{"id":5363,"date":"2013-09-23T07:11:01","date_gmt":"2013-09-23T11:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.123print.com\/?p=5363"},"modified":"2015-07-16T20:25:20","modified_gmt":"2015-07-16T20:25:20","slug":"the-long-and-short-of-url-shorteners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/the-long-and-short-of-url-shorteners\/","title":{"rendered":"The Long and Short of URL Shorteners"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"URL
Image credit:
www.anna-OM-line.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So what\u2019s a URL shortener and why should you care? A URL shortener is exactly what it sounds like: It\u2019s a tool that lets you paste any normal\/long URL into it and, with one click,\u00a0have that URL shortened so that there are fewer characters in it. That way it will take up less space and possibly be easier to remember or type in. Some shorteners even let you customize your truncated URL, which does make it easier to brand and remember. But what\u2019s more impressive is the analytic capabilities of some of these tools. The powerful analytics are why most small businesses like to use these tools. And as long as your device, be it a PC, MAC or mobile devices, has a connection to the Internet, you can use it to shorten your links.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Once you\u2019ve shortened your link, it can be used on websites, in comments, chats, emails and social posts. If you track these links, it can help you calculate your return on investment (ROI) on the time spent promoting the URL. Plus, you can develop strategies for maximizing your usage of links to promote your brand and sell your products and services.<\/p>\n

There are dozens of URL shortener options. Today, we\u2019ll talk about five.<\/p>\n

\"Bit.lyBit.ly<\/strong><\/span>
\nCost: Free
\nURL: https:\/\/bitly.com\/
\nRequires an Account: Yes. Sign up using your email information or your Facebook login.
\nAvailable in Browser\u2019s Tool Bar: Yes. Easily add Bit.ly to your browser’s toolbar to instantly create shortened URLs from any website.
\nCustomizable URL: Yes. Customize by clicking on the pencil to the left of Copy.
\nDefault Size: 20 characters
\nQR Code: Yes. Just copy the shortened code, paste it in your browser\u2019s URL and add .qr at the end. Hit return and there\u2019s your QR code.
\nTracking\/Analytics: Yes. Track clicks, shares, referrers, browsers, countries and platforms.
\nApps: Android and iOS apps are available
\nUnique Feature: Bit.ly lets you bookmark and organize your links, add notes to your links and store them in specific groups for better organization. The bookmarks can be shared through services such as Facebook and Twitter.<\/p>\n

Goo.gl<\/strong> <\/span>
\nCost: Free
\nURL: http:\/\/goo.gl\/
\nRequires an Account: No. You can create shortened links without signing in, but you have to answer a captcha question. If you want analytics though, you\u2019ll have to sign in with your gmail account. (And no captcha when you sign in.)
\nAvailable in Browser\u2019s Tool Bar: Of course! Google would have it no other way.
\nCustomizable URL: Nope. There\u2019s no option to create a custom link.
\nDefault Size: 20 characters
\nQR Code: Yes, it provides QR codes with the shortened link.
\nTracking\/Analytics: Yes, if you\u2019re signed in. Tracking information includes clicks, referrers, browsers, countries and platforms. You can even see which time slots are getting the most clicks (although there is a 2 hour delay).
\nApps: Yes, there\u2019s an Android app. No iOS apps though.
\nUnique Feature: Because it\u2019s Google, the analytics are potentially more powerful.<\/p>\n

Ow.ly<\/strong><\/span>
\nCost: Free
\nURL: http:\/\/ow.ly\/url\/shorten-url
\nRequires an Account: No. Like goo.gl, you can either remain anonymous and use the captcha authentication to create URLs, or you can sign in.
\nAvailable in Browser\u2019s Tool Bar: No.
\nCustomizable URL: Not an option.
\nDefault Size: 19 characters
\nQR Code: No.
\nTracking\/Analytics: Yes, if you\u2019re signed in and if you have Hootsuite. Get accurate click-throughs (with bot filtering), custom date ranges, regional breakdowns and exportable reports.
\nApps: No.
\nUnique Feature: Because this service is linked with Hootsuite, you can sign in with your Twitter account, instantly share tweets and easily manage and monitor your social media accounts. Plus, ow.ly, lets you upload images, files and video to be shared as links.<\/p>\n

TinyURL<\/strong> <\/span>
\nCost: Free
\nURL: http:\/\/tinyurl.com\/
\nRequires an Account: No sign-up procedure or account creation is required.
\nAvailable in Browser\u2019s Tool Bar: Yes, and you can condense links from any sites you visit.
\nCustomizable URL: Yes, you can add your own short term to the URL instead of using their auto-generated code.
\nDefault Size: 25 characters, slightly longer than bit.ly and goo.gl.
\nQR Code: Not an option.
\nTracking\/Analytics: No data to learn from with this shortener.
\nApps: None.
\nUnique Feature: TinyURL started the URL shortening trend in 2002.<\/p>\n

\"tinymozTinymoz.com<\/strong><\/span>
\nCost: Free
\nURL: http:\/\/tinymoz.com\/
\nRequires Account: No, you don\u2019t have to sign in, and you don\u2019t have to do a captcha.
\nAvailable in Browser\u2019s Tool Bar: No such luck.
\nCustomizable URL: Yes, you can add your own word at the same time as you request shortening your URL.
\nDefault Size: 25 characters. Tinymoz links are slightly longer than bit.ly and goo.gl
\nQR Code: Yes, automatically.
\nTracking\/Analytics: Yes, but you have to store the stats URL to find it again. It tracks referrer, browser and platform and visits.
\nApps: No.
\nUnique Feature: That you can get analytics even though you don\u2019t have to log in.<\/p>\n

Do you currently use a URL shortener? Why or why not? If yes, which one is your favorite. We\u2019re big fans of bit.ly. Share your URL shortener thoughts and experiences on the 123Print Facebook<\/a> page, on Twitter<\/a> or in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So what\u2019s a URL shortener and why should you care? A URL shortener is exactly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,26,27,7,8],"tags":[94,1210],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5363"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5363"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5363\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8989,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5363\/revisions\/8989"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.123print.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}