Link shortening is an important and necessary step, especially in the world of micro-blogging.  TinyURL.com, which shrinks long URLs into short links, has been serving the Internet community well since 2002. Today, there are new services with even more options.

Since the launch of TinyURL, micro-blogging has become more  mainstream. Web sites such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn limit the space in which to express thoughts and share links.  More reliable services have become available, such as http://is.gd. The best of these services, in my opinion, is Bit.ly. Its service is bigger than its name.

Signing up to Bit.ly allows access to a world of knowledge. But, you can easily use the Bit.ly link-shortening service to share a long URL without signing on to  the site. 

Once you are in the system, you can post your shortened links instantly to Twitter.  Below the posting box is link tracking — one of the most addictive elements of the site.  The system automatically tracks the number of times a link is clicked.  The tracking includes displaying the location of the clicks, retweets, referring Web sites and a timeline. These are just a few of the growing list of features.

Another beneficial tool is the Twitter link search traffic analyzer.  You can search key words on Twitter and analyze the most popular links related to the key word.

Who can resist such easy-to-use tools that offer so much useful information?

Words drive traffic in the micro-blogging space. A request to “check out” my great blog post or photograph will not offer the same results as asking a compelling question or sharing a moving description.

The ability to analyze your traffic allows you to understand what works and what doesn’t.  This site offers an excellent method of testing headlines and improving traffic to your Web site or blog.

Bit.ly is one of the best free, easy-to-use, and useful tools available on the net today.

 

Rosh