Vanity URL Guidelines & Requests

What is a vanity URL?

A custom short URL to support print and other offline campaigns
- Example: uab.ca/ggday to support Green and Gold Day
Aligns with institutional branding
University Digital Strategy (UDS) puts tracking in place to help measure usage and interaction
Frequently used vanity URLs include bit.ly, goo.gl, t.co, and fb.com

A vanity URL should be easy to remember, use, & share
Short and to the point maximizes usage
- Consider ease-of-use for mobile devices
Should have context to support the marketing campaign
- Example: uab.ca/aw2015 to support Alumni Weekend 2015
Should not be so generic that others could request the same
The vanity URL supports a Call-To-Action (CTA) and is not by itself the CTA
The destination page should be mobile and tablet friendly
The destination page should be a campaign-specific page - not a site homepage

REGARDING	DO	DON'T
Vanity URL	uab.ca/aw2015 (event specific) uab.ca/ggday (campaign) uab.ca/mact (program)	www.uab.ca/aw2015 (www) faculty.uab.ca (subdomain) http://uab.ca/mact (extraneous) uab.ca/aw-2015 (hyphenation) www.uab.ca/aw/2015 (nesting)
Destination URL should be UAlberta	https://alumni.ualberta.ca/ events/alumni-weekend	edmontonjournal.com/... facebook.com/...
Destination Content	Webpage	Google Forms Spreadsheets PDFs
Usage	Print campaign Radio campaign	Email links Web links Social media links Business cards
Google Analytics	Reports to UAlberta rollup account	Doesn’t report to rollup account

We're happy to help! Before submitting your request, please ensure that you have the following information ready:

Any particular vanity URLs you have in mind
The destination page’s URL
- Destination page is published (even if not complete)
The campaign timeline
- Campaign start
- Campaign end (if applicable)
Campaign objectives
Target audiences
How it will be used (Print, radio, word of mouth, etc.)
How it will support the CTA