I have been using URL Shortening tools for some time now. I started using tinyurl.com and at some point switched to bit.ly. As a small business owner, I often observe what software is being used by people I consider “power users” of social media and internet marketing tools, and try out the tools they use.
At first I just used the URL Shortening tools to do just that – shorten long ugly links into a reasonable length so I could add them to a Twitter post without using up so many of my 140 characters on a link!
I came to realize that tools like bit.ly are much more powerful that just shortening a link. You can also create custom links as well as using the automatically created links if you want something that looks more readable and memorable.
The best feature, though is the fact that you can track your links in the manage section of bit.ly. Here you can gather data about how many times your shortened link has been clicked as well as info on which sites it has been viewed and if it has been shared.
Keep in mind, you must be logged in to bit.ly when you create your link if you want to manage it. I missed out on tracking some of my links just by being in too much of a hurry to log in before creating my shortened link.
Many Twitter clients like TweetDeck, TwitterFeed and Seesmic also integrate bit.ly into their software making it even easier to shorten, share and track your links that you post on websites, email newsletters and social media sites.