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How to Personalize Your URL on LinkedIn

By
Real Estate Agent with Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc.

You were given a random URL that linked to your profile page when you first signed up for LinkedIn.  Yes, it included your name... but it also included a bunch of other letters and/or numbers.

If you didn't take the time to personalize your URL at that time, you probably moved on and didn't give it another thought - til now.  Yet it only takes a minute to change.

  1. After you log on to LinkedIn, click on the "Edit My Profile" tab of your profile page.
  2. Click on "Edit My Public Profile" (on the right of that page)
  3. At the top of the next page, one of the first things you'll see is your current URL.  Click on the word "Edit" to the right of that and type your name in the box.
  4. Click on the link button for "Set Address"

That's it.  You're done.  'Too easy to be true, wasn't it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While you're logged on to LinkedIn, let's take a look at your website links...

Linked In personalizationDo they read "My Website" or "My Blog"?  If so, let's fix that now to show the actual name of your website or blog (as you see on the left).

Make sure you're on the "Edit My Profile" tab, and scroll down to the section labeled "Websites".

  • Next to "My Website" you'll see a link for "Edit" - click on that
  • LinkedIn requires you to log in again before you can proceed, so do that now
  • One of the first things you'll see on the next page is something like this:

LinkedIn screen shot

  • In the left column, change "My Website" to "Other" (and do the same for any additional websites)
  • Type the name of your website(s) in the middle column (this will be the link that people see)
  • Type (or copy and paste) the URL for your website in the right column
  • Scroll to the bottom and click on "SAVE CHANGES"

Isn't that easy?  I'll bet you haven't spent more than five minutes making those changes and reading this blog post!

I have to give credit where credit is due because I wasn't smart enough to figure this out myself.  I learned it a few years ago from an Activerain post by Bobby Carroll.  Thanks, Bobby... 'just paying it forward to a new generation of Activerain members.

Posted by

This infoMargaret Wodarmation was provided to you by Margaret Woda, an Associate Broker with Long & Foster Real Estate in Crofton Maryland. Contact Margaret today for general real estate information or to learn how she can help you buy or sell a home in Annapolis, Bowie, Crofton, Davidsonville, Gambrills, and Odenton. 

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Comments(17)

Glenn Roberts
Retired - Seattle, WA

That's a nifty enhancement. Every little bit helps. So, I'm off to Linked-In.

Oct 07, 2010 03:38 AM
Curt Baumgarth
Mesa, AZ
inactive

Oh this is good to know!  I'm sure Ill still forget what I made it though:)  Thanks!

Oct 07, 2010 03:38 AM
Margaret Goss
@Properties - Winnetka, IL
Chicago's North Shore & Winnetka Real Estate

Thank you - I have recently decided to work more on LinkedIn so your post was very timely for me!

Oct 07, 2010 03:53 AM
Kathryn Maguire
GreatNorfolkHomes.com (757) 560-0881 - Chesapeake, VA
Serving Chesapeake, Norfolk, VA Beach

Thanks for this!  I have neglected my LinkedIn profile. One more thing on my to-do list!

Oct 07, 2010 03:56 AM
Connie Harvey
Pilkerton Realtors - Brentwood, TN
Realtor - Nashville TN Real Estate

Margaret, I'm embarrassed to admit I haven't looked at my profile on LinkIn since I joined it a few years ago. I probably have some serious cleaning up to do. Thanks for the kick in the butt nudge. :)

Oct 07, 2010 05:17 AM
Barb Szabo, CRS
RE/MAX Above & Beyond - Cleveland, OH
E-pro Realtor, Cleveland Ohio Homes

Margaret, I learned this from Mike Mueller and heard it repeated again at a virtual rebar camp. It's great advice and well worth posting more than once. Nice job.

Oct 07, 2010 06:02 AM
Margaret Woda
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - Crofton, MD
Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation

Glenn - I thought about it this morning when I noticed someone who is pretty tech-savvy hadn't yet changed there URL.

Curt - You can do it!

Margaret - It's so easy to sign up and forget.  Yet consumers and others do refer to LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. when they're trying to learn something about us.

Oct 07, 2010 07:32 AM
Margaret Woda
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - Crofton, MD
Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation

Kathryn - The good thing about this "one more thing to do" is that you can check it off very quickly.  It shouldn't take you more than five minutes, if that.

Connie - Don't feel bad.  I was surprsied to discover that I had already changed the URL.  I must have done it when I changed the website info.

Barb - I was very grateful when Bobby posted something about this topic many moons ago, and it was just the nudge I needed to make these changes.  It's so easy... why wouldn't someone do it?

But Barb... the link to your website still says "My website"  - Don't you want to change that to the name of your website?  There's absolutely no SEO value to a link that says "My website".

Oct 07, 2010 07:35 AM
Erby Crofutt
B4 U Close Home Inspections&Radon Testing (www.b4uclose.com) - Lexington, KY
The Central Kentucky Home Inspector, Lexington KY

Something nice and new I needed to know.  Changes made.  Thanks!

 

-

Oct 07, 2010 10:37 AM
FN LN
Toronto, ON

Margaret - While I had setup a custom URL on LinkedIn when I joined, I did not use the "other" for the website option.  Thanks for the heads up.

Oct 07, 2010 02:01 PM
Margaret Woda
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - Crofton, MD
Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation

Erby - Wasn't that fast and easy?

Marc - I wouldn't have known about that option if Bobby Carroll hadn't written about it on Activerain.  Many tens of thousands of people have joined Activerain since then.

Oct 07, 2010 02:48 PM
Joan Whitebook
BHG The Masiello Group - Nashua, NH
Consumer Focused Real Estate Services

This is priceless information.. And somewhere along the line I missed it when Bobby posted this information.  Thanks for posting this information again.

Oct 07, 2010 06:06 PM
Margaret Woda
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - Crofton, MD
Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation

Joan - You're welcome.  I can see from looking at other people's LinkedIn pages that most folks haven't figured this out on their own.  Yet it's so easy!

Oct 07, 2010 11:24 PM
Tammy Lankford,
Lane Realty Eatonton, GA Lake Sinclair, Milledgeville, 706-485-9668 - Eatonton, GA
Broker GA Lake Sinclair/Eatonton/Milledgeville

I'll let you know if I can't figure it out... looks easy enough.  I'm off to check it out now.

Oct 08, 2010 07:09 AM
Renée Donohue~Home Photography
Savvy Home Pix - Allegan, MI
Western Michigan Real Estate Photographer

Bookmarking this to revisit.  Just logged in to linked in for the first time in who knows how long!

Oct 08, 2010 08:31 AM
Debe Maxwell, CRS
Savvy + Company (704) 491-3310 - Charlotte, NC
The RIGHT CHARLOTTE REALTOR!

Okay, like Renee, I've got to come back later when I have more bandwidth!  You're SO correct as to how to display the link with the searchable text and I think when I set up my LinkedIn (and MANY other accounts), I did just the name of the site.  I need to go back and check them all.  

Hey, do you happen to have a few hours to spare that you would share with me to get all of this crap done?!!  LOL

Hugs and can't WAIT to see you pulling into Charlotte, NC!!!  Bring our buddy Pat with you too!

Oct 08, 2010 05:41 PM
Margaret Woda
Long & Foster Real Estate, Inc. - Crofton, MD
Maryland Real Estate & Military Relocation

Debe - I see you're using the same strategy I do to fit in Activerain... trade a few hours of sleep for a few hours of Activerain.  You did it on the back end, and I'm doing it on the front end.  LOL.

Renee - Welcome back!  Hope you have a lotof time to spend catching up.

Tammy - LIke so many things we put off doing... it's just a matter of taking the time to do it, and it doesn't really take that much time, after all.

Oct 08, 2010 10:38 PM