Short URL Services

URLs (web addresses) can be extremely long! If you are not hyperlinked and can’t cut/paste then the web page may not be visited. People just can't be bothered to walk the walk...

To the rescue came organisations offering a URL Shortner service. There are LOADS of these services and they differ in many ways. You may have heard of the TINY service. For example click on this URL

http://tiny.cc/mrmix you will reach a fantastic book at Amazon, please feel free to buy it!

Do you see what I’ve done? I’ve changed the long 38 symbols...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0199281963/

to the short 20 symbols...

http://tiny.cc/mrmix

I can track how many people click the tiny link by going to the Tiny web site. (Click on the image to see it better)

Just to prove my point I did the same for bit.ly so try

http://bit.ly/mmix

(Click on the image to see it better)

Take a look at many others at this link

URLShortner compilation

And now google offer one too see

http://goo.gl/

Q. Why is this so good and why is it relevant to metrics?

A. Well there is no restriction on how many aliases I can create at for this one site or for others, and I can use the many other services too. That means I can use different URLS in different campaigns. If I am promoting my book on my business card I can use one, another as an email signature, another I can use in Blogs, another one on my TV ads and so on. This simple device allows me to see the effectiveness of these different modes. In metric-speak this is ATTRIBUTION. I can attribute actions to the initial web page that was served.

Do yourself a favour. Create 20 short URLs ready to use with different campaigns, but make sure that the service you choose allows you to track the visitor numbers. My favoured two are the ones above

http://bit.ly/ and http://www.tiny.cc/

Buzz Word Bingo

If we look closely we discover that the area of measurement in marketing is a fertile ground for people to throw in their new words to describe well established techniques. One I discovered yesterday was Synaptic Marketing, which defined is simply taking offline metrics and combining them with online metrics to fine-tune the offering. We shouldn't be surprised because this is, after all, the field of promotion and consultants deserve to give a snappy name to a technique they are selling. For the student this is a warning: there is hype-jargon and useful jargon, sometimes they switch position. One thing is for sure, this vocabulary creates a big distration from understanding the subject matter.

The only way to appreciate the jargon is to play a private version of buzz-word bingo. Circle words that are new to you, learn the meaning and build your vocabulary. You are learning a new language, but unlike French or German this is a fast moving language. Words come and go and meanings even change before your eyes.

Have a nice day

Metricman