Thoughts on Custom Branded URL Shorteners and How to Setup Bit.ly Pro in 3 Simple Steps
TentBlo.gs !
Some of you may have noticed that I’ve been using a new URL shortener http://tentblo.gs!
What’s neat is that this is nothing more than the free “Pro” service provided by Bit.ly and it’s fairly easy to setup!
The steps to create your own URL shortener are fairly easy but I thought I’d walk you through it just in case.
But first, here’s my thoughts on URL shorteners in general:
Do You Need a URL Shortener?
I believe that the camps are crowded on both sides of the fence as to whether or not a blogger needs their own URL shortener and here’s what I’ve come to believe: It doesn’t really matter.
And I’m pretty confident about that position! I think that by using well-known URL shorteners like Bit.ly and such (as well as the native Twitter http:/t.co system) that you’ll be just fine.
Twitter uses their own T.co shortener.
The reasons that it’s good to use these well-known systems is that they are simply just that – well-known! People recognize them and are familiar with them.
The other side of the fence argues pretty heavily that by having your own branded URL Shortener that you somehow “enhance” your brand and all that smooth-talking jazz. But I’m not sure the impact is as guaranteed as some of these so-called experts declare.
But to each his own really!
When You Should Use Your Own:
This was cheap...
Here’s what I counsel people when they consider using their own vanity or custom-branded URL Shortener:
- Do you have the technical know-how to get one running?
- Do you have the “extra” capital to spend to a great and effective URL shortener? This is important since a top level country domain that’s short (and clever) may not be cheap to buy! For example, TentBlo.gs cost me an addition $39.95 per year and this is a cheap top level domain!
- Does it “matter” to you, really?
If you say “Yes” to most of these (or all three of them) then go for it. If not, you’re honestly not missing out on much and your success won’t be impacted at all.
Using Bit.ly Pro:
If you do decide to go “pro” with a custom branded URL shortener then one more simple option is to use Bit.ly’s Pro service which can have you running in only a few easy steps. There are a number of other options out there that are just as good and even a few self-hosted Open Source solutions like Yourls.org.
Here’s how:
1. Sign Up to Bit.ly
Sign up to Bit.ly first and then you’ll get your account info.
2. Sign Up for Pro
Now head over to the “Pro” sign up and walk through that.
3. Setup Your Custom Short Domain
The next part requires that you have access to change some of the “Domain Zone File” settings from your hosting provider.
You’ll have to add an “A Record” (and probably delete the current ones) to do this:
My A Record settings.
You’ll have to do this for your shortener domain.
Then you’ll also have to add a “CNAME Record” for the Tracking Domain:
My CNAME Record for TentBlogger.com
The instructions via Bit.ly are pretty helpful but sometimes you just need to see it, right?
Then all you have to hit is “Save” and then wait for it to populate through the internet!
Now, any application that you’ve used and authenticated through with your username and password will use your URL shortener instead automagically!
I love that word… “auto-magically”…!
And that’s that.
Again, it’s ultimately up to you if you want to use one and it won’t hurt or necessarily benefit you too much. If you’ve got the time, interest, and capital I say go for it! If not, have a great rest of the day and don’t think about it again.
Thoughts? Do you have a custom branded URL shortener?
I’m running my own URL Shortener based on YOURLS running on my server.
sweet! yeah, a bunch of people use that. you like it?
I personally use bit.ly (the free one they offer). Generally speaking I would recommend them and say they were very good. However the one slight problem to me appears to be that when you click on the URL shortener you do not know for sure where that link will take you. There is always the slightly possibility that the link might take you to some dodgy site full of spyware and viruses. So some degree of caution may need to be exercised!
that’s for sure. that’s why twitter uses their own for that type of stuff.
oh, did you know that you can know what bit.ly links are linking to? just add a “plus” sign at the end of the link…!
like….
http://bit.ly/xxxxxxx+
Thanks for that tip John I didn’t know that. I will have to try it out!
sure thing bro!
We did this with occ.tc a few weeks ago on Christian Web Trends. It works great except Twitter’s t.co shortener acts kind of strange at times. Sometimes I see occ.tc URLs and sometimes I see t.co URLs.
John, have you (or anyone else) noticed this?
what client are you using?
Hootsuite and the Twitter website.
interesting. haven’t had issue in hootsuite (although i don’t use it too often) but i have had issue with twitter website… so yes.
Awesome info man. I’ve thought about setting it up on my own server and had no idea bout the bit.ly pro service. Thanks for the tip.
I noticed when you switched to the branded short url but it doesn’t do anything for me to remember it. I guess it only serves the brand recognition? Which doesn’t seem to make much of a difference for me, personally. Will i get my own? Yep
Just because.
haha.
Can you set this up with your own domain name that you are already using? Or does it need to be dedicated?
Because you have to set the A record in the domain zone to point to bit.ly, the domain has to dedicated to the URL shortener.
Thanks
thanks for helping adam!
I use Google’s Chrome extension all the time, without the branded url. It works extremely well. The branded url bothers me if people are tweeting someone else’s content. The branded url makes it appear as if the person is taking credit for content that came originally from someone else.
ah. interesting perspective.
I don’t like branded shorteners. They do nothing for me.
I don’t like shortened URL’s at all actually, they’re not memorable and hide what site/page I’m actually going to.
I do, however use a shortener (su.pr) when I post links on twitter so I can get stats on how many clicks I get.
I don’t like doing it though
wow… really? isn’t su.pr like that though…? since it shortens it…?
Exactly the same and I hate myself for using it!
Great post, I love using Yourls on my cmd.tv domain. One thing I do is I make sure every link has custom text so it makes sense and isn’t just a string of randomness. And you can do this via custom fields in yourls wordpress plugin. You can even set it up in tweetdeck.
The stats arn’t quite as good as bit.ly but they still give you what you need.
sweet. yeah, i’ve seen your use of it. good stuff.!
I’m not a huge fan of custom branded url shorteners when linking to other people’s content. If I was going to use a personal branded url shortener at all, I would:
- only use my personal branded short url’s for my own posts
- use the general bit.ly link for links to other interesting content (so it doesn’t bait people by implying it’s my own content when it’s some else’s)
good rules to live by. i like it!
Great post!
What about a post on how to selevt your vanity domain name? Tips and trick to identify the perfect international tld.
Benoit
i try to keep it short… that’s really my number one strategy!
Got any tips as to where we can still find short domains?
I noticed when you started using the custom URL as well. I think it’s a great thing to have. Nit only from a branding perspective, but also a safety perspective. The way I see it, when using a personally branded short-URL it is clear that the link is safe. Anybody can shorten a link with bit.ly, j.mp, su.pr, goo.gl, is.gd, etc., and those links can easily be shortened for untrustworthy sites. But when I have my private customized shortened URL it can be trusted every time, because only I can generate that URL.
cool. will you use one at some point?
Can’t believe I never responded gothic either! #FAIL
At the time you wrote this blog I had been using my own vanity URL for over a month (or so…). As soon as both Mashable AND Michael Hyatt wrote a How To on it in the same week, I was ALL over it.
ah, i saw that. good for you man.
I totally agree with your reasoning. When it is a private custom short URL, I trust it more than the bigger ones like bit.ly and is.gd
ah, yes… but, as long as the private one has some reporting features that keep it high class…!
I just started this process and bit.ly required me to fill out a request form for the bit.ly pro beta program. It says it could take up to a whole business week in order for my bit.ly pro account to become active. Hopefully that process goes quicker than that. I was all ready to have it completed today. :/
Then again… I was all set to get the iPad2 on release day but things don’t always turn out the way we plan them… haha.
did you get this to work?
Just did this – a little trial and error, but I got it working finally. This was a great help.
sweet! what’s your new URL shortener?
Hi John, thanks for this post.
I set up an in-house shortener (symp.ws) using harleyquine’s shortURL WP plugin. After a few months of use, I’ve considered switching over to YOURLS, thereby making its use open to everyone.
Lately, however, I’ve been noticing all of my symp.ws links being automatically switched over to t.co … and I noticed a comment in this thread from a couple of months ago that others are experiencing this. I’m not using HootSuite or TweetDeck or anything; I’m using Twitter’s native apps (both Mac and iOS) and their website. I see others’ tweets with bit.ly, is.gd, etc just fine, no conversion. No fair!
Twitter’s t.co support page says that we can still use branded shorteners, but that all links posted on Twitter will be converted to t.co. What’s the use, then? I understand the need for safety and transparency, but their solution is aggravating.
honestly, this is just one of those “it is what it is”… types of deals.
in the end, i really don’t care much as long as people are tweeting it! i’m not going to force anyone to use anything if it means stopping them from sharing, right?
it’s nice to see the counter, but not a deal-breaker if it doesn’t go up as fast (or as accurately).
right?
True, in the end, the count is what counts, but I’m sad to see my work become t.co’d upon “send.” I suppose I can still use our branded shortener on Facebook, until Facebook starts automatically converting everything to fb.me …
sure sure.
hey, do you have a gravatar? http://tentblogger.com/gravatar/
Hey,
I own a proprietary shortening service : shr.tn. It’s all developped from scratch. It offers an API endpoint. I would love if you guys can try it out and give me feedback!
Also, I am linking the FB Fan Page of my shr.tn to its twitter account! The problem is when I publish a link on the FB page, it is tweeted with the fb.me shortener. Is there a way to set up FB to use my own url shortener, since it’s weird to use a different shortener on a shortner’s account !
Thanks a bunch !
O.
… ok. thanks for the self-promotion…?
I didn’t mean it to be self promotion. I saw everyone here talking about their custom branded url shorteners, so I shared my own experience! If it’s not OK, I am sorry !
thanks oussama!
I get it now! Looking into this for several clients.
how are things going?
Spoke with one client about adding this to our strategy and should be implementing this for another in the next month. thanks again for the info.
awesome. that’s so cool.
Hey John! Great post on this. I have a custom short url and am trying to determine the best way to implement it. Thanks for sharing this option.
Also, if anyone could help me out with the setup of the YOURLS plug-in, I would greatly appreciate it!
Thanks.
why not just use bit.ly? must you have yourls?
Thanks for the great information. I just noticed that John Jantsch had a custom branded url shortener in a recent post. This is the most helpful post I’ve found on the subject.. As soon as my blog goes live in a month, I’ll definitely use a custom branded url shortener. I’ve been using goo.gl for my FB, LinkedIn, and Twitter posts, but I think it looks a lot more professional to have one that’s customized.
sweet! let me know how it goes!