Create shorter URLs with your Domain Name using GoCodes WordPress Plugin

As site and blog owners, we all know that some links can get very long in length. This can make your links look very unprofessional. There is a WordPress Plugin that can take the long URL and create a shorter one which will include your domain name.

Small Description

GoCodes plugin – have you ever had to give someone a shortened version of a URL? Maybe you’re a podcaster, and you can’t say “visit mydomain.com/2008/01/03/my-post-with-a-long-url/ for more info.” Wouldn’t it be useful if you could just say “go to mydomain.com/go/mycoolpost/ ?”

• Developer: Matt Harzewski
• Website: webmaster-source.com
• WordPress link: GoCodes plugin

Note that the images and examples below have been created on a local installation of WordPress on my laptop.

Admin Settings

Once installed, the plugin will place a link in the ‘Settings’ panel whereby you can set the URL trigger that one would use. This is very simple to understand and set and will vary from user to user.

Some users use ‘recommend’, ‘go’, ‘refer’, etc. The list is actually endless. Try and use something short and catchy if you can. One of the main reasons for this plugin is to create shorter URLs with your domain name included, so try your best to not make it to long.

The only URL trigger requirement is that you don’t use any slashes in the redirect url. This will be added automatically by the plugin when you add new URLs.

BONUS: You also have the functionality to set the redirect link to be ‘nofollow’. Now this would depend on the each users choice, some would want the ‘nofollow’ attribute and others would not mind. I know there are probably thousands of posts on the net which give the pros and cons for using nofollow, so I’m not going to go in detail about it.

Creating new GoCodes

When you have set the URL trigger, you can start adding shortcut URLs for you to use. To do this, you will have to go to the ‘Tools’ panel and there you will see a link for ‘GoCodes’. Here you will be presented with a form whereby you can enter the redirect link details.

The fields are:

• Redirection Key – this is where you can personalize the name of the link.
• Target URL – this is the target URL where you want the user to finally end up at.
• Count hits – if the box is checked, then it will keep a count of the number of clicks the URL is receiving. This is good to know as you will be able to see what URL is being clicked the most.

An example would be:

• URL trigger – go
• Redirection Key – serradinho
• Target URL – http://www.serradinho.com
• Count hits – check box for tracking purposes

Your new short URL link would be:

http://localhost/wordpress/go/serradinho/

Managing GoCodes

This is some what of a report of your short URLs. Here you will be able to see the key, target URL, number of hits as well as being able to either edit or delete the URL.

For easier viewing, the developer made 3 options for sorting the URLs . You can sort it by the date (date when added), the key and by the number of hits. This helps when you have entered many URLs and also when it becomes a time consuming process to find your URL.

You can reset the number of hits of an URL by clicking on the edit link, you will see a link by the check box. When the reset link is clicked, a message will appear at the top asking if you are sure. You can refer to the image below for an example.

This plugin is very easy to use and I have seen it on multiple sites around the world.

Issues that I have

My only issue with this plugin is that you have to reset each URL individually, which can be time consuming depending on the number of URLs you have.

Final Thought

So, what did you think of plugin? Are you using it already or are you going to give it a try now? I would like to hear from you, so leave a comment below. All comments are welcomed.

Tagged as: create short urls, gocodes plugin, short domain urls, short urls with domain name, wordpress plugin

From the desk of George Serradinho

I am the proud owner of Serradinho.com and have made this my second home. I'm into blogging, downloads, WordPress, meeting and helping others, etc. Basically the internet in general :) Serradinho Web Services is my own company whereby I offer my services to clients. This ranges from web design, website upgrades, theme customizations, support, premium WordPress plugins and many more .....

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