Bitly is best known as a popular URL link shortener, but that’s not all. In addition to processing billions of web link clicks per month, Bitly is also a powerful online marketing tool used to track clicks, view site referrals, and get an idea of which geographic locations are receiving the most clicks.

If you go to the Bitly website, you can paste a link into the field in the middle of the screen to have it automatically shortened. The field will automatically show your newly shortened link, a button to easily copy it, a summary of the link's content, how many clicks it has received, and an option to join Bitly so you can save and monitor all of your shortened links.

If you just want to use Bitly to shorten a link to make it easier to share, you can do that without having to sign up as a user. However, if you want to keep your shortened links organized, reopen your links in the future, and track clicks on those links, then it's probably a good idea to sign up for a free user account.

With a free user account, you only get access to the Your Bitlinks tab. To use the Dashboard, Custom Bitlinks, and OneView tabs, you need to upgrade to a premium account.