Shorter is Sweeter: A Look at URL Shorteners

Posted by on 02/07 at 08:00 AM Permalink
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Once upon a time, URLs (Uniform Resource Locators, which most of us know as Web addresses or links) were short and simple. Often, they looked something like http://www.geeks.com. If you had a personal Web page, your URL might look something like http://www.facebook.com/ComputerGeeks

Times change, and URLs have expanded. A lot. Just do a search at the Web site of a large corporation or your favorite online retailer. What often comes back is a long and convoluted URL. And that becomes a problem if you’re into microblogging. Services like Twitter limit you to 140 characters. Some long URLs exceed that limit by quite a bit.

So, how can you tame those impossibly long URLs? With a Web-based service called a URL shortener.

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    Posted by DWS  on  02/07  at  06:09 PM

  1. Great article, but there is option which shouldn’t be overlooked, OpenDNS.  A better DNS and shortcuts.  It’s a hard combination to beat.

    2. Posted by John Carraway  on  02/07  at  09:17 PM

  2. The article was very enlightning. Your educational emails are appreciated. I’ve learned something new to me from most of them. Keep up the good work.

    3. Posted by Computer Repair  on  02/11  at  08:22 PM

  3. Love it… a few years ago I heard about the site… http://sarahjessicaparkerlookslikeahorse.com and thought we were turning a new page when everyone just went for ridiculously long domains.  Funny website, but a crazy long URL.

    4. Posted by Oleg  on  02/15  at  08:09 PM

  4. Excellent article with some very good analysis on shortening services!
    I can add a bit more on the opposite process of expanding the shortened URLs.
    The widget/bookmarklet from http://urlsniffer.info automatically resolves shortened URLs and displays where they navigate to.
    Nothing to download, just bookmark the bookmarklet and off you go.
    There is an interactive demo of the widget on the home page.

    5. Posted by Computer Repair  on  02/22  at  05:02 PM

  5. i would say just buy a old domain name!
    buy something sort!  if you cannot aford to do that then it will take meany years to get the name big!

    find some good forums buy a old domain name! good luck

    6. Posted by bill purkins  on  07/07  at  03:00 PM

  6. The only problem with URL shorteners is MOST of them JUST shorten URLs. http://onecent.us also allows custom URLS, which many others do, it allows you to add a movie style RatedG, R or X to your short URL OPTIONALLY to give a warm fuzzy or even warn against adult content, which NO ONE else does. MOST shortened URLs are created in the USA and dot US domains get IGNORED! These guys play the patriotic angle to the MAX. They also donate 90% of revenue to CHARITY and users can select a reputable charity from a drop down list every time they create a short URL or let onecent.us pick for them. EVERYTHING is optional and no extra work ! They offer sweeMail © 2010 which is a unique way of building a form email for people to write their congressman or promote products/services/websites, VERY cool, NO ONE ELSE HAS EVEN THOUGHT OF THIS! These guys ROCK and seem to come out with a new nifty twist time and time again. it’s only a matter of time before their aggressive marketing and creative add ons grab a decent chunk of the market. And if they ever go public? WHOA.

    7. Posted by Enzo  on  08/26  at  09:30 AM

  7. I like http://twig.mx simple and effective url shortner.

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