How to shorten a URL and showcase your brand at the same time

So the fact that you’re here means you’re trying to figure out how to shorten a URL. There are a number of options available. You can take any long link and bang it into any generic URL shortener to get a short link which is unbranded, anonymous and which you have no control over. But more often than not, your shortened link will be unbranded and anonymous, and you’ll have no control over how it comes out.

Or, you can shorten it using Rebrandly. This will allow you to shorten your URL and customize it so you can turn that link into a promotion for your brand.

Before we delve any deeper, let’s take a quick look at why you should shorten URLs and whether the solution to your needs lies with a generic link shortener, like Bitly, or a custom link shortener, like Rebrandly.

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So, why shorten a URL?

Traditionally, link shorteners were invented for two reasons:

To make long links shorter
To provide link analytics

Link shorteners popped up around the same time as Twitter, which originally had a 140-character limit for its posts. It made sense that anyone sharing a link wanted to keep it as short as possible.

But since then, the social media platform limited a link’s character count to 23 so URLs no longer take up too much of a 280-character tweet. At the same time, many people still prefer to shorten their links for neatness. Others shorten links to hide UTM parameters or to track the number of clicks they receive.

Today, however, link shorteners have evolved to the needs of modern users. The problem with traditional short links is that they are generic, anonymous and have come to be associated with spam. Web users are often reluctant to click on them for this reason.

So the latest development in link shortening is branded short links. There is a whole range of benefits that come with using a custom URL shortener. They are used to shorten and track links, as well as to:

Showcase your brand name
Boost brand visibility and awareness
Increase brand trust and CTR
Drive traffic from offline marketing materials
Keep link analytics private
Redirect short URLs
Retarget people who have visited your website before

So, are you ready to find out how to shorten a URL, while also promoting your brand? Let’s do it!

How to shorten a URL with Rebrandly

If you haven’t been convinced that branded short links are the way to go, now is probably the time to hop over the Bitly. You can paste a long link into the browser and be presented with a generic link with click data that is available for the world – and your competitors – to see.

If you’re on board with showcasing your brand, take a look at the below video to understand how branded links are constructed.

how to shorten a url

To brand and shorten a URL with Rebrandly, you can:

Do it directly on the Rebrandly platform
Use one of our browser extensions
Do it with the app

1. How to shorten a link on the Rebrandly interface

Sign into your Rebrandly account and click ‘new link’.

Then you can paste the URL you want to shorten and decide which domain you want to use and customize the slash tag.

Once you click ‘create link’, you can then opt to add notes, tags or retargeting scripts to your link. You can also set up traffic routing if you want to link to direct to different places depending on the location, device or time of your visitor.

Then, you can choose for the link to be automatically copied to your clipboard – or click ‘copy’ and you’re ready to share your link.

2. How to shorten links with the Rebrandly extension

The Rebrandly browser extension comes with Automatic Link Detection features. So if you download one of our browser extensions for Firefox or Google Chrome, you’ll be able to rebrand a link simply by hovering over it with your mouse. Whether you’re writing an email or posting to social media, it’s a great way to shorten a link without interrupting your workflow. Check out how to do it in the video below.

3. How to short a URL with the Rebrandly app

Last but not least, you can shorten URLs on the go with the Rebrandly app for Android or iOS. All you have to do is open the app on your phone and then follow the same process you would if you were on your computer. Similarly, you just paste the long URL, choose a domain and keyword, then click ‘Create link’.

So now you know how to shorten a URL, let us know how you choose which keywords come after the slash. Or if you’re new to Rebrandly, let us know what you think in the comments below.