Jim Carlson dot Net

Recently, I conducted a brief experiment comparing the URL shortener services Bit.ly and Ow.ly. Although both services shortened links effectively (as they all do) I was specifically researching the analytic advantages of these services. I also asked my Facebook and Twitter followers what they used. Every recommendation I received was for Bit.ly.

Ow.ly and Ht.ly are integrated into HootSuite. Ow.ly shortens links, while Ht.ly shortens links and also adds the Owly Social Bar which allows users to Tweet, share and rate your page.

Since Ow.ly and Ht.ly are part of HootSuite, users can shorten the links using the online interface. This is very convenient.

Bit.ly also shortens links effectively. If you use HootSuite, like I do, this is a separate step. You must go to Bit.ly and shorten your link, then copy/paste it into HootSuite. It should be noted that Bit.ly does offer API access and other social media aggregators like TweetDeck which allow you to use Bit.ly seamlessly. Finally, both Google Chrome and FireFox browsers have Bit.ly plug-ins/extensions to quickly generate short-links on the fly.

Analytics

Both of these services offer analytics so you can track clicks using your custom shortened link. This can help you measure your influence, as other people may Retweet your message, or may copy and paste the shortened link and share it with their friends.

As a webmaster, you can also use the shortened links on your pages, allowing for another analytic metric to track out bound links.

To be fair, I think Bit.ly’s analytics were easier to use and more complete but both services do a great job.

Custom URL’s

One of the cool things about Bit.ly comes with Bit.ly Pro. This (still free) service allows you to configure custom URLs to generate your shortlink. For example, I purchased JimC.us and configured it so all of my Bit.ly links use  JimC.us instead of Bit.ly URLs. For me, it is more of a novelty, but for larger companies (like Facebook and The New York Times) this is an essential brand extension.

Wrap Up

Either service allows you to shorten links and track clicks-throughs.  Bit.ly, for me won the battle. I just thought the interface was cleaner, the analytics were better and I love having a vanity URL for my short-links!

According to an article I read this morning on the New Your Times, shopping online using cell phones or tablet computers (iPads, iPods) accounted for 5% of online sales in November 2010. Last year, the sales were, “too insignificant to measure”.

Readers of Jim Carlson dot Net may recall that I’ve been experimenting with the mobile blog publishing, photo editing and printing and currently am trying to decide if I can survive with a ‘dumb phone’ and an iPod Touch.

Mobile phones and tablets are changing the way we live and work. Although ‘smart phones’ continue to evolve (my articles were based on the painfully out of date Moto Q9C), I’m seeing more and more people using the iPod Touch as an inexpensive way to get the benefits of a ‘smart phone’ with out the added price of the ‘smart phone’ service.

The interesting thing about this evolution of internet shopping is that many users, my self included, don’t think twice when making a purchase using these devices. I’ve purchased items from a variety of stores, won Ebay auctions, made payments with PayPal, purchased movie tickets while in line at the theater and transfered balances using mobile banking.

One more note on the use of these devices. Like many people I talk to, I have used my smart phone or my iPod to make purchases even when I am in the vicinity of my home computer.  I am spending more face time on the handheld devices than their cousins (laptops and…dare I say it….desktops).

The use of mobile is also changing retail. It is not uncommon to see people checking for better deals on their mobile while shopping in-store. Ironically, in the footer of the NYT article that inspired this post was a link to an article on how Best Buy Feels the Pressure of Rivals on the Web.

Mobile devices continue evolve. Best Buy is running commercials describing the latest smart phones as ‘laptops in your hand’.  Not a bad description, unfortunately, this same company is dealing with people surfing for better deals on the very devices they sell.

My latest article for TMA+Peritus on Wausau Daily Herald dot com overviews business websites. In general there are three major types of sites: corporate, e-commerce and content marketing.

Websites offer different benefits for corporate, e-commerce and content marketing.

As I mentioned in my previous posts Sharpening Your Music Marketing Skills and The Blame Game, I believe that educating yourself about the music industry is a critical factor in being successful.

Martin Atkins has released his latest book, “Welcome to the Music Business, You’re Fucked”. Quite frankly, this is a must read. The book is easy to digest (I read the digital version on my iPod), uses the “F” word very creatively, and most importantly, spells out how your are f’ed and how to get un-f’ed. There’s some cool pics, too.

You can pre-order the paper version of the book at invisiblerecords.com, get a downloadable digital copy (.pdf) and a t-shirt for only twenty five bucks. You can also personalize the book….just type in what you want Martin to sign….be creative.

Disclaimer: Although I’m a big fan of Martin and his books, I have absolutely no financial stake in the sale of this product.

To manage my social media feeds, I had been using Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck requires installation on your computer, unlike HootSuite or Seesmic which are online applications.

Tweetdeck served me well, however, I began to grow tired of what seemed like daily software updates for either Tweetdeck or Adobe AIR (which is required to run Tweetdeck). One other drawback was that you had to install Tweetdeck on any machine you used in order to access the service.

At the encouragement of several of my social media friends, I checked out both HootSuite and Seesmic. Both of these services are internet based so there is no need to download and maintain software. You can login from any computer with internet access and manage your social media world.

Although HootSuite was a bit tricky to configure, it easily outpaced Seesmic in functionality. To me, it was the clear winner. As an internet marketing strategist, I monitor and maintain multiple social media feeds for myself (music, marketing, personal) and my clients. HootSuite allows users to manage Facebook Profiles and Pages, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, PingFM, WordPress and Foursquare.

Antother cool feature is that you can schedule updates. Want to update your Twitter feed at midnight? No problem — enter your update, schedule it and go to bed. HootSuite takes care of it for you. To be fair, I’m still exploring the HootSuite possibilities.

I’m sure there was some notice, but I missed it. HootSuite is in the process of transitioning from a free service to a paid service. There will still be a free offering, but you will only be able to maintain five feeds. Infortunately, I’ve added and configured over 15 feeds.

So now I have a decision to make. Do I pay $5.99 a month for this service, do I scale it down, do I return to Tweetdeck? Do I find another free service?

I fully understand that the development team at HootSuite have a product that has value. What I’m concerned with is I simply didn’t know that they would be eliminating functionality of the ‘free’ service. Had I known, I may not have even tested the product. Now that I have put considerable time and effort into setting it up,  I really don’t want to start over.

HootSuite is not the first ‘free’ service to become premium. How do you feel when this happens? Any HootSuite users out there? How does this impact you?