Leveraging Custom URL Shorteners

May 12th, 2011 - by Darren Scher

I think the communication shops for Mitt Romney and Nancy Pelosi are coordinating efforts for a potential presidential run.  On second thought, they probably aren’t. But, both shops made a statement and have decided to stop using bit.ly as their URL shortener because it is a Libyan domain.  Personally, I think this is a bit of an overreaction, but it does present me with the opportunity to explain how an organization can leverage a custom URL shortener to brand itself.

Adfero recently switched from using the bit.ly domain to using adfe.ro as our URL shortener.  We haven’t opened a satellite office in Romania but we were still able to purchase the domain and provide Adfero with another opportunity to brand itself across multiple platforms.  This isn’t exactly a new concept, but it is surprising to see how few organizations are taking advantage of it.

The process is fairly easy.  First, determine what short (15 characters or less) URL would fit your organization best and conduct a search on a registrar to confirm if it’s available.  Next, sign up with bit.ly for their bit.ly Pro service. Once your url purchase has been completed and your bit.ly Pro account is set up you will need to point the A Record to bit.ly. Lastly, confirm your organization’s long domain within bit.ly and you are all set.

Now, whenever your organization tweets, posts to Facebook or shares industry relevant content, use the new shortened URL to maximize your organization’s brand exposure.

 

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  • Greenuity

    Hey Darren, thanks a million for this awesome branding strategy! I appreciate you!