Little Links to Become Big Business?

Anywhere that it is possible to advertise, someone will. This age old idea continues to be proven out online. With the rise of text messaging and now "Tweeting" on Twitter.com - so to has risen the use of URL redirection services in order to send ridiculously long URLs via short little links. The originator of this was the venerable Tinyurl.com. With that service you could take a Google Maps URL like this...

http://maps.google.com/maps?daddr=33+Danbury+Rd,+New+Milford,+CT+06776+(Brickhouse+Pizza+%26+Restaurant)&geocode=CTsJGEom1ZroFZlNegIdTcmf-yGTJRltYz98mw&dirflg=&saddr=2320+South+Blvd,+Houston,+TX+77098&f=d&dq=brickhouse+pizza+new+milford,+ct&sll=41.569689,-73.414323&sspn=0.006295,0.006295&cid=41569689,-73414323,11203899669255628179&ie=UTF8&z=5

...which is painful to send in an email or anywhere else, and turn it into something like this...

http://tinyurl.com/joshtesting

...which is much easier to send to friends, or even remember and retype by hand later. However, now that Tinyurl's service has really shown its value in the world of Twitter and email marketing, there are a couple of new services riffing on the idea and winding in analytics, as well as a potential business model.

BudUrl.com makes it possible to track click through on your tiny links. For people who are addicted to Twitter like it's crack (you know who you are), or for people who mass-email or manage newsletters, this could be very helpful in judging which of your tweets or newsletter links are most popular (and hence you should create more of).

And now, taking it a step further, Adjix.com adds an advertising model into the process. Like BudUrl and Tinyurl, the user clicks the little link and is redirected to the page you want them to see - however the destination page is displayed in an unobtrusive frameset, while a very subtle advertisement is displayed across the top of the screen. What's the incentive for the link creator to use Adjix when Tinyurl and BudUrl are free? Revenue sharing on clicks of course! Check out my example (I didn't create an account, so I get no revenue share as yet)...

http://ad.vu/7kf

Is this business model valid? Will people click on these things? Will advertisers show up? Who knows - it's the classic "chicken or the egg" scenario. Advertisers want to see an audience. The link creator ("content publisher" if you will) wants to see the revenue possibilities. But one can't happen without the other. How do you build one without the other?

Ok...time to get on a plane and head to Houston for Thanksgiving. Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!