3 advantages of using short links with bit.ly – free version

The advantages of using shrt links are both qualitative and quantitative.

1. branding and “coolness”: qualitative advantage
2. increases the engagement up to 34%, bitly says: quantitative advantage
3. count the clicks: quantitative advantage

1. Branding

One of my extended URL is: https://margotdeliperi.com/it/padova-4-pause-pranzo-sotto-10e/
Short link version is:  bit.ly/1niWzUy
Customized link version: bit.ly/PausePranzoPadova

A customized link is easily memorable, nice to see, and helps people understanding the topic.
It’s also a training for keyword + synthesis (ah, my SEO), useful to find and set the keyword of the article.

2. Engagement

A customized link increases engagement and Click Through Rate (CTR) up to 34%, bitly guys say here.
This makes sense, especially when we can’t create custom friendly URLs from scratch: this happens on many corporate websites, that often don’t have friendly URL.
So, with customized short links you can dress ugly URL in an easy and elegant way.

3. Measure

The free version of bitly allows you to see how many clicks received the short link in the past 30 days; plus, it gives an overview of the channels and source of the click.
This feature is very useful especially for beginners with blogs and sites that haven’t yet installed Google Analytics, the must-have, free tool for professional performance analysis.

Beyond your blog and website, you can track all the links you create, 3 more examples:

• your LinkedIn profile URL is in your personal email signature or on your blog: shorten it and measure how many visits you got to your profile, regardless of the internal data of LinkedIn
• a link in your CV
• One or more outbound links: shorten them and see what’s the most read.

I had an economic study track record and I cherish the quantitative part of everything:

If you can measure it, it’s a fact, otherwise it’s an opinion.

I find measuring and analysis very useful both in daily and working life: it makes our work more consistent and effective, especially when it’s labeled as “arts and craft” (ah, my beloved marketing done in SMEs).

Warning!
bitly metrics DOESN’T replace Analytics: they just support the website.
[ I recently got Google Analytics Individual Certification, if you need help understanding why you need Analytics on your website and how to configure them, get in touch with me, I can help you. ]

If you are OK with this, let’s go to the next level to use bitly like a PRO

• branding the first part of the short URL: mar.got/PausePranzoPadova instead of “bit.ly/PausePranzoPadova”
  Bitly calls them “branded URL”. You need to buy another domain and change DNS settings. I haven’t yet done.
  Definitely, this enhances the brand awareness both for brands and people.
• matching with Google Tagged URL: if you are using Analytics (and you should): first tag, then shorten your link

  I had a problem when scheduling my post on WordPress and sharing it on Facebook.
  I shortened the link prior to publication and used the short link after my post was actually published; Facebook couldn’t create the proper preview and gave “404 Page Not Found”.
  I’m scanning the WordPress forum to find a solution, when I’m done I’ll update this section 🙂