Permalinks are great for search engine optimization.
But when you’re into limited-character writing sites like sending messages on Twitter, then entering and sending your post’s URL is a problem.
The solution? Use the URL shortening service of websites like TinyURL or set up your own. I found this excellent WP plugin called (what else?) “Short URL Plugin” by Harlequine.
For example, with the plugin installed, you can easily convert this URL:
http://romeocayabyab.com/where-to-download-a-drop-cap-plugin/
to:
The beauty of this plugin is that it allows you not only to create shorter URL’s but it keeps track of how many times a link has been clicked. Now, that should be a very useful tool in managing downloads and keeping track of outbound links. Of course, you can use the plugin to mask URL’s.
I heartily recommend it. Download the plugin.
By the way, after activating the plugin don’t forget to update your .htaccess file by selecting Settings | Permalinks in your admin panel, and then FTP-ing the modified .htaccess file.
Let me know how it went with your short URL install.
Installation was a breeze. Thanks for the info, mate!
thanks for the tip Romy.
I was about to install the short url plugin for the new blog I’m developing, when I came across a great blog post suggesting an alternative: just use the “ugly” default permalink!
The post mentions certain advantages this approach has over the short url plugin, including being automatically generated by WordPress and easy to build into your theme (for clickable “tweet me” buttons, for example).
Just FYI!
Rich – Thanks for the feedback. For the extra work, you get the benefit of keeping track of the number of times the URL has been clicked which is very useful and handy information in a campaign.
Hmmm… wouldn’t you get that anyway with whatever analytics program you’re using? Maybe not. I don’t do a lot of that.
You have a point there, Rich. No doubt there are other programs which can do the tasks, perhaps even more efficiently. But I find the resulting plugin numbers more handy than what other analytics program I have seen provide. We can always try these programs and see if they meet our requirements I suppose. Cheers.