Tracking Email campaign

[seoug_2005]

I generated the following URL to track visits from newsletter.

http://www.example.com/ ?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newletter2109

Do i have to use this  link in our email ?

My question is it looks ugly. How do i shorten this ?  Using bit.ly ?

But isn't it true that  URL shortening services such as bitly, as some can increase the likelihood of email being marked as spam

[panini]

Might you also consider that with emails, unlike webpages, you can use terms like 'click here' or images to get the user to click through or carry out an action.

Buttons and images have certainly seen a better CTR than plain text links in our email campaigns.

[seoug_2005]

Shall i upload the .htaccess file after redirect ?

[evolvingSEO]

Yes, its s standard 301 redirect.  You can replace "/newsletter2109/" with whatever you want, and that's the href you include in the email.

If you have not used the .htaccess for anything yet, be sure to put RewriteEngine On at the top of the file.

-Dan

SEOMoz Redirect Guide

[seoug_2005]

Thanks Dan. Is the following code goes into .htacess file exactly like mentioned by you ? Redirect 301 /newsletter2109/ http://www.example.com/ ?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newletter2109

[seoug_2005]

Thanks Dan. Is the following code goes into .htacess file exactly like mentioned by you ? Redirect 301 /newsletter2109/ http://www.example.com/ ?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newletter2109

[evolvingSEO]

Atul

I believe you have two options in this case.

1. Like Daniel said, only the href is going to look long and ugly, you can keep the anchor text nice and clean.

2. But if you still want to make the href its self look nicer, just set up a 301, like

Redirect 301 /newsletter2109/    http://www.example.com/ ?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newletter2109

Users will see the link as http://www.example.com/newsletter2109/ but the 301 redirect will send the appropriate info into analytics.

-Dan

[DanHill]

There is a difference between the links target and it's title, you could set it like this [http://www.example.com](http://www.example.com/ ?utm_source=newsletter1&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newletter2109)  so that it keeps the tracking but looks pretty to the user.

As far as URL shortening services go, I don't think that it raises the chances of it being marked as spam, but I would imagine there being less 'trust' from many users when it comes to clicking a shortened URL.

Personally I'd keep the URL shortening services away from any email campaigns/newsletters and use them for Twitter and the like