How To Start Your Own Private URL Shortening & Redirection Service (And Why Is It a Rocking Idea)

I recently bought the domain name http://anke.sh for $72.80 per year. A .sh domain is 9 times more expensive than a .com domain. So why did I buy it?

  1. Because its a very short URL. 4 character .com domain names aren’t available anymore.
  2. The domain stands for my first name after all. So there is an inherent value to it.
  3. Which makes it a very valuable domain name to start my own private URL redirection service on.

But Why Start A URL Redirection Service?

Micro blogging is becoming popular. Service like Ankesh Kothari’s Twitter have a 140 character limit for messages. So you can’t use long URLs. The longer the URL’s you share, the less text you can write promoting it - hence killing its virality.

I can use http://anke.sh as a URL shortening and redirecting domain for all the links that I share with folks via social media and micro-blogging networks!

But Why Not Just Use Free URL Shortening & Redirecting Services Like Tiny URL - URL shortening service or Bit.ly - URL shortening service with statistics?

Two reasons for that:

  1. I’m promoting my own brand. Some of the folks who click through any of the redirected links - will be curious enough to visit http://anke.sh too (which is redirected to this post).
  2. But more importantly - I get to make a presence on the traffic logs and analytic tools of all the websites I promote!

Website analytics tools don’t show who is sending traffic to your website - if that traffic comes from social media sites. But by using my own URL redirection service, http://anke.sh will show up on the people’s analytics tools if I link to them.

And hopefully that will open up a few doors for me. It will mean folks opening my emails if I’ve promoted them before - because now they’ll know that I’ve promoted them before!

So… How Can You Start Your Own URL Shortening & Redirecting Service?

1. Find a short domain name using Finding shorter domain names

2. Install WordPress on that domain 2a. Activate Pretty Permalinks in WordPress.

3. Install the Redirection plugin for WordPress plugin 3a. Go to “Options”. In the auto-generate URL field, enter: http://doma.in/$hex$ (where doma.in is the short domain you’ve bought.)

Thats it. You’re all set. Now every time you come across a link you want to share, instead of using tinyurl or bit.ly - use your own domain name.

Tips While Creating Redirected URLs Using The Redirection Plugin

i. Leave the source empty and a random URL will be auto-generated. You could add an easy-to-remember keyword in the source field too - if you desire that.

ii. Once the redirected URL is made, click on it - and change its HTTP to “302 - Found” option. SEO experts tell me that only by having a 302 redirect will your domain name show up in their analytics logs.