When I say "Vanity URL" you automatically associate that with Facebook's recent land grab where they allowed users to display their preferred username in the profile URL.
Example: www.facebook.com/lynnterry
But what I'm actually referring to is a true Vanity URL, which is a domain name that you register and then point to your social media profile. Example: LynnTerryonFacebook.com
A vanity URL is a domain name, created to point to something to which it is related and indicated in the name of the URL. In many cases this is done by a company to point to a specific product or advertising campaign microsite. In theory, vanity URLs are creatively linked to something making them easier to remember than a more random link. source: wikipedia
I understand the reasoning, or I believe I do. I use domain redirects for affiliate promotions all the time. The perk is "owning the property" so you are at liberty to redirect that link elsewhere at any time...
My question is: why put so much stock and energy into a social media profile? If that particular social media site disappears in the future, what's the big deal?
I recommend you put your time & energy into your own properties. Use the social media sites as they are meant to be used for sure - but for the most part you should focus on building your content and your brand on your own web pages.
I see a lot of people creating URLs like this, such as lynnonfacebook.com or lynnontwitter.com - meaning you buy domain names and redirect them to your profile pages - but honestly... it seems pretty much pointless.
I use "lynnterry" consistently as my username, so you'll easily find me at:
http://www.facebook.com/lynnterry
http://www.youtube.com/lynnterry
http://www.myspace.com/lynnterry
http://www.twitter.com/lynnterry
Not only is my username consistent, so I can easily say "I'm /lynnterry on any of the major social sites - let's connect!" but it also keeps the continuity with the social URLs as well. People that use twitter or facebook know the typical URL to find a user, so a domain name is just another point of potential confusion - or an unnecessary thing for them to remember.
Agree or disagree?
If you create vanity URLs for your social media profiles, I'd love to hear your reasoning on it.
Best,
About Lynn Terry
Hi Lynn,
I agree with this, I shared this in Greader with a note saying I have noticed this recently, wondered why they bother myself.
Would be a far better choice to have say... robsellenonsocailmedia.com and have a page you own with links to the relevant site profile pages.
I think that would be more of an evergreen URL considering you can change the profiles, add them etc over time.
Glad you posted this, be interesting to hear from those who have done this.
Rob
P.s hope all is well with you and the kids. 🙂
Hi Lynn, not sure if this is a cooincidense or not but, As an advanced newbie myself I suddenly had the urge to buy www."GarysFaceBook".com because my Sis-in-law asked my wife..,"So, how do I find ~Garys FaceBook~?..." Thus, I bought www."GarysFaceBook".com. (try it here if you want → http://www.GarysFaceBook.com ).
The reason I paid $8 for that is, 1-The "advanced" part of me says "Because it was there, I mean because I could. The "but stall a ~Newbie~ part of me says....
Hmmm, "that's right I DO now OWN those new names (I bought FaceBookGary.com also), I could build something cool with those names...COOL! Wow! Why didn't I think of that?
Thus, I am a "Student" of Lynn Terry! 😀
Gary
GanderCo
P.S. Student of you too Traci!
I'm not getting the point, Gary. If you're offline (ie talking) you could just tell them to search for you by name on Facebook. You showed up as the #1 result for me when I searched "gary anderson".
If you're giving a URL, why not just give your facebook URL?
I Think we're all in the same book, but not on the same page concerning the "Vanity" url. This is the first time I've ever seen the term "Vanity URL."
I think, maybe, I can sum it all up quickly with 2 statements, but with a Question kind of angle:
1) My Sister-in-law said she could not find me on face book by using the name "Gary Anderson", I didn't really check into it, I just thought, "Hmm". Kind of like that. 🙂 So Personally for me, it was worth the $15+ just for the fun and experimentation. And I must be completely honest and human, and admit it was fun to impress my "In-Laws" 😀
2) There was no point, beyond point #1. It was just 80%...The same reason climbers want to climb MT Everest.."Because it's there."
I am however very intrigued at what Traci said about possibly causing a confusion. Do you guys think that my "Gary's FaceBook (dot) com could hinder my marketing efforts? I didn't think of that at the time. Did I do a big OOPS!?
In Closing:
That's why I'm here learning from whom "I" believe to be the best! (well, Ed is pretty cool too) 😉
So instruct me I beg of you. I can take it! (did I almost sound like, Shakespeare?).
Gary
GanderCo
P.S. Lynn, Traci: Can you guys tell that my gramer and spellink is getting more awesomer? (I can't help myself, lol)
No, it's not going to hurt your marketing. When you're online and you drop a link - just drop the link to your facebook URL so people know exactly where they are going if they click on it. If you want to use the vanity URL offline with friends & family, or during audio or video online, no big deal.
You're not really branding yourself anyway, are you? I imagine you'll be branding "stayboosted" across the social media profiles?
Yes, I am branding "StayBoosted" but as CJ and I have both discussed, and have been taught, wait, hmm, ok, If something bad were to happen to "ClickNewz", You'd still be in good shape coz it's not all about"Clicknewz," it's mostly about "LynnTerry".
So yes, "StayBoosted" for now and 'hopefully' forever, but just in case, Cj Hallock (which sounds cool btw) and I, are both working "at" building our own separate versions of "StayBoosted" with our own unique "Flavors" if you will, of Staying Boosted.
"..IF.." StayBoosted goes under for any reason, "CJ Hallock" will always be known as one of the "StayBoosted Guys" and also will myself as either "Gary Anderson" (which sounds pretty boring btw), or "GanderCo," or maybe just the "Most Handsomest" guy. (LOL!)
So! umm, wait. I forgot the question...hmmm, OH! Yeah, ok! I think I just Over-Shot the "Vanity url" thing-um-bobber but it leads me to what I think is a smart question (I hope)...
Does one need to brand their name as well as any VRE, like you have? (and Ed_Dale, and Trici Knoppe, here's a good one.."Guru Bob" aka- Robert Somerville)
Sudden Stop!
Gary. As always, Staying Boosted!
P.S. I'm glad I chose a niche outside of the Internet Marketing niche
I agree Lynn and find it a bit confusing when I see a vanity URL used, because then I can't easily go and connect with them on the social media site.
For example for Twitter, if I just put @TraciKnoppe, or http://www.twitter.com/TraciKnoppe you know right away what my username is, what the social network is and how to connect with me.
With vanity URLs, it's not immediately apparent what the username is; it's actually masking your username - which seems counterproductive to me. If you want to connect then make it uber simple for people to get to your username. Don't hide it within a vanity URL.
The only time I did anything remotely like that is before Facebook had the new vanity usernames, and had those really long usernames, I did create a redirect through my domain to make it a cleaner URL to not only put on my business cards, to give out to people. I no longer need to do that. Same with Fan Pages, prior to reaching 100 Fans. Again, I no longer need to do that, but a redirect from your domain to your fan page would be a good temporary solution in this instance, until you reach your 100 fans and can get your 'vanity url' via Facebook.
Great topic!
Traci
Here's something interesting that happened to me in the past two weeks. But first, like you Lynn, I use FatLossQuickie in just about every profile I have except Facebook. So it's not my name, but my brand.
I avoided buying vanity url's for a long time even when everyone was recommending it. But then I went ahead and did it as a redirect to my Twitter account. And guess what.
When I use the redirected url in my Aweber emails it marked it as spam and gave my email with that url redirect a spam score of 2.O just for using it. Hmmm... pretty strange.
What's weird is that it wasn't until I used the url in Aweber that it actually got reported as spam. And it was before I hit the send button.
Scott Tousignant
Very interesting...
Any idea WHY "everyone was recommending it"... ?
Probably some guru got a new domain name reseller account or something & it started there with them trying to make money.
OR, it could have started BEFORE Facebook got the vanity URLs and it's just still being spread around as *the* thing to do; whether from a webinar that a 'guru' did from a while back, or some 'guru' is still teaching outdated info - who knows.
Interesting observation Scott. 🙂 Thanks for mentioning that.
Why IS "everybody" recommending it?!?
It's so much easier for everyone all around to slap their preferred username on the social media sites.
And sometimes those sites DO disappear, and then what?
Too much redirection makes you dizzy.
Dan
The reasons that people were suggesting it were kind of silly actually. One person actually claimed that it was a great way to increase your following because it was easier for your readers to remember the url.
Another reason was "They look prettier"... good reason 😉
My personal name is long and hard to spell, so I can see why someone would want to recommend a url redirect for me... Although I see that over 200 people search my name on Google each month and they are getting the spelling right 😉
Yes, very interesting with the url redirect for Twitter getting black listed. I tried it with 2 url redirects to my Twitter account http://www.Twitter.com/FatLossQuickie The redirects were http://www.TwitterAccountability.com and http://www.FatLossTwitter.com
After pasting my message in my Aweber broadcast I noticed a score of 2.0 before I sent it out and it said that my url redirect was blacklisted at http://www.uribl.com/
So I entered in my other url redirect and it checked out OK... until I posted it in an Aweber follow up message... without even sending it out.
I don't get it? I haven't noticed with my other affiliate redirects, but I will check it out today.
Scott Tousignant
Pretty shallow reasons. This is really the heart of my blog post this morning - people jumping on board and blindly 'following the leader' without thinking about why!
As far as Aweber issue with those URLs, could be many of them aren't really pointing to genuine Twitter or Facebook accounts, but spam sites, so any domains that contains the words Twitter or Facebook, outside of the authentic domains for those, they must consider to be high spam risks.
I personally find it confusing. I know what I'm clicking on when I see Facebook or Twitter profile with someone's username, I do not know where I might be going when I click on a 'vanity URL' - could be taking me anywhere, and might not be where they are trying to make me *think* it's taking me.... thus the spam label as Aweber.
What if your name is a little more common and is taken already? For example there is a Chuck Morgan the baseball player, the insurance agent, the real estate agent, the folk singer, the lawyer, Chuck the tv show with another show charecter named Morgan, a multitude of companies with Morgan in the name, and it is already taken on facebook as well as well as most other sites.
In checking Lynn Terry in google every link is "our" Lynn Terry except for 2 that were a singer named Terry Lynn. It isn't until page 3 you fine a "Barbara Lynn Terry". Under Traci Knoppe every link was for "Traci Knoppe", the blooger on page one and two as well.
Obviously much of this is due to both your great SEO capabilities and longevity on the net as well. I don't have any vanity url's but do you have any thoughts for those of us with more common names?
Thanks
This is a case where you need to brand yourself to your industry. I believe I've seen you use rvchuck before, correct? Pick a username you can use consistently across the social networks.
If I find someone I really enjoy following on twitter, I search them in Google to find other places to connect. So in the example above, searching "rvchuck" should return your blog, facebook, myspace, linkedin, etc.
Got it. I will do that and think of some others for my ventures outside the rv business. Thank you. 🙂
GREAT LYNN! And Chuck just did a GREAT job at asking the question that I myself was going to get around to...
Lynn, way back in march,... naa, lets just keep it short;
So Lynn, (as it pertains to me), based on "Chuck Morgans" question/statement: I think, Maybe, I have already by default (and by accident too), Branded myself as "GanderCo" which btw for those who are wondering where THAT silly name came from, stands for "Gary-Andersons-Company."
Much like Chuck Morgans situation, There is a "Gary, Indiana." AND an "Anderson Indiana" AND a once famous football kicker named "Gary Anderson", but if you... umm, I'm babbling again, Bottom Line:_____________
Lynn, do you think I should stick with "GanderCo"? It's not all that attractive, but I OWN it! (snicker). Or is "GanderCo" so unattractive that I should start over, and I can and will if necessary.
Thanks again! (and again and again)
Gary.
GanderCo
Chuck - if you can not get your username with Facebook because it's already taken, then what I would do - to protect your branding for YOU is to keep it simple: create a 301 redirect from your web site to your Facebook profile using .htaccess
There are many tutorials on the web for how to do this, but you would want to redirect to something like:
http://www.yourdomain.com/Facebook-ChuckMorgan
This is clearly telling folks where you're sending them. You can change that up to read however you want really, this is just an example - but I would include Facebook and your name in there to brand yourself and to let them know this is for your Facebook profile.
Hey that was a cool tip Traci! Awesome!
Gary
GanderCo
P.S. I hate typos, especially when I miss the "r" button when typing my First name. 😀
Nice to have a rare name. 🙂
I like consistency so it throws me for a loop when someone has an odd vanity URL for Twitter (or similar). I say save your money and keep things consistent, using one main username if possible for all social media. Not sure I get why people use them. It's just another added expense that I don't need LOL
We're on the same page this morning, Traci. Goes right along with my morning tweet:
"Don't do anything blindly. Even if an expert says you should. Use common sense, research, and make sure it applies to YOU or your business."
I wonder that someone got the bright idea to use a vanity URL, and so as not to seem like the the silly lone ranger they went out and suggested everyone else do the same - a little self confirmation process.
I have no idea what the point is, honestly.
Even before Facebook allowed us to use our usernames in the URL, my profile link (hideous as it was) ranked #1 on Google for "facebook lynn terry" - and people could easily find me through search & networking.
There's no SEO to it. There obviously isn't any "visitor optimization" to it...
I did hear someone say that once, btw: "ooh just imagine the seo potential". The actual file name, or URL, carries very little weight in overall seo strategy. Its the content of the page and the inbound links (relevancy & reputation). I could easily get my profile to rank #1 for "Ed Dale" if I wanted to. Not that I would want to. Just sayin...
Ed dale sounds... terrible, Rob Sellen sounds better.. 😉 justsayin.
Calm down Ed, just joking. 😀
Thanks Lynn! I got the hint/lesson from this comment:
~“ooh just imagine the seo potential"..."file name, or URL, carries very little weight in overall seo strategy"~
As it relates to the "To- .html or not to- ,html" thing.
Thanks again!
P.S. Hey! I made a short comment, YAY!! 😀
Well I would rank #1 for Traci Knoppe on anything because well... how many other Traci Knoppe's are there?! Not many. LOL
Before the vanity URL's at Facebook, and for those who cann't get their own name because it's common - I would suggest that they either pick a different name (#1 suggestion), or use .htaccess to redirect to their long ugly profile URL.
I don't have a vanity URL other than my name.com which I haven't done anything with but I'll admit to thinking about it for some reason I can't now even remember. I must have heard it somewhere. Thanks for saving me the work and the money. You keep blogging and posting and I'll keep learning.
Why not use it a central for all of what you do, a "placeholder" for your other URL's if you like or even just your social sites.
This would be something you could solely promote then, one page. 🙂
Rob
I agree, if you have a true vanity URL like yourname.com then use that as a one-top site to promote YOU and all it is that you do. Have your bio, a list of all your web sites and social networking profiles. That would be a great place for such a site.
Then, depending on the situation, it's easier to give someone ONE url, than to point them to 2, 3 or 4 of your sites, especially if they may have need/use for several of your sites. 😉
This is good if you are beginning to be known by your name, especially if you do any public speaking, coaching, etc.. If you have a common name, and the domain is not yet taken - GET IT NOW! You never know what you might want to do with it in it the future.
What we have been talking about in this thread, are not vanity names like yourname.com it was more yournameontwitter.com - something like that.
on that note... you should also register your childrens' names as domains on their behalf 😉
If we were only using one social media site then it might make sense but most of us are on at least a few...Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc. So I think the real issue here is to be using a consistent user name across different social media sites. Then people can find you anywhere. I think you're absolutely right about that.
I agree, use your name or brand yourself ... no one is going to remember a vanity url, it is just ... well, vanity 🙂
I also prefer to keep my one property and get social media profiles all with the same name pointing to it. One thing is for sure: My site remains there as long as I'm there to work, but I don't have the same assurance about the social media!
To insure consistent usernames across hundreds of social media sites (and thus be easily found, and also prevent squatting), check out ClaimMyName... It does the dirty work for you, and takes under 5 minutes of your time. http://www.claimmyname.net
@lynnterry You are lucky in that "lynnterry" has been available for you to register across your social networks of choice. It is still available however on quite a number more, FYI!
Great post!
Great conversation -- and first time I had heard the term "Vanity URL" (or maybe I did read it when I did take my Facebook one)
Diana Walker is a very common name - and there is a White House PhotoJournalist who ranks above me in Google - and I'm always checking to see if I'll rank above her one day!...
I've been very fortunate to get:
http://twitter.com/DianaWalker
http://facebook.com/DianaWalker (I grabbed it as soon as it was offerred and now I realize how lucky that was)
http://www.flickr.com/DianaWalker
The only Diana Walker I didn't get was on YouTube... and in that case I used an easy to remember Number following my name --- and that is another idea for people that I don't see mentioned above...
http://www.youtube.com/DianaWalker2010
I agree - buying a domain name and then redirecting it to each of these social sites sounds totally unnecessary and maybe even counter-producting, and it's interesting to wonder how the idea got started?...
Diana Walker
I meant "counter-productive", not "counter-producting" !
Diana
This is the first time I have heard the term vanity URL. I carefully read over your blog and the responses and came to the conclusion that the vanity URL seems kind of like a waste of time, like most of you said. It just seems like a waste to register for a domain name for each social media outlet. Especially if you are an SEO company that is representing different clients. To me it would seem like more work and money spent to register their preferred domain names, when it would be so much simpler to redirect them. Thanks for all the insight. As someone who is just now learning about the world of SEO, social media and SEM, this type of information is very helpful.
I'm new to affiliate marketing, and totally new to social media, and like others here I don't see the advantage to a vanity URL. Seems to me it's more like the designer label craze I wasn't too fond of. Or buying a tee-shirt with a company logo on it. You become a walking billboard for the company which is more valuable to them, than the tee-shirt is to you!
Excellent point Lynn! Keeping it consistent will really help in building a brand or an identity. Having the same username in your case for the different networks will make it easier for people to find you on all the sites. I also try to keep it consistent with the username, and use the same one for our accounts on twitter, facebook, etc. Thanks!
Good point - THX. I have my one domain name that I promote. If facebook, twiter what so ever disappears I still have my own site 🙂 AND you lean a lot by making it on your own.
First time I've heard of this term as well. The sceptic in me thinks its just another revenue making opportunity for the owners of the sites/domain names but on the other hand can help with branding oneself so may well have a legitimate purpose - not sure at this stage, still too much of a newbie to judge.
Personally, I think purchasing a domain name to them point back to a social networking profile is a waste of both time and a domain name. Is Facebook.com/username or Twitter.com/username REALLY that hard to remember? I don't think so.
I mostly work in the Direct Response arena where we use TV and Radio infomercials to sell our products. We haven't used vanity url's to point to social profiles, but we do use them to point to specific "trackable" sales pages. Also we can track the value of the media through the url that is used to get to the page.
If you need to track the traffic to your social media pages, I could see that being useful. Knowing where your efforts are best spent makes sense to me.
As far as the question "why put your time and energy into something that may go away", I'd say is purely a financial decision. If people are more likely to click GarysFacebook.com than facebook.com/gary - it could be money in your pocket (minus the $8/year of course). 🙂
P.S. usernamecheck.com is a good site to see if your username is taken elsewhere.
I use domain redirects for affiliate promotions and offline campaigns. That's just smart marketing 😉
You bring up a good point... I wonder that tracking is their reason?
Um i don't know if i would have vanity urls for a social site but we do use them to create shorter urls for mailshots and flyers.
No, it’s not going to hurt your marketing. When you’re online and you drop a link - just drop the link to your facebook URL so people know exactly where they are going if they click on it. If you want to use the vanity URL offline with friends & family, or during audio or video online, no big deal.
You’re not really branding yourself anyway, are you? I imagine you’ll be branding “stayboosted” across the social media profiles?
Seems like the vanity URL idea is just another way for the social media sites to make their service more enticing.
Actually, I don't use Facebook for business purposes. But after reading this, maybe I should. I guess I assume that people that surfing Facebook, are not looking to buy a product...at least at that moment.
I actually use a rather consistent username in all of my social profiles, i guess it would be easier for my friends to catch me up there.
But what I’m actually referring to is a true Vanity URL, which is a domain name that you register and then point to your social media profile. Example: LynnTerryonFacebook.com
A vanity URL is a domain name, created to point to something to which it is related and indicated in the name of the URL. In many cases this is done by a company to point to a specific product or advertising campaign microsite. In theory, vanity URLs are creatively linked to something making them easier to remember than a more random link. source: wikipedia
I agree it's important to have the consistency of your user name across the board. When I first started my blog I opened all my social sites with MarketLikeAChick as my user name...which is ok since it's consistent, but as I look back I wish I had done it with my name: /coreesilvera.
People who don't know you personally can contact you easily since you're using vanity URL. It's also a great way to build your popularity right? Much beneficial for your friends and relatives who want to know the newest update in you.
I like the idea of vanity url's but really see no value in all these local companies storming facebook in order to get there url registered. On another note when the vanity urls came available I registered my friends account to facebook.com/iamanidiot LOL
I completely agree. I registered my vanity url for my personal blog years ago and probably a good thing, too. I'm not the only Patty Gale, so if I were to try to register it today, most likely, it wouldn't be available.
I, too, use pattygale as my username for Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. I don't for YouTube as we're using our company's name on YouTube and on the Facebook fan page.
My kids names are too common, so they are not available as domain names. Actually, both of my sons' names were also the same names of a couple of top 10 school baseball and football players, so that didn't work. Their last name is not Gale, by the way.
I tried registering Emily's name, but apparently, it also belongs to a lot of other Emily Gale's, too.
Some of the best advice you gave is to work on your own website and spend less time on things that don't make a difference like vanity names at Facebook and other social sites. The only thing I can see this useful for is if you have a name that could be much more easily remembered using a vanity URL.
I think vanity URL is also important overall because of the SEO benefits it would have. it is important to ensure the URL contains structures that you would want to be associated with via a keywords search.
The other usefulness of social profiles that augment your own website is the rank the domain already has. If you have a page on facebook, it is likely to rank higher than a new domain more easily, so by combining SEO strategies with the different sites you can achieve better ranking overall for your chosen keywords.