Which link would you rather click on?

• bit.ly/0s4yaPB
• bit.ly/newblogplanner

I’m guessing you probably said the second one. That’s because it gives you a clue as to what you will be seeing once you click the link. Many of us are (rightly so) a little leery of clicking short links just because you can’t see where it leads. By customizing your bit,ly links, you can increase your click through rate. When I look at my bit.ly analytics, I can see that I get more views on custom links than generic ones. Best of all, it’s easy to do!

How to Get a Custom Bit.ly Link

1. Enter your post into bit.ly (log in first to be able to use analytics) or use the bit.ly sidebar while on your post.
2. In the custom bit.ly section, type in a few short words that explain your link. No spaces. Keep it short.
3. click save. If it saves, great! If not it’s because that link has already been used. Try a variation and if you still aren’t having luck, add a little code that signifies your blog. For example maybe bit.ly/blogpost is taken but bit.ly/blogpostBBB might not be (BBB for Biannual Blogathon  Bash.) I use short forms for all my blogs when I’m making notes and such. CR, GG, SMS and BBB.
4. That’s it! Share your custom link.

NOTE: Bit.ly links are CASE SENSITIVE. So if blogpost is taken, BlogPost might not be, or BLOGPOST or bLOGpOST for that matter, although I don’t recommend that one.

I entered what I wanted in the customize box. I tried custombitly but it said that was taken so I tried CustomBitly and it worked.

Ways to Use Your Custom Link

• Draw interest to your giveaways (bit.ly/ipadgiveawayCR)
• Use the most popular words that pertain to your post to draw clicks (bit.ly/MonsterHigh)
• Use a short sentence that will draw interest in finding out more (bit.ly/5WaysWithBacon)

If you have any more ideas, I’d love to hear them!