Best Way To Shorten A Link

I use two services:

Bitly - like others have said, it's a great tool with a custom dashboard that lets you take a look at your stats, click throughs and so on.

Wp.me shortener built in the Jetpack plugin. This is great for subpages on your WP-powered site. The main benefit is that it looks less spammy than bitly in some situations.

Thanks

Signature

You know what, I won't try to lead you in with fake promises and false advertising. So let me just be honest. If you're looking for some online business advice for normal people (with no hype and constant product pushing) then hop over to newinternetorder.com

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8929557].message }}

karolk

12 years ago

I use two services:

Bitly - like others have said, it's a great tool with a custom dashboard that lets you take a look at your stats, click throughs and so on.

Wp.me shortener built in the Jetpack plugin. This is great for subpages on your WP-powered site. The main benefit is that it looks less spammy than bitly in some situations.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

You know what, I won't try to lead you in with fake promises and false advertising. So let me just be honest. If you're looking for some online business advice for normal people (with no hype and constant product pushing) then hop over to newinternetorder.com

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8929559].message }}

Nick Logan 12 years ago

I use bitly.com. Very good and free service!
- Thanks
Signature

T-Shirt Business: How To Work From Home Starting Your Own Online Business In A Popular Teespring Niche! ($5.99)

*****
[Awesome] This is by far the best online affiliate business tutorial!
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8929560].message }}

johnlagoudakis

12 years ago

If you have a Wordpress site, install a url shortening plugin like Pretty Link Lite and create your own shortened urls.

I'd never use a free url shortening service. If they decide to ban certain links (for whatever reason), your link goes nowhere.

Thanks

Signature

Need help getting more leads and sales? *** Click here to work with me ***

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8929707].message }}

DomRau

12 years ago

I use bitly.com too

Very easy to use and had no problems yet

Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8929712].message }}

yakim1

12 years ago

Back in 2003 I created a Redirect Generator called EZ-RedirectGen. It is an exe program so may not work for Mac users.

I would create a folder on my domain named "r". This r folder is where I would put all my redirect links so they would all be in one spot and easy to find.

This Generator will create the html code that you copy/paste in a notepad file and then name the file anything you want that has to do with the link you want to redirect to, but save it as an htm file.

So for this generator download link I might use EZ-RedirectGen.htm. Then I would upload this file to the r folder.

I did not want to put my redirects on any of these free url shortener sites. You never know when they will be blacklisted or go out of business and then all your links are suddenly not working.

I don't use it any more because my software that I created now hold all my redirects in a database. But it still uses the same format... DomainName/r/filename.htm

Here is the direct download link to this handy little generator...

http://crazydealsweekly.com/r/EZ-RedirectGen.htm

There are instructions right on the generator interface. I don't think the readme file with the generator program functions any more but the software still does.

It only takes a couple of minutes to have a shortened url on your own site with this generator.

Best regards,
Steve Yakim

Thanks

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8929770].message }}

Rok Solid

12 years ago

Another good free url redirection plugin for Wordpress is GoCodes

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

I don't send traffic traffic to opt in pages anymore. I Do This instead...

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8930473].message }}

lerxtjr 12 years ago

The closer you can make it look like your own domain name and part of your own website the better. Otherwise a good percentage of people just figure it's an affiliate link and they don't click. Or, they're just not sure where a bit.ly link or whatever url shortener will be bringing them. Could be hooked up to an executable virus for all we know.

I always use a 301 redirect. This happens in your .htaccess file inside your website. So you are essentially commanding yourdomain.com/really-long-ugly-url-with-lots-of-stuff to redirect to yourdomain.com/coolpage

htaccess can vary depending on how your server is setup so I don't feel qualified to layout any particular code to make it happen for you. Best to have a programmer type help to get you started. Then you'll be able to add new redirects whenever you want. There is also a wordpress plugin that handles redirects but thought I'd give the general overview in case your site is not in wp.
- Thanks
Signature

Come practice your public speaking skills with us FREE every week! SpeakersSpeakLIVE.com >>
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8930496].message }}

ChrisBa

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Moneyland

Sometimes my URL's are too long for use on YouTube if I am directing to a particular page on my site etc.

I have heard of a site called Bitly.com a URL shortening service, would this be the best bet or are there better options out there :confused:

Thanks if you could let me know..

Personally, I use my own domain and hosting for this. I just don't trust other companies for this.

Thanks
1 reply

Signature

$ POPS GUIDE - YOUR FIRST CONVERSION GUARANTEED! $

{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[8930497].message }}

hawaii777 12 years ago

So, it's ok to use a 301 direct to shorten my own blog posts? I thought I heard that's not a good idea. I do have "Simple 301 Redirects" plugin, but I'm a little hesitant to use it.
- Thanks
Signature
The best is yet to come!
{{ DiscussionBoard.errors[9083951].message }}