I wrote a script and setup one of these url shortening websites myself some time ago.
The main problems you have are competing with the very established sites like tinyurl.com and preventing the urls from being used in spam.
Competing with sites like tinyurl.com is not easy - they have been established for years, and will result in you spending large amounts of money and/or time on promotion. Additionally, their url is smaller than yours.
The second issue of urls being used in spam is very hard to stop. Sure, you can delete a url as soon as you're notified that it has been used in spam, but by then the damage is already done. Not to the spammer, but to *you* as you may well be associated with the spam in the eyes of others.
One final consideration is how you will actually benefit from providing this service. Advertising more than likely isn't going to make you rich with it. Cross propotion of other sites/services you run can be beneficial. Whether it's "beneficial enough" to cover your bandwidth costs should it become successfull, who knows.
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Joshua Powell
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