Custom domain: why your short links should carry your name

A text from your bank with a link bit.ly/3xK9q. Another with go.mybank.com/offer. Which one do you open without hesitating? The second, of course. That is the whole point of a custom domain.

Three reasons to move to your own domain

1. Trust. People have learned to distrust anonymous short links, often used by scams. Your name in the address reassures before the click.
2. Brand. Every link shared, printed or read out on the radio repeats your name. go.thebistro.com/menu is a small ad.
3. Independence. The domain is yours. Links printed on your packaging carry your address, not a third party's.

Which domain to choose?

The simplest is a subdomain of your site: go.yourbrand.com, link.yourbrand.com, l.yourbrand.com. It does not touch your site, and your DNS host handles it easily.

You can also use a dedicated short domain (yrbrnd.com). In that case, a bare domain needs your DNS host to "flatten" a CNAME record; Bref tells you when you add it.

How it works in Bref

1. In Domains, add go.yourbrand.com.
2. Bref shows two records to create at your DNS host: a CNAME (where the traffic goes) and a TXT (proof the domain is yours).
3. A few minutes to a few hours later, the domain turns active. The HTTPS certificate is issued and renewed for you.
4. In a link's editor, choose the domain. The link becomes go.yourbrand.com/slug.

You also decide where the domain's root leads (often your site) and unknown addresses (a clean 404 page, or your site). A domain only serves your organisation's links, and never Bref's dashboard.

How much does it cost?

The Pro plan includes 1 domain, the Business plan 5. The Free plan uses Bref's short address. See pricing.

A tip: choose your domain once and for all. A printed link lives for years, and changing domain means changing all its links.