Set Up Branded Custom Short Domain URL For Websites

Set Up Branded Custom Short Domain URL For Websites Make Money Online Queries? Struggling To Get Traffic To Your Blog? Sign Up On (HBB) Forum Now!Set Up Branded Custom Short Domain URL For Your WebsiteUpdated On 29/11/2017Author : Pradeep KumarTopic : BloggingShort URL : https://hbb.me/2BloXgy CONNECT WITH HBB ON SOCIAL MEDIA Follow @HellBoundBlogIf you are wondering why you should set up branded custom short domain for your website, then you are exactly the same person I was few years back. I have always been a curious fan of short URLs/Domains, like they look short and redirect to the original lengthy URL. I kinda love the way it works. When I saw this feature on other branded websites I decided to give it a try for our own blog/website. Of course, I had no idea how to implement it. I googled a lot regarding this and I came across a software/tool called YOURLS (which stands for Your Own URL Shortener).We implemented this on our company website Slashsquare with the URL go.slashsquare.org. It was really good and it was working fine. But it was kinda hard for me because its not a signup/configure thing. We need to install YOURLS on our server to implement it. I was okay with Slashsquare, but when I wanted to use the same on other domains, I felt uncomfortable. Then I came across Bitly and it was easier than YOURLS.Set Up Branded Custom Short Domain Using BitlyBitly is very easy to understand and implement. They also have browser extensions + supported WordPress plugins as well. So this is our best pick. They have a free plan and well be using that.First Part: Picking A Branded Custom Short Domain URLOkay, now, you need to pick an awesome branded short domain name for your website. This is what we did, our blog URL is hellboundbloggers.com but we brand us as HBB (HellBound Bloggers), so we decided to go with hbb.me for the custom short URL. Like this, we picked food.gy for FoodGravy, book.tf for BookWritten and so on.We used GoDaddy for registering the domain name, thankfully, they have .me extension for regist ration. But I guess you all have this question now. Which ccTLD extension should I pick?Now that is entirely up to your preference. But this is a small checklist which we usually follow:1. Whether its cheap? Because some of the ccTLDs are like crazy expensive and we dont really want to invest a lot on this.2. Whether its a part of the brand name. Confusing? Take FoodGravy for example, we usually make sure the domain name is a keyword of what our brand is, so we made sure Food is there, and then we picked the ccTLD .gy (which is for Guyana) but also it belongs to the FoodGravy brand name. Which makes sense for us Food.gy = FoodGravy.I hope you got the point. We recommend these domain registrars for the ccTLDs: GoDaddy, 101domain, and Name.com.Now we have the short domain name to set up branded custom short domain using Bitly.Second Part: Configuring Your Domain With BitlyGo to Bitly.com and register a free account if you havent. Verify your email address, fill all the necessary basi c information and save them all.Now, go to Settings > Advanced tab.READInterviewing Mistakes And How To Avoid Them On Your BlogHere you can find the options to set up your custom branded short URL. Click the link which says Activate a Branded Short Domain for personal use.Now, you need to enter the Branded Short Domain you purchased. In our case, hbb.me it is.In order to enable this Branded Short Domain, you need to configure domain name service (DNS) settings for your domain. You can do this via your domain registrar account, just some basic modifications on your CNAME and A Record.A Record: Point it to 67.199.248.12 and 67.199.248.13. (Updated)If you are going to use a subdomain instead, say www.hbb.me, then you can use the CNAME record.CNAME Record: Point it to cname.bitly.comIn our case, we did both. So that we can use both www.hbb.me and hbb.me for our short links.Third Part: Editing DNS RecordsGo to your GoDaddy account, migrate to the Domains section, or to the exact place wh ere your short domain is and then click on Manage DNS.Now go to the DNS Zone File tab. Here you have to edit your A Record and CNAME Record for setting up Bitly. Its very simple. I added the screenshots for this for your convenience.Here is how your A Record should be: (The DNS settings look may vary according to the domain registrar.)Here is how your CNAME Record should be: (The DNS settings look may vary according to the domain registrar.)Thats it! Did you forget your Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner? Go and have it. After that, go to your Bitly Custom Domain page and hit the button Verify.Tada! Thats it. Now hbb.me is properly configured with Bitly. By any chance, if you get some errors, then there are two reasons for this:1. Either you entered the CNAME and A Record details wrongly. (or)2. Your domain registrar needs some time to do the DNS work.So do check these and click the Verify button.Now you can go to the main dashboard, enter your desired URL, and itll automatically generate a Sho rt URL with your branded custom domain name.We also recommend using these two additional features: Root Redirect and Tracking DomainYou can find them in the Advanced settings.WordPress And BitlyIf you are a WordPress(.org) user, then you have this handy plugin called WP Bitly. It helps you to configure short URLs for your posts, pages, attachments, etc. You can use the PHP tag to display the short URL for each and every post. You need to provide them your Bitly OAuth Token.Original URL: https://hellboundbloggers.com/2016/01/set-up-branded-custom-short-domain-url-for-websites-63289/Short URL: http://hbb.me/1O4gqhfThis article may look lengthy but this is indeed a simple procedure. I hope this article helped you to set up branded custom short domain for your website. If you have any queries or suggestions do kindly let us know in the comments below, well be happy to help you.