Use alternate extensions "hacks": Many country code extensions can be used to help form your company name by using the characters before and after the dot to form a shortened for similar sounding version of your name. They can hide their nefarious links in a shortened URL meaning people either clicked on the links and quickly learned to either never trust a shortened link, or to always use a link extraction site (e.g. WhereDoesThisLinkGo) to see where the shortened link actually went before they clicked. Maybe you have the ad for your book in your sidebar, in your footer bar, and after your post content. The nice thing about it is that it’s a short link, about 70% smaller than the permalink for this post. In most cases, this will be the same as the URL you provided.
Initially Twitter automatically translated URLs longer than twenty-six characters using TinyURL, although it began using bit.ly instead in 2009[10] and later developed its own URL shortening service, t.co. Another consideration is that some countries also restrict what content can be used their TLDs, so if you intend in shortening content that might be in violation of these laws, you'll need to find another TLD.
To view individual link results, follow these steps. It's also worth considering leaving the most recognizable part of your name spelled out. It is stored in your My Sailthru Settings under Setup > Domains. There is no option to customize your shortened URL.
Bitly makes money by charging for access to aggregate data created as a result of many people using the shortened URLs. Other link tracker software use only cookies, which severely limits what you can track and how you track.
Instead of posting the "pretty" URL, you can shorten it by removing the "www." and using the post ID in the URL (e.g. "?p=1204"). The customized bit.ly version allows you to use your own domain name for branded short links which can be easily shared on Twitter, Facebook or other social media sites. Shortened links allow you to share long URLs in a Tweet while maintaining the maximum number of characters for your message. You should see the activity in the Analytics Real-Time > Events panel. On Twitter and some instant-messaging services, there is a limit to the number of characters a message can carry – however, Twitter now shortens links automatically using its own URL shortening service, so there is no need to use a separate URL shortening service just to shorten URLs in a tweet. The Click Map shows you a visual representation of how each link performed in your campaign. If you navigate to a previously claimed URL, you may see a page that reads Profile Not Found. You can also view a world map where your last 50 clicks came from. When you are using HootSuite, you can shorten any URL to an ow.ly or ht.ly link. We sometimes experience products selling out suddenly in the middle of a large campaign. This can be added to existing JavaScript files or in a script block as long as it’s loaded somewhere within the HTML body (ideally, just before the closing tag). jQuery (or your alternative) must be loaded first although the Google Analytics tracking code can appear anywhere on the page. /* Track outbound links in Google Analytics */ (function($) { "use strict"; // current page host var baseURI = window.location.host; // click event on body $("body").on("click", function(e) { // abandon if link already aborted or analytics is not available if (e.isDefaultPrevented() || typeof ga !== "function") return; // abandon if no active link or link within domain var link = $(e.target).closest("a"); if (link.length != 1 || baseURI == link[0].host) return; // cancel event and record outbound link e.preventDefault(); var href = link[0].href; ga('send', { 'hitType': 'event', 'eventCategory': 'outbound', 'eventAction': 'link', 'eventLabel': href, 'hitCallback': loadPage }); // redirect after one second if recording takes too long setTimeout(loadPage, 1000); // redirect to outbound page function loadPage() { document.location = href; } }); })(jQuery); // pass another library here if required The event is recorded with the category name ‘outbound’, action name ‘link’ and the value set to the URL of the outbound page. Demos & Tools uses this technique on the sign-in and sign-out buttons to help track the usage of those features. One of the most popular link shorteners is Bit.ly, and their use of the .ly domain has been a problem for some. Then when the page loads, it can load the Javascript and track the information in Google Analytics as expected.