Free Usage and Custom Vanity URL Shorteners for 2020
Introduction to URL Shorteners
Since this year marked the end of the Google URL Shortener, we decided to compile a list of the 3 best URL shorteners on the internet.
In case you don’t know, a URL shortener is a server that takes a really long, standard URL, and shrinks it down so it can be used in social media posts. An example is if you have a link to a product page like this:
https://mackweldon.com/products/one-mile-slipper?utm_source=googlecpc&utm_medium=sem&utm_campaign=ne_google_shopping_smart-shopping_socks-accessories_US_l_All&utm_term=pla-834480079903_-_393415296167&utm_content=7768298052_-_81739445896&gclid=CjwKCAiA5JnuBRA-EiwA-0ggPSqyzzHOggWp6Y7gwE9YIqyA1LUzSP58ArnHoC9O2JIKk4xpnL9DUxoCuqcQAvD_BwE
It would look terrible in a social media post, wouldn’t it? It wouldn’t even fit on Twitter’s 148 character limit!
You can shorten that URL automatically by pasting it into a URL shortener service. The output would be something like this:
https://sh.rt/url/52ksk4
Now that is much easier to read and doesn’t take up too many characters on your post!
These are the 3 best URL shorteners we’ve come across on the internet:
Bit.ly
Easy and Free to use. Includes dashboard analytics.
Bitly is known by many as a web tool to help shorten long and very unattractive URLs. For us, we use Bitly for that and so much more as it’s a very unrated tool with a lot of special features. Some of the other features I love about using Bitly is the ability to customize the URL so that it’s easier for clients to remember as well as being able to track click rates and gather insights and analytics.
Not only a URL shortener, it performs and gives analytics for each shortened URL. It also gives the location of the click performed on the URL. Thus it is a complete suite for URL tracking. For example: you have a resume hosted on google drive, you can shorten the URL of the long google drive address for resume and share the shortened URL to employers. Thus you can track the click too.
Here are some key benefits to using Bitly:
- Shorten and link branding: Bitly helps to turn long URLs into short ones that can also be customized to suit any business name.
- Tracking and analytics: A great thing to be able to see the social media channels that visitors are clicking from and where they are in the world.
- Integrations: Bitly integrates well with third-party tools to help improve workflow and tech tools.
- Free plan: There are some great features on the paid plan but for those not yet ready to invest Bitly provides a great free option.
TinyURL
Created as a free service to shorten long URLs.
TinyURL offers the best and free url shortening service. It is a straight out of the box url shortener which has a url customization feature so you can better remember the shortened url. Another plus is that registration is not required which goes you straight in shortening your url.
Again, TinyUrl offers its services without any registration. Simple and easy to use, without the hassle. They are also the only url shortening service I have used that offers a custom url (custom alias) for free.
Another key feature they have is a preview url feature for cautious individuals who are recipients of the url.
Zapier URL Shortener
Best for shortening link automatically
By far the best we’ve worked with so far, the Zapier URL Shortener (now it’s own standalone tool) is great because it will automatically create and save a shortened URL every time you do an action.
A great example of this is every time you post a new blog article on WordPress, you can create a shortened URL of that page and send it to Twitter or LinkedIn with a message “New blog post! https://zap.ier/34k23k”. Pretty neat, right? This saves you time and effort by linking your account directly and doing thing in an automated way.
Automation allows you to save time on every task so you can focus on your business. Being as productive as possible should be your number one goal as an entrepreneur. Any task that detracts you from getting new customers can, and should be automated.
Reach out to us by submitting your email address in the form below if you’d like a free consultation to get started automating business processes to free up some time.
Conclusion
Out of the three best URL shorteners on the internet, we highly recommend Zapier’s URL Shortener Tool due to how well connected it is to their automation platform. The next best URL shortener is Bitly thanks to it’s powerful analytics. For simpler and basic use cases and applications, we’d recommend TinyURL because it so simple and you don’t need to register for an account.
No matter which one you choose, Workload can help and assist you in automating any process for your business. Simply drop your email in the box below and we can get started in the same day. Most process automations can be completed for $200 in under 3 hours.
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