How To Create Short URL Using Your Blog Domain For Free

Short URLs are now mainstream. Short URL makes it easy to share a long and complicated web address to a short and readable URL. Though that's fine for most of the users, adding your own brand to the short URL is required and showcase how serious you are about your brand.

As you already own a domain name, creating a custom branded short URL is completely free. You just have to make a one-time setup.

This guide will help you to create your brand identity, easy to manage sharing statistics and easy advertising medium.

What is the result?

Once done, the long URL like

http://www.toptrix.net/2012/03/all-in-one-windows-maintenance-and.html  

will then be shortened as
http://toptrix.net/zkkwnE
Here, instead of a popular URL shortening service like bit.ly or goo.gl from Google or tinyurl.com or any other free web address shortening service, the domain is replaced by your own domain making a great advertising and brand impression. Even though you don't want anything of that, still you should create one if you have a blog or website. Because it's totally free and easy to set up.

Requirements

The custom domain of your own website or blog. Here we mean domain like www.toptrix.net and not the domain like www.yourblog.blogspot.com

• Access to the A Records and CNAME records of your domain.
• An account with any URL shortening service like http://bit.ly or https://cutt.ly or anything like that. 

👎👎 https://bit.ly was completely free for branded custom domains, but now the feature is only for pro customers. So I have added the https://cutt.ly which has an included the custom branded URL features to Free users.

Considerations in this guide

This guide prepared considering a few things that may vary for you if you are using different service but the procedure is the same so anyone can use this.

• An account with URL shortening service https://cutt.ly and the screenshots used here are likewise.
• If you are using any other URL shortening service, don't worry, all those services have the same options and you can easily make one.

Steps

Log in to your web address shortening service where you have an account. In this case, it's https://cutt.ly

• Go to Your Account >> Edit settings from the top right corner.
• Add your custom domain in the box 'Your domain to shorten links'.
• If your domain is HTTPS-enabled, select 'My domain has SSL certificate' else select HTTP.
• Click on save.

Settings in your domain vendor settings

• Once adding your custom domain in URL shortening service, you have to do few settings at the domain registrar.
• Log in to your domain provider and navigate to DNS settings or DNS management option to edit the CNAME settings or A Record setting.
• You either have to set the CNAME or A Record. Both are same. Only edit one.

• A domain verification web page will appear. (Depending upon  your domain registrar) Verify that you own a domain that you have entered. Follow the procedure to verify the ownership of your domain.

CNAME or A Records

You can do it in two ways. Either by 'A Records' or with 'CNAME records'.

👉 Please read the simplest guide to"A Records, CNAME, MX Records: Basics to set up Your blog". 

If you want to shorten the web addresses with your main domain, like, http://toptrix.net/zkkwnE, you have to use A-Record settings.

• If you want to use a subdomain as a URL shortener, use CNAME record settings.
• We suggest you use 'A Record' settings as it will save a few characters that with a subdomain.
• If you want to use a subdomain as a URL shortener using 'CNAME record' settings and enter a value of subdomains like 'www', '1'(used in this example) or anything like that in the field of "NAME" and enter "cname.bitly.com" in the field of 'Value'. 
• Click on add and save.

Back to URL Shortener

Get back to cutt.ly or bit.ly account and click on verify button. (depending upon the URL shortener you are using.) It will show an error message and a check back button but don't worry. The only thing you have to do is not to click on "Start Over" button.

It may take from 24 hrs to 3 days to verify the domain. Keep waiting for 3 or one more days.
After 3 days check back the verification. Do not click on " Start Over". Click on verify and you should find a message like this. 

Make your domain a default shortener

Once you have verified your short domain, you have to set up this URL shortening domain as a default short domain in the settings of your bit.ly account.
To make your own custom domain as a default URL shortening domain, go to settings >> custom short domain >> Choose your default short domain and select the one that you have just verified.

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