliability of a totally unnecessary third-party service!
  
  If you need a url shortener/concealer, any one that you own and control yourself is good. Something that you've set up through your own website. There are many ways to do these things. They're easy and far more reliable! (Even Prettylink is better than any of the stuff mentioned above).
  
  Thanks
  
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Dave37 10 years ago

Thanks for the notice. I'm thinking there should be a reason why they deleted your links, otherwise it might be written in their policies that links will be deleted after a given period of time. Fortunately you were aware of the link not functionning.

You should also be careful with bit.ly and goo.gl as they can block your links if you are receiving traffics from 'unusual' sources.
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Igman 10 years ago

Thanks for the warning!
A good advice is always to use reliable websites to secure your traffic.
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- Alexa Smith Banned 10 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by Igman
  
  A good advice is always to use reliable websites to secure your traffic.
  
  Good advice is to use your own website to secure your traffic.
  
  .
  
  Thanks
  
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Ihate9to5 10 years ago

Try using your domain as a redirect for affiliate links or pretty links if you are WordPress user.
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N4PGW 10 years ago

I use a plugin in WP on one of my own sites. I can even see how many were clicked.

I also have a php script on one site without word press. It isn't as easy as pretty links or other plugins.
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Rus Sells 10 years ago

8 bucks, get your own and host it yourself.

PHP Scripts - URL Shortener Script with Statistics | CodeCanyon
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Dennis Gaskill 10 years ago
I wouldn't use any third party service, I want control. It's simple to make your own redirects. Just copy this code and paste it into Notepad or any plain text editor:
Code:

<?php header( 'Location: http://www.YourLinkHere.com' ) ; ?>
...and change the link (shown in red) to your affiliate link or whatever URL you're trying to mask, and then save it as PageName.php.

The PageName part can be any name you choose, just so you save it with a PHP extension (Note: you can't have spaces or special characters in the name).

Then you just upload that file to your website, and when you link to that file it will redirect users to your link in the second line.

If you're referring people to a product and they go out of business, just edit that file and replace the URL with the URL to another a product or an explanation page or a review page of the new product and your links will never go bad.
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aire 10 years ago

Install your own tiny URL script.
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kursat 10 years ago

I would say a simple PHP redirect would work best. Like the one posted above or any other. This needs to be installed on the root of the domain at your hosting and it would keep everything in order so you don't need to worry about your links getting lost.
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