We’ve had a TON of requests from users like you who want to use Linktrack, but don’t like the long linktrack.info domain name.  We heard those requests and listened!

This week we’re introducing http://vlt.me, the first of many new domain names that can be used with Linktrack. We’re calling this feature “custom domains” and it’s available to professional account holders starting today.  If you’re already a professional account holder, you don’t need to do anything to start using custom domain names. Just look for the “Address” drop down box when you make a link to choose which domain you want to use with your tracking link.

Here’s where we’re keeping track of all the custom domains available.

If you’re using one of our free accounts, this is a great reason to try out our professional service.  There’s no contract or obligation, so check it out today!

So why did we choose the vlt.me domain name? Does it mean anything special?

Not really. We choose vlt.me because it was short and easy to say (over the phone for example), but also doesn’t imply that that the link is for tracking purposes (something that a few of our users have mentioned).

If you REALLY need vlt.me to stand for something, here are some ideas:

Virtual Link Tracking
Very Large Turtle
Vacation Lobster Trap
Vaccinate Live Turkeys
Vacuumed Last Time
Vain Life Test

If you have any others, please let me know.

Thanks,

Keeton

Ever wonder where all these shorty redirect links are taking you? Here’s a quick and easy URL follower that will tell you the ultimate destination of a shortened URL:

http://urlfollow.com/

Linktrack is proud to introduce unique visitor tracking to our growing list of features! We added unique tracking last week in response to a TON of requests. The new feature is available on professional accounts, and we’ll be tracking unique vs. repeat visitors going forward.

Thanks to everyone who requested this feature, and keep the feedback coming!

Every business needs a Unique Selling Propostion (USP). Here’s ours until I get tired of it:

Linktrack shortens links and provides comprehensive click-through statistics for every visit they receive. Users have access to lots of options like password protected links, links that expire automatically, and more!

We make it simple and easy to track clicks or split test virtually anything – Google Adwords, Craigslist.org ads, Twitter links, your Facebook status, affiliate programs – ANYTHING. Our data is extremely comprehensive and accessible via online display, sweet charts and graphs, or downloadable reports.

The growing list of sites that keep tabs on our web site is insane. Here are just a few where that keep tabs on our site, our Twitter feed, our Alexa ratings, our statistics and more:

http://topsy.com/tb/linktrack.info/
http://topsy.com/twitter/linhktrak
http://dataopedia.com/linktrack-info
http://www.statbrain.com/www.linktrack.info/
http://www.backtype.com/url/linktrack.info
http://twitter.com/linktrak
http://social.implu.com/t/linktrak
http://topsy.com/twitter/linktrak
http://tweetmeme.com/user/linktrak
http://twitreferral.com/profile/linktrak/
http://www.pagesinventory.com/domain/linktrack.info.html
http://www.ownmine.com/results.php?query=linktrack.info
http://www.myrealtwitterscore.com/linktrak
http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/linktrack.info
http://www.quarkbase.com/linktrack.info
http://twittercounter.com/linktrak
http://builtwith.com/?linktrack.info
http://www.twaitter.com/linktrak.aspx
http://www.netsyssec.com/domain/linktrack.info
http://twitrak.com/default.asp?Username=linktrak

I got this video from Google today, and it’s definitely worth watching if you’re writing ads for Google Adwords. If you’re not using these methods already, try a split testing a few of them (using Linktrack of course!) in your next campaign.

An excellent explanation of the 301 redirect and how to implement it in a variety of systems.  Linktrack uses a variant of the PHP Redirect:

PHP Redirect

<?
Header( “HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently” );
Header( “Location: http://www.new-url.com” );
?>

Want to double check our work?  Try the Search Engine Friendly Redirect Checker.

This is a pretty common question, so definitely worthy of a blog post.  I’ll get it up on the FAQ page eventually, but it can go here for now.

When you create a new Linktrack tracking link, the only required field is the destination – everything else is optional.  The hitch here is that the destination URL must be a valid URL.  That means it can’t contain any special characters that aren’t allowed in a normal URL.

Here are a few examples of invalid destination URLs:

• www.mydestination.com (needs the “http://” protocol.  Should look like http://www.mydestination.com)
• http://www.mydestination.com/some folder (uses an illegal space. Try http://www.mydestination.com/some_folder or http://www.mydestination.com/some%20folder)
• http://www.mydestination.com/ (you can’t see it, but this has an illegal space on the end)
• http://www.mydestination (doesn’t include the “.com, .net, .info” or similar second level domain name.  Gotta have that
• my destination (this is just a phrase.  We’re looking for a destination URL in this box.

For the technically minded, here’s a good read on valid characters in a URL.

We just rolled out some really cool site updates to give LinkTrack a little sharper look and to address some little issues that have been bugging me. If you see something we missed, please drop us a line and let us know.

The big changes in this release include:

• Lots of minor layout changes to give the site a more “put-together” look
• Some pretty major changes to the front page of the site based on our marketing feedback
• Integration of our blog and social networking efforts into the main site
• Made the ‘link search’ feature a little more user friendly – i.e. it now searches more fields and paginates the full result set.
• Changed the default sort order of the links page to show the links you made last at the top of the list, rather than sorting them by the most clicks in the last 24 hours.
• A new contact form and re-organization of the FAQ and tutorials

As always, thanks for supporting our site and being part of Linktrack.

Here’s a quick video tutorial showing how to make a tracking link using a free account.  Watch me make a link using a demo account, place it in our Twitter stream and follow the results.