Link Tracking for Ministry / Short URLs
Dec 29, 2008 Internet
In the past, we’ve run on the assumption that some people will click links that we share in newsletters, on Facebook, in emails, and so on, while we also assume that others will ignore them. But what if we could determine how many people are actually clicking them? Many short url providers make this task extermely simple.
For those of you familiar with Twitter, this will probably be no surprise. The purpose of short urls is to take a long url (such as http://www.threeparts.com/2008/12/26/friday-video-a-christmas-greeting/) and make it more managable…err…pretty (such as http://bit.ly/17oA0). Both of these thinks will take you to the same location on the web. The first one is the original URL, while the second is a shortened version of the first, assigned when I signed up for an account with Bit.ly and created it.
The most common use for short urls is to make long urls more friendly to microblogging services. Lately, however, I’ve been using these free services to not only shorten urls, but to track the number of times certain links of been clicked - regardless of where I place them. The click-tracking feature of many short url providers is one that is greatly overlooked. This information can be extremely valuable for you as a youth worker. For instance – if you send a link to a medical release form via your youth ministry newsletter which 25 people receive, and the link only gets one click – you should probably head down to the copier before the next pre-trip meeting so you can have some copies available for parents. Click tracking can also let you know your ‘return on investment’ when providing resources. If you spend two hours a day scouring the web for things to share with your students and parents, and only a small fraction of the people you are sending the information to click the link, you may need to invest your time doing other things.
While many premium email services already provide click-through information, it’s safe to say most of you are not using those pricey services. Therefore, I highly recommend using these in emails, on your blog (though a plugin or addon for stats would be better), on Twitter or other microblogging services, and so on. There is no reason not to track your links, given the process is incredibly simple.
Simply copy a url you would like to share, sign up at one of the sites below, create a short url, and copy and paste the new link where you intended to share the original. It’s truly that easy.
Be aware, there are some very popular short url providers that do not give you click stats (such as TinyURL), though somehow they continue to be incredibly popular. I prefer Bit.ly for tracking my links. Not only does it track the link where I place it, but it tells me where else the link has been placed by other people. It also lets me know how many people on Twitter are talking about it. However, there are several providers. Here are a few:
There are far too many for me to A) have used and B) to cover here. Comments are encouraged and welcome!
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