Ways to Use Short Links in Marketing

All links lead us from one place on the Internet to another. They are like a taxi on the web, you want to reach somewhere, you click. If you are wondering why you should shorten your links, we are here to tell you. 

First of all, a shortened link looks more professional than a two lines long link with many letters and numbers, which may even look scary for regular Internet users. How can you use short links and what are their advantages? Keep reading.

Let’s begin with the basics. What is a custom link shortener and how to use one? A URL or link shortener is a digital tool that allows you to start from a long link and create a new, shorter one, that redirects people to the same web page. Every shortener works a little bit differently, but it is always similar to these 3 steps: “take your long link – click shorten – copy your new, shorter link”. All done. You can see that it is not rocket science but that it could be profitable, so it’s worth a try. 

Branding online

Whether it is your personal brand or a business brand, it is good to know how to represent them online. An easy way to do it well is by using your brand name on all links that you share and which redirect to your website. It improves brand awareness among your followers and customers. What is even more important is that it makes you more trustworthy, which in turn means more clicks on your content. Branded links may receive up to 60% more CTR than generic URLs. Doesn’t it sound good? You can also use our Amazon URL shortener and boost your brand on the biggest ecommerce platform in the world.

Links in bio

Making your links shorter may be handy when it comes to your social media accounts. Can you imagine a two-line long link in an Instagram bio? Neither can we. This is why shorter links exist. Thanks to them, people will know where your bio link will send them and will be not afraid of a long link containing random letters and numbers. And what is more important, they will be assured that they will be taken to your website, so they can click on it without any doubts. 

Broken links 

Sometimes you need to change the domain or your web address. After that, all the links you’ve shared before will lead to non-existent pages. If this happens you can lose all the trust and authority that had been gained during all the years of your Internet journey. Fortunately, if you use a short link to link your brand new pages then you can easily change the destination URLs of links on pages that are no longer under your control.

About the author sections

If you are working in content marketing then you have probably written dozens of guest posts. You were probably also allowed to write some words in an “About the Author section”. Why don’t you use a shortened link to your webpage here, to allow the reader to get to know you better than by just reading a few sentences in that section? It sounds like a pretty wise idea. Besides, that link will be a backlink, which is valuable for Google and can also generate some traffic that in the long term may give you new users or customers. You may ask, how will you know if it works? By using shorter links you can not only change the destination URL but also track and report on the clicks and traffic that the link is bringing to your website. 

Social media 

Shorter links work not only in the case of Twitter or Instagram bios. Using your branded short links is a great way to connect with people via your Facebook groups. Create a custom short link to your group and share it with your audience. We assure you that it will increase the sense of community. 

If you are organizing some giveaways or contests to your audience, short links are clearly made for this. By sharing a link to your giveaway, people will know where the click will lead them. Thanks to that, people will be more willing to participate in your giveaway or contest because you appear more trustworthy and authentic to them. Another advantage is the fact that you can track clicks and conversions to know how much traffic your giveaway generates. 

Another issue is a partnership. When you become a partner of any brand, you are usually given a long link with some numbers on the end of it, which is often your tracking number.  It doesn’t look too encouraging, so people won’t click on that. Instead, create a professional-looking custom link, which will show people your brand and the brand that you have decided to support. Display to your audience this cooperation before they even click on the link. Remember to arrange a disclaimer about affiliation, otherwise, you will lose your trust. 

What else can you do with your shortened links?

Bitly alternative tools like RockeLink, best facebook link shortener provide you with some features to improve your links, for example, UTM tags. A UTM code is a short text that you can attach to the end of your URL just to track a source, the medium and also the campaign name. Thanks to UTM tags you are able to know where are your visitors coming from and which campaign brought them to your website. With RocketLink you also have access to your analytics. All data and figures are here, waiting for you to analyze them. 

As you have now read, URL or link shorteners may be a very handy tool for your online experience. There are many ways to use shortened links that can be game-changers for you. It is an easy method to improve your web experience and gain more traffic, so don’t be afraid to try it.