PatronManager

This week’s “Free Web Tool Friday” is written by Eric Saber, Account Specialist here at Patron Technology. If you like this post, make sure to download our guide that has a list of 25 free web tools at the bottom of this page.

Over the last few years as Twitter has exploded in popularity, there has become a need for a new way to share links within the constraints of the 140-character limit. The problem is that many hyperlinks (URLs) are much, much longer than that limit. URL shortening services (tools that convert a long link to a shorter one, but redirect to the same website) have been around for a while and Twitter even provides this service automatically now, but it’s just not as robust as bitly.

Bitly is terrific. It allows you to easily create shortened links to any site you wish. If you create an account (which is free) it also lets you customize your links with a vanity URL (for example, I created http://bit.ly/ptechcom, which links to Patron Technology’s main website). Bitly also provides free analytics (number of clicks, etc.) for each link you create. To see the analytics of any bitly link, simply add a “+” to the very end of the URL (ex. http://bit.ly/createsuperfans+). It’s a wonderful way to track when your links have been clicked, or if they’ve been clicked at all.

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