Do you want good service in free to shorten your URL? When we talk about free URL shorteners, then at first, Bitly comes to our mind. Using the tool, its effective Feature for shortening, sharing, managing, and analyzing links, this tool is famous for its service.
It is a trustworthy website where you can easily save and share your favorite links after shortening them. Today we will know about this tool, its features, pros, and cons to know more details about this URL shortening website.
Table of Contents
What Is Bitly?
Bitly is an online URL shortening service and link management platform. This website shortens and shrinks long, complicated URLs into much smaller ones using a URL shortening.
This website replaces the long and Complicated links with letters and numbers for making them short. Furthermore, users can customize their URLs and track their link’s performance by using the tool.
You can save, copy and share your branded Bitly links on social media, attracting more clicks. In addition, you can select and set up a perfect custom domain for your brand with the help of this tool.
Bitly Features
● Link Management
● Branded Links
● Mobile Links
● Campaign Management & Analytics
● QR Codes
● Link Management
Bitly is a complete link management platform. You can create and manage powerful links, branded links by using this tool.
Any URL can be quickly redirected using this website. Any short link, including QR Codes, can have the destination URL changed. it can easily assign a new URL to any of your links.
Bitly’s every link is secured using HTTPS to protect against eavesdropping or third-party tampering, allowing users to create secure and reliable links.
You can automate your workflow using Bitly API and Bitly’s 700+ integrations. For example, users can create custom short links for sharing via SMS or empower influencers with custom referral links.
● Branded Links
Branded links will
➔ increase trust among social media followers
➔ Increase your brand’s / company’s popularity by the link you’re sharing
➔ prove that your’s websites are not spam or phishing
Users can select and set up the perfect custom domain for their brand using this website.You will increase your click-through rate by using your brand in your links.
Custom domains replace “bitly” in your links with the name of your choice so that you can keep total control of your content.
Users can combine a custom domain setup and complete link management into one platform to improve their brand’s visibility.
Using customized links, you can increase click-through rates by up to 34%. Then your audience will trust your links and know where they will lead. Users can create recognizable links also.
By using auto-branding, Bitly automatically uses the custom domain for the business’s shortened links, helping you increase brand awareness and gain insight into how your content is consumed.
● Mobile Links
Bitly is a very good tool for creating custom SMS short links. From mobile communication, it is easy to send people to the right place. For example, you can create hundreds of unique SMS communication using Bitly’s API using short branded links to direct customers to the right destination.
As a result, users will receive customer support updates, order statuses, changes to service, appointment reminders, fundraising, and location-based promotions.
In addition, you can use Bitly’s mobile deep links to send users directly to the right place within your app or the app store for downloading.
Deep links can,
➔ create a seamless transition to mobile
➔ drive app engagement
➔ encourage app installs
● Campaign Management & Analytics
With the help of Bitly’s best-in-class analytics tools, you can track and optimize every digital initiative.
Bitly allows users to quickly follow their customers’ journeys across all links and channels from a single, clean dashboard. Thus, you can empower yourself with real-time data and make data-driven decisions.
This tool allows you to track organic shares and engagement data on your content’s organic shares to share more of the content your audience is most interested in.One can able to know how well his content is performing without sharing it.
● QR Codes
You may create a QR code for any of your Bitly links, and it can be used on print media, billboards, storefronts, stickers, and t-shirts, among other places.
QR Codes have powerful tracking and features of links. As a result, QR Codes are an excellent contactless solution for engaging customers while avoiding the spread of germs.
It will lead customers to purchase calls to action, additional product/service information, sign-ups, app installs, and other activities. In addition, users can place a QR code on their offline content.
They won’t have to worry about expensive offline assets becoming outdated. Instead of updating the creative, they will redirect the link to the most recent online content.
You have control over the customer’s path. However, there is a definite link between offline campaigns and the online actions taken by customers.
After using Bitly’s click analytics, You can see the customer journey as customers move offline to online.
How Does Bitly Work?
At first, you have to log in to your Bitly account to use it. Then, going to the Bitly dashboard, you have to click in create to create a new shortened link.
All the links will be created using the “bit.ly” domain usually. However, those with a premium subscription can choose a custom domain to brand their link..
After entering the URL in the “Paste Long URL box,” the link will be shortened for you.
Then click in create. Now you have to edit your link. In this area, you can edit the title and add a custom
back-half of your choice..
Finally, you can copy or share the link and add it to a campaign if you want.
How to view click data:
To view click data for a specific link, you must type or paste the Bitly link in the browser’s address bar. Then add a “+” to the end. The link with the “+” icon will take you right to the link and display its metrics.
How to Brand Your Links:
Choose a domain:
You have to choose a domain first. To select a domain, you have to click the profile menu and after the Account Settings. Then you will get the Custom Domains option and click it.
Then click on Get a domain. Now you have to search for a custom domain. After you’ve finished searching, click select and confirm.
It will take Up to 24 hours for the confirmation of the custom domain. You’re now ready to start creating your unique branded links after they’ve been verified.
Set up the branded links:
After logging in, users have to go to Brand Manager to link up their branded short domain. Now click on the light blue box at the top right-hand corner with the users’ team’s
name in it. And users have to tell the DNS to point their custom domain to their Bitly account.
Then they will be taken to the panel where they can access all of their groups. Finally, they will have to click on “Manage” to access their domain settings.
They have to click the “Branded Short Domains” and “Add Branded Short Domain.” Then, when they shorten a new link, they should see their branded short domain in the dropdown above their link.
Then this interface will be shown. When shortening a new link, they can see their domain in the dropdown above their link.
How you will use Bitly when sharing a link on Facebook:
- Copy the long link that you want to share
- Go to the Bitly.com
- paste the long URL at the top
- Now copy the new short URL (that has created by Bitly at that time)
- Copy and paste the unique URL on Facebook.
Bitly Pricing
Get Started For Free
Pros and cons
Pros
- User-friendly interface
- Branded link shortening
- Easy to shorten links
- Allows creating as many varied links as needed
- Easy to transmute the link
- Creates a small link for oversized URLs
- Custom URL notes
- Click count facility
- Hosted links
- link tracking and analytics opportunity
- Geography and device-specific data
- Detailed information on dates of link clicks
Cons
- No ability to organize links in folders
- It does not allow to edit links once created
- No chance to go back and edit old short link target URLs
- Must pay for every upgrade of several options
Conclusion
I think Bitly gives pretty good service for free and safe to use. It is super easy to shorten any link within a very short time using this website.
It has an amazing feature to track how many times the shortened URL has been clicked, which I like very much. It gives its users to create secure links because Bitly’s every link is encrypted with HTTPS. So all the shortened links will be secured.
I will recommend to all users to use Bitly to shorten URLs without any hassle. But the link data can only be accessed for 30 days after the link creation; I wouldn’t say I liked it that much. But overall, it is good.
Leave a Reply