I have just launched a new site that provides URL shrinking and cloaking service for free. The site is called ProvideMe.Info.
Just type in your long URL, type an extension you would like to use with the URL (optional) and press GO. The page will then automatically generate a new shorter link for you that will redirect to your original URL.
The site currently only has the script installed and there are no other links or advertisement displayed. It looks neat and clean and that is how I like it. I might be adding an advertisement or two in the future.
Another similar service that is very popular and has been online for a long time is TinyUrl.com.
Another advantage of using ProvideMe is that it is brand new and you can still get any URL extension as they are still available.
However, these two above mentioned services will not track the number of clicks your links get. Another service called ViralUrl provides URL shortening/cloaking service and also tracks the number of clicks your links receive. This is also a free service but they will put a small ad bar on every redirected pages.
Tracking the number of clicks your links get is a great way to test out ads and sites that have visitors interested in your offers. You can create a unique redirect extension for each site and track the number of clicks each link get to learn which sites are referring more traffic to your URLs.
Many auto responder services such as Aweber and Norabots also provide link cloaking, shortening and click tracking services without an ad bar but these services require monthly fees.
Similarly, you can use php or java scripts to do all these functions with your own domain. You can create redirect/cloaking pages for each link and upload them to your server. There are definitely more options and advantages to using this method such as full cloaking, customized page titles and much more. I will leave this topic for some other time.
URL shortening does have its benefits, no matter which service you choose to use. Leave a comment below and let me know if you are using any of the above methods to shorten, cloak or redirect your links and which ones are working for you.
I had basically neglected this blog for a very long time. It’s a shame because there is so much I want to share.
I have been busy running my other blogs on health and fashion, creating lenses on Squidoo and concentrating on my offline businesses and have not posted here in over a year.
Well the good news is I am returning to this blog and will dedicate more time and effort here because I really really do want to help as many people as I can with their online businesses - setting an online business up, promoting the business online and profiting from it.
There is currently zero readership base on this blog. I am hoping I can grow this blog into something that will be of help to to ordinary folks in creating wealth online.
The migration from the old blog is coming along well and my knowledge of WordPress has increased ten-folds. WordPress is truly a versatile and powerful system.
I will be working on the About page and fine tuning the layout and all the other stuff that needs to be done over this weekend and hope fully will start posting some new internet marketing strategies come Monday.
You know I never realized how difficult it is to write an About Me page. Its been on my head all day and I am not sure how I want to come across. I want the readers to get to know me more on a personal level but I am not sure how I should come across. Should I be funny, be myself or be more like a teacher and mentor passing on valuable info and knowledge to all. I have discussed this with a few friends and they all said to just be myself. Put my emotions in this blog. People will either like it and read and make use of this site or they can just move on to somewhere else.
In the past I just wanted to provide important and valueable marketing tips to readers as a mentor and wrote my posts in that manner. I am still thinking how I want to proceed with this blog. Any suggestions will be taken into serious consideration.
BTW, how do you like the look of this blog so far. I downloaded this theme and had it setup in under 20 minutes and am really loving it. There are still a few things that needs to be done over the weekend. Hope you all like the look as much as I do.
It is 5:30 pm on Saturday here in Bangkok and I need to finish up a few things here before I head out to meet some friends for dinner and drinks. Have a great weekend and talk to you soon.
As many of you may already know, my old blog (http://rajays.blogspot.com) was running under the Blogspot.com platform. It is extremely easy to set up blogs at Blogspot and add the different widgets and page elements and even Google Adsense codes using the Blogger backend interface. When you want to add something new all you had to do was add a new Page Element and put your codes in there. That’s it. Google Adsense Elements was built into the backend and that made it very easy to integrate your ads into your blogs. All in all BlogSpot is a great free blogging tool and very easy for beginners to start posting in a matter of minutes. You do not need to know any HTML, Java, FTP and so on and that makes it ideal for beginners.
Eventhough BlogSpot served me well for several years, I did find it lacking in many features. The lack of more eye-pleasing templates was the most frustrating for me. Thay had a few basic templates and if you wanted to add your ownflair and change the layout then you would need to know how to code or hire a programmer. Another great feature that is really in need there is the option to create pages that work seperate from the blogging system. There are many reasons to want to add pages such as contact, about and lists and other information pages that works outside the blog system. These basic features are a must if one is to create a comprehensive and lively website or blog. These and other drawbacks have compelled me to start this new blog with WordPress.
So I went and registered a domain and bought myself a good hosting service. I installed WordPress and here we are. WordPress does require a little bit of learning and getting used to. It also requires that you know FTP to be able to add different themes, widgets and plug-ins into the WordPress backend interface. Once you learn these basics you will find that WordPress is a far superior system.
To begin with WordPress has several thousand themes to choose from. This is great. Everyday new themes are also created by people from all over that you can download and use. The theme for this website was downloaded and installed in under 10 minutes.
WordPress also gives you the functions of adding unlimited number of pages that work outside the blog system. Now I can add as many pages as I want easily and make this blog work like a regular website. This one feature alone is good enough to move over to WordPress.
As WordPress is so widely used, these are so many people creating all kinds of widgets and plug-ins to use with WordPress. This is really great because this gives you the ability to really customize your blog and add elements to really personalize your blog.
So all in all I am glad I moved to this WordPress system and highly recommend others to use it to create dynamic website style blogs to brand themselves and their websites.
I find the default title of the WordPress post to be fitting for my inaugration post on Online Marketing Blog. I have been maintaining an online marketing blog at http://rajays.blogspot.com for over 2 years and now feel the need to migrate to a more versatile system where I can add more features and make the blog more eye pleasing.
This is my first time dabbling with WordPress and will need some time to get the system and layout setup the way I want. Its going to be an interesting learning curve figuring out how to add different widgets, codes and all the other bells and whistles to please you the the reader and me the writer.
So please give me a few days to have everything setup nicely before I start to regularly post my ramblings as before. So this is to you all my readers and new friends - Hello World.
Here I'll share my knowledge, discovery and experience related to my hobby and work. Most articles on this site are related to internet marketing, blog/website design, short reviews, tips and making money online. More
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