5 ms·

Since the tr.im saga has brought url shorteners to everybody's mind: anybody have an idea for a winning business model? I can't seem to think of one...

cookiecaper 17y ago
All I can think of is a subscription-based model that would aggregate all of the URLs and give you stats on it. Like, $5/mo for a URL shortener that lets you see how much something has been clicked on, who clicked, when, and so on. This would also serve as a history of shortened URLs. But really something like this is probably best rolled into the services that require them, like Twitter. Twitter should provide it, I think.
- nir 17y ago
  Bit.ly offers this functionality, for free. I think bit.ly are the only ones that have a chance of making real money. Their model is: 1. Build a very good URL shortening service 2. Have a close relationship with Twitter, get them to choose you as their URL shortener 3. Hope Twitter will get bought and then buy you, like they bought Summize for search.
  - briansmith 17y ago
    IIRC, the same investors that own Twitter also own bit.ly.
  - cookiecaper 17y ago
    Models that are based on "hope I get bought out" are not viable imo. All business plans are obviously dependent on certain favorable conditions (like finding customers), but it's a lot easier to find some customers than it is to convince one of the very few potential acquirers to first acquire a business that provides your functions and then second to acquire you instead of a competitor.
    - nir 17y ago
      Absolutely. I was being at least partly sarcastic here ;) The funny thing about bit.ly is that they take this model to the next level - they are actually building to be bought by a specific company which has yet to make any income itself. On the other hand, bit.ly's investors have a lot of pull in Twitter, so it's a unique situation. I don't know enough about VC investments to tell, but the situation where investors in X create Y in order for it to be bought by X - obviously with some profit - is pretty interesting.
DannoHung 17y ago
After a few weeks, redirect the incoming links to a splash page that redirects the user after 15 seconds. Makes me feel skeezy just thinking about it.
imp 17y ago
I like Awe.sm's approach. You own the domain and they do the URL shortening and analytics for you. Costs $99/year. I haven't used it, but it seems like a good way to make money in that area. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/04/its-awesm-create-a-powerful-custom-url-shortener-for-your-own-domain/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/04/its-awesm-create-a-powe...
- SwellJoe 17y ago
  I thought about using this service, so we'd have control over our URLs...but the fact is, I don't trust awe.sm to stay in business forever any more than I trust bit.ly or tr.im. In the end, I decided to implement our own (haven't actually done it yet, but this is one of those cases where the people claiming to be able to replicate this feature in fifteen minutes aren't exaggerating). Interestingly, I guess, this did make me stop and think about whether I wanted links to my company and products to disappear when these shortener services finally all come crashing down. Which is why I decided I needed to control it myself. I'd already bought a pretty short name a couple of years ago with the intention of putting up a mobile version of our site on it.
  - imp 17y ago
    I think that if they went out of business you can still have control of your link mappings. They claim that you can have portability, but I guess I don't know how extensive it is. It might just be click data that is portable. At the very least, if you own the domain you can point all the incoming links back to your home page. I see it as more of a cost vs. development time issue.
- thorax 17y ago
  This is also the the service we offer with TinyArrows: http://➡.ws/info/custom/ http://➡.ws/info/custom/ For statistics, we provide info down to the IP address and user agent that clicked on the link.
  - imp 17y ago
    Cool, checking it out now. Do you have to use the arrow for shortening? I think it can be confusing.
OmarIsmail 17y ago
I think there might be a play in the behavioral targeting market. This is similar to selling stats, but in a more commercial format, e.g. AlmondNet. When a person submits a URL to the shortener, they analyze the URL to figure out what the content is about. Then when somebody clicks on the shortened link, part of the redirect process is to implant a behavioral AdNetwork's cookie with the proper tags, based on the content that's already been analyzed. You can then monetize the core service without interrupting the redirect flow.

cookiecaper 17y ago

All I can think of is a subscription-based model that would aggregate all of the URLs and give you stats on it. Like, $5/mo for a URL shortener that lets you see how much something has been clicked on, who clicked, when, and so on. This would also serve as a history of shortened URLs. But really something like this is probably best rolled into the services that require them, like Twitter. Twitter should provide it, I think.

nir 17y ago
Bit.ly offers this functionality, for free. I think bit.ly are the only ones that have a chance of making real money. Their model is: 1. Build a very good URL shortening service 2. Have a close relationship with Twitter, get them to choose you as their URL shortener 3. Hope Twitter will get bought and then buy you, like they bought Summize for search.
- briansmith 17y ago
  IIRC, the same investors that own Twitter also own bit.ly.
- cookiecaper 17y ago
  Models that are based on "hope I get bought out" are not viable imo. All business plans are obviously dependent on certain favorable conditions (like finding customers), but it's a lot easier to find some customers than it is to convince one of the very few potential acquirers to first acquire a business that provides your functions and then second to acquire you instead of a competitor.
  - nir 17y ago
    Absolutely. I was being at least partly sarcastic here ;) The funny thing about bit.ly is that they take this model to the next level - they are actually building to be bought by a specific company which has yet to make any income itself. On the other hand, bit.ly's investors have a lot of pull in Twitter, so it's a unique situation. I don't know enough about VC investments to tell, but the situation where investors in X create Y in order for it to be bought by X - obviously with some profit - is pretty interesting.

DannoHung 17y ago

After a few weeks, redirect the incoming links to a splash page that redirects the user after 15 seconds. Makes me feel skeezy just thinking about it.

imp 17y ago

I like Awe.sm's approach. You own the domain and they do the URL shortening and analytics for you. Costs $99/year. I haven't used it, but it seems like a good way to make money in that area. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/04/its-awesm-create-a-powerful-custom-url-shortener-for-your-own-domain/ http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/05/04/its-awesm-create-a-powe...

SwellJoe 17y ago
I thought about using this service, so we'd have control over our URLs...but the fact is, I don't trust awe.sm to stay in business forever any more than I trust bit.ly or tr.im. In the end, I decided to implement our own (haven't actually done it yet, but this is one of those cases where the people claiming to be able to replicate this feature in fifteen minutes aren't exaggerating). Interestingly, I guess, this did make me stop and think about whether I wanted links to my company and products to disappear when these shortener services finally all come crashing down. Which is why I decided I needed to control it myself. I'd already bought a pretty short name a couple of years ago with the intention of putting up a mobile version of our site on it.
- imp 17y ago
  I think that if they went out of business you can still have control of your link mappings. They claim that you can have portability, but I guess I don't know how extensive it is. It might just be click data that is portable. At the very least, if you own the domain you can point all the incoming links back to your home page. I see it as more of a cost vs. development time issue.
thorax 17y ago
This is also the the service we offer with TinyArrows: http://➡.ws/info/custom/ http://➡.ws/info/custom/ For statistics, we provide info down to the IP address and user agent that clicked on the link.
- imp 17y ago
  Cool, checking it out now. Do you have to use the arrow for shortening? I think it can be confusing.

OmarIsmail 17y ago

I think there might be a play in the behavioral targeting market. This is similar to selling stats, but in a more commercial format, e.g. AlmondNet. When a person submits a URL to the shortener, they analyze the URL to figure out what the content is about. Then when somebody clicks on the shortened link, part of the redirect process is to implant a behavioral AdNetwork's cookie with the proper tags, based on the content that's already been analyzed. You can then monetize the core service without interrupting the redirect flow.