I set up personal and business profiles on google+ quite a while ago although i haven't posted on it for nearly a year. I don't know how many LJN members have an account or how widely the platform is used.
Anyway, last year google rolled out the ability for some google+ users to claim a custom url (if they met certain criteria). Usually your url is a list of random letters and numbers which aren't pretty if you want to put your url on any marketing material. Having the option to use a custom url means that it becomes much more personal, the string of random letters and numbers can be replaced with your name or company name.
When i first got the email (months ago) from google telling me that i have been approved for a custom url, i was naturally excited but did not do anything about it. Having had a bit of free time recently i decided to look in to it and discovered some useful information which may make you think before diving in and claiming your url.
- google have reserved the right to charge for the custom url at any time in the future if they decide to
- the url cannot be changed once you have claimed it
- they are not quite as pleasing to the eye as they could be. Google have allowed me to choose from two suggestions (you can't make your own up) (1) +Ecogardenmaintenancecouk (2) +Ecogardenmaintenancechurchfenton
I have decided not to claim the url as yet in case the stupid "couk" or "churchfenton" are allowed to be removed in the future. My business name does not include either of these suffixes and what if in the future i move and can't change the churchfenton part.
The possibility that the url might cost me at some point in the future is also slightly worrying. Google+ is not very well used at the moment but many people believe that its role in the social media world is increasing and it would be perilous to ignore the might of google. Food for thought.
P.S i wish it would stop raining
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