Everything You Need to Know About URL Shorteners and How to Get Started

Brands spend a lot of effort creating attractive and eye-catching social media posts that lead to landing pages designed for engagement and conversions. But what about the vessel that takes your user from the post to the landing page – the URL (or simply called the site link)?

Does the URL impact user behaviour in any way? Can it be tailored to increase post and button click-through rates (CTR)? Does it influence the brand image? The answer to all of these questions is yes.

A long URL with a lot of characters can be perceived as a spammy link. On, the other hand, a link created with a URL shortener is neat, takes less character space, delivers the information the user needs, and most importantly, elicits trust.

The URL shortener also lets you add your custom domain, so you can use your brand name and shorten links simultaneously.

In this article, we delve deeper into URL shortening and cover:

What is URL Shortening, and How Does it Work?
Benefits of URL Shortening
URL Shortening Use Cases
URL Shortening Services and How to Use One
Shortening Your First Link for Free Using Socxly

What is URL Shortening, and How Does it Work?

URL shortening is the process of converting a long URL with multiple paths and characters into a simple link with a single path and minimal characters (as many as you like). A URL shortener is a service or a platform that enables you to shorten your website’s URLs.

It’s important to understand that the URL shortener does not change the page’s original URL, but simply masks it. What you see on the front-end (within a post, tweet, message, etc.) is the shortened ‘mask’ URL redirecting to the page that is still on the original URL.

For example, we shortened the link to a Kindle on Amazon using Socxly to:

Clicking this link will take you to the original link (https://www.amazon.in/Kindle-10th-Gen/dp/B07FQ4Q7MB/ref=sr_1_1?…..) on Amazon. So the shortener created a mask that redirects the user to the original long URL.

Benefits of URL Shortening

Short URLs help brands in many ways, and URL shortening services add to these benefits by delivering extra add-on features. Here are the benefits of short URLs and the add-ons provided by URL shortening services:

Benefits of a Short URL

1. Better URL Aesthetics

The number one benefit of shortening a URL is better appearance. URLs are generally shared at the end of social media posts, tweets, blog posts, and so on. A long URL looks untidy and confusing and disrupts the conciseness of the post description or the flow of the blog content.

Take this URL of a post by Business Insider, for example –

Adding this long URL to a post or blog takes up a lot of space. This URL can be compressed to:

This shorter URL is aesthetically pleasing and does not increase the character count on a post. When added to a blog post, it takes up just a single line making it a much neater option.

2. Easier to Read and Remember

More often than not, long URLs do not give the user the information they need at first glance. In the Business Insider URL we shared earlier, the post’s title comes much later and is not easy to find. In the shortened URL, however, the crux of the post is immediately visible.

URL shortening allows you to keep relevant and important information within the link and discard the rest. This makes it easy to read, shows the information immediately, and is much easier to remember.

3. Reduces the Character Count

Some platforms, like Twitter, have restrictions on the number of characters allowed. Adding long links results in excessive character space, leaving fewer characters for the message you want to post.

Here is the character count for the link to a VR headset on Amazon:

And here is the character count for the shortened URL that leads to the same product page on Amazon:

The shortened URL contains a tenth of the characters of the actual link. This is quite a nifty result when you’re working with limited character spaces.

4. Short URLs are User-Friendly and Enhance Trust

Long URLs, especially ones with special characters like question marks and percentage signs, tend to seem malicious; however, sometimes, they cannot be avoided. If the post’s title is long, if there are many paths, or if you add UTM parameters, the URL tends to become long and include special characters.

In such cases, a URL shortener comes in handy. You can add the full title as the slug (which helps with SEO) when publishing the page and shorten the URL using a shortener before sharing it on other channels. Additional elements like UTM parameters and tags can be added using the URL shortener, making tracking easy as well.

Add-On Benefits of Using a URL Shortener

5. Internal Data Tracking

Most URL shortening services track the URLs they provide for impressions, clicks, sources, and other metrics. The data is tracked at a URL level, so you know which ones are performing well and on which channels.

This data is extremely useful for brands that create and share many links, and the URL shortening service makes this data available at your fingertips. Finding this URL-specific data using an analytics system usually requires a lot of configuration and drilling down.

6. UTM Parameters are Included and Shortened

UTM parameters are pieces of code that are added to links to track specific data:

In this example, UTM parameters are added to send back data about the source, medium, and campaign to the analytics system. As you can see, adding UTM parameters tends to lengthen the link.

URL shorteners have two advantages that help in this situation. One is that they provide a host of link data internally, so you may not even need to add extra UTM parameters. The short link can be used, and data can be tracked from within the URL shortener’s dashboard.

The second advantage is that most URL shortening services allow you to embed UTM parameters when shortening the URL. If you have to add UTM parameters to send data back to an analytics system, you can easily do so when shortening the URL. These parameters are masked just like the long URL, so users don’t see them, but they get appended when the link is clicked, allowing you to track the data you need.

7. Meta Data Can be Modified

Platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and so on, look for certain open graph meta tags (called OG tags) within links to include in the post. When you share a blog link on Facebook as a post, for example, you will notice that Facebook automatically populates the post’s image, title, link, and description. It does this by extracting the meta content associated with the link.

Source

Editing this meta content usually involves editing the source code, and you can only add one set of metadata per link, per site.

Most URL shortening services allow you to edit the meta content when creating a short link. You can change the open graph meta title, meta description, and display link associated with the shortened URL. This allows you to control how the post will appear on social media sites and also lets you create many different post styles for the same link (by creating different short URLs).

URL Shortening Use Cases

Digital Marketing and Analytics

URL shorteners provide in-depth tracking data internally and enable the addition of UTM parameters so campaign data can be tracked using an analytics platform. This lets you track engagement at a macro level and helps you better understand your campaigns and their results.

By allowing you to modify the link’s open graph meta content, URL shorteners make it easy to create social media posts that are engaging and consistent across sites. You also get channel-specific click data which helps you determine which channels work for your brand.

Vanity URLs

A part of SEO best practices is to create URLs with a detailed path and to include one or more keywords in the slug. This often results in long URLs:

When it comes to sharing these links on social media and other platforms, however, you will find that long URLs do more harm than good. URL shorteners allow you to have long-form URLs that are SEO-friendly and then shorten them for external use. You can use your brand name and short terms for the slugs that make them catchy and easy to remember.

QR Code Marketing

Most URL shorteners also generate a QR code along with the shortened URL:

QR codes are great for marketing; they can be printed on paraphernalia, products, stickers, placed on the website, and so on. URL shorteners give you a way of quickly generating QR codes for your brand links.

Marketing Campaigns

Lastly, URL shorteners are great for creating user-friendly and short URLs with embedded tracking codes (UTM parameters) that can be used for digital marketing campaigns like email and SMS blasts.

URL Shortening Services and How to Use One

Shortening URLs is quite easy. The first step is finding a service that delivers the features you need for a reasonable price.

Most platforms have a free plan that provides powerful features that are more than enough for most brands. Socxly, for example, has a free plan that allows you to shorten 300 URLs per month, and for each URL, you can add UTM parameters, edit social cards, add CTA banners, track URL data, etc. This allows you to get started with URL shortening immediately and for free.

The process of shortening URLs is as follows:

Create an account (you can start with the free account).
Enter the long URL you want to convert.
Either let the platform create a short slug, or you can add a custom slug.
Add UTM parameters if needed.

And that’s it; you’re all done. The short URL is generated with the new slug and stored in your account. You can edit the URL details and the social card meta content whenever you like.

Shortening Your First Link for Free Using Socxly

URL shortening is an important strategy in today’s competitive digital marketing landscape. It enables you to create short, safe, and user-friendly URLs that improve engagement and CTR. Finding the right URL shortening partner is equally important. The platform must give you the tools needed to create impactful URLs for a reasonable price.

The best way to find which platform is right for you is to try the free version. Once you see how powerful the URL shortener is, you can commit and invest in a paid plan. To get started with Soxcly for free, create an account here: SIGN UP NOW.

Building CTAs that Engage and Convert with Socxly

Every marketing strategy you run will have one single purpose at its core – to acquire a conversion. Conversions could be in the form of a form fill, a download, a purchase, or even just a click, and there is one element critical to encouraging these conversions, a CTA.

For someone who isn’t clear what a CTA is, a CTA, or a call-to-action, is an element that calls the viewer to take some action. The ‘Know More’, ‘Download for Free’, and other buttons/links you add to a campaign or webpage are CTAs. Its only job is to encourage the viewer to convert, and that’s why it’s incredibly important that you pay attention to the CTAs you roll out on ads, posters, the website, and so on. The CTA is quite literally the bridge between the marketing campaign (which can be an ad or a landing page) and a conversion.

A well-written and designed CTA can help you increase your campaigns’ and landing pages’ CTR and conversion rates. They are powerful, yet they aren’t too complicated to craft. There are excellent solutions in the market that let you create custom CTAs complete with a display banner and roll them out in a matter of minutes. Socxly is one such solution.

Socxly is a URL shortener that allows you to create CTA banners and link them with the shortened URL. It’s extremely easy to use, and you can generate CTAs in minutes. But first, let’s get the basics right and understand WHAT makes a good CTA, and then look into using Socxly to solve the HOW to create great CTAs quickly.

Here’s what this article will cover:

Rules for Creating Great CTAs
Creating CTAs that Convert with Socxly
Why is it Better to Build CTAs with Socxly?
Use Socxly for Free

Rules for Creating Great CTAs

1. Should be purpose-driven

The CTA should have a clear need and purpose. A CTA guides the viewer and tells them what to do next, and you know what happens when too many guides point in many different directions. Before you place a button or a link to a campaign, analyze if it needs to be there and if it is making a difference.

The ‘start your free trial’ button is a clear and crisp CTA, and although there is a ‘plan options’ CTA below it, it stands out and clearly draws the user in. The site knows what the user will find most interesting: a free trial, so they placed a CTA for it.

2. Location, location, location

Where you place the CTA is vital to engagement. Certain areas of a landing page get more attention than others:

This is called the ‘F-Shaped Pattern’. Viewers tend to sweep through content on a page in this manner, so placing important content, including CTAs, in these areas will increase the chances of engagement.

There are other strategies that you can use as well, like pop-ups and fixed CTAs:

Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, select a placement strategy and location for your CTAs.

3. Design to be obvious

CTAs can have a simple design and be more content-focused or be designed to be flashy and grab attention. It completely depends on the style of the campaign or landing page and the message on the CTA. There’s only one rule when it comes to the design of a CTA— it should be obvious. The viewer should know in an instant there is a clickable CTA that will help them go forward in their journey. Check out these CTAs on Apple’s site:

Besides color, nothing separates the CTA from the rest of the text. This might not be a problem when it’s above the fold, but such CTAs placed below the fold could get lost as the user scrolls through. Now, look at these CTAs:

You immediately know what’s actionable and what’s not, and that’s the only rule to designing your CTAs – make them obvious.

4. The message should be clear

The message on your CTA should be clear, concise, and unambiguous. Don’t leave the reader wondering what it does; tell them clearly what the CTA is for. Take a look at this CTA:

While the positioning and design of this CTA are great, the message could have been clearer. A simple ‘next’ leaves the reader with questions: Are there going to be more steps? How many steps are going to be there? Does this create the account, or does a payment have to be made?

They could have, instead, indicated what happens next – ‘create your free account’, ‘choose a payment method’, etc., would have helped elucidate what the next step is going to be, better. You can see how this would impact the CTR based on these examples:

5. Help them progress in their journey

Lastly, the CTA should take the user forward in their journey (whether it’s information or action), not keep them in the same place. Every CTA should help them progress towards the goal they are looking to achieve.

The CTA on an ad should lead the user to a landing page that gives them more information, and a CTA on a landing page should take them to the pricing page, which has a CTA leading to the checkout, and so on. CTAs should keep the user going forward.

Creating CTAs that Convert with Socxly

Now that you know the rules for crafting highly engaging CTAs, let’s talk about the easiest way of creating them. Normally, creating custom CTAs that you can embed in an email or a website would take time and effort. You must design the banner with the CTA and then code it into the email or landing page.

Creating banner CTAs doesn’t have to be challenging anymore, thanks to Socxly.

What is Socxly?

Socxly is a URL shortening service, but unlike most prominent URL shorteners in the market, Socxly offers many more features.

The free plan allows you to shorten 300 links every month which is more than enough for most businesses. You can easily include UTM parameters, pixel codes, and social media open graph content in a single short URL. You can track the performance of these links and gather metrics like impressions, clicks, and even conversions from the intuitive dashboard.

Apart from the URL shortening feature, Socxly also lets you create CTA banners which is the feature we’re looking for.

Creating CTA Banners with Socxly

Creating a CTA banner using Socxly is easy and takes just a few steps.

Step 1 – Creating the banner

Log in to your Socxly account (you can do this even in the free account).
Click on CTA Banner in the navigational panel and then click Create CTA Banner.
Enter details like the title, the link the CTA should redirect to, and the UTM parameters to be associated with the CTA link.
You can choose to design a banner within Socxly or upload a ready-to-use banner.
Designing a banner within Socxly is straightforward; you add the banner message, CTA text, and an image for the banner. Socxly arranges these elements for maximum conversions.
You can view a preview of the banner (shown on the bottom right) in real-time.

And that’s it, your banner is ready. The next step is associating it with a short URL.

Step 2 – Associating the banner with a URL

Shorten a URL with Socxly
1. Click on options -> CTA Banner and associate the URL banner created in the previous step with this short URL.

And that’s it. So how does this work?

How Does the CTA Banner Work?

You can share the short URL (https://socx.ly/suyati in this example) anywhere you like. When a user clicks on this short URL, they are taken to the associated long URL (which in this case is https://suyati.com/), and the connected banner automatically renders on the page:

On clicking the CTA banner, the user is redirected to the URL connected to the banner (in this case, https://www.socxo.com/socxly/).

Why is it Better to Build CTAs with Socxly?

Well, the first reason is that it’s easy to design and build a CTA with Socxly. You can upload a banner if you’ve already designed one, or you can create one from scratch in just a few minutes.

The reason that makes Socxly’s CTA banners stand out from other methods, however, is the speed of use. You can easily link a URL banner to multiple short URLs and have multiple CTAs launched instantly. You can quickly swap CTA banners, add new ones, edit existing ones, and have the results published instantly. This makes the entire process convenient and extremely fast to execute.

And finally, Socxly tracks the short URL and the CTA banner and gives you useful insights like impressions, clicks, conversions, and so on. You can easily follow these campaigns from Socxly’s dashboard without making any configurations.

With these additional CTA banners on the website, you can increase website engagement and conversions.

Use Socxly for Free

Want to try Socxly for free? You get all the features we have to offer – URL shortener, CTA banner, organic campaigns, and so on, with the free plan. Give it a shot; we guarantee you’ll love it. Try Socxly for free.