I set up my own URL shortener last night powered by YOURLS. I know I could use bit.ly or any range of other services, but I like the ability to have my own self-hosted shortener with as much customization as I please. I can nab neat analytics and integrate it with my blogs fairly easily.
Setup wasn’t too tricky and if I hadn’t run into errors, it wouldn’t have taken more than ten minutes.
- Purchase and map the domain.
- Create a SQL database.
- Download YOURLS.
- Edit the config.php file with database details, username, password, and domain.
- Run the install.*
- Log in and enjoy.
*On installation I ran into an error creating tables every single time. I spent far too much time troubleshooting/reinstalling. Eventually, I tried logging in after the install error. For some reason everything is working swimmingly despite the errors.
m5l.co is now my personalized awesome short url domain.
I’m happy to answer any questions you have on any part of the setup.