How to create UTM codes for landing pages

A client came to me recently and asked me about UTM codes. My first response after reading their email was, 'WTF is a UTM code?'. It didn't take me long to find out. Now, I will share everything I know about UTM codes and how to make them.

A UTM code is a query string you add to the end of a URL to help you identify where landing page traffic comes from. For those that don't know, a query string is a kind of data you add to the end of a URL after a '?' character. Still don't get it? A URL with a query string looks like this...

https://jackchristian.com.au?query=string&string=query

When you create a landing page for a campaign or a product, you will probably link to it from various sources. You may have links from various social platforms, email campaigns, and paid ads. To help you track where you are getting the most traffic, you can add UTM codes to your landing page URL. Create a different UTM code for each source. Then when the traffic comes rolling in, you can go to your preferred analytics tool and track which codes appear the most often. That tells you which traffic source is performing the best.

If you have loads of money, you can use Bitly. They are a one-stop shop for all your digital marketing needs. They create UTM codes and shorten URLs. The trouble is, you have to pay.

For cheapskates like me, you can use free UTM generators. I told my client to use Buffer's Free UTM Generator. They only had a few links to create and it made it super easy for them. One snag they found was that the tool showed them the UTM URL on multiple lines and in plain text. That meant when they copied it into their social platforms, it got rejected. The URL needs to be encoded. Encoding your URL is super simple. Copy the plain text URL from the tool into your web browser and hit 'Enter'. When the page loads, copy the encoded version from the URL bar. Simple.

Another great option is utm.zone which does pretty much the same thing with link shortening on top. Link shortening is only necessary if people are going to see the link (like in an Instagram bio). If people aren't going to see the link, you can stick with your massive long URL string.

Now you know what a UTM code is. You have the same knowledge as I do. Congrats! We can all make UTM codes together and people can stop asking me how to do it. Wins all around!