Should You Use Paying URL Shortener?
March 01, 2021
Paying URL shorteners has become popular over years among YouTubers and Bloggers. It is a controversial issue that whether you should use URL shortener or not. So, let's focus on it today.
Does an URL shortener pay much?
If we focus on the amount an URL shortener pays, undoubtedly it can be realized that an URL shortener pays a very little amount (in most cases, up to $.0002 for a click). Some people claim that they earn up to $5000 or more per month from some link shorteners. Well, true to say that it is impossible for a website owner that gets even millions of traffic every month. So, it is nothing other than fiction. Practically, if your website gets less than 50k traffic every month, you can earn an average of $15 or even less every month.
How is it experienced by your visitors?
There is nobody who didn't experience the tedious redirection issue with the URL shortener. Most URL shorteners lead their visitors from one site to another rapidly. Sometimes, if you don't go back, it will never stop redirecting and you will never reach your destination page. And the worst thing is, adult content may appear there. For this reason, your visitors would find your website or channel inappropriate for everyone or your YouTube video may be switched to age-restricted content and you may lose traffic.
Is a paying URL shortener secure for your visitors?
Have you thought that whether an URL shortener secure for your visitors or not? The sites an URL shortener redirects to ask visitors for some permissions with allow/cancel buttons by a pop-up of their website, the pop-up doesn't come from your browser. So, you cannot be sure whether they are only asking for notification permission or any other permissions as well. Some sites may get cookie permission by this method and get access to your personal information as they don't disclose their policy. So, if you are using URL shortener in your site or video, isn't there a possibility of leading your visitors to be unsecured?
Will visitors click?
People are now more conscious and they don't want to click these betraying links. You can use hyperlinks in your website (to hide), but you don't have the option to do so in your YouTube video. So, you wouldn't get a good number of clicks.
Other reasons
Most of the sites the URL shorteners redirect to are known as spammers on the internet. And the URL shorteners pay you 10-15% or even less of their earnings. On the contrary, you get paid for the clicks generated by real traffic but actually, you lose your traffic gradually.
Final thoughts
Paying URL shortener cannot be a good choice for anyone. We strongly recommend avoiding paying URL shortener to avoid losing traffic. Try to join any ad service to get paid. Publishing ads is a great choice for passive income with good revenue and a great alternative to paying URL shortener.