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URL shortener, free or custom made?

by learnmore
6 replies
I have noticed that Jeff Johnson is using jjlikes.com and Mike Filsaime is using nowview.me. These are probably their home grown URL shortening services.

It looks like a good idea to me to use something that you control as opposed to bit.ly, tinyurl and myriad others available, here's a quick list:

URL Shorteners: Which Shortening Service Should You Use?

The tracking is important to affiliates which includes getting the referrer information in addition to just tracking the number of clicks and reporting of course.

Is it worth investing in creating one's own url shortening service for personal use? Pros and cons, What's your take?
#custom #free #made #shortener #url
  • Profile picture of the author reynoldscorb
    I would say no to using a service. It's rather easy to send someone to a url like website.com/affiliateproductid4576512342342id=username, but they only see website.com/product.

    I do this using html in my meta tags. If you want to send someone to an affiliate page, but don't want them to see the url, simply make an html file with the name you want them to see.

    Example - product.html

    In this file insert this meta tag "<meta HTTP-EQUIV="REFRESH" content="0; url=http://urlyouwantpeopletobedirectedto.com">"

    Now if someone clicks a link with the url website.com/product, they will be redirected to the link in the meta tag. This is a good way to cloak your affiliate links and shorten your urls.
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  • Profile picture of the author tribros
    I do have one and is not available to public. Something like (moredetails.com). I do like to keep almost everything under my control as well as there are many features that I would like to custom build that I don't find on third party services. Also, with those generic domain redirecting service you can track all the links from one place (specially if you have many domains and products) and also it has a better CTR .

    Plus "nowview.me/anything" looks, sounds better and easier to remember than "mikefilsaime.com/recommends/anything"

    That's just why I use it. If you are making some money than it's nothing compared to extra conversions it can generate.
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    • Profile picture of the author sunnygal
      If you use a free service for shortening all your affiliate links, what will happen to YOUR business if the free service ceases - ALL your links are instantly dead, and so is YOUR business.

      It's better to keep your important links under your own control.
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      • Profile picture of the author learnmore
        All great points. So the way to go would be to buy a generic domain name (moredetail.com, gohere.com or whatever) and have a developer write custom code to do some of the things that I may need.

        Simple redirects could easily be handled by using some sort of wordpress plugin. GoCodes I think is one.
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  • Profile picture of the author m100k
    You should look at it from this prespective...would you trust your computer to clicking a link with funny letters and numbers....

    Probably not, huh. Some people don't realize it but they lose sales when they use url shorteners. Building trust is important if you want sales. And it begins by having a legit link that they feel comfortable clicking on. If they can't get past this first step then you have no customer.

    I suggest that you buy a domain and redirect. If you want to save money you can buy a generic domain like weightlossoffers4u.info and then create a redirect using php.

    <?php

    header( 'Location: http://www.affiliatelink.com' ) ;

    ?>

    Save the file and name it acaiberry.php as an example.

    Your redirected domain will now be weightlossoffers4u.info/acaiberry.php.

    Your prospective customers will be more inclined to click the new link instead of the url shorteners.
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  • Profile picture of the author TheNightOwl
    Here are three scripts (none of which I've used) and there are tons more out there:

    AS3 Url shortener - Utilities - ActiveDen

    Simple URL Shortener - PHP Scripts - CodeCanyon

    My Link Shortener - PHP Scripts - CodeCanyon

    Install one of those puppies on one of your domains and Bob's your auntie's live-in lover!

    All the best,
    TheNightOwl
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