Use Your Own Domain to Redirect Links

Today's tech tip is FUN y'all!

I'm sure you've heard of the service Bit.ly, right? And there are others like goo.gl and ow.ly but why not use your own domain for this, huh? You can view the video version of this tech tip below or keep scrolling for the text version.

Here are some examples where this could come in handy:

• You have an ugly affiliate link that looks like this http://mbsy.co/convertkit/20841343 but A) You'll never remember that and B) That's just not pretty.
• Your Facebook group or page URL is long and hard to explain to people.
• Your YouTube link is a jumbled mess of numbers like this https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_htUlq7eYumecIoQai4HzQ
• You're using a leadpage that's not associated with your site and the URL is just not pretty.

There are so many more, but those are just a few.

Let's get started:

1. Ok, so, what you can do is go to your domain registrar (the place you bought your .com) or your hosting account where it's hosted.
2. Click on “domains” or wherever your account keeps your domain list at.
   
3. Next click on “redirect” (I'm using HostMonster so you can see where that is there but it could be different in your hosting/domain account).
   
4. Now, choose the URL you want to use (in my example, I'm using jessicastansberry.com) and pick the verbiage you want behind the “/”. In this example, I'm wanting to take my ugly YouTube link and make www.ohheyjessica.com/YouTube go to it, so I'll type “YouTube” behind the “/”.4b. Then type in the URL where you're wanting that domain to take someone to. In my example, I want jessicastansberry.com/YouTube to take someone to https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_htUlq7eYumecIoQai4HzQ , so I'll put that bold link in the URL for it to redirect to.

   4c. Make sure you check that you want it to redirect with or withOUT the www.

   4d. Make sure the “wild card redirect” is NOT checked (this would redirect the entire domain not just the /youtube).

   4e. Click “add redirect” (or whatever verbiage your hosting/domain provider uses).

   

THAT'S IT! Now, when someone goes to www.ohheyjessica.com/YouTube, they'll be automatically taken to my YouTube channel.

Told ya it was fun…and easy!