Don’t worry so much about the whole base64 thing though. It allows for custom domains so you can brand your shortened link.
Simply enter your long URL and click the Shorten button. You can copy the resulting bit.ly link and use it in your tweets, in your e-mail, or even on your website. Many people use URL shorteners when they share links to private content, and in fact many web services like Google Maps have offered automatic generation of shortened links for driving directions that reveal personal information like home addresses and sensitive destinations like "clinics for specific diseases (including cancer and mental diseases), addiction treatment centers, abortion providers, correctional and juvenile detention facilities, payday and car-title lenders, gentlemen’s clubs, etc."[34][35] Additional layer of complexity[edit] Short URLs, although making it easier to access what might otherwise be a very long URL or user-space on an ISP server, add an additional layer of complexity to the process of retrieving web pages. Add X-Robots-Tag to my short links for granular control over how Google makes content available through search results.
For a full list of available tracking link parameters, read our Customizing an Affiliate Tracking Link article. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. Here is what the firing rules look like for this tag:Event Equals gtm.linkClick: You will want to use this rule for ANY and ALL link click events. Understanding which external links are most often clicked on your website will help you understand what kind of information users are looking for. The downside of this approach, however, is that if a user visits your shortened domain without a directory path on the end, they will be directed to a Bitly branded page. If you are using WordPress, you can take advantage of the default permalink structure to shorten URLs.
This is a nice extra feature if branding is important to you or if you want to make your link easier to memorize. I mean, you won’t be redirected to an ads page like, for instance, Adf.ly. They aren't required for testing, only being logged into your HasOffers account is required to treat the click as a test link. Affiliate Marketing with Your Link Tracker Our link tracker software works perfectly for affiliates too!
Then reconnect with the same interested audience when my sequel is ready to be released. For example, if someone was on the /about/ page, and clicked on an email address, then Google Analytics will record /about/. Link Tracking when Forcing HTTPS with HSTS If your company is considering implementing HTTP Strict Transport Security (HSTS) for your site to ensure visitors may only connect using the more-secure HTTPS, there can be implications for your users’ experience with Sailthru-tracked links if you enable HSTS for all subdomains via the optional includeSubDomains directive. Possibility to Archive the URLs Redirecting is not that better in elements. Top links clicked The URLs that were clicked the most in your campaign. View Click Results on the Links Page The Links page tells you how each URL performed in the campaign. You can change your URL up to five times within six months. Restrict our employee's account access to only the campaigns I want assigned to them. Dead simple to manage multiple custom domains and multiple clients from a single account Consistent branding impression. You can also determine if the links coming to your PDF are negative links coming from a website you don’t want to be affiliated with. Use an online search tool: One great tool for coming up with good domains for URL shorteners is Domai.nr, which lets you type in a full company name and the site suggests variations of it using numerous alternate extensions and other methods mentioned here and even links you to where you can purchase the domains (this is especially handy for country TLDs).