Your 6 Best URL Shorteners for Affiliate Marketing

Phonexa
10 minute read
Phonexa
10 minute read

The link’s visual appeal is significant for affiliate marketers since it helps to captivate internet visitors and leave a pleasant, long-lasting impression. One instrument that can benefit affiliate marketers and advertisers considerably is the best URL shortener — one of the essential affiliate marketing tools that help businesses gain an edge.

Without a shadow of a doubt, these tools can significantly impact your web page’s visual appeal and overall aesthetic and functionality. URL shorteners simplify link sharing, which leads to successful optimization of user experience.

The significance of these tools goes beyond mere link management. Today, when first impressions reign supreme, comprehending the power of the best URL shortener can be the secret weapon to make your affiliate program and brand stand out.

Today, we explain how best URL shorteners work, their functional benefits, and how you can seamlessly incorporate them.

What Is a URL Link Shortener?

Let’s start with the definition of URLs. A URL, or uniform resource locator, serves as an address facilitating your web browser in locating particular web pages, images, files, or other resources on the Internet. It consists of:

  • Protocol — hypertext that defines the structure and transmission of data (such as HTTP or HTTPS).
  • Domain name (like “google.com”) — the general address for the entire website or server.
  • Subdomain (like “support”) — part of a larger domain to navigate to the different sections of a web page.
  • Top-level domain (TLD) — an indication of the type of organization or country associated with the page (for instance, .com, .org, or .edu).
  • A path (like “/google-ads”) — the location of a particular file or page within the website.

The main components of URLs work together to specify the exact location of a resource on the Internet:

Source: Ahrefs
 

Each of these elements helps users and browsers access the content they seek with ease and efficiency.

Let’s get back to our main focus — URL shorteners. These affiliate marketing tools condense lengthy, complex website addresses into shorter, more manageable links. They actually redirect from the short URL to the original, longer URL.

These online services make your web page easier to share and remember. The best URL shorteners perform many functions, and the most popular is affiliate link tracking. You can share these links via emails, social media platforms, and digital marketing campaigns.

The primary benefit of URL shorteners is the ability to track and analyze link performance. This means understanding audience engagement and behavior by receiving valuable insights into the following:

  • Click-through rates
  • Visitor’s geographic location
  • Referral sources

Potentially, this data can be instrumental in refining marketing strategies and optimizing website content. Integrating top URL shorteners can also lead to improved branding opportunities like names or keywords that instill a sense of trust and professionalism among users.

Furthermore, it improves your web page’s appearance and frees it from clutter. In this case, easy navigation with shortened affiliate links ensures a smooth browsing experience that encourages users to explore the website further.

What is a custom URL shortener? Sometimes known as a tailored or personalized URL condenser, it empowers a brand to imprint its links to underline its identity.

The best custom URL shortener increases the sense of reliability between your audience and your enterprise, providing your clients with a preview of their destination.

Now, let’s summarize the importance of the best URL shorteners for affiliate marketing and outline their main benefits:

Link cloaking Masking affiliate links to make them more attractive to potential customers.
Shareability Improving social networking as shortened URLs are easier to share online.
Link tracking Obtaining valuable data for affiliate marketers, such as the number of clicks, location, and devices used.
Branding Increasing brand awareness by using your brand name or keywords in the link.

But before we get to the list of URL shorteners, consider the following 7 steps to improve your page design:

  1. Opt for the best URL shortener that allows customization
  2. Integrate a user-friendly interface for shortening URLs
  3. Make sure the shortened URLs match the branding of your website
  4. Take a minimalist approach to URL design
  5. Ensure that the URL shortener is responsive on all devices
  6. Strategically place shortened URLs on your web pages, making them easily accessible and visible
  7. Prioritize secure tools that guarantee privacy and data protection

Top 6 Most Popular URL Shorteners for Affiliates

There are third-party extensions available on the Chrome Web Store that can be added to your Chrome browser to facilitate URL shortening. These extensions typically integrate with the best URL shortener services like Bitly, TinyURL, and others you’ll find on the list.

To incorporate the best URL shortener for Chrome, you can go to its web store and search for services like “Bitly URL shortener”.

To maximize your potential in performance marketing, you can utilize such well-known instruments:

Bitly

Monthly Visits Page Per Visit Time On Site Bounce Rate Direct Traffic Search Traffic Paid Referral Traffic Referral Traffic Social Traffic Mail Traffic
1,349,988,183 1 4 0.09 41.25% 30.52% 0.42% 11.11% 0.42% 16.27%

Bitly is known for its slogan, “Make every connection count,” and is the best paid URL shortener to create short links, QR codes, and Link-in-bio pages, facilitating easy sharing across various channels.

With a wide assortment of offerings, Bitly serves both big and small brands, including renowned entities such as Novasol, Marriott Bonvoy, and The New York Times.

A key software feature from Bitly Connections allows you to effectively build and maintain your brand with links and QR codes. You can maximize the impact of any content interaction with your audience with the following:

  • Large-scale URL shortening
  • Special links with brand elements
  • URL redirection
  • Advanced analytics and tracking capabilities

With an impressive global customer base of over 500,000 paying customers, Bitly facilitates the creation of a staggering 256 million links and QR Codes monthly, resulting in over 10 billion connections every month.

TinyURL

Monthly Visits Page Per Visit Time On Site Bounce Rate Direct Traffic Search Traffic Paid Referral Traffic Referral Traffic Social Traffic Mail Traffic
64,121,613 2 37 0.7 50.76% 33.09% 0.28% 6.06% 0.29% 9.53%

TinyURL is the pioneer among the best URL shorteners, enabling marketers and brands to condense their links into reliable, compact URLs.

The popular service offers the best free URL shortener for comprehensive link management. With a TinyURL premium account, users can generate, supervise, monitor, and expand their brands via campaigns of any magnitude.

The tool efficiently shortens extensive links, making them more shareable. Users can easily condense their links by copying and pasting them directly into the tool.

You can manage your affiliate links from the user-friendly TinyURL shortener dashboard, utilizing them across social media, email campaigns, and any necessary platforms. The results are dependable, secure, and have no expiration date.

Rebrandly

Monthly Visits Page Per Visit Time On Site Bounce Rate Direct Traffic Search Traffic Paid Referral Traffic Referral Traffic Social Traffic Mail Traffic
1,294,187 3 136 0.56 75.28% 10.44% 0.07% 11.12% 0.51% 2.58%

If you are looking for the ultimate and dependable solution for branding and managing links on a large scale, Rebrandly is the number one choice. Tailored explicitly for extensive organizations, one of the best URL shorteners allows for customized solutions that smoothly blend with complex processes for big teams.

The primary features of Rebrandly as the best URL shortener are:

  • Branded link management and deep linking
  • Proficient link retargeting
  • Robust account administration
  • Bulk link creation and editing
  • Streamlined traffic routing solutions
  • Branding reports with your logo
  • Domain name management
  • Organized workspaces for efficient teamwork

Ow.ly

Monthly Visits Page Per Visit Time On Site Bounce Rate Direct Traffic Search Traffic Paid Referral Traffic Referral Traffic Social Traffic Mail Traffic
3,064,349 1 23 0.88 36.24% 8.97% 0.35% 2.85% 0 51.59%

The next proud representative is Ow.ly, a renowned and powerful URL shortening tool for affiliate marketing that originated from Hootsuite. When you add a link to the content box, Hootsuite will automatically give you the option to shorten it using Ow.ly and incorporate tracking parameters.

Hootsuite is one of the most famous social media management platforms, which lets you manage all your social accounts in one place, schedule messages in advance, track vital conversations, and, of course, use one of the best URL shorteners — Ow.ly.

Shortening lengthy links with the best URL shortener can help you create neater links and measure the number of clicks they get.

With Owl.ly, you have such capabilities:

  1. Drive traffic efficiently
  2. Sleek link aesthetics
  3. Enlivened tracking capabilities
  4. Effortless analysis
  5. Systematic link performance tracking
  6. Tailored link creation
  7. Integrating high-quality Bitly shorteners

 

Ow.ly links within Hootsuite will help you make smarter decisions for your content and web strategies.

Tiny.cc

Monthly Visits Page Per Visit Time On Site Bounce Rate Direct Traffic Search Traffic Paid Referral Traffic Referral Traffic Social Traffic Mail Traffic
3,257,156 1 48 0.68 62.91% 20.17% 0 3.69% 1.21% 12.03%

The other best URL shortener on the list is versatile Tiny.cc — an online service that specializes in creating optimized affiliate links suitable for various platforms. The major functions we’d like to emphasize are:

  • Progressive click tracking
  • Ultramodern link management tools
  • Personalized URL options

With Tiny.cc, brands and affiliate marketers can conveniently edit, delete, and manage their URLs while making the most of the analytical data, like click statistics and visitor insights.

The platform also provides additional utilities for cloaking links, designing custom domains, and integrating QR codes, making it an all-encompassing solution for businesses, educational projects, and online marketing campaigns.

BL.INK

Monthly Visits Page Per Visit Time On Site Bounce Rate
58,911 4 161 0.34

Elevate trust and boost click-through rates by integrating your brand’s name into shortened links using the BL.INK generator. Personalized and concise links can enhance engagement across your campaigns, including email, SMS, social media, and print ads.

The best URL shortener for affiliate links has a lot to offer solopreneurs, advertisers, affiliate networks, and brands, mainly:

  1. Efficient management: Control, monitor, and access branded short links across numerous platforms and domains.
  2. Global impact: Every Coca-Cola product in North America incorporates a BL.INK QR code. The company’s QR codes are also featured on Airbnb, Best Buy, Chevron, and Patagonia.
  3. Unmatched support: BL.INK offers efficient support and functionality with billions of short links and over 1000 customers.
  4. Seamless integration: The SaaS platform has become one of the most advanced enterprise link management solutions available.

 

But are URL shorteners safe? BL.INK and other tools on this ultimate list of URL shorteners ensure the legitimacy of your dynamic links, providing an added layer of trust and security for your business.

Improve Your Affiliate Marketing Campaigns With Full-Fledged Solutions

It’s no secret that affiliate marketing is a journey, and businesses need to tread wisely. While following tried and true strategies is a wise choice, you need to make sure your affiliate marketing campaigns yield the desired results.

By utilizing Phonexa’s comprehensive solution for partner and performance marketing, you can tailor campaigns to your specific needs, enhance user satisfaction, make educated decisions, and establish a direct connection between clicks, calls, leads, and earnings.


At a mere cost of $100 monthly, you gain access to a versatile system equipped with an array of pioneering products:

  • LMS Sync — top-notch lead management system
  • Call Logic — first-class call tracking and distribution platform
  • Cloud PBX — innovative cloud phone system
  • Lynx — outstanding click management software
  • E-Delivery — advanced email marketing tool
  • HitMetrix — top-level user behavior analytics and CRO software
  • Opt-Intel — email cleansing and suppression list management solution
  • Books360 — automated accounting software with an invoice generator

Harness the Power of the Best URL Shorteners

Enter the universal truth for affiliate marketers: never underestimate the power of the best URL shorteners — they will help you attract your audience and run profitable campaigns online.

You’ll be able to simplify the link exchange, improve interaction with users, and take your affiliate partnerships to the next level. With the help of the top 6 URL shorteners, you can save time and resources while surpassing competitors in the process.

Embrace these popular instruments to unlock your affiliate marketing potential and elevate your affiliate marketing endeavors with Phonexa.

 

Choose the right software package for your business or schedule an online consultation to explore how Phonexa can help you amplify your affiliate marketing efforts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a URL link shortener?
A URL shortener is a service that converts long and complex URLs into shorter, more controllable links. These tools utilize algorithms to create unique, condensed versions of original URLs, simplifying their sharing and recollection.

How does the best URL shortener work?
URL shorteners work by taking a long URL and generating a shortened version that redirects users to the original link. They use a combination of alphanumeric characters to create unique, shortened URLs.

When a user taps the shortened link, the URL shortening service recognizes the request and redirects the user to the intended destination seamlessly and almost instantly.

What are the advantages of using the best URL shortener?
You will get many advantages if you use these online services, namely:

  • Tracking and analytics features
  • Ease of sharing
  • Brand representation
  • Link cloaking and monitoring
  • Improved website aesthetics

What is the best URL shortener for affiliate marketing?
Based on popularity and frequency of use, there are several top URL shorteners for affiliate campaigns:

  • Bitly
  • TinyURL
  • Rebrandly
  • Ow.ly
  • Tiny.cc
  • BL.INK
Got Questions?

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Phonexa
Phonexa is the leading all-in-one platform for call tracking, lead distribution, email, marketing, and digital marketing. The Phonexa staff is responsible for authorship of Phonexa blog posts.
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