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How are Short Links Used?
Let's say that you're at a restaurant and someone asks you how they can find you on Google Plus. And let's say that you're not +Guy Kawasaki or +martin shervington . You grab a napkin and begin explaining how to find you. After several re-looks at your phone, and rechecking the numbers, you finally end the conversation with "What's your email address, I'll send you a link to my profile!" Face it. Remembering all the addresses to your own stuff is hard enough, never mind OPU! (Other People's URL's)What Mere Mortal Dare Disturb The Force?
Exactly how are you supposed to remember,or even double check the link to your profile? Unless you've claimed your Vanity URL your profile page address looks something like this:- https://plus.google.com/103618956037161965093/posts.
- https://plus.google.com/b/114105555506786714476/114105555506786714476/posts."
You Can Remember Your Own Domain!
Google Shortlinks is a service that's linked to your domain through Google Apps. It starts off with a subdomain. Then your domain name. And you finish it off with an easy to remember phrase. For example I set up mine like this- Sub domain = SL. That's easy to remember. SL = Short Links
- Domain = stanbush.net It's easy to remember my own domain. You would use your domain.
- Easy to remember phrase = whatever you want. If you're trying to remember your Google Profile address then you might use the phrase GoogleProfile. For your Google Page you might use "GooglePage". If it's a tool, you might use ToolName. For example, http://sl.stanbush.net/videosize takes me to a tool I use all the time. It tells me how to figure out the height and width of things I need to make.
How Do You Get To Google Shortlinks?
You can search for Google Short Links on the Google Marketplace or you can just click here. This will take you to the page the page that allows you to "Add It Now". There is a fairly straight forward walk through on how to set it up. If you need help with that, then contact me.
Do You Need Some Quick Examples
You might not need them for your Google Profile. You might use them for anything that you need to remember. For example, I create videos pretty regularly. The application that I use allows me to preset the height and width for the 'screen capture' of the video I'm going to shoot. Although I know the ratio is 16 to 9, converting it is very tedious. Unless of course I go to http://sl.stanbush.net/videosize From there I just plop in the width and it figures out the height for me.
Or what about Blogger Circle? I can't remember that either, but if someone asks me how to get to it I just tell them http://sl.stanbush.net/bloggercircle and it takes them right to the community.
Or maybe I want to give someone a link to my rates http://sl.stanbush.net/hourlyrate will get them to the exact page I want them to see.
Isn't This Exactly Like Goo.gl or Bit.ly
Yes. And No. While Goo.gl does create shortlinks, it doesn't use your domain name in it. I believe the more people click on your domain name, the better off you are. And because you can make up the shortened url name as you go, it's easier for you to remember. So if you need to remember how to get to that special video of your class reunion, it could be 'sl.yourdomain.com/bobbydancingreunion. And if you're using Google Docs to store videos, you can use a shortlink to point to the document, rather than logging in and losing your original train of thought. I have found that by creating easy to remember shortlinks I use them more often.
Again, if you need help with this, don't hesitate to ask. I can tell you that this will make a difference at some point. I think it's going to be sooner than later.
As luck would have it, I was notified by a Google+ User +Niraj Yadav that I had a shortlink that wasn't working correctly. Below is a video (hosted on Google Drive) that tells you how I fixed it! and thanks Niraj!
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