Having a long URL can be a hurdle in marketing your website, especially on social media. As you are sharing links to your website, it limits your marketing activities to a large extent. Take for instance Twitter that limits your Tweet with character limits.

Luckily, there is a solution for this: link shortening service.

As its name suggests, a link shortening tool curtail your long-tail link and shrink it into a shorter version:

For example:

http://www.instantshift.com/2016/03/17/get-front-end-development-work/

Converts into

http://goo.gl/VqBVZp

In the above example, it saves you a valuable 50 characters for a shorter version of the website. This means ten more words for Tweet or Facebook post. We can conclude that having a short link of your website means saying more about your brand.

Though, there are a number of link shortening tools available on internet, there are some which has more features than the others. Some of them deserve a mention here:

1. Goo.gl

Goo.gl is a link shortening service by Google. This free service by Google is more than just a link-shortening tool. It offers you insights on clicks of your URL. The good thing is that it provides a simple and hassle-free process. All you need is a Google account and you can start using this tool.

2. Bit.ly

Bit.Ly is one of the most widely-used link shortening tools. Created in 2008, it claims to have half a billion of users. The website offers ‘Bitly Enterprise’ which provides several advanced features to users that include branded domain, click analytics, audience insights and mobile-friendly links.

3. Tiny.cc

One of the oldest URL shortening services, Tiny.cc was formed in 2002 by Kevin Gilbertson to curtail long links. Apart from a link shortening service, the website has a variety of other features to facilitate marketers. The most prominent among them include:

• Custom domain for branding your service
• Cloak URL that keeps your affiliate link confidential to your competitors

The tool also provides insightful data about conversions as well as measuring success of your advertising campaigns.

4. Ow.ly

Owl.ly is a brainchild of Hootsuite team. With hootsuite, it offers more than just link shortening service. The users can use it as an all-inclusive service for link management as it includes features such as audience analytics, link sharing insights and conversations etc. The good thing about this tool is that you can use it while staying on Hootsuite dashboard.

5. Is.gd

Is.gd is yet another link shortening service which makes your URL more manageable so that you can easily share it on social media and enhance your branding. The service also offers visitor’s stats related to your link since its creation. It is a free link shortening tool.

6. Shorte.st

Shorte.st gives a new dimension to link shortening. With this exclusive service, you not only shorten your link but also earn money as people click on your URL. Apart from a link shortening service, it also provides users with statistics on visitor’s behavior so that they can optimize links for web pages to improve CTRs.

7. Idek.net

Idek.net is another link shortening service with various additional features that include audience analytics and traffic metrics. From tracking your retweets to checking visitor’s time on your website, it gives you insights on everything related to performance of your website. It can easily be integrated with Tweetdeck, a dashboard application for Twitter management.

8. Po.st

Po.st is a link shortening tool that allows users to shorten their URLs and share it to their social media networks. What is unique about this link shortening tool is its analytics and reporting tools. With these features, users can keep track of audience engagements and find out content data related to web pages that enjoys higher conversions.

9. Yep.it

Yep.it is a link shortener with a distinction of providing variety of URL types for your brand. It has several search filters to give you the right URL according to specific need of your business. It also has a stats button that shows the number of clicks your URL has received since its creation. You can avail all this features without any fee.

10. T.co

T.Co is created by Twitter to help online businesses manage and streamline their links on Twitter. With this tool by Twitter, you can easily optimize your tweets while sharing a link. So, you have the liberty of saying more in your tweet while sharing a link. It also shows analytics about the number of clicks to give you an idea for your popular Tweets. It also protects your link against any wrong uses, such as phishing or spamming etc.

11. Go.co

One of the easiest and simplest link shortener services, Go.co eases your branding phenomenon by shortening your link. It does not require any long process of sign up and you can get your customized link with just a click. It also offers a membership account that offers several valuable perks at an economical rate.

12. Linkis

Linkis gets a little creative with the link shortening thing. Rather than just converting your long URL into a tiny link, it creates a personalized page that your users can share with their Twitter camaraderie. In addition, it provides details about your link shares, views, likes and dislikes. So, you will know which of your posts are gaining traction in your audience.

13. AdFocus

AdFocus is one of the popular link shortener services that help you make your links shorter and more manageable. It also pays to its users for sharing links on their websites or any other places on internet. What they get in return is $6.70 for every 1000 visitors.

14. Adf.ly

Adfly gives more incentives to users to shorten their links by offering them money on every click. It provides in-depth insights into amount you earned in terms of URLs and Countries.

15. gomo.bi

Mobile users are the leading community who uses social media community for day-to-day activities. This exclusive link shortening tool is designed for mobile users. It provides a QR-code to share your link to users on-the-go. So, you have a chance to tap into a big community of mobile users who access their social circles with iPhone and iPad.

16. Su.Pr

Su.Pr is a link shortener by Stumble Upon. However, this is not the only credential of this fantastic URL shortener. This exclusive tool can be used to link your posts to social media websites, such as Stumble Upon, Twitter and Facebook. Its analytics features empower you to know everything about your visitors on different social media websites. It also helps you schedule your posts at the right time of the day.

17. Fur.Ly

What distinguishes Fur.Ly from other link shortener services is its ability to shorten multiple links. What you get is a shortened URL that takes you to a web page with a tab showing each of the websites. So, you have the option to view any website at a time while staying on the same page.

18. Tr.im

Tr.im should not be confused by Tr.Im which was shut down in 2009. This new link shortener not only literally trims your URL but it also gives you a closer look into the customers who are sharing it on social media. It gives you vital data about your URL so that you can better position your brand to your specific audience. It offers customer URL feature to create a unique domain for your brand.

19. Dwarfurl

Besides having a cute name, dwarfurl is also one of the widely-used URL shortener tools, dwarfurl gives you more space to voice your thoughts on social media platform. It has a simple interface and anyone can use this tool by just copying and pasting a URL.

20. Safe.Mn

As its name suggests, Safe.Mn provides a secure ways of sharing your shortened link to social media. It checks every URL for viruses and spams before cutting it down into a short URL. It maintains a complete database of all shortened links to keep the process transparent. This cool link shortener also offers audience analytics, so you will always know the people by clicks, countries and referrers.

21. Bit.Do

Bit.Do is a custom URL domain service with a real-time statistics feature that you can use to get data about your link sharing. From tracking the clicks to tracing IPs of your referrers, this link shortening tools provides you with everything you need to supervise sharing of your URL. The service also allows you to make a personalized link with your brand name to get a better visibility on SERP.

22. CoinURL

CoinURL takes a different approach to shortening a link. While providing a link shortening tool, it also offers users an opportunity to earn money with interstitials ads. The tool offers competitive rates for every click. So, you end up getting a shortened URL while earning a chunk of money in the meanwhile.

23. Viralurl.com

A link shortening service for online marketers, viralurl provides protection for money for your affiliates.Viralurl.com is a vast community of online marketers that offers provides you with a secure way to share your short links for affiliate marketing. After you shortened your link, it cloaks it so that no one can steal your ad and rob your income. With a community of over sixty thousands users, it is a leading platform for affiliates.

24. Qr.Net

Qr.Net is another reliable name in short-link services for mobile users. It converts a long URL into a QR code that your consumers can scan with their mobile and surf your online resources. Having generated over 6 million QR codes, it is one of the most popular link shortening tools for mobile users.

25. TwitThis

Don’t mistake this URL shortening tool for Twitter. However, it is meant to serve marketers looking for sharing their link on Twitter. You can add this tool right on your website by adding its code. So, you do not have to leave your website to shorten your URL. The good thing is that you can earn money by increasing your TwitPoints by increasing your number of followers.

26. Yourls.Org

Want to own your URL shortening service? Then Yourls.Org is here to help you. It is a free and open-source platform that anyone can use to create their own short link. It is also integrated with statistics features which mean you can track record of your click reports, location of visitors and referrers etc.

All the link shortening tools mentioned-above not only makes your URL more manageable, they also provide you necessary details regarding clicks, engagements and conversion of your website which help you better position your brand and translates into higher visibility. There are a number of others that offer earning opportunities on sharing link to your website. Hope, you can make the most of these effective link shortening tools.