When sharing content online you won’t always want to be using the full url of a website. That’s why if you have any social media profiles at all it’s likely you’ve come across a link that looks something like this: http://tinyurl.com/ydjq6q5 These links are usually set up through a third party site where you simply paste in the full link and they will shorten it to something like the previous example. As a side-note some of these websites will also let you choose a custom vanity url so people can have an idea of your content in advance (example: http://bit.ly/stomper999) and some services such as bit.ly will even let you track the number of clicks.

There are other hidden benefits that many people get out of using url shorteners as well as a simple short link. Affiliate marketers advertising other peoples products for cash will often need to use links which hold their name on the end and will not want to share this link directly with the world for a few reasons. Affiliate links are often; ugly, confusing, left unclicked or even worse all three.

URL shortening services took off in such a big way because everone can find a use for them, from the casual Internet user sharing funny images with a friend all the way through to the Internet Professional who makes their living online. At a guess I’d say you fall into the latter category or at least somewhere inbetween seeing as how you’ve made it to this site and that is why you must be aware of the potential pifalls.

“When Good Links Go Bad!”

You’ve been promoting something for a while now and have shared your links in literally hundreds of places online. Suddenly without warning the company that you’ve been promoting goes bust and you are left with hundres of links leading to a dead site. Perhaps  it’s something as simple as the company that you’ve been linking to starts to slack a little and you decide that it’s time to promote somebody else that is consistently providing a better product or service. In either of these situations with a traditional url shortener you are left in a position where you will need to not only find a replacement service to offer but also work on building new links to the replacement offer.

Another thing that happens more often than you’d think is that somebody has a bad experience when clicking on a shortened link and then no longer trusts anything that comes from that domain. Whilst most companies offering short urls do their best to keep the bad guys out this could happen on any of the public url redirect sites and you find yourself losing out on valuable page views.

If You’re Involved in Online Marketing You Need a
Dynamic URL Redirection Service!

A new breed of url redirect services are starting to emerge that give you more control than ever on your links. Want to change the destination of a link several months after posting it across teh net? Done. How about linking from your domain to create a higher click through ratio? All common problems are solved by tiny url services such as GoTryThis. There is no point in sitting around and waiting until one of your affiliate programs drop out, the truth is that you are potentially losing views already so the sooner you get a hold on your link management the better.

Finally, all your marketing in one place:
* Compare all your marketing side-by-side.
* Organize all the marketing for all your sites together.
* Control all of your marketing, after it is published.
* GoTryTHIS 2 is fast, robust, and very easy to use.

Click to Go Try This

There is no point in getting viewers who simply click through to your site and pass on. This isn’t any more productive than window shoppers in the high street, except if you’re advertising via PPC you are actually paying for the ‘pleasure’. You make money online when you capture that traffic and convert the “lookers” into “buyers.” Sounds simple, right?

So long as you are prepared to pay attention to the details, it really can be that simple. Here are 12 traffic conversion secrets that even a newcomer to Internet marketing can do:

1. Refine your Unique Selling Proposition (USP). What makes your product different, special, better or more desirable? That’s the USP. Now get the answer to that question down to one or two concise sentences.
2. When writing for sales you need to sound friendly, not slick. Sales copyhasto sound like you are simply excited to tell one of your friends about a great buy that you’ve come across. The last thing that you want to do is sound like a high-pressure infomercial.
3. Engage your viewers by asking for assistance. When you give viewers a reason to interact with you such as their opinion on a survey or requesting a product rating; you will not only get useful information but you will keep your prospects thinking about your product longer.
4. Don’t overwhelm your viewers. If you there are three different products that you are trying to sell then take the time to create three websites. When you make the mistake of offering too much at once you can confuse your readers into buying nothing at all. The exception to this rule are major retailers, but they already have a brand and a following.
5. White space is your friend. If you leave wide on your sales page it makes it easier to read. Your potential clients will be able to focus on your your copy wuthout distraction and in turn, you will increase your conversions.
6. Get people excited about your offering. When your product has a great rating or multiple endorsements from satisfied customers, share it with the world and let them brag about the product for you.
7. Leave plenty of hooks. When you are designing your sales letter or squeeze page make sure, the more hooks that you leave, the more chance you have of converting. It’s better to have too many offers than to leave money on the table when you lose a potential buyer who was just one step away from taking action.
8. Find problems. Even after your sales page is complete, keep thinking about other problems that your product can solve. You might get a hint of new ways to promote your product by asking buyers how they use the product.
9. Direct your viewers attention. In addition to white space there will be times when you want to use moderate highlighting. This will bring focus to the most important parts of your copy. Be warned: Too many highlights or excessive colors frustrate online readers.
10. People love value, so give it to them. After presenting your USP, you can always sweeten the offer by adding more free information, more tools or more services to create a package deal. To increase the effctiveness of this method set a time limit on your offers to create a sense of urgency for the buyer to act.
11. Ask for the sale. If you are offering your customers value as we’ve already discussed then you shouldn’t feel guilty about asking for the sale. Even somebody who is highly interested in your product may need to be asked up to three times to become a buyer. You can’t ask too many times.
12. And last but not least, always say “Thank you.” Have a gracious, personal sounding, “Thank you” email with the order confirmation you send out. It doesn’t cost a penny to have good manners and show your buyer appreciation!