JG:Clinic part 6 - Ruling URLs

One of the reasons I haven't jumped feet-first onto the Facebook bandwagon is that they haven't sorted out a decent short URL structure like MySpace, del.icio.us, flickr or we have.

Here's a link to Kai's Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/p/Kai_Chan_Vong/506185987

Catchy!

I can almost picture him out and about, shouting 'FORWARD SLASH, LITTLE P, FORWARD SLASH, KAI UNDERSCORE CHAN UNDERSCORE VONG, FORWARD SLASH LOTS OF MEANINGLESS NUMBERS' to get people to visit.

Although Facebook mostly grows via hyperlinking and email, there's always an advantage to having a memorable short URL. Bands often announce their MySpace URLs onstage. People swap them in pubs and clubs instead of phone numbers. It's becoming a commodity and with the onset of initiatives such as OpenID, the URL will get more and more relevant.

So bearing that in mind, do give plenty of thought to your Justgiving URL. Availability means you won't always be able to just have your name (eg. www.justgiving.com/simon went in 2003!). So think of some memorable examples that will help your sponsors remember where your page is. Make them as intriguing as possible and you're going to multiply your clickthrough rate, which ultimately helps your fundraising total. Here are some good ones:

/cycle2012 - Cycling, Olympic year, not what you'd expect

/mymomentofmadness -  I wonder what it was...

/NoelEdmondsIsInnocent - No deal.

/Stelios40th - No, I wasn't invited either.

/reformedfatkid - Go former fat kid, go!

/mattinmanure - Ewww...

/dysfunctionals - They'll make it!

So keep it short and memorable. Avoid really long URLs incase people type it in wrong (and it doesn't fit on your cards), also avoid underscores and hyphens because they can cause confusion too.

Comments

[Kai Chan Vong]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UxYHvsoKNI

Some people turn them into catchy songs! :D