Since my name is Tod Sacerdoti and I twitter with short URLs such as http://tod.ly/aboat, I have received a bunch of requests about how I created my own vanity URL shortener.
Get it? Tod + bit.ly = tod.ly?
It is actually quite straightforward. To do so, follow these easy steps:
- Register a (short) Vanity URL
- Make sure it is short - that’s the whole point!
- Either a simple tod.com at GoDaddy or
- A foreign domain such as tod.ly from LibyanSpider
- Redirect your short Vanity URL to bit.ly (or similar url shortener)
- This can be done by pointing your A Record to Bit.ly’s IP address - 75.101.132.183 (see http://75.101.132.183/aboat) or
- Simply redirecting your domain to http://bit.ly at your registrar / hosting provider
After following the two steps above, you have to wait anywhere from 1-9 hours for your new DNS records to propogate. Then, shorten a URL at Bit.ly and insert your new URL. For example, I created http://bit.ly/aboat and changed it to http://tod.ly/about
That’s it, your done!
Congrats, now you are truly vain. :-)
Tod-you definitely get geek cred points for this one!
How many CEOs go around updating DNS A records, after all?! :p Nicely done.