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Seventh, are your links available only to
site administrators or are they available to general public?
An alternative to free services is your own snipping service, running from your server. This ensures your links are available until you decide to delete them.
Generally speaking, short URL generators are php/MySQL driven scripts. You would need php installed on your server, your site administrator could tell you if it is. You would also need a MySQL database, again your site administrator could tell you if this is available to you.
Another item to check is control panel page. It should be a php template that can be edited for color, position etc.
If you are using a shared hosting situation you may not be able to run a script that requires will not allow Mod Rewrites to be on, It should be a webmaster settable configuration.
What's difference Mod Rewrites On/Off? As you compare resulting snipped URL's, if has a ? in URL; such as, http://snippedurl.com/?a then script is set for Mon Rewrites off. This is probably not preferable URL format. If there is no ? in snipped URL then it may only be run with Mod Rewrites on.
As you look to snipping your URL's you may want to bring service in-house to your server. This will give your site added stickyness as your customers, return time and time again to snip their URL's.
Charles H Smith http://charleshsmith.com/blog http://snipmyurl.com
