32
URL Shorteners on the Rise: 9 New Short URL Services
if (top !== self) top.location.href = self.location.href;
var AKPC_IDS = "";
#wp_grins img {
cursor: pointer;
}
#wp_grins img {
cursor: hand;
}
.wp-polls .pollbar {
margin: 1px;
font-size: 6px;
line-height: 8px;
height: 8px;
background: #cc0033;
border: 1px solid #ffff00;
}
/* */
@import "http://www.bloggingtips.com/wp-content/themes/BloggingTips_WP/domtab.css";
document.write('');
document.write('div.domtab div{display:none;}<');
document.write('/s'+'tyle>');
(function(){
var bsa = document.createElement('script');
bsa.type = 'text/javascript';
bsa.async = true;
bsa.src = '//s3.buysellads.com/ac/bsa.js';
(document.getElementsByTagName('head')[0]||document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0]).appendChild(bsa);
})();
Newsletter
Write For Us
Staff
Advertise
Contact
About
Blogging Tips
Home
Books
Forums
Themes
Plugins
Beginner Guides
Useful Links
URL Shorteners on the Rise: 9 New Short URL Services
Written by Charnita Fance from mrsfance
Every time I look around there seems to be a new URL shortener popping up. I often think to myself, how many URL shorteners do we really need on the Internet? Surely not as many as there are but like many others, I enjoy trying out new tools. So, of course I wanted to see if any of these new shorteners I’ve come across can make me turn away from my personal favorite, Bit.ly. From this list I can say that Br.st did impress me most but, you be the judge.
TwitShort is a URL shortener for Twitter. Every link you create links to your Twitter profile in a top header attached to your link. If you create an account you can track hits for each URL. Under advanced options you can choose your own tag for the URL, create an expiration date or password protect your URL. You can also submit URLs in bulk if you have quite a few you’d like to shorten at once.
InURL.ws is a simple shortener where you simple enter the URL you want to shorten and click on “generate URL”. Nothing fancy, just a quick way to shorten a URL without the hassle of having to specify any advanced options.
Tiny Tw.it is another URL shortener that caters to Twitter. Not only can you shorten and share URLs but you can share pictures and files also. With the URL shortener you simply enter the link and custom keyword (optional) and “shrink it”. You can then enter a message and tweet it directly from the site or just copy it to use elsewhere.
Qux.in lets you share URLS, videos, text or anything else with a short URL. It’s very easy, you just enter what you’d like to share in the text box and “share it”. You’ll then get a short URL for it. If you sign up you can track your shortened URLs on the site. You can also send a tweet with your short URL right from the site.
Qwx.si is another one of those quick paste and click URL shorteners; you put in a long URL and click “shorten” to get a short URL. If you want to share your URL straight from the site, you can do so via their AddThis widget.
UnHub is unique in that it lets you create a short URL right from your browser address bar. You simply type “unhub.com/” in the address bar, in front of the URL and then press enter. So if you were on “http://bloggingtips.com”, you’d end up with “unhub.com/http://bloggingtips.com”. For the magic to happen you’d need to be logged into your account. You then immediately get a short URL that links to you along with a toolbar that includes stats from sites like Digg, Delicious and Bit.ly.
Tik.la is another fast, easy shortener with a very nice UI. Enter your URL, shorten it and get and URL to use on the web. If you want to test the URL you can do so by clicking on the “Try it!” button and it will open up the link in a new tab. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
Br.st lets you shorten and share links as well as share files and images. Which each short URL you get in-depth, real-time stats. You can see how many clicks, the referring site and location of the person who clicked it – all in real-time. You can then see link information and meta data for the link. These stats are not just text, they’re in graph form and pretty high quality if you ask me. You can also share your short URL on Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed, Gmail and more directly from the site.
Pie.im is the “easiest and faster way to create a short URL”. Enter your original URL along with a custom keyword (optional) and click to get your URL. It doesn’t stop there though, after getting your short URL you also get a private URL where you can view analytics for that short URL. That’s nice but what happens when you shorten 10 or more links? You’ll have to view 10 different links just to view stats for each one; this could get annoying.
What’s your favorite short URL service? Are there any URL shorteners on this list that you intend to use on a regular basis?
AKPC_IDS += "9719,";
Written by Charnita Fance from mrsfance
Posted on September 11th, 2009 and filed under Social Media
Do not forget to subscribe to our RSS feed for updates
10
Related Posts
5 Simple URL Shorteners that are Quick and Easy to Use
4 Social Bookmarklets That Go Above and Beyond
Shorten your urls with WP.me
4 Ways To Post Longer Tweets on Twitter
Quickly Share Web Images on Twitter with Rosa.ly
10 Responses to “URL Shorteners on the Rise: 9 New Short URL Services”
Author comments are in a darker gray color for you to easily identify the posts author in the comments
Matt Rogowski says:
September 11, 2009 at 10:28 am
http://tr.im FTW!!
Shevonne says:
September 11, 2009 at 12:43 pm
I’ll have to check these out. I usually use bit.ly
Matt says:
September 12, 2009 at 1:11 pm
I love bit.ly too.. Unfortunately their UI is not great and the dashboard for tracking links needs to be more streamlined
kam says:
September 12, 2009 at 3:36 pm
qux-in seems quite a resourceful tool?anyone use this?ive only ever used tinyurl !!!!!!!!!Thanks
Trina says:
September 13, 2009 at 2:40 am
Charnita,
I’m new to blogging, and I’m trying to learn. Why do we need URL shorteners? My blog is http://www.leisureliving.wordpress.com, but I also own the domain name http://www.leisurelivingblog.com, which I forwarded to the WordPress. At some point, I want people to just see my domain name and not WordPress…even though I’ll be using WordPress….Is this what the URL shorteners are for?
Thanks,
Trina
u says:
September 13, 2009 at 10:12 pm
@Trina: URL shorteners are used to conserve characters. Services like Twitter only allow so many characters per tweet so it’s important to use has few characters as possible for a URL. If you want your blog to be primarily hosted at leisurelivingblog.com, then you’ll have to go thru a host and install the WordPress software on your disk space provided by the host and migrate all your WordPress.com data to your WordPress installation. Contact me if you need any help. Thanks. [u]
Charnita Fance says:
September 14, 2009 at 1:55 am
Thanks for being so helpful
Charnita Fance says:
September 13, 2009 at 6:44 pm
I love bit.ly That’s the only I use unless there’s one built into an app I’m using. So can’t advise on any others.
escafeld says:
September 23, 2009 at 8:02 pm
9 of the shortest url shorteners can be found here ..
<a href="http://x.vu/a1"
escafeld says:
September 23, 2009 at 8:03 pm
xhtml: FAIL!
Trackbacks
Comments are closed.
Comments are closed since this post is older than 30 days. However, you can continue this discussion in our popular Blogging Forums
Sponsors
Blogging Tips Newsletter
Sign up to the Blogging Tips Newsletter for Free today and get a free ebook!
Webmaster Corner
A collection of top Wordpress themes, Web hosting and resources available to web site owners.
RECENT
CATEGORIES
ARCHIVES
Build Your List with Squeeze Theme
Interoperability – Can it Work for your Blog?
How To Find A Good Blogger
Use LastPass for password management and peace of mind
Open an Affiliate Store with WP Shopping Pages
Twittaw – Social Messaging with Threaded Conversations
Find Out What Other Tweeters Think of You with ViewsOnYou
4 Tips to Keep Your Feeds Safe(r) from Copying
Should You Really Unlink Your Feeds?
Woo Your Readers with Headlines Premium WordPress Theme
Around The Blogosphere
Blogger
Blogging
Blogging News
Competitions
Design & Coding
CSS
Domain Names & Hosting
Internet News
Interviews
Links
Making Money
Personal
Podcasting
Productivity
Promote your blog
Reader Blog Critique
Reviews
Search Engine Optimisation
Site News
Social Media
Social Networking
Software & Programs
Video Blogging
WordPress
WordPress Coding & Design
WordPress Plugins
WordPress Themes
Writing
March 2010
February 2010
January 2010
December 2009
November 2009
October 2009
September 2009
August 2009
July 2009
June 2009
May 2009
April 2009
March 2009
February 2009
January 2009
December 2008
November 2008
October 2008
September 2008
August 2008
July 2008
June 2008
May 2008
April 2008
March 2008
February 2008
January 2008
December 2007
November 2007
October 2007
September 2007
August 2007
July 2007
June 2007
May 2007
April 2007
March 2007
Our Free E-Books
All of our eBooks are free to those who sign up for our newsletter.
Site Partners
Be sure to visit our friends and partner web sites for more blogging resources.
FORUM POSTS
POPULAR POSTS
Life
Hello Guys and Gals
vocabulaty
Plantar warts
Common warts
Flat warts
Facts to remember about HPV virus:
Wart Information
How can I Avoid Contracting HPV?
Who is at Risk?
12 Ways to Share What You're Listening to on TwitterThree Steps To A Great Blog Snapshots:10 Popular Blogs that have not updated the Copyright notice year(s)5 Copyright Facts Every Blogger Should KnowAdd HTML to Your Gmail Signature with WiseStampWhat Does The Microsoft-Yahoo Deal Mean For Bloggers?4 Ways To Check Your Twitter StatisticsGet Backlinks from Every TweetIs blogging really just for old timers?Customize Your WordPress Blog with Thesis Theme
Twitter Updates BLOGGING TIPS WRITERS
Kevin from Blog Themes Club
Sarah from Stuff by Sarah
Jonathan from Plagiarism Today
Patti from Patti Stafford
Vikas Gupta from Vikas Gupta
Sandy Fitzgerald from Talking Along
Drew from Ben Spark
Michael Kwan from Beyond the Rhetoric
Rob from Rob Starr
Patricia from Writers Rants
Charnita from Social Web Tools
Larry from Story Fix
Sharon from Get Paid To Write Online
© 2010 Blogging Tips : Reliably Hosted by WiredTree : Blogging Tips Mobile Edition : Made by Guerrilla : Newsletter via Aweber
var gaJsHost = (("https:" == document.location.protocol) ? "https://ssl." : "http://www.");
document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + gaJsHost + "google-analytics.com/ga.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
try {
var pageTracker = _gat._getTracker("UA-176125-46");
pageTracker._trackPageview();
} catch(err) {}