A screen capture of Go Daddy's X.CO site.
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Domain registrar and Web hosting provider Go Daddy (www.godaddy.com) announced on Wednesday it has launched “X.CO” (http://x.co), a free short URL redirection service that offers customization, rich analytics and social media integration.
Aside from shorterning lengthy URLs, X.CO also offers link customization, which allows you to decide how to name the URL before sharing it.
For example, if users wanted to use the URL shortner to share a link of relevant business tips with colleagues, friends and followers, they could link to it as “X.CO/BizTips.”
Once the short URL is created, the user can share and monitor it for as long as they wish.
Registered users can share their X.CO URLs via Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and other popular social networks.
The service benefits Go Daddy in that it will give the company greater visibility throughout the Internet market, and presumably promote the company’s other services.
Though X.CO is an entirely free service that anyone can use, individuals and businesses need to register for a free X.CO account in order to take advantage of the analytical reporting and customization upgrades.
This will bring Go Daddy one step closer to encouraging these newly registered account users to purchase other services, such as domain registration and hosting.
The site’s analytical reporting features help businesses or individuals monitor the popularity of their content by tracking their link’s activity.
The features monitor the number of clicks the URL received across the Web, trending charts organizing the URL’s views by month and day, and also how and where it was reposted.
A bookmark feature also lets users to shorten a Web page URL directly from a browser.
“X-dot-CO helps users cut through the clutter — making it much easier to share Web links,” says Go Daddy CEO and founder Bob Parsons. “I’ve used my fair share of URL shorteners, each had one element or another I liked, but X-dot-CO has all the qualities I like to use rolled into one.”
