How to create Facebook pages

Do you have a Facebook fan page for your real estate blog?

If so, is it in getting new RSS subscribers for your site?

One of the more effective ways of promoting your blog is to use a site everyone either loves or hates – Facebook. The social networking site allows you to promote your blog and real estate business by setting up either a page or a group - and it’s completely free.

WebRealEstateTools recently set one up and it’s really doing rather well.

By having a Facebook page for your Realtor blog, you can set up your RSS feed so your new posts appear on your fan page.

Facebook members can then become a “fan” of your posts and comment on your posts inside Facebook.

In short, you can:

• create a mini community of loyal blog readers inside Facebook.
• attract readers to click through to your blog and sign up for the proper RSS feed that will drip them with your newest blog posts about real estate.

Facebook pages are Profiles for Brands

Here’s how to get your facebook blog page set up quickly.

1. Log into or Sign up on Facebook.  You must have a Facebook account before you can setup a page. 

2. Click the "Ads and Pages" button in the bottom left corner of your facebook screen.

3. Click on the "Pages" button on the top of your facebook screen.

4.  Now click on the "Create A Page" button to the right of your screen.

5.  You should now see the below page:

If you are creating a page for your blog, you will need to choose “Brand, Product or Organization”. Then from the drop-down list, select “website”.  If you are creating a page for your real estate business, you will probably want to choose "Local".  Then from the drop-down list, select "real estate".

Enter the name of your site (or whatever you want your page to be called) in “Name Of Other Business”, check “I am authorized to create this page” (assuming of course you ARE authorized), enter your name under “Electronic Signature” and then click “Create Page”.  Your page will now be set up and you will be taken straight there.

Here are some of the things you can do to customize your page :

Customize your image:

• The first thing your page obviously needs is an image. For blogs, the obvious image to first consider is your logo.
• To upload an image, just point your mouse to the image area and a menu will pop up with various options.
• You can either upload a photo, take a picture with your webcam or choose from a Facebook album.

Customize your site information: 

• In the “Info” tab, you can type detailed information about your site such as the URL, the “overview” (so this would be a good place to enter any tagline or motto that your site has.)
• You can also enter information such as when you started the site and if you have any “products” you’d like to talk about.
• In short, use this section to blab away about your site.

Set up your blog RSS feed to show your new posts in Facebook:

This is, I think, one of the most important aspects of a blog fan page. If you are unable to show your new posts, how can you possibly persuade people to come to your site and sign up for the RSS feed?

First, click on the “notes” tab at the top of the page.

Select “Import A Blog” in the Notes Setting section. You can only import from one (1) RSS feed at a time. Simply “Stop Importing” if you want to change the RSS feed.

Enter the RSS URL in the box provided. Check the box next to the statement that you actually own the content. You cannot import RSS feeds from websites that are not your own or that you do not have permission to reproduce.

Click the “Start Importing” button. Facebook will import the content of the RSS feed for you to preview. If everything looks OK, then go ahead and press the “Continue” button. Your RSS feed will now be automatically imported into your “Notes” section.

After that, everytime you publish a post on your blog, a summary of the post along with a link will appear on your Facebook page.

Publicize Your Facebook Page:

Now that your Facebook page is all set up, you need to publicize it to your readers so they can become your “fan”.

Here are a few easy tips to get you started:

• Writing a blog post about your new Facebook page (don’t forget to link to it).
• Putting a prominent link at the top of your blog or in the sidebar. Just grab a Facebook logo from Google Images and then link it to your page.
• Sending out an email to all your Facebook friends and telling them about your new fan page. If they were interested enough to become Facebook friends with you, I’m sure they will be interested in your blog too.

After you have completed the above steps it is time to get serious.  Learn some excellent tips on how to attract loads of raving fans using Facebook.

Many thanks to Nik Nik and husband Reggie for the lovely Facebook video we linked to at the top of the page.