Hot Small Business Marketing Help is a mix of the latest posts that we just LOVE, selected resources that we think are hot and a mix of our products and affiliate products that we recommend. This is meant to be an overall resource for small business, entrepreneur and realtor marketers. General Small Business Tools Small [...]
Realtor Marketing – Realtor Newsletter Ideas
Because I help so many Realtors with their marketing efforts, I KNOW that generating a monthly newsletter can seem like an overwhelming task. Here are my best Realtor Newsletter Ideas, in no particular order. Realtor Newsletter Ideas Your Real Estate Newsletter should be a tool to talk with current, past and potential real estate clients. [...]
Read the full article →Realtor Marketing Logos – Does It Have To Have A House?
Realtor marketing logos are a big deal in my world! I work with many Realtors and generally we start the branding process with a logo for the agent. The first question I get is…does it have to be a house? Starting out as a Realtor or even re-branding yourself in this new real estate market [...]
Read the full article →Facebook Business Pages have come a long way and having a custom page is starting to be as important as having a website or blog! Custom business page design can be hard or easy depending on your level of technical ability. Here are a couple of different ways to make a custom page from easy to hard!
There are all kinds of little bits and pieces of a custom facebook page that add up to a great look and feel.
To start, let’s talk about why a custom facebook page is so important. As you know, facebook is closed system that is not indexed by Google (one of the reason I like Twitter so much, but that is for another post). Two places on Facebook ARE indexed by Google though, custom landing pages made using the FBML application and Notes. Notes are a great way to make a quicky, keyword rich post that will rank well for a little while. Custom pages have the ability to contain much more information and perform multiple functions.
Facebook Business Page Picture
We are going to start by looking at a Facebook Business Page Picture. There do not seem to be any limits on how big these can be and you can use a thumbnail picker to decide which bits represent your page when you are posting or commenting. Generally we make clients pictures 180 pixels wide by 500 pixels tall. This leaves plenty of room to put a picture, logo, contact information and even a stock photo if we like.
As with everything else about your page, it is super important to have clear branding and to make sure that there is cohesive feel between your picture and your other websites and offline materials. This is a SUPER easy way to make your page look more important, even if you never touch a bit of FBML code.
Facebook Custom Page Using A JPG
The next easiest way to make a Facebook custom page is to create one image that you can use as a the entire page. You will need to access the FBML application within Facebook and then write a little bit of code to show the picture. If you do not know how to use FTP to upload a picture, you can always store it on Flickr.
The easiest way to make a picture like this is to use a software like Photoshop or Illustrator, BUT if you do not have access to those, I have it on good authority you can use something like PowerPoint and then just Export it as a .jpg file. This picture should be no wider than 520 pixels and can pretty much be as long as you like. Remember that your load time will be affected by how big the file is so make sure to “save for web” which will make it 72dpi (dots per inch).
The drawback to using a picture instead of FBML code is that there is not much for Google to index, which leads me to…
Facebook Custom HTML Pages
This is my favorite type of custom Facebook pages and is the one that we use for clients and the Marketing Artfully page. There are a number of great parts to it including:
- A message to “like” the page at the very top which encourages participation
- Actual navigation links which we use to send people to our “real” website
- Links to our social media sites like Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter
- A newsletter signup form so that people can be added to our database
- LOTS of great text for Google to index
Now building one of these pages is not for the faint at heart. There is CSS, FBML and HTML involved which make it a little difficult for the average bear (I had my in-house programmer make this one!) I would recommend buying one of the templates out there or else having a web design company handle it for you (hint hint). If you do have a bit of HTML knowledge and want to do it yourself, do a Google search for free business page templates. I found a couple out there that were okay BUT they didn’t have all the bells and whistles I wanted for Marketing Artfully or our peeps.
Well there you have it. Easy-peasy to hard core programming. I am not a huge jump on the bandwagon kind of gal BUT I can see these pages serving us for at least a year so decided to bite the bullet and get them going! If you would like to see the examples in action, click on the pictures. If you would like to see a couple more check out How To Buy USA Real Estate and Magical Bookkeeping Solutions!
If that seems like too much WORK! Have Marketing Artfully create your custom Facebook Business Page Design!
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Hot Small Business Marketing Help is a mix of the latest posts that we just LOVE, selected resources that we think are hot and a mix of our products and affiliate products that we recommend. This is meant to be an overall resource for small business, entrepreneur and realtor marketers.
General Small Business Tools
Small business owners often have a hard time with basic business focus. These products and services will help you to get a better idea of the basics of your business so that you can succeed at marketing.
Blog post – Small Business Marketing Focus – I have to say that this is the ONE thing that most small business owners miss. From the comments on this post, having a focus is worth SO MUCH more to your business than anything else you can do for marketing efforts.
Small Business Online Help
Blog post – Small Business Internet Marketing Tools – Some of our favorite tools – this is a MUST read for anyone who needs some tips and tricks about internet marketing for Small Biz.
Blog post – Writing Evergreen Blog Posts – Writing evergreen blog posts is not sexy BUT it will make a HUGE difference in how well your website will rank for key terms you need to dominate.
Blog Post – How To Have A Custom Facebook Business Page – Facebook Custom Business Pages are becoming a must-have for small businesses.
Recommended Marketing Videos Resources
I sign up for more training in a month than most of you probably do in a year. I think that learning one new thing a day will make a huge difference in your success. That having been said, I know of a number of totally free marketing resources that you can access anytime you like for FREE!
Free Resource – Gary Vaynerchuk Keynotes – Gary is the author of Crush It and has great content in his keynote speeches that is so worth hearing!
Free Resource – Offervault Recorded Webinars – There is SO much great free information on Mark Roth’s website. It has a free member section that contains webinars on all kinds of internet marketing, NOT just affiliate stuff.
Small Business Marketing That I Pay For or Recommend
It can seem like everything you need is on the internet for free and what kind of schmoe would pay for anything anymore? Well I AM frugal but found out a long time ago that it does pay for information that I don’t know OR for things that will save me time and heartache. These are all things that I use in my business which cost money, but that I think are worth it!
Paid Tool – SEMRush – I had been using another keyword research tool which I liked very much. I got all that info and more for half the price using SEMRush. Worth taking a peek.
Our Products – DIY Small Business Videos – Our membership site has small business marketing videos that are updated monthly. On these videos I tell you the new things that I have learned and which I think can help you grow market share. Check out all of our small business marketing products.
Paid Resource – Constant Contact Email – The reason I use Constant Contact instead of AWeber or another service is ease of use PLUS I did not have to have my list re-confirm the first time uploaded them. My list is NOT super sophisticated and has a hard time understanding why they have to re-up.
Design Resources That I Like
Idea Book by Chuck Green is a GREAT design resource. He has templates and all kinds of design resources.
I will be updating this post when I find new great stuff! If you have something to recommend please leave a comment and I will consider adding it!
Technical Resources
WordPress Site Optimizing Expert Shawn is who I call on when I am having trouble with my (or my clients) blogs. All wordpress blogs experience bugs from time to time and I can tell you that learning to fix them takes a rocket scientist! Shawn is quick and has great pricing. If your blog needs a tune-up check out his roadblock removal package!
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