10 services for branded short links and shareable URLs
People are increasingly using the Web and social media to share links to content. When people want to share a link to a website, a document, article, app, audio, photo, profile, or video, a shorter link is better because it’s easier to type and easier to remember.
For example, this short link go.www.bible/66ideas goes to get.bible/about/66-ideas-for-.bible-domain-names — which one do you think is easier to share?
Bit.ly (also bitly.com) is the most popular free service on the Internet to create a shorter link, also known as an URL shortener. Other popular ones include: goo.gl, ow.ly, and tinyurl.com.
The usage of these short links has probably grown due to Twitter’s 140-character limit, but there are 2 other reasons for the growing popularity of link shorteners:
- Easier to copy & paste a shorter link
- Branding and marketing purposes
You’ll recognize these short link domain names used by popular brands:
- youtu.be
- appsto.re
- nyti.ms
- bbc.in
- sbux.co
- apple.news
2 statistics show how helpful these custom-branded short links can be:
- “Branded Short Domains drive more than just brand impressions and visibility – they can drive up to a 34% increase in CTR.” — according to this bit.ly case study, “Increasing Engagement: The Power of a Branded Short Domain”
- And, according to rebrandly.com, “Increase Link Trust, Look neat and credible.. Drive click-through rates by up to 45%”
There are many services out there that can create custom-branded short links with your newly registered domain name. Note that some of them will come and go. You’ll need to do your own research and test drive these white label URL shortener services to check their reputation, reliability, and how much tracking statistics they provide that you’d want. Here are 10 custom-domain URL shortener services (some free, some paid):
There are 2 other services worth mentioning: droplr.com and getcloudapp.com. Both of these integrate your custom domain name and also with your Mac OS (assuming you’re using a Mac) to share links and files.
More conveniently, iwantmyname.com provides domain search, registration, and integration with a “1-click setup”: 6 Hosted URL Shortening Services - custom domain URL shorteners for personal or professional link branding and tracking.
And, for those that have someone with more technical experience in web hosting, there are a couple ways to run your own server for shortened links on your own domain name: yourls.org (PHP) and prettylinkpro.com (WordPress plugin).
Many short .BIBLE links are available
As a new top-level domain, the availability of short .BIBLE domain names makes it very likely for you to get the domain you want. Short .BIBLE links are perfect to share links to Bible resources that you selectively curate and recommend from the internet. For example, if your name is Alfred, you could use Alfred.Bible as a domain name to link your favorite Bible websites.
Let's say you already have a Bible search website. You could use a short .BIBLE domain name to share easier link to Bible verses there. Instead of a long encoded URL like http://bibles.org/eng-GNTD/Gen/1/1 you can use a better link like http://GoodNews.Bible/Genesis1.1 or http://GoodNews.Bible/Gen1.1 - you have to agree that it looks better, right?
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This article is part of the blog series, 66 Ideas for .BIBLE Domain Names, with practical ideas for using .BIBLE domain names. Individuals and organizations can now register .BIBLE domain names that are more shareable, memorable, and meaningful at any accredited registrar.