Get more followers by personalizing your Facebook page: this is how it is done

I recently added a Facebook page for my website. One of my favorite things about MySpace about Facebook was how much each person could personalize their own pages. When I found out that you could customize your Facebook fan page, I was immediately interested in finding out how to create a custom Facebook fan page instead of just the old Facebook. Personalization isn’t as open as MySpace, but at least there are ways I can make my page my own.

The first step to getting your own custom page is to add the Static FBML app to your Facebook page. To do this: go to the Static Facebook ML app page (search for it on Facebook) and click the “Add to my page” link in the left navigation bar. Then a dialog will appear asking you which Facebook Page you’d like to add this app too, then click on any of your own Facebook Pages you’d like to customize.

You should now go to the Edit Application page for your new application. To do this: Go to your Facebook page (not your personal Facebook page, but your business or fan page). You should see “FBML 1” in the apps section of the left sidebar. Click on this FBML 1 link to go to your application page. Click “Edit Info” at the top to start editing your page. Once in the Edit section of your Facebook, click on Applications in the left sidebar. Now you will get a list of your apps, scroll down until you see FBML and click “Go to app”.

Now comes the fun part of editing your custom page. First you need to change the “Frame Title”. This will just be the name of your custom Facebook tab. The custom tab will be the first page your visitors see when they visit your Facebook page, so you might want to call it “HOME”, or you might want to call it something that’s more suitable for your niche, market or business, it’s up to you. Don’t forget to save your changes at the bottom.

The absolutely amazing thing to remember when customizing your Facebook page is that custom page can use HTML. This means you can add regular web code to your Facebook just like you would your own web page, allowing for a lot of real customization possibilities. If you’re still shy after a bit of studying, you can always hire a designer to create a nice homepage for you.

The next step is the big step. Now you have to write your custom page. Remember that you can add HTML here; You can add inline styles, images, links, and other HTML to help customize your custom home page. This is where you can go crazy with the design. Make your page as simple or as complex as you want. If you don’t have a solid understanding of HTML, you can make your home page plain text, but if you really want it to stand out, consider learning a little HTML or hiring someone to design it for you.

Now there is only one last step left. You want this new page you worked so hard on to be the first page people see when they go to your Facebook page, so you need to change your Pages settings to make this the default home page. Return to the “Edit Page” screen as you did before, except instead of clicking to edit your apps, you’ll click “Manage Permissions” in the left sidebar. Find the dropdown box that says “Default Target Tab” and scroll down to the tab you just created. Click Save and you’re done.

Feel free to log out and check out your page anonymously and you’ll see your new home page appear as your new visitors will see it (if you check out your page while logged in, you’ll automatically go to the admin section and won’t see the page as a visitor would).

This new page makes a great first impression to entice new visitors to “LIKE” your page, or follow through with whatever call-to-action your new custom homepage and business prescribes.