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URL Shortening Wars: Money or Not Money, Make money from Short Link Services, Why Not?
There are two main approaches to running a Paid URL shortening services).
The value add services on top of redirection are very valuable. There are two kinds:
a. Services that add value to the short URL creator (i.e. the service user). A great example is analytics which tells you a lot about who's clicking through. Competing on analytics is an effective business strategy 
There are other kinds of value add services, some of which tie back to options 2a and 2b above (i.e. get the user to earn money from their links).
b. Services that are unrelated to URL shortening per se, but are valuable. I've seen a few comments in this thread about the value of the data gained from tracking traffic. I'll leave this one to your imagination – run wild!
There is a third way to make money: white-label services.
So how can you make money? It's a very competitive market, and the cost of entry is tiny, the user loyalty is almost non-existent, and the traffic can be huge requiring good service architecture. My point from the above is that you will be able to make money as there are ways to create value for your users you can charge for, but expect to get a few bruises on the way.
Originally posted 2011-12-03ಌ:08:41.
