Make Your Facebook Fan Page The Easy Way

Until a few months ago, I was not very active on Facebook. Yes I had an account but rarely went to the page and used it. I changed my use because I continued to read the statistics about Facebook users. Several months ago, Facebook surpassed Google as the most used website in the U.S. Incredible that it is more than Google.

I could no longer ignore Facebook. Look at these statistics from their pressroom:

More than 500 million active users

50% of our active users log on to Facebook in any given day

Average user has 130 friends

I took action in several ways. I made sure that my tweets on Twitter were reposted on Facebook. I do use a little application on Facebook to replicate these tweets but it's not 100% effective. If it misses something, then I take several seconds to cut and paste that tweet into Facebook. Also in a consistent way, I started inviting more people to be my friend on Facebook.

My Facebook friends grew to over 4,000 and I became aware of a limitation within Facebook Friends. The system caps at 5,000 and you can't add any more friends. How could I continue growing my presence on Facebook? The Facebook Fan Pages have no membership limits. With millions of people, it can grow to be a large viral presence on this important social media site. Then I had another question: what is an effective Facebook Fan Page? What does it look like?

I began to do some online research and found some good information such as this article from a couple of years ago about why you need to make a Facebook Fan Page with six good reasons. Also I enjoyed this article about Five Elements of A Successful Facebook Fan Page. Finally I looked at 10 Top Facebook Fan Pages and Why They Are Successful.

My idea began to form about what could go on a fan page and why I needed to build one. Yet what would it cost. I started to do some research and asking around in this area. The prices seemed comparable to any website work. It varied from $200 to $2,000 (yes that is a serious price that I saw for a Facebook Fan Page). My goal was to create a page which was effective yet economical. I wondered how I could do it.

Online I learned about Fan Page Engine, an economical tool for building custom fan pages. I watched the online tutorials, checked the various information then I decided to try the basic package for $37. While their information is clear that the basic package includes two different business templates, I had already selected the third business template which included an opt-in form. I was only on the basic program for a few minutes before I had to upgrade with an additional $30 to the unlimited package or a $67 investment.

What if it didn't work out? On their FAQ page, Fan Page Engine offers a seven day no questions asked money back guarantee. While reassuring, I was more interested in getting a functioning fan page that would do what I wanted to do.

Here's the result:

From the beginning, I knew that I wanted to offer a valuable gift or free Ebook to anyone who dropped by my page. Also I wanted to have a clickable graphic which would take the person to a site where they could learn more about my latest book, Jumpstart Your Publishing Dreams. It took about an hour to plan and figure out the contents of the page.

With about another hour, I built and launched the page. I am not a very technically skilled writer so it has to be pretty simple for me. If you choose to try the same template that I launched, I had a couple of other tools. First you need to create a header. I used XHeader which you can download and use free. Also for some people the opt-in form will present some challenges. I have been using the opt-in form from my shopping cart. In addition, the ebook that I'm giving away was already created. I used a program called Easy PDF Templates for that effort. I did write two autoresponders to make sure anyone who requests the ebook will receive it.

Fan Page Engine has done an excellent job of providing video tutorials. I would watch a few minutes, pause the video, then execute the instructions and return to the tutorial. I found the instructions straight-forward and easy to follow with lots of flexibility for color schemes within the template.

Please go by my Fan Page and "like" it then please tell others about it. Take action and get my free Ebook. I'd love to hear your feedback about the page. It's my first effort and I have plans to build others since I have the flexibility of different templates.

I wanted to write this entry to encourage you to build your own fan page using this tool. It's not complicated and something that you can easily accomplish in a couple of hours. The exposure possibilities are endless--if you have one and can be promoting it.