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Introduction to Custom Links

Custom Link is the new international link management platform for creating and managing branded short links. Our platform provides a URL shortener which allows brands to transform long links into unique branded short links (e.g. a.did.as/action). These links can be used in communications across all marketing channels, such as Facebook, Twitter, direct mailings and printed media.

In addition to a URL shortener, we offer an organized analytic dashboard which enables each user to measure and monitor link performances. Our statistics page gives you real-time and detailed insight into all link traffic. Understand who clicked on your link and engaged with your site. Segment your statistics by time period, location, referrer, device, campaign and more!

We also provide a browser extension that allows users to shorten, brand, save and copy long URLs with one simple click in their browser. Organizations with a marketing, PR and/or webcare department are able to use a team login so everyone can simultaneously create, manage, control and measure links. The combination of functionalities makes our platform the easiest and most efficient way to create and manage branded short links.

The benefits of branded short links:

• URL customization: Take total control of your content by completely customizing your short URLs. Every part of the link can be modified to fully meet the requirements of the brand.
• Shorter URLs: Branded short link are very short and therefore highly useful in communications across all marketing channels.
• Short URLs are very useful in printed media. The following applies for all media channels: the shorter the URL, the easier it is to remember and copy it.
• Trustworthy URLs: Boost confidence in your distributed URLs by replacing meaningless URLs, such as Bit.ly/3re3y or Goo.gl/8re3f, with branded URLs (e.g. A.did.as/goal).
• Branding: Increase brand awareness with a branded short link. Personalize and elevate your brand presence on social media. Moreover, branded short links give your brand a professional look and make your links visible and recognizable to your audience. The more frequently people see your brand on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn or your blog, the higher the chance they will remember your brand in the future.
• Brand advocates: Generate your own brand representatives when people share or retweet your link. When someone shares or retweets your branded link on social media or forums they automatically promote and reinforce your brand.
• Boost traffic: Increase the conversion of shared links. Branded short links drive up the click-through rate of your link because they reinforce your brand and boost confidence in the link.
• Statistics: Track everything from the number of clicks on each link per day, to the social channels shared through, to the geographies of users engaging with your links. Our analytics dashboard gives you a real-time, clear and complete understanding of link traffic. This valuable data can help inform your content strategy and optimize your website. For example, find out what messages on Facebook lead to the highest conversion to your website by comparing the amount of clicks per link.

Branded short links are also very useful in case you add Google Analytics campaign tags to the long target URL. The URL shorter also shorten these campaign tags so they will not be visible for your audience. Branded short links will make your links look nice and clean.

Custom Links is founded by two brothers from the Netherlands with a background in marketing and computer science. The idea for Custom Links was born out of amazement over the current use of links in the communication of many brands across different marketing channels. Many organizations still use long links, which are not only unclear but also occupy a lot of space (e.g. www. BrandX.com/on/this/page/you/will/find/information). Also, there are many organizations that choose to use vague short links from other brands with which you contribute directly to the promotion of a different brand instead of your own brand (e.g. Goo.gl/e4rt4y or bit.ly/4e2i4u4).

We are convinced that this can be improved. Custom links provides brands with the tools to enhance the delivery and measurements of their efforts across all marketing channels. We believe in the power of the branded short link and the value of information derived from link traffic data. Custom Links distinguishes itself from the competition by fully focusing on branded short links for brands. This enables us to better meet the individual needs of brands and marketing agencies.

Custom Link also provides an API for the integration of the URL shortener in, for example, a social media tool or CMS on request. Furthermore, it’s important to notice that the link analytics can only be accessed by the account managers and that we will never sell your data to a third party.

Are you curious about what custom links can do for your brand? Try us out for free. Companies like KLM (klmf.ly), Adidas (A.did.as) and Aegon (Aegon.me) are already leveraging an own, short domain name. Check out our inspiration list for more examples of brands with a branded short link. If necessary, we will gladly help you to come up with an own, short domain name.

For questions and / or remarks, please contact Custom Links.

Inspiration for a short domain name

Since you cannot use the home/base URL of your company (e.g. www.youtube.com, www.mtv.com, or www.adidas.com) for your branded URL shortener you need to think of a new short domain (e.g. youtu.be), a subdomain (e.g. at.mtv.com) or a combination of both (e.g. a.did.as).

It may take some creativity to come up with the right short domain or subdomain for your company. In this blog we will try to give you some tips in order to create the most effective short and subdomain. In general, we advice to keep your domain short enough to be effective as a URL shortener. Furthermore, you might consider the following tips:

1. Replace: You might consider to use letters or numbers instead of words. For instance, "2" can be used for the "to" sound and “4” can be used for the “for” sound in a name.
2. Use initials: You can use your companies initials for one or more words. Though it’s also worth considering leaving the most recognizable part of your business name spelled out. Examples: Dropbox uses db.tt or Electonics Arts uses o.ea.com.
3. Cut back or shorten: Use common abbreviations to shorten your brand name or just chop off some letters of your name. Examples: Salesforce.com uses Sforce.co and Starbucks Coffee uses Sbux.co.
4. Delete vowels: This is an easy and effective way to reduce the length of your business name while still making it easy to understand for your audience. However, we don’t recommend to remove vowels at the beginning of words. Examples: Amazon uses Amzn.com and Microsoft uses msft.it.
5. Alternate extensions: Besides the business extensions (e.g. .com or .biz) or your country code (e.g. .nl, .fr or .de) you can consider using an more uncommon extension such as .to, .li, .as or .co. You can find a list of country code Top Level Domans (ccTLD) on Wikipedia. These extensions are easy to obtain and generic enough for most branded short domains. Examples: Dell uses Dell.to and United Airline uses UAfly.co.
6. Alternate extension code ingenuity: You can also use these alternate extension codes to form your company name. By using the characters before and after the dot you can form a shortened similar sounding version of your name. For example, .es, the country code for the Spain, is good for plural names ending with "-es", such as Thetim.es or Itun.es. And, for instance, the country code of Soa Tome and Principe, .st, is very useful for brand name ending with “st” or “ste” sound, such as Kickstarter (kick.st) or Lacoste (Loca.st). This ingenuity with words and extension codes can create some clever domains.
7. Alternatives for brand names: The domain for the URL shortener can also be formed from product names, slangs, common word in your industry, etc. Examples: General Electric use invent.ge New Belgium uses find.beer and Netflix used movi.es.
8. Subdomains: Using a subdomain of your companies URL is the easiest and cheapest way to create a branded short domain. We only recommend this method if you a short base domain URL such as EA.com, MTV.com or KPN.com. You can use short subdomain to create a domain for the URL shortener, such as to., 2., at. or on. Examples. Electronic Arts uses o.ea.com and MTV uses at.mtv.com
9. Online domain search tools: On the internet you can find some great tool for coming up with a good domain for the URL shortener. We recommend the following extensive domain search tools: iwantmyname.com and domainr.com. After entering your company name these websites will suggest variations of your brand name using numerous alternate extensions and other methods mentioned here. If you are interested in a domain, the tools even link you to where you can purchase the domains. However, we do recommend to also search yourself for the best place to purchase your preferred domain name.
10. Combinations: You can combine one or more of the methods above. Example: Adidas uses a.did.as and Groupon uses gr.pn.
11. Browse our inspiration list: The list of domain names used by other companies will very likely give you inspiration for your own domain.

Once you've found a domain which meet your requirement, you will need to register it. Many extensions are available from known domain registrar companies, such as Amazon.com and Godaddy. If your extension is not available, you will need to search for a registrar who handles the domain extension in question. As said before, you can use iwantmyname.com or domainr.com to find registrars for many domain extensions. We recommend namecheap.com for buying your domain.

Some countries place restrictions on who can register domains with its country extension. Moreover some countries restrict what content can be used on their country extension, so if you intend in shortening content that might be in violation of these laws, you'll need to find another extension. You can find more information about the restrictions by clicking on the preferred extension on Wikipedia.

Feel free to contact us for domain name suggestion or if you need any help with registering your domain.

November 11, 2015 - Cusli