Tiny URL for beginners ...

If you look at most films, newspapers and books, it is clear that a lot of people like nothing more than a good apocalyptic nightmare where society is torn down by hurricanes, revolutions, superbugs, tidal waves, volcanos or, my personal favourite, a giant marshmallow man in a sailor’s hat.

The web has had its fair share of calamitous predications in its short lifespan; the most recent being that it’s rapidly expanding size (i.e. in terms of users, bandwidth uptake etc) is about to cause everyone’s computer to explode in their faces. Fortunately there are plenty of on the ball commentators around to install some sanity, like Bill Thompson, whose article for BBC Online this week dealt with some of the major myths raised by the “expansion” doomsayers.

However, while the internet isn’t about to detonate, the rising levels of online users are causing quite a few spin off problems as the demand for web space spirals upwards – a phenomenon that recently resulted in Icann expanding the number of top level domains available to companies, organisations and countries.

A small but irritating side effect is that web links or URLs are becoming increasingly long, simply because the web needs new addresses to assign to the rising number of pages that are springing up on a daily basis. For example a link to a Problogger article that we added on our Twitter feed today runs to well over 70 characters:

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/08/28/a-downside-of-getting-to-the-front-page-of-digg/

Besides being as ugly as a boxer after a knock out, longer URLs create a host of niggling, yet collectively serious problems for those looking to promote a website or a particular webpage.

They are harder for people to remember, meaning that your customers or members are unlikely to recall what to type in, if they are like the rest of us and forget to scribble your page title down. This might be one of the reasons why some research has suggested that short URLs have a higher click through rate than their more expansive cousins.

Even if you don’t buy this research and reason, it is a fact that longer links have a tendency to “break” when copy and pasted into an email. The sender wont be able to spot this problem, only the recipient will know when they click on the link and it doesn’t work. This will obviously slow down your communication, mean you have to repeat send an email (fingers crossed it will work) and on top of that get a sharp pain of frustration in the front of your head.

And if youre a blogger or poster, trying to comment and thereby promote your site (see our advice on how to boost your Google rankings), may become difficult because a lengthy link takes up too many characters in a comment box. This is especially the case if youre using more sophisticated micro-blogging sites like Twitter, which restrict you to 150 icons.

So, how to get round this problem? Well, to use the skinflakes mantra, there are free, easy to use services that can help you shorten your URL links.

A good example is TinyURL, a website that allows you to cut the size of your URL to a smaller number of digits. This will make it easier to remember, unbreakable and allow you to squeeze a promo for your site into that tight comment box. There is no restriction on how you use the link - it is yours once it is entered - and it does not alter the content or performance of your page or site. There is also no need at all to speak anyone vaguely technical, as today`s how to guide demonstrates.

How to … Tinyurl:

1. Log onto TinyURL.com
2. Enter the URL of the webpage into the “Make tiny URL” tab.
3. Click on the tab … and its done! You will be taken through to a new page with your cut
down URL.Click on it to make sure it works and then feel free to distribute it as you wish to
who you wish.