Why a branded short link gets more taps than a random one, how to use them in text messages, mailers, yard signs and vehicle wraps, and how to set them up on BioLink.page, free to start and $1 a month for your own domain.
Years of phishing texts have trained people well. A link they cannot read is a link they do not tap. A string of random letters on a shortener's domain tells the reader nothing about where it goes, so careful people ignore it and cautious people delete the message. A branded short link solves that at the only moment that matters, the half second before the tap, by showing a name the reader recognizes.
What a branded short link is
A branded short link has two parts you control. The domain names you, or at least names something the reader trusts, and the slug after the slash says what the link is for. go.acmeplumbing.com/spring is branded twice over; it is clearly the plumber's own address and it clearly leads to the spring offer. There are two levels on BioLink.page:
- A neutral shared domain. biolink.page/acme-spring or biolink.love/acme-spring, available on the free plan with a slug of your choice. Neutral, readable, and not a domain associated with spam.
- Your own domain or subdomain. go.acmeplumbing.com/spring, available on the Starter plan at $1 a month with one custom domain, or five on Pro. One DNS record and the address is yours.
What the research says
The numbers come from companies that sell branded links, so treat them as direction rather than gospel, but the direction is consistent. Bitly reports that links on a custom domain get about 2.3 times as many clicks as links on its generic domain. Rebrandly's widely quoted study put the improvement in click-through rate at up to 39 percent for branded links against generic ones, and other shorteners publish figures in the 30 to 40 percent range. The gap is reported to be largest in email and SMS, where the reader has nothing but the address to judge, and smallest on platforms that show a preview card anyway.
Where branded links pay off for a small business
- Text messages. Short, no preview card, and the reader is deciding in one second. Check the length with the character counter; a branded link is usually a hundred characters shorter than a tracked long URL. Send marketing texts only to people who opted in, which the TCPA requires.
- Yard signs and vehicle wraps. Realtors, contractors, landscapers and roofers put an address where people read it from a moving car. "go.acmeroofing.com/quote" can be remembered at 30 miles an hour. A random string cannot.
- Postcards and door hangers. A branded link plus a QR code of the same link covers both the people who scan and the people who type.
- Receipts, invoices and packaging. A "Leave a review" link on the receipt and a "Reorder" link on the box.
- Radio and podcast spots. An address that can be said in three words and spelled in none.
- Email signatures and newsletters. The reader sees the domain in the status bar before clicking; a branded one matches the sender.
Setting one up
- Create a free account and create a short link. The free plan includes 100 of them.
- Type the slug. Lowercase, short, and descriptive of the offer rather than the date, so /spring-tuneup rather than /st26. The slug generator turns a longer phrase into a clean one.
- Paste the destination. If it is on your own website, tag it first with the UTM link generator so the visit shows up under the right source in Google Analytics, or add the UTM parameters in the link settings and keep the destination clean.
- Save and test with the URL redirect checker.
- When you are ready for your own domain, upgrade to Starter, connect go.yourbrand.com with one DNS record, and move the important links across.
Agree on a slug convention if more than one person creates links. Campaign first, then placement, is the usual pattern, so /spring-tuneup for the postcard and /spring-tuneup-sms for the text, which keeps the statistics readable months later. On the paid plans, projects group the links of a campaign or a client in the dashboard.
Pairing links with QR codes
Every printed link should have a QR code next to it and the link printed as text under the code. The code is generated from the short link, not from the destination, so it keeps working when the offer changes, and both the scans and the typed visits land in the same statistics. The details of sizing and placement are in QR codes for restaurants and food trucks, and they apply to a yard sign just as well as to a menu.
Measuring the difference
Post the same offer twice in the same place a week apart, once with a generic address and once with a branded one, and compare the click counts in the statistics. The referrer, country and device reports are collected without a tracking cookie, so nothing changes on the destination page. If the destination carries UTM parameters, Google Analytics shows the same comparison from the other end, and orders can be tied to the placement that produced them.
Frequently asked questions
Is biolink.page branded enough on its own?
It is neutral and readable, which is most of the benefit, and your slug is unique on it. The full benefit comes from your own domain, which is why Starter includes one.
Can I use a domain I already own?
Yes, on Starter and Pro. Point a subdomain at BioLink.page with a CNAME record, or the root with an A record, and choose it when you create links. The domain must be one you control at your registrar.
Do branded links help search rankings?
Not directly. A short link is a redirect, and search engines follow it to the destination. The benefit is in clicks from people, not in ranking.
How short should the slug be?
Between three and twelve characters is the comfortable range. Shorter for signs and radio; longer is fine for email where the reader clicks rather than types.
Can I change where a branded link points?
At any time. The address stays the same, so a link printed on a truck can point at this season's offer and then the next one.
Final checks
- The domain names you or reads neutral, and the slug names the offer.
- The slug is lowercase and readable aloud.
- The destination carries UTM parameters, in the URL or in the link settings.
- Every placement has its own link so the statistics can be compared.
- Printed material shows the short link as text next to any QR code.
