HOW TO: Claim Your Facebook Page Name -Create a Short, Memorable URL

REPOST: I guess this would technically be the 2nd Edition of the Original Post about Claiming Your Facebook Page Name.  I have had many requests for this information and have sent links to many people who have those really long, impossible to remember facebook urls.  For that reason I though I should post it again, with a little update here and there of things I have learned since the first post.

If you have a Facebook page for your blog or business then you want to be sure that you have 'Claimed Your Name.' What does that mean? It means that the name you entered in Facebook as your business may not truly be 'yours' on Facebook. There is another step to complete so that the URL for your Facebook page looks like this:

http://facebook.com/TheBabyStorePlus

instead of this:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/pages/TheBabyStorePlus/3181573989331?ref=ts

Besides making sure that someone else doesn't use your blog or business name in their Facebook URL, it also makes it so much nicer to provide someone with your shortened, easy to remember url.

Claiming your name is very easy to do...although Facebook doesn't make it very easy to find the instructions on how to do it. I found the instructions a long time ago and have been sharing them with others ever since...so I thought it would be simpler if I just posted the instructions here for everyone to use, rather than me digging out my saved doc file every time someone wanted them, I can just refer them to here.


These instructions are quite simple, but you must follow them to the letter (no matter how dumb the instruction might sound, and don't skip ahead or change words that do not specifically say to change them).

Assuming that you have already created your Facebook Page...do the following:
1.) To start, make sure you are signed in to your personal facebook account.


2.) In the Browser Window, paste (or type the URL below EXACTLY AS YOU SEE IT (DON'T change the word "username":

http://facebook.com/username then hit go (or enter).

3.) A new page will open with a box that says something to the effect of: "Your username has been set....." and will most likely show your personal facebook user name like this: http://facebook.com/JaneDoe. (or whatever your personal account name is) and just below that it, it will say: Set a user name for pages. Click on that link.


4.) Another box will open just below that. It says: Each page can have a username....." Click on the drop down box arrow to see your pages. Scroll down to the name of your blog or business page that you created, and click on it.

Then follow the instructions to create a user name as close to your actual business name as possible so it will make it easy for people to remember and be able to find you on facebook. BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT SPELLING BECAUSE YOU CANNOT CORRECT THE USER NAME ONCE IT HAS BEEN CREATED! Then it will show you a URL for your new page, like mine: http://facebook.com/TheBabyStorePlus). From then on you will be able to just use that URL instead of the really long nonsense ones.

I hope it works for you on the first try. If not simply start from the beginning and read the instructions closely. Facebook does have a minimum requirement of 25 fans before they will allow you to 'Claim Your Name'.


NOTE ABOUT OLD URL's: For those concerned about having to go back to every place that you have placed your old url and changing it to the new shortened one...don't worry.  Laurie of "Grandma Sez So" and I got to test that theory out recently.  She had her old facebook url in the signature line of her emails, so after she created her New Facebook Page URL {http://www.facebook.com/GrandmaSezSo}, we tried both the new and old urls, and they both still worked.  She is such a sweet person, you should go 'Like' her page!



If this works for you, please post a comment below and include your New Page URL, I will 'Like' you...or whatever they are calling it at that time.





~Anna, the Baby Store Lady

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