There are several link-shortening applications (tinyurl, budurl, and bit.ly) available for microblogging (blogging in a limited number of characters, like Twitter).

One of the applications I use is bit.ly, and I did a Social Media Spotlight about it, because it allows the tracking and analysis of all the links you shorten with the application.

Well, then I discovered the WordPress plugin Pretty Link while looking for a plugin to do something totally different. It also allows for tracking and analysis of links, but I like it because it allows me to create short URLs with my own domain, which itself is a pretty short URL (myqotd.com) .

The following information is from the developer’s site:

Features

• Gives you the ability to create clean, simple URLs on your website that redirect to any other URL
• Generates random 2-3 character slugs for your URL or allows you to name a custom slug for your URL
• Tracks the Number of Hits per link
• Tracks the Number of Unique Hits per link
• Provides a reporting interface where you can see a configurable chart of clicks per day. This report can be filtered by the specific link clicked, date range, and/or unique clicks.
• View click details including ip address, remote host, browser (including browser version), operating system, and referring site
• Download hit details in CSV format
• Intuitive Javascript / AJAX Admin User Interface
• Pass custom parameters to your scripts through pretty link and still have full tracking ability
• Ability to rewrite these custom Parameters before forwarding to Target URL
• Setup Pretty Links as Tracking Pixels and track impressions
• Exclude IP Addresses from Stats
• Enables you to post your Pretty Links to Twitter directly from your WordPress admin
• Enables you to send your Pretty Links via Email directly from your WordPress admin
• Select Temporary (307) or Permanent (301) redirection for your Pretty Links
• Cookie based system for tracking visitor activity across hits
• Organize Links into Groups
• Create nofollow/noindex links
• Turn tracking on / off on each link
• Keep users on your site even when being redirected by using the PrettyBar which stays at the top of the page
• Configure the PrettyBar to mirror the look and feel of your website

Great things you can do with Pretty Link

• Clean up / mask affiliate links or merchant shopping cart links
• Track the effectiveness of email campaigns by embedding Pretty Links in your emails
• See how many times an email is opened by creating a “Tracking Pixel” Pretty Link and embedding it in the email
• Kickstart and Fuel the SEO on your site by posting Pretty Links from your site on Digg, Twitter, Facebook, other blogs and everywhere else on the Internet.
• Create Pretty Links for private special offers (to your email list) using a randomized slug to prevent the URL from being “guessed”
• Write custom scripts in PHP, Ruby on Rails, ASP or anything else that accept parameters and use Pretty Link to make their URLs “pretty” and forward on the parameters
• Setup pretty links for your zip, pdf & binary files and track how many times they are downloaded
• Use to track results of your PPC campaigns by setting your ads to go to Pretty Links
• Track Everything!

There’s also a Pretty Link Pro for which you can pay a fee to gain more features.

Let me know if you upload Pretty Link to your blog and how it works for you!

My Question of the Day: If you had no choice, and you had to move from the state in which you live now to another, to which other state would you move?

My 2 Cents: In a word—Florida.

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Take a few moments to check out the tweets from Twitter on this subject:

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PROTECTED TWEETER I would move for FUN: to FL, for a job: TX! But I love GA and just moved here less than 1 yr from IL!

overanalytical I see NY is a much coveted place to live. No surprise here!

Teaguem2005 My move from PA would be either to GA or NC bcuz I’ve got family in both and I love the South

OfeliaNJ From my limited experience, I’d like to move to South Carolina or Tennessee enjoying the Southern hospitality!

JoshDamage Virginia ; -)

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The commentary doesn’t have to end!

Please feel free to continue to add your comments below.

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