You probably have heard about so called URL shortening. The concept is simple; you take a long URL, and shorten by around 75%.
The short URL will act as a redirecting link, clicking on it will direct you to the long URL. Of course, it may sound simple, and many bloggers use URL shorteners. However, there are a few key points in which you need to consider when choosing a URL shortening service:
- Reliability – How long the servers stay up for
- Characters – How short the URL can be
- Extra features – Click tracking and analytics
Of the above, Bit.ly has an even amount of everything. From features such as URL shortening, to finding out who clicked on your URL.
So, when you first visit the webpage, you’ll be presented with a text box.
Very self explanatory.
In the picture above
- Red – Number of clicks your shortened URL had
- Blue – The name of your shortened URL
- Green – The shortened URL
Bit.ly was recently chosen as the default URL shortening service by Twitter, replacing the original TinyURL. One of the clever uses of the service is that when you shorten a URL, the service will look to see how many clicks your link received when you posted it. It will also tell you if that link has been shortened before and then determine how many clicks your post received out of the total uses of that link.
Putting it in plain English, if you see that your link received 17 out of 200 clicks, you will know that your link was previously shortened using Bit.ly and that 183 clicks came from other Twitter/Bit.ly users shortening that link.
After you shorten a URL, it will be added to your history. Of course, you can delete your history simply by clicking the “X”, or clearing your cookies.
Users are encouraged to sign up with the service so that they can keep a track of all links whether cookies are deleted or not. This also allows you to use your API key in such programs as Tweetdeck and Twhirl, shortening links from external programs and services without needing to visit the site itself.
It seems that URL shorteners are a dime a dozen these days but choosing a service like Bit.ly will give you a complete overview of how well your links perform as well as reducing the size of that large address you needed to share with someone.
