Previously I've posted two ways how to short Google+ profile URL, using Google Profiles option and using Gplus.to as a third party application.In this post, I want to share with you the another way. This guide will show you how to create a short URL on your own web host that will redirect to Google Plus. So be sure you already have your own domain like .com, .net, .info or else and have access to your hosting server (no matter you rent or you get it free).
After completing these instructions, when someone types in http://www.yourdomain.com/myusername, they will be automatically redirected to your G+ profile page.
3 (Three) Ways to Shorten Google+ URL from Your Domain
Actually there are 3 different ways to set up a Google Plus URL on your domain from the easiest, hard way and long way:
- The easy way: Set-up a meta redirect in an index.html file
- The hard way: Use a .htaccess or mod_rewrite redirection
- The long way: Set URL shortening software on your web server
How to Create Your Own Vanity Google+ URL
Step 1: Create a new text file on your computer.
- On Windows, right click on the Desktop, select New > Text Document.
- On Mac, go to Finder on the top right hand side of your screen, type in "TextEdit" and press return.
Step 2: Give it a name index.html. Make sure there is no extension added after ".html", like "index.html.txt". If so, you need to rename it to just index.html.
Step 3: When a dialog box opened, click Yes.
Step 4: Right click to the file, Open With > Notepad.
Step 5: Copy and paste the following lines in to the new text file:
<html> <title>Google+</title> <head> <meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=..." /> </head> <body> </body> </html>
Step 6: Visit your Google+ profile page in your browser to get your profile url:
Step 7: Copy your Google+ url to the text file so your new text file will be like this:
<html>
<title>Google+</title>
<head>
<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="0;url=https://plus.google.com/u/0/106629607806000497486/posts" />
</head>
<body>
</body>
</html>Step 8: Save the file then close it.
Step 9: Login to your web hosting account or you can using an FTP program to connect to your web hosting account.
Step 10: (For cPanel user) go to File Manager then browse to the publicly accessible web directory. Often, this directory is called "public_html" or "www".
Step 11: Create a new directory based on your Google+ username wanted.
The name of this directory will be what people type in to be directed to your Google+ account. For example, if your website URL is "http://www.mydomain.com", and you want to use "GooglePlusInfo" as your Google+ username, then give the directory name "GooglePlusInfo". So people will be directed to your Google+ account whenever they visit http://www.mydomain.com/GooglePlusInfo.
Step 12: Upload the text file that you created, index.html, in to the new directory you created.
Step 13: You're done!
Test your redirection by visiting your website with the new directory that you have created. Such as "http://www.mydomain.com/GooglePlusInfo" then you should be immediately redirected to your Google+ account.
Good luck!
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