Ever since the internet existed, links have been its means of transportation. From the biggest social pages and online brand sites to the smallest, unnoticed websites, links are necessary to get us where we need to be on the internet. You either type up a link address or click on one.

However, much like everything else, the standard URL can evolve. Gone are the days where URLs have to be tediously long and messy. With aesthetics and effectivity in mind, short links offer several benefits to users.

Let’s check out a few ways short links can be used.

Short links have been widely used across the internet for various reasons. Many have learned to use it to their advantage. There’s no reason you can’t do the same. Here are a few ways short links can help you.

1. Social Media

Perhaps one of the most overlooked ways a short link can be used is through social media. Don’t get me wrong; influencers and celebrities alike do use the short link, and they use it often. However, even the everyday person can employ the short link.

With its neat appearance and petite stature, the short link not only saves you space but also allows for customization. This is perfect for social media bios and tweeting—both of which allow only a limited number of characters.

Aside from looking pretty, the short link has a few tricks up its sleeve. It provides you with information by giving you analytics—one of which is location. Whenever a person clicks the short link in your bio, a feature to get their location information is available, allowing you to match your content closer to your audience’s profile.

2. Promotional Items

Although the short link is used mostly online, its advantages go beyond that. The short link can be stamped into just about anything. Can you imagine attempting that with your full-length URLs?

T-shirts, mugs, caps, stickers—you name it! The short link can be plastered onto all these without automatically overloading them in text. With the physical world as your audience, your links are sure to get a lot more exposure.

Short links are a fantastic add-on to business cards and flyers too. Pasting a regular URL on a business card and making it look professional is next to impossible, and it’s highly unlikely for potential viewers to memorize a cluttered URL on a flyer. The short link solves both these problems by being brief and memorable.

3.      Online Advertisements

Online advertisements have risen in popularity over the years. Back in the day, you got most of your advertisements from television commercials or newspapers. However, online advertisements have begun to dominate the world of advertising.

Unfortunately, online ads are usually restricted to a few short seconds and minimal space. People on the internet rarely have the patience to sit through more than that. With only that much time and space for your advertisement, it would seem that online ads are at a disadvantage.

Enter the short link. When a short link is placed on an ad, capturing a viewer’s interest and allowing them to learn more about what is being advertised becomes possible. It may only take up a tiny bit of space, but the short link is the viewer’s window to an expanse of information.

4.      Your Personal Website

Want to blog about your daily activities or hobbies? Spread information on the latest events? Or perhaps open up a business selling items online? The short link shines here too!

While a short link paired with an advertisement could very well have been the reason a potential viewer stumbled upon your blog or shop, it can also help to keep them coming back. No one likes a brand that looks messy and unorganized. What happens when a potential client comes to your shop and is met with a tangle of URLs?

Fortunately, you don’t have to find out. Short links are perfect for such a dilemma. With its ability to be rebranded and shortened, potential customers can get to where they want to be with minimal confusion.

Aside from looking professional, the short link hides several features between those few characters—each of which can help you. We already know of its ability to provide us with location information, but there are a few more vital bits the short link can provide.

First off, short links provide you with the number of clicks you get per link. With this, you can find out which ads were most effective. When you spread your short links across multiple advertisement sources, it is helpful to know which platform you should concentrate on.

Another piece of data short links provide you with is your website’s rush hour. The detailed analytics tell you what time your links got the most traction. This piece of information may tell you when to release a holiday sale announcement on your shop or an update on your blog.

Short links can be tailored to have expiration dates as well. Imagine if you had links scattered across the internet promoting a sale that was effective only in 2020. You’d end up with a few disappointed potential customers.

All this and more analytics are included when using a short link. Information is power, and when you better understand your customers, you are several steps closer to success.

Short.io Comes Into Play

Short.io is a company that offers link shortening services and more. They provide links packed with the mentioned features and other services to give your brand a helpful advantage. Partnered with both big and small brands, Short.io is a company with plans that can tailor to your specific needs. Short.io optimizes your brand’s potential by getting the most out of your links.

There are several reasons to use short links over URLs, but perhaps the biggest is that short links are part of the future while full-length URL branding is becoming a thing of the past. People are so used to links looking brief and trimmed that a long URL looks substandard and inefficient. Keep up with the times by getting the most out of your online links.