Facebook users ready to move from a personal profile to a business page can now make the switch through a new process offered by the company.

Sparing people from the chore of building a business page from scratch, Facebook's Profile To Business Page Migration tool can provide a head start by just converting an existing personal profile. The process is geared for a variety of business types and categories, including local companies, larger organizations, public figures, causes, and even individual products.

The migration works by converting all of a user's friends into fans and moving over his or her profile photos. All other content, including wall posts and extra photos, won't come along for the ride. After choosing the appropriate business category, a user can specify a name, subcategory, and a few other items. Once the business page is live, the user can then fill in any other necessary details.

Be aware that the conversion is a one-way trip. Once it's finished, you can't transform your business page back into a personal profile. Facebook advises users who need to save content from their personal profile to download the information through the data downloader feature that the company set up last year.

You'll find more details on the conversion process and tips on maintaining a business page at Facebook's Help Center.

Though this new conversion may benefit business users, Facebook isn't just offering it out of the goodness of its heart. The company warns that having a personal profile for anything other than a single individual violates its guidelines. For such profiles, Facebook suggests converting them to business pages, otherwise users could lose access to their own content.