First, URLs are the things you type into your browser address bar to go to a certain page on the internet. Usually they start with www.

So you want to send someone to a page on jw.org website for them to read the recent magazine on God's Kingdom and direct them to a specific article in that magazine. Here is the URL you would give them:

https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/watchtower-no2-2020-may-jun/what-will-gods-kingdom-accomplish/

A little hard to tell that to someone over the phone, or to put in a text message, or to include in a letter and expect them to type it in exactly (if they don't type it exactly, they will get an error page).

Using the Good News URL shortener, that would change to something similar to this:

a1j.jwgo.to/kingdom

Much better!

That will fit in a text message and would be much easier and reliable for a person to type into their browser.

For JW.org ONLY

The service at jwgoodnews.net is for shortening the links on jw.org ONLY. The purpose is so you can include links in letters for such things as videos or specific articles that the recipient can reliabliy type into a browser.

And with reporting, you can reliably tell if the link was acted on, which means you will be able to count as a placement.

Share Links on JW.org

Each magazine or video on jw.org has a special share link that you can use as well. The share link has the advantage of also specifying the language.

For example, the share link to direct someone to that same magazine linked above, but in the Afrikaans language, would be as follows:

https://www.jw.org/finder?wtlocale=AF&issue=2020-05&pub=wp20&srcid=share

While the link is more specific, it would be even harder to include such a link in a letter and expect the householder to type it in correctly.

The link also does not link directly to the specific article, but links to the entire magazine. If you want to link to a specific magazine article, you would need to use the link format above.

For Afrikanns, it would be:

https://www.jw.org/af/biblioteek/tydskrifte/wagtoring-nr2-2020-mei-jun/wat-sal-god-se-koninkryk-doen/

Customizable Subdomain

So you want something a bit more customized to you personally then using a1j as the subdomain.

With the Good News URL Shortener you can customize the subdomain!

You could change the link above to use a subdomain of your choice, such as your initials or first name and end up with this:

joel.jwgo.to/kingdom

But did it get clicked on?

Good question. You sent that URL to a person or a group of people, how many actually visited that web page?

What you may find somewhat unique about this URL shortener is that you can look at a report on how many times the URL was clicked!

So, you send someone a link to a video on jw.org. Wouldn't it be nice to know if they actually went to the page to view the video?

Now you can!

With click reporting, you will be able to count the video as a placement with a high degree of confidence.

Detailed Reports

Reporting on clicks is fully detailed. You will know when and where a link was clicked on.

Date and time and location is recorded and included in the report for each click.

Complete with visual graphs to show trends for the past 12 months.

Messaging

Another issue is, you would like for the recipient to be able to contact you, but you would prefer to keep your email address private. Now there is a simple solution.

In the example above, if you were to remove the last part of the URL so that it was just a1j.jwgo.to, the person would be taken to a page with a simple form that they could submit that would allow them to send you a message.

This keeps your anonymity while allowing you to receive replies straight to your email in-box.

Editable

All destination URLs are fully editable on existing shortened URLs. This means you can change your existing short URL from pointing to one target URL to pointing to a new target URL.

What does it cost?

Nothing at all! This is an entirely free service with no strings attached for non-commercial use to support Jehovah's Witnesses in letter writing. You won't receive any email from us other than the messages sent to you and things like password resets or any official announcements regarding the system.

Are there any restrictions?

Yes! The following rule MUST be adhered to at all times:

No spam! No spam! No spam!

If you include a shortened URL in an email communication or text message, the recipient of that email or message must have agreed to receive that message from you.

No Exceptions!

Sending to any type of Safe List is not acceptable.

Click Here if you need to report receiving a jwgo.to link in an unsolicited email.

Additionally, you can ONLY link to pages on jw.org. Any other links will be rejected.

With that said, let's get started shortening your URLs!

Screencast Tour and Explanation of Use.