Bit.ly Begins Offering "Pro" Service, With Custom URLs for Companies

Posted 12/15/2009 at 1:06pm | by Bart Salisbury

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URLs are an out-of-control madness. Some stream on for what seems like pages--a jumble of meaningless information that serves to confuse all but the clever little goblins that devised them. Thank goodness for URL shortening and those who bring us its blessings. (They still don’t make sense, but at least they are a lot shorter.) Bit.ly, a purveyor of shortened URLs, is announcing it will take its service one step further with a pro version.

Bit.ly’s pro version will provide custom shorten URLs which publishers and bloggers will be able to use to point to pages on their sites. Bit.ly says the shortened URLs will provide transparency--users will know where they are going before they click. And real-time information about a page can be had by including a “+” at the end of the bit.ly link.

The pro service will also come with a dashboard that will allow publishers to track more information about their bit.ly traffic--a real-time view of how content is being distributed across networks, such as Twitter, MySpace, in email, SMS, or included in instant messages.

Bit.ly says the pro version is currently in beta, and is free. How long the beta will last, or the pricing of the pro service when it goes live bit.ly did not disclose. (But Wikipedia does disclose that the number of shortened URLs theoretically possible to be 2.24 times ten to the ninth power--in case you were wondering.)

Image Credit: bit.ly