Have you ever considered using your OWN NAME in a vanity short URL (like this: maxkalehoff.com/yQTeX4)?
Thanks to the global proliferation of messaging services like Twitter and SMS, and a recognized value of character efficiency, URL shortening has gone mainstream.
In case you’re one of my non-technical readers, Wikipedia defines URL shortening as a technique on the World Wide Web in which a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is made substantially shorter in length and still direct to the required page.
URL shortening is useful when there is a severe limit on the number of characters that may be used in a message, such as Twitter. Indeed, the most popular use case is probably Twitter, where users commonly share shortened links with a service like bit.ly.
Vanity short URLs may also look cool, and, as opposed to using the generic default URL of services like bit.ly, provide an opportunity for branding. Which is why Google has goog.gl and Youtu.be, Facebook has fb.me, and Clickable (my company) has clkbl.co (which we’ve integrated with the bit.ly service).
What about vanity short URLs for people?
Shouldn’t they take advantage of the branding value of vanity short URLs?
Yes!
Moreover, I’m pretty sure the novelty of personal vanity short URLs would dramatically increase click-through rates among people you already know.
Which is why I integrated maxkalehoff.com, which used to redirect to attentionmax.com, with my bit.ly account.
For example, the vanity short link to my 12 Personal Aspirations for 2012 post is maxkalehoff.com/wkAQVM.
We’ll see how this works out.
Another great reason to own your own domain name (or that of your kids).
Good idea max. Have you noticed an increase in clicks?
I’ll tell you in a week. I really only started using it today. The novelty is kind of fun, though.