Welcome to the Link Shortener Help Guide, your go-to resource for step-by-step support on creating short links, generating QR codes, and managing your Link in Bio pages. Whether you’re just starting out or need advanced tips, this guide offers detailed instructions to help you navigate all of the features available on LinkShortener.io. Explore answers to common questions, troubleshooting advice, and best practices to get the most out of our tools.
What is a link shortener?
A link shortener is a service that turns long, complicated web addresses into shorter, more shareable links. It’s often used in situations with limited space or for tracking link performance.
LinkShortener.io can shorten your weblinks and it also has a dedicated feature that will shorten email addresses and phone numbers, making them clickable (and therefore trackable!) direct from your marketing email.
Open an LinkShortener account
Click on either the call to action orange buttons for “Get Started”, “Sign up” or “dashboard”, then click on the login page, click “Register an account”.
Simply complete the sign up form with the requested details and verify your email address.
Note: your account won’t be active until you have verified your email address – so don’t forget to click on the link in the email we send you!
Create a shortened link
Once you have registered an account, login and go to the dashboard. From here, there are two areas you can begin the process of creating a shortened link. Option 1 is to click the left hand menu on the “link” icon. Option 2 is to click “URL” under the “I wish to shorten a…”.
First, you will need to give the link a title (this can only be seen within your LinkShortener account), and then choose to use from either a custom domain of your choice or a random path supplied by us.
Next, add the full website URL link in the destination field.
You can add UTM tags at this point or at a later stage. You can add either source, medium, campaign, content, or term.
You have the option to add a grouping tag. This is optional but allows you to group your links together.
Now, click “create”. And you have created a shortened version of your web URL link.
QR code – Creating and copying
Once you have created an account, there are two areas where you can create a QR code. Option 1 is to click the QR code icon from the left-hand menu. Option 2 is to navigate to the dashboard menu, choose “I wish to shorten” and select “QR code”.
Add a title for your QR code (this is only visible within the LinkShortener account), then add the full URL into the destination field. You can add UTM tags at this point or leave it til a later stage. You can add either source, medium, campaign, content, or term.
You can also add a grouping tag. This is optional but allows you to group your links together. Now, click “create”. And you have created a shortened version of your QR code.
Now click “create” – to download your QR code, click into that QR code and you will see an orange button called “download”. Click this and it will download a png. file to your device.
Shortening an email address
Once you have created an account, there are two areas where you can create a shortened email address link. Option 1: By clicking on the “link” icon in the left-hand menu then choose from the dropdown menu “email address”. Option 2: From the dashboard click “email address” underneath the “I wish to shorten” section.
Shortening a phone number
Once you have created an account, there are two areas that you can create a shortened email address link. Either by clicking on the “link” icon in the left-hand menu then choose from the dropdown menu “phone number”. Or from the dashboard click “phone number” underneath the “I wish to shorten” section.
Adding Google UTMs to shortened link
You can add UTM tags to all link and QR codes at the time of their creation or you can add at a later stage.
From the link creation page or existing shortened link page, click “Add UTM tag” button to add Google UTM tags.
Group links with tags
Adding tags is a good way to group link types together. For example “newsletter” or “August2023”. This helps you keep track of which links were associated with which campaign.
Clicks reports and where to find them
Once you have created a shorten link or QR code, you can find the click reports within the specific link or QR code. From the dashboard, click the shortened link, and you can view stats this week, all clicks, and more detail lower down the page, where you can view clicks by day. You can also see the stats broken down into desktop and mobile clicks.
Create teams
To create teams, login to your account and click on your company name in the top right of the dashboard. Then click on “Create team”.
Setting a fallback link for deactivated links
Fallback domains are used when you deactivate a link or QR code, and we can then redirect the shortened link to your chosen domain.
When you register an account with us, you can set the fallback domain/website, but you can also amend the fallback domain at any time. Click the company name at the top left then select “team settings”. From there, you can amend the fallback domain.
Deactivating a shorten link or QR code
Login to your account, go to your dashboard and click on the links icon. Find the link you wish to deactivate and select “deactivate”. You can do the same with QR codes by selecting the QR code icon from the left-hand menu.
Setting custom vanity domains
You can create a custom domain or your choosing.
Login to your account, and click on the custom domains icon on the left hand menu.
Click “New custom domain”, and add the name you want displayed in your account.
Now add the domain. We suggest using a subdomain rather than using your main website.
Upgrade your subscription
If you need to upgrade your plan, login to your dashboard and click the orange “upgrade” button top right. From here, choose the plan that’s right for your requirements.
Cancel a subscription
To cancel your subscription, simply log in to your account, and on the left-hand menu click on the ‘credit card’ icon, titled “billing portal”. From here, click on “cancel” and your account will be cancelled with immediate effect. We won’t remove your account, however, and all your links will be redirected to your fallback domain. We do this so you can reactivate your account easily whenever you need or want to.
Report abuse or a link you are wary of
Reporting a URL link or QR code created by LinkShortener.io is easy.
From the footer, click on “report abuse” and enter the url link, choose your reason and click “submit”.
Changing account password
If you wish to change your password, login to your account, click the black icon containing your initials. Then, scroll down and change your password where you’re prompted.
Hi! We are Email Marketing Tools. We develop software that works with various platforms to help marketers improve their marketing campaigns, increase engagement, and drive conversions.
LinkShortener is a trading style of Email Marketing Tools Limited
Company Reg: 13556506.
Registered Office:153 Mortimer Street, Herne Bay, Kent, England, CT6 5HA