Best way to redirect friendly URL in direct mail ?

[BigJoe]

Hi,

When we do direct mail to our customers talking about a specific product we sell we usually put a link in the letter so the customer can go directly to the product just by typing a short link, something like:
www.example.com/blue-widget

This link will then re-direct to:
www.example.com/shop/product/brand-name-big-blue-widget-with-green-ends-200m-50diameter.php

Which we are happy with at the moment but I want to check we are doing it correctly in terms of redirects, we currently re-direct it using .htaccess like:
Redirect /blue-widget http://www.example.com/shop/product/brand-name-big-blue-widget-with-green-ends-200m-50diameter.php

This re-directs it as a 302 but should it be done as a 301 ?

I am not sure why we did 302's to start with but I am thinking they should be 301's, I think it might have been because the URL we were redirecting from was imaginary ?

Also should we use the Redirect line in the .htaccess or should we do each one with a RewriteRule ?

Thanks

BigJoe

[BigJoe]

Thanks Alan.

By direct mail I mean actual post not email but thanks for giving my both options.

So I will change them all to 301's then.

BigJoe

[AlanBleiweiss]

When you say "direct mail" do you mean email? Or print? If you mean "email", then you need to be aware that quite often links embedded in email end up discoverable via search engines. Just one example is where there's a "can't view this, click here to read in your browser" links - the email then showing up on the email distributor's web site.

In that scenario and for other reasons, it's always advisable to use 301 redirects - you don't want to cause search engines confusion - 302 says "this link is valid, so don't keep it out of the search index".

Even if it's print mail, there's a very slim chance someone who receives it could post it online, link included. Very slim indeed, yet always possible.  So again, safe best is 301 redirects.

As for implementation method, whichever you prefer based on server bandwidth needs, ease of implementation. (If you have tens or hundreds of thousands of redirects, an .htaccess file can get out of control).