How to Create Your Own Customized Short URL for Your Blog

How to Create a Custom Short URL for Your WordPress Blog (2023)

Do you want to create your own branded short URLs for your WordPress blog? Using a custom short domain for your links provides many benefits, including better branding, easier social sharing, and the ability to track link performance.

In this guide, we‘ll walk you through exactly how to get your own short URL for your WordPress site, step-by-step. Here‘s what we‘ll cover:

• Why use a custom short URL for your blog
• How to choose and register a short domain name
• Setting up your short domain with a URL shortening service
• Configuring WordPress to use your custom short URLs
• Tracking your short URL performance
• Tips and best practices for short URLs
• Alternatives to consider

Let‘s get started!

Why Use a Custom Short URL for Your WordPress Blog

First off, what exactly is a custom short URL? You‘ve likely seen big brands and publishers sharing shortened links on social media and in their content that use their own domain name, like nyti.ms for the New York Times or on.mash.to for Mashable.

Rather than using a full lengthy URL or a generic short link (like bit.ly/xYz123), a branded short domain incorporates your brand name into a concise, memorable link.

There are a few key reasons to consider using a custom short URL for your WordPress blog:

1. Branding – Short branded links are more recognizable and can help increase awareness of your blog or business. People may be more likely to trust and click on a short URL that includes your brand vs a generic one.

2. Easy social sharing – Shortened links take up less character count on social media posts. With a custom short domain, you can have concise links while still including your branding.

3. Link tracking – Most URL shortening services offer analytics so you can track the performance of individual links, such as click counts, top referrers, and more. This data isn‘t easy to get with full length links.

4. Flexibility – With your own short URL, you have full control and flexibility. You can make links as short and descriptive as you want. With a generic shortener, you‘re stuck with whatever random characters they generate.

5. Professionalism – Having a branded URL shortener can make your blog appear more professional and established. It‘s a small detail that can help you stand out from the crowd.

Now that you know the benefits, let‘s look at how to actually get your custom short URL set up.

How to Choose and Register a Short Domain Name

The first step to creating a custom URL shortener is registering a domain name to use. Ideally, you want something short, memorable, and relevant to your brand.

One popular approach is using a domain hack. This is where you combine a short word, abbreviation or acronym with a top-level domain (TLD) to spell out your brand.

For example, the meditation app Calm uses ca.lm, Uber uses ubr.to, and GoDaddy uses x.co. These combine recognizable brand names with TLDs .lm, .to, and .co for ultra concise domains.

Some of the best TLDs for domain hacks include:

• .co
• .io
• .me
• .ly
• .it
• .to
• .at
• .am
• .be
• .is

There are tools like Domainhack.me that can help you come up with ideas by generating domain hacks based on keywords. However, many of the best short domains are already taken.

Your other main options are:

1. Use an abbreviation of your brand name with a TLD like .com, .co, .io, etc. For example, WPBeginner uses wpbeg.in.

2. Make up a new word by mixing parts of your brand name with a short TLD. For instance, The Hustle uses thdl.co.

3. Use a related or branded word with a short TLD, like Airbnb uses abnb.me or Shopify uses shp.rs.

Spend some time brainstorming ideas and searching for available domains. Aim for something as short as possible while still being meaningful and memorable.

Once you‘ve found an available domain you like, register it at any domain registrar. We recommend Domain.com, Namecheap, or GoDaddy for easy registration.

After you‘ve secured your short domain, you‘re ready to set it up with a URL shortening service.

Setting Up Your Short Domain with a URL Shortening Service

To actually create shortened URLs using your custom domain, you need to connect it to a URL shortening service that supports custom short domains.

There are a few great options to consider:

1. Bitly – Bitly is one of the most popular link shorteners. Their paid plans start at $29/month and allow you to connect up to 3 custom domains.

2. Rebrandly – Rebrandly focuses specifically on branded links and offers custom domains on their $29/month plan.

3. BL.INK – BL.INK is another service focused on branded link management with custom domains starting at $12/month.

4. Short.io – Short.io has a generous free plan that includes 1 custom domain and paid plans starting at $5/month.

5. ClickMeter – ClickMeter is a premium link tracking tool with powerful features. Their $29/month plan includes 5 custom domains.

We‘ll use Rebrandly for this tutorial, but the general process will be similar for other services.

Once you‘ve signed up for an account, head to the Domains section and click "Add New Domain". Enter your short domain name and click "Next".

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On the next screen, Rebrandly will provide you with the DNS records you need to point your domain to their service.

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To configure these DNS settings, go to your domain registrar or DNS provider and add the records Rebrandly specifies.

For example, in Domain.com, go to the DNS & Nameservers section for your domain. Then under DNS Records, add two A Records with the values Rebrandly provided.

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Save your DNS record changes. Note that DNS updates can take up to 24-48 hours to fully propagate, although they often take effect much faster.

Back in Rebrandly, click the "Verify DNS" button. If your domain is not immediately verified, check back later. Once it‘s verified, you‘re ready to start creating short URLs!

Configuring WordPress to Use Your Custom Short URLs

Now that your custom short domain is ready to go, it‘s time to connect it to WordPress so you can easily create and manage short links.

There are a few different ways to go about this:

1. Use the official WordPress plugin for your link shortening service
2. Use a general WordPress link management plugin
3. Manually create short URLs in your link shortening service and add to WordPress

We‘ll look at the first two options.

Using the Official Rebrandly WordPress Plugin

Since we used Rebrandly in the previous example, we‘ll use their official WordPress plugin to demonstrate. Bitly, BL.INK, and other services have similar plugins available.

To get started, install and activate the free Rebrandly – Link Shortener plugin on your WordPress site. Then go to the new Rebrandly section in your WordPress dashboard and click "Link your account".

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You‘ll be taken to Rebrandly to grant the plugin access to your account. Authorize the plugin, and you‘ll be brought back to WordPress with your account linked.

Now, when you create a new post or page, you‘ll see a meta box to create a branded short link:

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The post‘s short URL will be automatically generated the first time you view or preview the post. You can also click "Create Link" to regenerate it or "Edit" to customize the short URL to your liking.

One convenient feature is the "Copy and Share" button, which copies the post‘s short URL to your clipboard and opens the sharing menu to share to social networks in a couple clicks.

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There are a few other handy features in the plugin‘s settings, including:

• Table of all your links with quick stats
• Option to create short links in batch for existing content
• Ability to export all your links to CSV
• Customizing the domain, prefix, and suffix for auto-generated links

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The official Rebrandly plugin makes it super easy to generate custom short URLs in WordPress. The main limitation is stats are limited (click counts only). To get full tracking features, you‘ll need to use the Rebrandly dashboard.

Using the Pretty Links Plugin for Custom Short URLs

If you‘d prefer a WordPress-centric solution for managing branded short links that works with any link shortening service, check out the free Pretty Links plugin.

Pretty Links is a full-featured link management plugin for WordPress that lets you:

• Create and manage redirects using your blog‘s main domain (e.g. yourblog.com/go/link)
• Auto-generate links based on post titles or custom formats
• See full click tracking stats
• Add affiliate disclosures and no-follow tags
• Organize links into groups
• Import/export links from CSV

While you don‘t need a link shortening service to use Pretty Links, you can connect your custom short domain to Pretty Links to cloak links using your short domain.

After installing and activating the plugin, go to Pretty Links > Options and scroll down to the Shortening section. Here you can connect supported link shorteners, including:

• Bitly
• Rebrandly
• TinyURL
• Clkim

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Follow the provided instructions for your service to get your API information and add it to Pretty Links.

Now, when you create a new pretty link (under Pretty Links > Add New), you‘ll see the option to shorten it with your connected link shortening service:

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When you share that link, it will redirect through your short domain. For example:

Long URL: https://yoursite.com/recommends/product-name
Pretty Link: https://yoursite.com/go/product
Shortened Pretty Link: https://yourdomain.co/product

In this way, you can fully manage your branded short links from WordPress while leveraging the infrastructure of a dedicated link shortening service.

Tracking the Performance of Your Short URLs

One of the key benefits of using short URLs is the ability to track their performance. Knowing which links are getting the most clicks can help inform your content and marketing strategies.

As we covered earlier, if you use Pretty Links to manage your links, you‘ll get full click tracking and reporting right in your WordPress dashboard.

However, most link shortening services provide their own robust analytics on top of what you can get in WordPress.

For example, Rebrandly offers charts for:

• Total and unique clicks over time
• Top referrers
• Top countries
• Top devices and platforms
• UTM campaign tracking

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Bitly has a similar reporting dashboard with even more capabilities, like A/B testing links and setting up tracking campaigns.

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So while you can get basic tracking for free with Pretty Links, it‘s worth logging into your link shortening service‘s dashboard regularly to dig into your link analytics.

Tips and Best Practices for Using Custom Short URLs

As we wrap up, here are a few tips to keep in mind when implementing branded short URLs on your WordPress blog:

1. Customize link slugs for clarity. Don‘t just use auto-generated gibberish. Create descriptive slugs that include keywords.

2. Use a consistent naming convention. Establish a system for your short links, like /blog/post-name for blog posts or /go/product-name for affiliate links. This keeps things organized and professional looking.

3. Create short links for your most important content. While you can create a short URL for every single page, consider starting with your pillar content, best performing posts, and key money pages.

4. Share your short links everywhere. The more places you share your branded short links (social media, email, guest posts, etc.), the more exposure and trust they‘ll build over time.

5. Monitor and prune old links. Keep an eye on your analytics and consider deleting or updating old short links that are no longer relevant or getting clicks.

Alternatives to a Separate Short Domain

Finally, it‘s worth noting that you don‘t necessarily need a separate short domain to create branded short links for your content.

Many bloggers and marketers simply use their main domain with Pretty Links or a similar WordPress link management plugin.

For example, you could use a format like:

• yourblog.com/recommends/product-name
• yourblog.com/go/special-offer
• yourblog.com/freebies/download-name

This approach has a few benefits:

1. No need to register and maintain a separate domain
2. Keeps people on your main domain
3. Easier to manage everything in WordPress

However, a dedicated short domain does offer a few advantages:

1. Links can be much shorter and cleaner
2. Helps with unified branding across multiple web properties
3. Keeps short links separate from your main blog

Neither approach is necessarily right or wrong, so consider your needs and goals when deciding how to implement short URLs on your WordPress blog.

Implement Your Custom Short URL Today!

Creating custom short branded links is an easy way to add a professional touch to your blog, simplify sharing, and get more data on your link performance.

To recap, here‘s how to set up a short URL for your WordPress blog:

1. Choose and register a short, memorable domain name
2. Connect your domain to your preferred link shortening service
3. Install the official plugin for your link shortener OR use Pretty Links to manage everything in WordPress
4. Start creating descriptive short links for your best content
5. Monitor your link performance and optimize over time

By following the steps in this guide, you‘ll be up and running with your own custom short URL in no time.

Best of luck with your link building efforts!