A Computer Consultant’s Guide to Facebook pt.2: How to Set Up an Eye Catching Business Page

• Tweet

In Part 1 of my series on Facebook for Computer Consultants I talked about why I believe it’s necessary that your computer business have a presence on Facebook.  This week I’ll be getting down into the nitty-gritty of setting up the page to look good and maximize user engagement.

Here’s what my Facebook Bussines Page looks like when a new user first visits:

And here’s what it looks like when you visit the Wall page:

These days it’s not just enough to have a Facebook page, you need to make your page stand out from the crowd.  Not only will this entice people to “like” the page, but also get them to take action when they’re on your page.  By “take action” I simply mean that the visitor to your page will go from being a passive watcher to a paying customer.

Before we do any of that, first we need to get the page up and running.

Creating the Page

Creating a Facebook Business Page is quick and easy.  So quick and easy, you can do it in three steps:

1. Navigate to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php.

2. Click the “Local Business or Place” button.

3. Fill in the relevant informaiton (if you work in a home office, leave the address field blank).

Done!

Initial Information

Now you have a blank Facebook page.  What next?  First, lets fill in some information.

Click on the Edit Page button in the upper right corner of your page.  Select Basic Information from the items in the left column.  Fill out as much or as little information as you see fit.  How you do this is up to you, but there is one section that is important to take advantage of.:

About

While most of the fields in this section will be displayed on your Info page, the About section is the only snippet that will appear below your profile image.  That means it’s going to be visible whether your visitors are on your landing page, on your wall, or any other section within your page.

You should put your website URL here because it will automatically be formatted into a click-able link that people can follow (this is not true in any of these other sections).  You can also include a slogan or quick description of your services.  Be careful, though, if it’s too long it will be cut off and people will need to click to read the rest, which I don’t advise.

Pimp Your Page

Now is the time to truly make your Facebook page your own.  Here are a few places you can customize the look of your page to get the most out of the limited vizual space Facebook gives you.

Static Entry Page

This is the page that people will see when they first visit your Facebook business page (the very first image of this post).  It’s important to have something like this to guide new users to take the right action, namely “Liking” your page.  It also serves to inform your customers exactly what you are all about with catchy, customized graphics, something the default “Wall” page does not offer.

How to make a static entry page:

1. Visit this link to install the Static HTML: iFrame tabs Applicaiton.

2. Click the Go To App Button.

3. Select your Computer Consulting Business page and click the button to add it to your page.

4. You will now have an icon in your left side bar underneath your profile image that say Welcome.  Click on that.

5.  You should see this page which asks you to configure your static page.  Now you can enter HTML just as you would for your website.  I recommend including your logo and text that asks folks to press the “Like” button, along with reasons why they should.

I ended up just creating a giant image to use in this space.  It has a personal little message to curious visitors as well as a call to action to click the Like button.  Get creative here, this is a rare opportunity to customize Facebook to YOUR personality.  You can add links, video, anything that you would normally put in a standard HTML page, so the sky is the limit.

Branded Images

Once someone likes your page, they may visit it from time to time to check out your wall or info.  When you include branded images it will give your page a cohesive look which will really stick out in your customer’s mind.

This is accomplished by uploading both a custom profile image and featured images that Facebook now displays in a row at the top of the wall.

 

Profile Picture

The profile picture allows for a 183px wide image that you can make nearly as tall as you’d like.  Most people don’t take advantage of this space, instead choosing to simply use their logo or a clever little image that represents their company.

However, the vertical clearance allowed in this spot can be used like a large vertical banner with lots of information in it.  I use this space to include a slogan and my contact info along with my company logo.  Putting your contact info here is key because this image is visible no matter which page of your profile your visitor is on.  That way that information will always be at their fingertips.

Featured Images

 

 

 

 

The row of square(ish) images along the top of your profile are exactly 68 px tall by 97 px wide.  So simply go into your image editor and create at least 5 customized images that are exactly this size.  I chose to list my major services while continuing the theme from my Profile Image.

Facebook randomly displays images from your album in this featured row of images.  This is not good if you have other photos or images you want to keep in your business photo album.

To keep those out of the featured section, simply hover your mouse over the image when it shows up in the featured section and click the x that appears in the upper right.  This will effectively hide that image from the featured section, but it doesn’t delete the image from your albums.  Keep doing this until only the customized images you want to appear are there.

Your Turn

So there you have it.  A step-by-step walk-through of how to change your business Facebook page from bland to brilliant.

Over the next couple weeks I’m going to test some strategies on how to get more people to “Like” your page and turn them into paying customers.  I’ve had some success with this, but would like to do further experiments before reporting back to you all.

Now’s your chance to create a Facebook page for your computer business or improve it if you already have one.  Once you’re ready feel free to share a link to your Facebook page in the comments below.

Computer Consultants Guide to Facebook Series:

• Part 1: Why Facebook?
• Part 2: How to Set Up an Eye Catching Business Page
• Part 3: How to Attract New Paying Customers

Thanks to Pat Flynn for his series of posts that served as the inspiration and example for this post:

http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/branded-facebook-page-profile-banner-images/
http://www.smartpassiveincome.com/facebook-landing-page-html/