TinyURL or SnipURL-How do You Track your On-Line Marketing?
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How Do You know if Your Internet Marketing is Working?
On-Line Marketing is not a new thing and today, thousands of people jump on the Internet super highway hoping to create their fortune and fame, but as they begin to market their products, services or themselves, how do they know what is working?
As I talk with marketers of all kinds, the questions I like to ask are, "How do you really know if your market is listening?" "Do you gauge your success by sales, opt-in sign ups, comments on your blog, traffic counts on the hit counter, Page Rank by Google, what is it that tells you that your efforts are connecting?
Internet Marketing has so many facets but not all avenues bring results. If you are not strategically tracking your marketing efforts, how will you know if you found the right avenue or not?
Below are some strategic places where tracking is key to learning how your message is received.
Do you know if Your Opt-In Subscribers are Listening?
Email Marketing is one of the Keys to success in any online business, but how do you know if your Opt-In Subscribers are listening to your message? How do you guage the success of each email you send?
In an earlier hub I shared a quick tool to help find out what your Opt-In subcribers really want from you, but is knowing what they want the only step to a successful email marketing campaign?
If you are communicating with your list, but don't know if they are listening, you might be spinning your wheels and not even know it. Why spend the time to craft a compelling message but never know if it worked?
Social Networking-But I only Have 140 Characters to share My message.
Social Networking can play a big part of an overall on-line marketing plan. But as sites like Twitter and MyBlogLog become more popular, the capability of sharing your marketing message is limited to a certain number of characters.
Communicating a message can be tough enough, but when faced with character limits the challenge seems insurmountable. I have talked to some folks who won't even use Twitter because they feel lost in how to converse within such constraints.
Social Networking is a needed piece of the puzzle and can drive targeted traffic if used correctly, and their are tools available to help share your message and still work within the constraints of character limits.
Shortening Your URL Links allows you to Communicate Your message even with a Character Limit
One of the biggest challenges with character limits is sharing a link to long URL's.
Internet Marketers understand the benefits of connecting with social communities but when it comes time for sharing a link with their followers, sometimes that URL can take up most of the character limit. How has that been overcome? With a free tool at TinyURL.com.
TinyURL, gives marketers the ability to take a long URL, like this one:
and change it to one like this:
Both URL's take you to the same place, but the TInyURL link saves space and allows marketers the ability to direct their fans and friends to the final destination and have enough characters left over to share the message as to why they should check out the link to begin with.
What if I want a shortened URL AND want to Track the Effectiveness of my Message?
SnipURL is a FREE tool, just like TinyURL, but has much more functionality, like automatic saving and tracking of every SnipURL you create. Not only can you create shortened URL's to use in places where character limits are imposed, your Snip's are saved automatically so that you can re-use them in future marketing.
But the biggest advantage of using SnipURL is that now, you have a way to actually track the clicks you receive on your Snips. All of this is done automatically with your FREE account at SnipURL.com.
The first picture below shows two of the Snip's that I created recently. As you access your own back office, every Snip is saved so that you can refer to them at anytime.
As you create each SnipURL you can add a Title so that you can easily see what you created it for. You can add special characters at the end of each Snip to help remind you of what campaign or site you used it for.
And as you can see in the first picture, a count of total Clicks and Unique Clicks is automatically tracked on every Snip.
Another excellent benefit of SnipURL, as shown in the second picture, is the capability to share your Snips through social bookmarking or other Web 2.0 avenues. If you want to bookmark your Snip on Delicious, you have the direct link to do that. Or if you want to share your Snip with your Twitter friends, one click of a button and it's Tweetered (if that is a word).
If you use Email Marketing to build your Home Business, SnipURL is an excellent FREE tool to find out if your subscribers are listening.
Photo #1 below shows a recent Snip that I created for an email sent to a small targeted Opt-In subscriber list. Out of 20 subscribers, 12 clicked on my strategically placed SnipURL link within two days of sending out that email. If I had not used SnipURL to track my link, I might not have known that the majority of my list was paying attention to what I had to offer.
That's the power of strategically tracking your Internet Marketing, giving you a better handle on what is working, or not.
TinyURL or SnipURL-Which one is Better?
Both TinyURL and SnipURL have their places, whether it's social networking, blogging or email marketing.
TinyURL works great if tracking your link is not necessary and all you need to do is shorten a long URL so that you can utilize shorter character communication.
SnipURL works on the same premise, but if you need a powerful tool to save and track your marketing campaigns, this one works great.
Tracking your on-line marketing is a necessity. Knowing the results of your efforts allows you better communicate with your readers, viewers, traffic and subscribers and tracking gives you that advantage.
Finding all the pieces to the puzzle is not hard if you know where to look, but making them fit together to build a successful internet Home Business can be a challenge to say the least. To learn additional information and tips on Social Networking, Email Marketing and more, visit Work From Home Smart.com
To your Success,
Mike Witt
Do you use TinyURL, SnipURL or Both?
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Tell us how You track your On-Line Marketing?
Hi MIke,
Good information in this Hub. I use TinyURL, but now that I've learned from you all the benefits associated with SnipURL I will be using it. Thanks again for the valuable info.
Patricia
Fantastic Information Mike! Knowledge is key to success and you are carrying on the tradition in a high standard.... Thanks!
SnipUrl looks good but I use My-Linker which is part of my Wealthy Affiliate membership. I think it does the same thing as SnipUrl.
With my-linker, you can track clicks, you can integrate it with your Google Analytics or YSM code to track your PPC keywords and you can even change the redirected url to another if you want.
Hi Mike,
Another well written and highly informative Hub! I always look forward to your Hubs for that very reason.
I have used TinyURL to shorten the run-on URLs that are becoming more common (like here on Hub Pages) but not SnipURL.
More recently hace started using Ping FM to update my status on Twitter, FB, MySpace, etc which also shortens the URL when broadcasting the update (example: Jim asked: Anyone hear of MPC? http://ping.fm/E0G67 ); another very handy Fr.ee tool.
I will definitely be checking out SnipURL for the tracking features.
Thanks again for some great info and I hope all is well .....
Hi Mike - another excellent hub. I also have been using tinyurl but will definitely give snipurl a try. Thanks and best wishes, Cindy
Hey Everyone,
Thank you all for the great comments, I appreciate that very much, I am glad that you enjoyed the information.
@kpfingaz-Thanks for the alternative, I know Wealthy Affiliate has many great tools for it's members.
@Jim-Thanks also for the tip on Ping FM, will have to check that one out.
@marketingsmarter & Steps to Freedom-I appreciate your comments, I try my best to help with tools and tips to help all marketers succeed.
@ Cindy-Thanks also for your comment, and best wishes to you as well.
@artfuldodger- I appreciate the note, you also have some very good hubs, nice to meet you.
Mike Witt
Another great hub Mike. Just the kind of things I need to know to get things really moving tinyurl and snipit are now on my list of tools.
Mike,
Another great hub.... Now, I have tinyurl / snipit on my list of tools. Thanks for the great information.
Donna Wells
I have been using both but here I learned a lot of snipurl features I wasn't aware of. Thanks for the info. Great hub!
Hi Grant, Donna and surefire,
Thank you for the great comments, I am glad that you found use in my hub and information.
Some of the best tools to build an on-line business are Free :-).
Thanks,
Mike Witt
I use tinyurl a lot but had never heard of snipurl before reading your article. It is interesting that just today my brother was showing me a tool he purchased that works similar to snipurl. Thanks for sharing this valuable information.
Mike,
I'm going to use SnipURL. Tracking has been this mind-block, something I've yet to overcome. You've just provided a solution to that.
Thank you.
Eric Walker
Hi Reliable Girl,
Thank you for the nice comment, sorry that I didn't get it posted in time for your brother :-).
Thanks again, nice to meet you,
Mike Witt
Hi Eric,
Thanks for the comment, I am glad that the information has helped. Tracking was always an after thought for me in the beginning, but now, it is almost second nature, as results tell a story and paint a picture of what is working and what is not. If certain things aren't tracked a person would never know if what they provided has made a difference.
Thanks again Eric, it's always a pleasure to connect with you and other marketing experts.
Mike Witt
Hey Mike. Great content, use of keywords and a valuable 'free' tool that almost no one has heard of.
One other benefit for Affiliate Marketers is it also protects your affiliate link from being hi-jacked or deleted by prospects who don't want to see you make a commission.
Thanks again Mike.
Mike,
THanks once again for sharing some of your knowledge with all of us. Never heard of snipurl but I have now. As alwyas, you provide some very valuable information for anyone looking to take their business on-line.
I mostly use TinyURL too. Now that I know that I can track with SnipURL, I think I will give it a try. Thanks
Hi bighitter, thank you for the comment. You are right, SnipURL can help protect affiliate links, esecially with the use of a unique key that the person comes up with. Pretty close to full-proof I think.
Thanks again, nice to meet you,
Mike Witt
Hi Anita and Phil,
Thank you very much for your kind words, I appreciate that a lot. I am glad that my information is helpful.
Thanks again, have a great weekend!!!
Mike Witt
Mike-
Thanks for putting this up there, I never knew the difference between these services, and now I do!
I think you are on to something, you cannot know how your marketing activities are going based off a hunch or a feeling, this is business, and the results should be measured so you can make good decisions.
One consideration might be, if you have it in the budget, purchase a product that allows you do redirects and link cloaking off your primary domain. This allows you increase branding for your domain or business.
Looking forward to your next hub!
Mike,
Great Hub! Thanks for sharing the information on snipurl. ~ Barbie Perkins
Thanks Mike! I went straight on over and signed up and had to come back to post my comment. LOL. You are such a great resource!
Hi marketingprof,
Thanks for the great comment and tip about redirecting and link cloaking from your own domain, that is a great suggestion.
Nice to meet you, I am glad that you found some value here,
Mike Witt
Hi Irene and Barbie,
Thank you also for your wonderful comments, glad to help out. Barbie, say hello to your husband, I have seen him lurking around, hope he is doing well :-)
Mike Witt
Hi Mike,
Thank you for the excellent information. I have used tinyurl but will go directly to snipurl also. Tracking has not been a strong suit of mine and I do know the importance of it. Fortunately, with this hub you are getting out the word again and confirming the importance of tracking everything.
Angela James
Hi Angela,
Thank you for the wonderful comment, I am glad that you found it useful. Tracking is the key to learning the hidden successes of your work and whether or not your unique visitors are converting to returning visitors. Then you know your words and message are making a difference.
Thanks again, nice to meet you,
Mike Witt
A Squidoo friend sent a Digg to me for this Hub. I'm glad she did -- great info, thumb up and a Digg!
Hi funwithtrains,
Thank you for the nice comment, I am glad that your Squidoo friend sent you a shout. Glad to be of service, thank you for the Digg and thumbs up :-).
Mike Witt
Mike, great work on the hub and thank you for pointing out Snipurl. We just started talking about finding a tool like this and used HubPages as our search engine and you have delivered the goods!
Cheers
bd
Hey bd,
Thank you for the great comment, I appreciate that very much, I am glad that I could help out.
Nice to meet you, thanks again for sharing your comment,
Mike Witt
Hey Mike,
It was a long way down to get a comment in, but it was worth it for a great Hub like yours! I went over and signed up (not to be out-done by Irene!) and will look forward to putting Snip in place. I enjoy tracking things if I can remember! You are providing so much value by sharing tools to improve our performance.
Thanks so much, Becky Joubert
Hi Becky,
Thank you for your wonderful comment, and sorry that Irene beat ya, :-).
I appreciate everyone's comments very much. Strategic tracking is critical, it's the best way to know if what you give your audience is working or not.
Thanks for reading, always great to connect with you Becky,
Mike Witt
Wow, what a great tool! I'm pretty sure I'll be using this instead of tinyurl from now on.
Hi Diana,
Thank you so much for your visit and comment. I am glad that my hub has given you something of value.
Nice to meet you, thanks again,
Mike Witt
One thing you must be aware of is that using tinyurl or snipurl any and all pagerank is past to their site and not the site they are being redirected to
Hi SEO Resources,
Thank you very much for your comment, I really appreciate that, and you are 100% correct.
I think that as folks learn and expand their knowledge the need for TinyUrl and SnipUrl will turn into the ability to use their own tracking methods with their own domains. But as a free resource to shorten URL's for things like Twitter and other Social Marketing sites, these two do very well, as others can too.
I think if you are tracking Ad campaigns and other heavy marketing, Snip and Tiny may not be what a person should use, the capability is a little limiting.
I appreciate your point, it is very good and right on target.
Nice to meet you, thanks again,
Mike Witt
Whats up Mike,You got some quality stuff in this article. Thanks for showing us how to track our results. Makes knowning where all the sales come from so easy.
Matthew Neer
http://squidoo.com/matthewneer
Hey Matthew,
Thank you for the excellent comment, I appreciate that very much. Tracking and testing is very important and for those that need a quick, free way to track their message, TinyURl or SnipUrl work very well.
Nice to meet you, thanks again for taking the time to share your note,
Mike Witt
Thanks for sharing this in a Hubpage. I have been promoting a couple of online sites for some time now and I have been truly wondering just how effective they are. Trying to use contacts is a tough way to gauge success, I would prefer sales but I do not have that option.
problem is when their servers go down or are undergoing maintance you are losing money from inactive links better to use your own link cloaking/tracking program
Thanks for share. Great tips. I had used Tinyurl to shorten my URL.
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artfuldodger says:
8 months ago
solid hub. good info