For the first time in quite some time, I get to announce the launch of something I’ve built!

Shortnd is a free link shortening/obfusication tool. In a nutshell, it turns a really long URL (like http://www.example.com/this/is/a/really-really-really/long/url.htm?and=its&even=got&some=extra-parameters) into a much shorter URL like http://shortnd.com/123.

Uses of this tool (from an internet marketing perspective) could include:

• hiding your affiliate links
• emailing the link of a download to a customer

As well the usual “making a URL easier to remember” use these types of tools have.

Not all of the planned features of Shortnd are in place yet, as the aim was to get the main service rolled out quickly and with as little complication as possible. Over the next few months I plan to add a number of really helpful features to the service. As new features are rolled out I will announce them here.

To me, Shortnd was simply about scratching a particular itch I’ve had for a while – build something useful, quickly, and release it. In all, Shortned was built in less than 18 hours (spread over the evenings of 2 weeks, as time allowed).

Shortnd is the first of a small number of web-based tools I have lined up. As always, watch this space!