7 Things People Don’t Tell You About URL Shorteners!

If you’ve been researching the benefits of using short URLs in your general and internet marketing, there are probably a few general points that stick out in your mind:

• Short URLs tend to increase click-through rates ... and therefore profit for your site.
• Short URLs are infinitely preferable when your marketing is in a format that requires re-typing the address (such as SMS marketing or print advertising).
• Short URLs can be vulnerable to spam links, since you can’t see exactly where the URL points.
• Short URLs contribute to the possibility of linkrot on the web, in case one or more of the shortening services stop functioning.

This leaves you with two fairly convincing arguments on either side of the fence. Unfortunately there is a lot more to the story than most sites tend to want to tell you! Today we are looking at the top 7 things that not many people realize about URL shorteners.

1. Many URL shortening services have a preview function that allows you to see what a page looks like, without actually clicking through to it. If users are worried about spam, they simply use the preview function to confirm that the site is legitimate.
2. It is best practice not to use short URLs as a permanent linking device. They are wonderful in certain circumstances, but shortening every URL on your site for all of your promotion is not the ideal long term solution. A website developer can work with you to create a longer-term solution.
3. There are plugins and scripts available that decode shortened URLs for users. Someone who is worried about the possibility of spam in short URLs may well have one of these scripts or plug-ins installed. However, a limited number of services are supported by these.
4. Bit.ly and tinyurl are not the only URL shortening services. There are doens of smaller ones, and some that offer very inventive features. These may include tracking and stats, the possibility of shortening URLs with your own domain, and so on.
5. It is believed that the lifespan of the average URL is around the same as that of a shortened URL. The major difference is that with shortened URLs there is the very small possibility of a heap of URLs suddenly becoming invalid all at once, whereas this happens gradually for ordinary URLs.
6. Businesses can sometimes avoid the need for using URL shortening services by careful URL design ... but when you have a content management system that automatically generates long URLs, this is near impossible. It is much easier to shorten as necessary, rather than redesign an entire site.
7. Some antivirus products will block shortened URLs en masse. If you don't want your viewers to be stopped from accessing your site, choose a service without known issues.

Should You Use Google's and Facebook’s URL Shortening Services?

There has been some (rather high profile!) discussion on the web recently about Google and Facebook’s decisions to introduce their proprietary URL shortening services, and the impact that might have on services from smaller companies. It seems like a clear-cut case of the big guy stomping out competition in the marketplace by virtue of their reputation and brand ... but is that really all there is to it? More importantly, if you are a website owner who needs a URL shortening service, should you use one of the Google/Facebook behemoths, or should you look further afield to find a service that is right for you?

Most importantly ... Google’s product is limited

The most important thing ot remember about Google’s URL shortening service is that it is only available when you are sharing URLs directly from within the Google toolbar or through Feedburner. You can’t use the same short URL for all your Tweets, for your print advertising, for your SMS marketing, and so on. You can only use it for sharing things through Google Toolbar or Feedburner.

Facebook’s URL shortener ... only for Facebook Pages

If you actively promote your business through Facebook (and many people do!), then the Facebook automatic URL shortening will be a plus for you. Unfortunately, in some ways, you don’t get to choose whether you use the Facebook URL shortening service ... if you share something through the site, it automatically does it for you. Of course, you can use any proprietary service as an alternative short URL.

For your own web pages ... go proprietary!

There are all sorts of arguments for and against using both large companies and big brands, and using smaller companies and less well-known brands. We tend to find that small companies are better at customer service, have more innovative features, are more likely to be free as opposed to requiring payment, etc. Another good reason for you to support smaller business when it comes to URL shortening is the idea of karma ... you are most likely a small or medium sized business, and you want customers to approach you rather than your big brand competitors. Why don’t you take your own advice?

The Problems of Short URLs ... and How to Overcome Them!

If you have ever gotten interested enough in URL shortening to start investigating it, you are just as likely to have found pages telling you why short URLs are the scourge of the Internet as pages that explain why they are so vital to Internet marketing success! Today we are examining some of the problems that URL shortening can bring up, and how smart companies can overcome them with a little planning, some diligently followed processes and smart choice of URL shortening provider.

1. Short URLs don’t pass link love or add to Pagerank
   This downside to some URL shortening services comes from the fact that Google doesn’t recognize clicks on your shortened URLs as visitors to your domain, since they are redirected. Therefore the clicks that you get through your short URLs don’t contribute to your Pagerank, or so the argument goes. However, some URL shortening services do offer URL shortening and re-directs within your own domain to counter this problem. Also, in the internet marketing equation your Google ranking and the effectiveness of your website in converting visitors are two equal, but separate pillars of profitability. Just get the visitors to your site using the shorter URLs, and use other strategies to bump up your Google ranking -- this is the prevailing advice.
2. Short URLs contribute to linkrot on the web
   We all know how annoying it is to decide that you want to read a page, only to find that the link is broken. If a short URL service stopped working, then all the redirects it had put in place would also. This possibility worries website owners and developers alike. However, in 2009 a project known as the ‘’301 Works’’ was begun by the Internet Archive with initially 20 collaborating companies. If your service is listed, then your short URLs will always work, no matter the end fate of the business providing them. This should also stop people going automatically to larger services through worry about sustainability, and increase competitiveness.
3. Short URLs are vulnerable to spam and behavioral tracking
   All that is needed is a little communication with your URL shortening service to ensure this isn’t the case. Make sure they seem like a reputable company – that you can actually call their offices, that they answer emails, and that they are located in a country where the Internet is well-regulated. If every person using short URLs did this, their general reputation would skyrocket!

Top 4 Reasons Why Websites Use Short URLs

So, you have a website. Every page has its own URL created by your web developer, or automatically created by an algorithm encoded in your page. Why could you possibly need your URLs changed to something else entirely? There are a few simple but very important reasons why people use URL shortening and URL redirects. Today we’re looking at why these services exist – and how your site could benefit by using them.

1. Short URLs get more clicks
   When people encounter a long URL that isn’t encoded as a hyperlink with anchor text, it looks intimidating. People tend to think thatshorter URLs will be closer to the main site page, and therefore contain more general informaiton that is closer to what they imagine they will need. After all, if only an obscure page on a website contains the term you are looking for, you might be able to get more comprehensive information elsewhere.
2. If you use Twitter marketing, you need short URLs
   Twitter limits its messages to 140 characters or less. A URL may only be counted as one word, since it has no spaces, but every little &ocsid= or &page_query_1125463 eats away at your character limit! And if you can’t tell your Twitter followers anything about the link, they aren’t likely to click on it.
3. If you use SMS marketing, you need short URLs
   The same rule as in Twitter marketing applies for SMS marketing. You have 140-160 characters, depending on your recipient’s mobile phone service, to get your message to them. If your characters are completely taken up by a website address, you’ll get few clicks. In addition, unless an enormous percentage of your clients use mobile internet devices as their phones (and you would really want that percentage to be close to 100%!), many will have to re-type the URL into their browser to visit the site. Long URLs increase the likelihood of typos, and missed opportunities for your website
4. You want to include a URL in your print advertising
   Unfortunately, technology hasn’t progressed to the point where print publications are web-enabled, and we can just tap printed words in a magazine to get to a website! Again, people must re-type addresses they see in print ads, and if you want to send them to a deep link in your site, every extra character is another possibility of creating a typo. If it looks like work, people simply won’t bother ... and your advertising dollar is wasted!

URL shortening and redirection services are an integral part of the web already, and are vital for truly integrating your web and traditional marketing efforts. Best of all, many great services are free to use!