Shrink Links with Free URL Shorteners
Turn Long Website Addresses Into Short URLs in a Snap
Mar 7, 2009 Jace Shoemaker-Galloway
As website addresses get longer and more complicated, sharing favorite URLs with friends, family and co-workers can be difficult.
Long website addresses can pose several annoying problems for many computer users. First, complex and complicated website addresses are almost impossible to remember. Secondly, when users attempt to copy and paste long URLs in various locations, sometimes the links break or simply will not work. And often times the long link is just too long and will not fit where it is pasted.
Shorter URLs, on the other hand, are generally simple to remember. They are also easier to copy and will generally be the right size to fit about anywhere.
There are many websites that provide free services to computer users that shorten long and annoying website addresses into easy-to-remember, more compact and user-friendly URLs. The process couldn’t be easier to do. Just type or copy and paste the long website address into the provided box, and click a button. The long and complicated website address becomes a small, compact and easy to remember URL with the click of a button!
Free URL Shorteners
- TinyURL – The granddaddy of all URL shorteners, TinyURL was the brainchild of Kevin Gilbertson. Launched in 2002, Gilbertson developed the service in order to link to various newsgroups that used long and complicated website addresses. TinyURL basically works by redirecting the long URLs and providing shorter aliases for them. The service, which has more than 1.75 billion hits each month, also provides a free TinyURL button to add to the browser toolbar for easy access and convenience.
- DwarfURL – This free URL shortening service, which includes a simple and clean interface, turns long links into smaller ones which never expire. Simply type in the long URL and click “Dwarf it Baby” for an instantaneous new shorter URL. This site also offers another handy and useful feature. By entering an optional password, users can view how many people have actually visited the site. Just add the password to the end of the condensed URL to see the statistics.
- SnipURL - Snip those long URLs with this free URL redirection service. The straight-forward interface is simple to use. Users can create, manage and search “snips” from the convenient tabs at the top of the site. A forum, toolbar button, optional settings and power-snipping options are available to registered users.
- Easy URL - This simple and easy to use URL shortener is spam free. All spam redirects are deleted. A convenient bookmarklet is also available – just drag it and drop it onto the browser toolbar.
- ADJIX - Like the other services listed above, ADJIX shortens URLs but also provides users an opportunity to earn money with ad-supported revenue. The optional Adjix2Twitter feature allows users to embed ads directly into Twitter tweets and earn cash. Adjix users can use their own personal domain names rather than using a generic “adjix.com” shortened URL. For registered users, other features of this ad-supported URL shortener includes statistics and a choice of several bookmarklets.
The services listed above provide convenience and ease-of-use for computer users everywhere. Many online tools, such as HootSuite, a Twitter tool, have their own shorteners - in the case of HootSuite, it's aptly named owl.ly.
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