Many have already noticed that when some users share a link on Twitter or Facebook (or anywhere else), they’ll use a custom link shortener. With it, they take a gigantic URL (like the one to this post) and turn it into a mini link of a few characters but maintain the personalization.
We will explain some advantages of having a custom URL shortener and the benefits it brings to your company. Also, we’ll point you to one of the free URL shorteners that offer top-notch services like paid ones.
Advantages of Having a Custom URL Shortener
Branding
People are used to receiving short links from some URL shortener domains. When you send a short link with your own name, your differential goes with it. So just by seeing your name shortening a link, people will already deduce a little bit about you: a person in tune who cares about all aspects of your online identity. And if you are a company, the custom shortener is yet another brand consistency factor.
Trust
Shorteners shorten long URLs but also hide them. When you share a short URL, either with your name on it or not, it’s much less likely that it’s a malicious link, as it’s understood that you created it yourself, which increases the number of people who will open it. For businesses, it’s a great way to gain the trust of your audience when sharing a link.
On Twitter
A huge URL that previously spent 79 characters can be reduced to 22 or 23, leaving more characters for you to comment on what the link is about and not exceed the 140-character limit. And when someone retweets you, your short link goes with it, spreading your Twitter and a bit of your personal branding embedded in the link.
On Facebook
Just like on Twitter, the link you share goes with your short URL, which appears just below the title, and whenever someone shares the link, your name goes with it.
Metrics
Each URL you shorten is cataloged, so you can access your metrics whenever you want. You can find out how many people clicked, shared, and who shared the link, all on the same panel.
With this, we can highlight some further advantages that indicate the reasons for shortening URLs on your social page, such as:
- It is simpler for the user to memorize and type by account in the search engine;
- It’s easier to memorize and share with others who also need the URL;
- The subject of the page is more easily understood, which stimulates the click;
- It conveys more confidence than a very long link with unidentified words and full of random numbers;
- Makes the look cleaner without intimidating users by the extension;
- Allows you to hide some information, such as a title with a spoiler of what the reader will see;
- Customize the link with terms that make sense or a call to action, not a random sequence of symbols.
In addition to all these reasons, we cannot forget the possibility of measuring the data of a URL, depending on the chosen tool. This helps you track the overall number of clicks, engagement generated, where users came from, and more.
URL Shortener, Why Is It Important?
The short URL is a different format for web page addresses and is done with the help of a URL shortener. That is, URL shorteners transform URLs of any length into shortened links of a maximum of 20 characters or less.
Shortening a URL goes far beyond the visual aspect. This is a question of organization and control that brings advantages to your digital marketing strategy. By the way, posts on Twitter, for example, can be optimized by using shortened URLs, which guarantees more space for your texts.
In addition, on WhatsApp, Facebook, and Instagram, it is a good idea to use shortened links to facilitate reading within publications, in addition to facilitating the sharing of addresses.
Conclusion
As discussed throughout the post and shown the importance of a shortened URL, it is essential to know some are paid, and some are free. However, some free URL shortener offers virtually all the services available on the paid ones. One of the free URL shorteners we can bank on to give you all you want is that of the Youtube Market.
Also Read: Netwyman Blogs A Comprehensive Guide To The Trending Platform.