What is a URL shortener?
A URL shortener is a service which takes a long URL and creates a much shorter URL which then forwards you to the original URL when loaded. For example, the URL http://bit.ly/18lZ8Ns, if clicked on, will redirect your browser to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheetah instead.
Short URLs and the services that offer their creation have grown quite popular in recent years, as microblogging services such as Twitter limit you to 140 characters or less per message. In fact, some services such as Twitter offer their own URL shorteners built into the service for the benefit of their users.
The most popular of the URL shorteners is Bitly, so this post will be about setting up a custom short domain with Bitly.
Continue reading “Setting up custom short domains in Bit.ly”