Every advisor on Policy Stack receives a permanent profile URL in the format /advisors/your-slug. This is your vanity URL — a clean, shareable link to your public profile that you can use in marketing materials, email signatures, and social media.
What the Vanity URL Is
Your vanity URL is the direct link to your public advisor profile. It follows the pattern:
https://policystack.co/advisors/your-slug
The slug is the last segment of the URL — typically a lowercase version of your name or practice (e.g., john-smith, smith-financial). This URL is permanent, public, and accessible to anyone with the link, regardless of your directory visibility setting.
The Short Link Is a Different Address
Some practices also have a short address enabled, in the format policystack.co/your-slug (no /advisors/). It is a separate instrument with a different destination:
/advisors/your-slug | /your-slug | |
|---|---|---|
| Opens | Your public advisor profile | The Policy Stack home page |
| Attribution | None | Attaches your referral code to the visitor |
| Availability | Every advisor | Only where the short link has been enabled |
Because the short link lands on the Policy Stack home page rather than your profile, it works as a referral entry point, not as a way to show someone your credentials. Use /advisors/your-slug when you want a prospect to read your profile.
The short address resolves only for practices that have it enabled. If yours is not enabled, policystack.co/your-slug returns a "page not found" error — check it yourself before putting it on printed material. Contact support to ask whether your practice has the short link.
How Slugs Are Set
Your slug is chosen during advisor onboarding when you first create your profile. The onboarding flow prompts you to select a slug, with your name pre-filled as a suggestion.
Slug rules:
- Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens only — no spaces, underscores, or special characters
- Must be unique — no two advisors can share the same slug
- Minimum 3 characters — single-letter or two-letter slugs are not allowed
You can change your slug yourself in Settings → Practice Settings → Profile Slug. Choose deliberately even so: this URL is part of your professional presence, and renaming retires the old address — links to the previous slug (including any short-link form) stop working, so anything printed or published with the old URL needs updating.
Using Your Vanity URL in Marketing
Your vanity URL is designed to be shared. Common places to include it:
- Email signature — add your Policy Stack profile link alongside your website and phone number
- Business cards — include the full URL or a shortened version pointing to it
- Social media bios — LinkedIn, Twitter/X, or any platform where prospects find you
- Printed materials — brochures, flyers, or presentation slides
- Client communications — direct prospects to your profile when introducing your practice
Because the URL is clean and readable (/advisors/john-smith), it works well in printed contexts where prospects need to type it manually. Avoid using URL shorteners that obscure the destination — the Policy Stack URL itself is already concise.
Vanity URL vs. Referral Links
Your vanity URL and your referral links serve different purposes:
| Vanity URL | Referral Link | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | /advisors/your-slug | /ref/your-code |
| Purpose | Direct link to your public profile | Tracks client signups attributed to you |
| Destination | Your advisor profile page | Policy Stack signup page with your referral code attached |
| Tracking | No attribution tracking | Attributes new signups to your advisor account |
| Use case | Marketing, professional presence | Client acquisition, referral tracking |
Both links are permanent and shareable. Use your vanity URL when you want to direct someone to learn about you. Use your referral link when you want to track that a new client came from your outreach.
Your referral code and vanity slug may be different. The referral code is managed separately in Settings → Referral Links. See Referral Codes and Vanity URLs for details on setting up and managing referral links.