Short Link Tool to Track Everything
In this episode, host Ricardo Berris talks to Ankit Shah, a growth marketer, marketing automation expert, and creator of the short link tool, Lin-K, which allows you to shorten URLs. There are other tools available such as Rebrandly, Tiny URL, and Bitly but Lin-K does more. In addition to shortening URLs and making them more powerful, easy-to-remember links, the site collects data about its customers and their behaviors. Examples of the data collected include location, the device that was used, which browser was used.
As a user, once you get your shortened URL, you have options. For example:
-Give your link a custom name
-Set a link expiration
-Create a protected link so only people with the password can access the link
-Geo-targeting options to redirect users to a separate URL for a particular country
-Device targeting
-Create link bundles, splash pages, and overlay pages
-Profile building
-This tool has a pixel so you can include your Facebook pixel, Google AdWords, Excel, LinkedIn, etc. By retargeting the audience and advertisements, it can help reduce your marketing budget.
So who can benefit from a service like Lin-K?
-Marketers of all sizes, including affiliate and digital marketers
-Influencers
-Artists
-Corporations
-YouTubers
Everyone can benefit from this tool and you don’t have to be tech-savvy to apply it right away. You simply create your account and once on the dashboard, you just paste your long URL into the space provided and you’ll be given options as to how you want to complete your new, shortened URL. Now you can use your shortened URL for a PDF document, website, or blog that is listed the way you want it to show up.
The features listed are currently free but advanced are available for a fee. If you need to link this to other tools, an API (application programming interface) can be provided or you can use a tool like Zapier.
About the founder of Lin-K:
As an entrepreneur, Ankit was not deterred by failures. Upon graduating with a degree in software engineering, he would experience multiple startup failures. The failures came from a lack of experience and resources, as well as financial problems. What he discovered in the failures, however, were his strengths: marketing and marketing automation. It was leaning into his strengths, and the strengths of others, that allowed him to start developing tools that would help in his endeavors as well.
As a small business owner, learn from Ankit: Let your failures be a stepping stone toward your goals, not your deterrent. Marketers know to keep testing to see what works and what doesn’t.