How to choose the best branded link shortener is never a simple thing.
There are a lot of factors to consider, understand what we need, which functionality is right for us, etc, etc.
The web is littered with many sites and shortener links but not all of them work the same way.
In this practical guide you will find useful tips and a checklist with all the tools you need to find the branded link shortener that’s right for you.
1. What is a branded link?
2. URL customization
3. Custom Branded Domain
4. Tracking Links
5. Safe & Secure
6. Deep Linking
Let’s get started!
1. What is a branded link?
A branded link is a very short and practical link. It’s the shortened version of the URL that we want to share online, on web pages or social networks.
Sometimes sharing an URL that is too long and complex can create a variety of problems.
In this article you will discover the effectiveness of URL shorteners, branded links and also why JotURL is one of the best URL shorteners.
A link that is too long and confusing does not help the user to understand his destination or what it’s talking about, and this discourages people from using it or viewing it.
Short URLs were created to meet this need, in order to allow the creation of shorter, more comfortable, faster and more effective URLs to share.
Furthermore, users are much more likely to click on shorter and more orderly Links, which have keywords that can refer them to what they are looking for.
These links are a very important tool to increase your traffic and visibility on the internet or on social media.
Branded links and custom URLs are a great strategy to improve your email marketing, and boost you deep link experience.
Link shortening helps in every phase of the marketing campaign, including email marketing, social media marketing and lead generation.
With JotURL (the best branded link shortener) you can create these URLs quickly and easily.
2. URL customization
To be truly effective, a branded link must be customized and converted in a short link.
Using the best branded link shortener and having a personalized link increases the CTR (clickthrough rate) by 34%, leading to a greater user base to approach your link and therefore to interact with your content.
It’s very important that a good URL shortener grants the 100% customization for the URL that you are going to create.
By creating a new tracking link with JotURL you can customize the URL in a very simple and fast way. All you have to do is write your URL in the “alias” field.
In this way you can create a custom URL.
You have the possibility to totally choose what the URL will look like, being able to write exactly what you want. In this way, applying very effective keywords is really immediate.
Obviously also the choice of keywords is a crucial process for optimizing your URL, you have to choose them carefully and make sure you capture the right target.
It’s possible to change the URL at any time through the features of the program, so if you have problems with your branded link it will be possible to create a more effective combination of words to insert in the URL.
Trends, especially on the web, change quickly, for this reason using the best branded link shortener and updating your own branded links is something to be definitely taken into consideration.
Now that you’ve seen how to use this url shortener it’s time to talk about custom domains.
3. Custom branded domain
Another essential component of customization is the Domain.
Having your own domain significantly helps in customizing the URL and consequently makes your link more reliable and considered more secure by users.
Entering a custom domain gives greater credibility and makes the destination of your URL clear and evident.
For this reason, before looking for a URL shortener you should first buy your custom domain.
There are a lot of sites where you can acquire a domain (like this one)
Also in this case the choice of the name you want to give to the custom domain is very important, remember that through this field you are trying to offer a clear and short image of your business, of your brand.
It’s also possible that the name you are trying to buy may have already been busy, you have to be patient and very creative, but you must not give up!
If your name, or your business, is very long, you can create word games with letters to create new solutions!
Remember that using the best branded link shortener and the customization is what allows you to stand out and be unique, investing a lot on this factor is important especially in these times where there are hundreds of links very similar to each other!
4. Tracking Links
Having the ability to track your link and analyze the data it collects is a fundamental tool for your campaigns and business.
To be up to the point, a branded link shortener must allow the creation of branded links that are also tracking links.
A tracking link is capable of collecting all kinds of information and useful data on the users who click them, through the analysis of those data you have incredible benefits.
If I have a campaign advertised both on Facebook and on Twitter, or on other social media, a tracking link can make me get the data of that campaign, from there it’s possible to immediately understand in which of the two social networks my activity is most followed and this will give me the necessary tools to decide where to invest new money.
And this logically is only a marginal example of what tracking links can do.
You can boost all aspect of your social media experience and avoid ban.
On some occasions it may happen that a link can be banned from a social media. This may be due to many reasons, but one of them is the absence of a custom domain. Using a URL shortener like JotURL avoids these problems.
JotURL gives the possibility to create tracking links that are also branded links, therefore short and comfortable URLs to share and also capable of collecting information and keeping track of the activities that interest us.
Tracing this information makes us understand if our URL is really effective.
5. Safe & Secure
Your branded link shortener must guarantee the possibility of generating safe and reliable URLs.
This means it must support HTTPS and other advanced security settings to help corporate or government mandated security policies — including SSL Ciphers, TLS version restrictions, and HSTS support.
JotURL (the best branded link shortener) automatically monitors the security and availability of your links and the proper matching of target content.
This could save your brand reputation and also a significant amount of money, in case of issues with one of your campaigns. It also provides constant backups with cloud technology, in way to safe and protect your data even in case of disasters, and a high skilled dedicated IT team monitoring your account 24/7.
6. Deep Linking
JotURL stands out from other url shorteners for the great variety of innovations and solutions it provides. In addition to creating custom URLs, JotURL allows you to make the most of the Deep Linking function.
Mobile devices have become a present reality in people’s lives, for these reasons Deep Linking is a very important technology.
In fact, Deep Linking is a technology that can be applied on different devices, it works on Desktop as well as on mobile devices, making it even more convenient to pass information and share links that lead directly to the pages that users are looking for.
Sharing short URLs via mobile devices is much more convenient, practical and faster. Shorts URLs can be clicked and viewed in a snap even on the phone.
Users who are able to instantly understand the destination of the custom URL are more encouraged to interact with the content.
Through deep linking it is possible to access any social media without having to log in, you will be automatically directed to the internal page, all through the short links created with JotURL, one of the best URL shorteners on the market.
Did you know that Google also had a URL shortener once? To learn more read this article!
Link shortening brings a whole host of benefits for mobile devices.
Too long a domain can lead to the link not being displayed entirely on the screen.
For this a branded link must be composed of a custom domain
You will have access to all these features even without paid plans, in fact JotURL offers a free 14-day plan in which you can test the performance of one of the best url shorteners in the world.
PS do you want to know what is a vanity URL and why is so important? Read here!
Cheers,
JotURL Team (Janosch, Elisa & Stefano)
