Why use a URL shortener?

August 06, 2023
SHOORT.IO
SHOORT.IO
SHOORT.IO
SHOORT.IO
19 mins read
Why use a URL shortener?

You really shouldn't deal with long and complicated URLs. Make them easier to read and use by incorporating a link shortener!

Professionals and consumers can benefit from link shorteners. It enables users to condense long URLs into something more manageable. They can also use this tool to convert gibberish addresses into more understandable ones.

But is that all there is to it? Let's take a look at the capabilities of URL shorteners today and what they can do for you.

Reduce the number of characters used for social media sharing

Everyone is on social media. Platforms like TikTok and Twitter are quite popular, so it's a good idea to publish your website link there, especially if you want to reach as many people as possible.

However, people's attention spans on those sites are rather brief. Because of the plethora of material accessible, everything you submit should be quick, snappy, and punchy. There's also the issue of most posts having a restricted number of characters or time. Consider Twitter, where you can only post up to 280 characters at a time. That implies that if you want to share a long URL, you're taking up the entire post, leaving you limited area to post what you desire.

You may also check out TikTok, which allows you to include URLs in your videos. If you don't abbreviate the URL you're sending, half of the screen will be covered with letters. Using a link shortener can shorten the address, allowing you more room for other vital stuff. Users could also remember the link more easily.

Start making URLs User-Friendly

While most internet URLs are short and easy to remember, they can become lengthy, winding, and complicated over time.

You might wish to share a video from BBC iPlayer with your friends or followers, for example. When you share the link, BBC will produce the following lengthy URL: https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001c23g/sunday-with-laura-kuenssberg-former-prime-ministers-remember-the-queen. While information is widely accessible online, what if you want to include it on a business card? Typing the aforementioned address is cumbersome, and typos may be frustrating. It's also very hard to recall unless you're talking to someone who has a photographic memory.

Instead of utilising this large address, you may use a URL shortener to shorten it to something more human-readable, such as https://shoort.io/iplayer2022. This makes the link more detailed, so the person who clicks on it knows what to anticipate.

Marketing and Branding

Creating branded links is one of the most useful things you can do with link shorteners. This means you may customise the link to reflect your brand and marketing campaigns. While pages on your website will utilise your website's address, other technologies you may employ will not.

If you use Google Forms to construct a questionnaire, the address of the form will be a generic Google link. However, if you use a link shortener, you may modify this URL to something more representative of your business.

Link shorteners may also be used to reflect events and promotions in your links. So, when you post a link to a promotion, you may update it to say something like yourcompany.com/discount. As a result, the URL evolves from an address to a page to a marketing tool.

Increase Your Traffic

Short, personalised links encourage your followers to click or tap. That's because they understand that if your name or brand is on it, you're endorsing the link's contents. So, if they believe you, they know they can trust whatever is behind that link.

Short links also score higher in search engine results, enabling your page to appear earlier in search engine results than sites without a short, meaningful URL.

Click Tracking and More

When it comes to operating a marketing campaign, information is king. Understanding the demographics of your audience can help you better understand how to communicate with them and meet their demands. URL shorteners are one method for tracking them.

This is because URL shorteners do more than merely shorten your URL. You may also use them to determine your visitors' actual location, how they reached your website, what device they were using when they visited the link, and other information.

These indicators can assist you in determining whether your advertising and marketing activities are meeting your objectives. With this knowledge, you may devise better tactics for achieving better results. You will then be able to connect more effectively with the individuals you wish to help.

They are not just there to shorten links

Link shorteners are useful tools in the internet era. Not only can they make links more manageable and understandable, but they may also make links memorable and simple to type. More than that, you may utilise this tool to transform generic connections into something distinctively yours.

The link shortener may be used by both businesses and consumers. If you own a company, you may use it to track marketing effectiveness, create trust with your customers, and even promote the usage of your app. You can use this to customise links for customers, so you may state that everything you share can reflect your name. You may even use this to determine whether or not the person to whom you gave the link has opened it.

Best of all, link shorteners are often free to use, particularly for consumers. Some link shortener companies also provide free business use, but with limited capacity compared to their subscription plans. In any event, all you need to do to receive a short link is go to a provider's page, create an account, and start shortening your links.

Why not give us a try, shoort.io? We have a free plan for all consumers and also offer 7 days of free trial with our paid plans. 

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