Okay, so you've realized that pasting giant, ugly URLs into your social media posts is a bad idea, and you've decided to start using a link shortener. That's a great first step.
But there is a catch. Not all short links are created equal. In fact, if you use the wrong kind of short link, you might actually be hurting your brand.
Here is the difference between a generic link and a branded one, and why you really need to care.
The Problem with Generic Links
If you go to a free shortening site and paste in your URL, they hand you back a generic link. You've seen them a million times. They look like this: bit.ly/3xY7zA or tiny.url/99x2b.
Here's the brutal truth: people are getting wary of these links.
Because anyone can make them for free in two seconds, spammers and scammers use them constantly to hide shady websites. When one of your customers sees a generic link in a text message or an email, their brain automatically throws up a tiny red flag. "Where does this actually go? Am I going to get hacked?"
The Fix: Branded Links
A custom branded link fixes this entire problem by slapping your actual name right on the URL.
Instead of a random default domain, you connect a short version of your own domain name to the shortener. So, instead of that ugly string of letters, your link looks like this: yourbrand.co/vip-sale.
Why You Should Care
Making this switch might take ten minutes to set up, but the payoff is massive.
- Immediate Trust: When your audience sees your brand name right there in the link, that red flag disappears. They know it's really from you, and they know it's safe to click.
- More Clicks: This isn't just theory. Marketers have run tests on this for years, and the results are always the same. Branded links get way more clicks—sometimes up to 39% more—simply because people trust them.
- Free Brand Awareness: Every time someone shares your link, sees it in an email, or spots it on Twitter, they are seeing your brand name. It's essentially free advertising.
- You Look Like a Pro: Using a generic link looks a little cheap. A branded link shows you actually care about the details.
Set up your custom branded domain in 5 minutes
gometrify lets you connect your own domain (like links.yourbrand.com) in minutes — no developer needed. Just add a CNAME record in your DNS settings, point it to gometrify, and every short link you create from that point forward runs under your brand name.