This morning I decided to create and use my own personalized URL shortening service. I have been using bit.ly for a long time, and while I find bit.ly to be a great service I wanted to try throwing links around that had my signature in them.
There are several routes I could have taken to create my own URL shortener and I went with Pretty Link because of its simplicity and features. All I had to do to get it up and running was install the plugin and I was good to go.
I’ve only used it a few times this morning and so far it has worked great. I’ve shared a few of them on Twitter, some people have clicked them, and I have all the click info in my WordPress admin area. Pretty Link works just as it is supposed to.
Looking at my Twitter updates now though, I have to wonder if I’m coming across as too self-promotional. All the links I’m sharing on Twitter all start off with “http://robmcguire.net” and if people aren’t aware that I’m using my own URL shortener I can see how it would appear that I’m just blasting links to my website.
I think that this could become a problem for people who just start out using their own personalized URL shortener. Until people become aware that not all the links you share point to your site I think you take the chance of appearing a little spammy.
I know a few people who also use their own URL shrinkers and I haven’t asked their take on this yet. But I will go ahead and ask you: Have you ever found custom URL shorteners to be too pompous or self-promotional?
No related posts.