How can you figure out which web sites like Twitter, Facebook, discussion boards, or blogs are working best for you?
How do you know if an online advertisement you've placed is doing as well as you expected -- or even as well as you were told?
The answer is easy:
Create an account on http://bit.ly/
Using bit.ly is simple; after signing up for an account. You be presented with the screen below.
I'm going to shorten the URL of this page (yes, the page you are reading now): http://aalbc.com/writers/track_your_clicks.html
Just type the URL you want shorted directly into the large box labelled "Shorten your links and share from here"
After typing your URL, hit retun. The URL will be immediately shortened. In this case, the new URL is http://runt.it/c8yOYO The new URL is 27 characters shorter than the original URL.
The shorter URL's are much better to use in emails, blogs, discussion forums, instant messages, and social media websites.
Shortened URLs are particularly useful on a social media website like Twitter where you are limited to 140 characters.
I often shorten links Amazon Links, supplied to me by authors, which can
look like this: http://www.amazon.com/Sistergirl-Devotions-Keeping-Jesus-Mix/dp/0800733975/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1279842269&sr=8-1
(click here for more on Amazon
Links)
While the URL, in our example is, now much shorter it is difficult to remember. bit.ly takes care of this by allowing you to customize the shortened URL to something that you can easily rememeber.
Just click the "Customize" button. The shortened URL will change red. Just type over the red characters.
You may have to be creative selecting your custom URL, it appears the characters have to be unique across all shortened URLs, not just the ones you've created. The URL are case sensitive.
I've typed "tyc101" short for Track Your Clicks 101
The new URL is now http://runt.it/tcy101
The URL is now shorted and easy to remember. But I have not gotten to the best part yet: we can now track the clicks on this link!
I used the shortened URL http://runt.it/tcy101 in a twitter message:
Next, I clicked the shortened link in my own "tweet" (Twitter message)
If we click the "Manage" tab we can review the detail of all of our shortened links. Below we can see that the link we just created was clicked in Twitter. The text of the "Tweet" is also displayed (It is the tweet we just made so we know the report is correct).
We also see that the link was clicked a total of 8 times.
In the management sections we can see all the the domains where the shortened link was clicked, and what part of the world (by county the link was clicked.
The Metrics Summary Screen can show the number of clicks, referring domains and countries by hour, week and 30 day period.
The screen shot below shows out click summary for the 7 days. There is wealth of information contained in the detail.
Based upon the number of clicks, I can see what type of content generates the most interest, which domains perform best, and which countries those visitors reside.
Tracking Clicks in Ads Your Place
You can and SHOULD use trackable links in all advertising you place. If you supply an URL where you can track the clicks; this will give you an idea of how your advertisement is performing on different websites. This is very useful if you choose to advertise on websites who do not provide infromation on clicks.
I use an advertising server for AALBC.com, so I have the ability create links that allow me to count the number of time an ad is both diplayed and clicked. While bit.ly does not provide this level of detail it is free; my advertising server software is not.
Notes:
runt.it not bit.ly
The shortened links used by AALBC.com say "runt.it" not "bit.ly".
bity, provides the ability to
I just
As with almost all web based services; there are always alternatives.
Bit.ly is a service that I use here on AALBC.com, so I can speak to it's
usefulness first hand. Competing services are available now and new
ones will be made available tomorrow. Of course it is possible that
some of the competing services will be better. If you feel strong
about a better service, please drop me a line
troy@aalbc.com, if I agree, I'll update
this page!
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