Excited

[kodydog]

More and more companies are turning to Facebook for their on-line marketing. Some businesses do not have a web site but use Facebook instead. This year Facebook has ramped up their business campaign by redesigning and marketing toward business. You may have noticed more posts by business on Facebook.

Today I launched my Facebook Business Page. Not an easy task for someone who is not a wizard on the computer. The book, Facebook Marketing For Dummies helped a little. One huge tip. You have two choices when setting up your page. You can do it Published or unpublished. The thinking is, don't publish the page till its all set up. And that is a good idea. But there are some things that can't be done till it's published. Like setting up the timeline. It took me a whole day to figure that out.

Please like my page. And if you have one let us know so we can like it to. If anybody wants to set one up let me know. I'll help you muddle through it.

https://www.facebook.com/LaddUpholsteryDesign

[SteveA]

Good luck with that new business promotion.  You also have a web site ....... I see !   My web site was terminated by Verizon.  They gave me a free web site then they said they no longer will support the free gesture.  They stink -
Anyway I need a place to create a new web site - any suggestions ?  I guess I wouldn't mind paying if it requires a fee ?

Thanks,
SA

[sofadoc]

Consider yourself liked. Keep us posted on how well it works for you. I have a FB biz page that I never use. I could easily be persuaded to focus on it more.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

I'm with you Steve.

Would love to do the Facebook Business Page but know that it cannot be free.  How much does it cost annually.  I've had people tell me I need to go to Facebook as it's the easiest way to be able to display my various projects so that people get a concise idea of what all I've done and can do.

If you know the ins and outs of it that would be great.  For a former programmer, I am now very technologically incompetent.  I barely know how to spell technological. ; )

Virginia

[sofadoc]

I'm with you Steve.

Would love to do the Facebook Business Page but know that it cannot be free.  How much does it cost annually. 

I don't know about the new "ramped up" version that Kody is talking about. But mine has always been free.

[MinUph]

As far as I know it is still free. I haven't been asked to pay yet. You guys and gals can like mine too please :)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Minichillos-Upholstery/247909728603428

I don't know why mine need the numbers at the end but oh well.

I liked yours too KD.

[sofadoc]

You've been liked, Paul.

In a perfect world, would you guys prefer that customers abandon the traditional Google search for your website, and just do a Facebook search for your biz page?

[MinUph]

Thanks for the likes it's appreciated.
i dont think FB can take the place of a website but it a good place to be as a business. When the deal is done for the shop I'm buying come Jan1 i will promote it a little while to see how that goes. That promotion does cost $.

[Virgs Sew n Sew]

What web page do you use?  I tried fat cow before I started what I'm doing now.  Found their site to be cumbersome, design unfriendly and worse.  Any that are easy for a former techie who is now pretty untechnological to be able to design a nice straightforward site?

Thanks!

Virginia

[sofadoc]

What web page do you use? 

Are you talking about a web hosting service? I use a local one. I looked at Go Daddy, and found it to be cumbersome also. IMO, none of their templates were upholstery-friendly.

[kodydog]

Thanks for the likes y'all, and lots of good questions I'll try to answer while its all still fresh in my mind.

Anyway I need a place to create a new web site - any suggestions ?  I guess I wouldn't mind paying if it requires a fee ?
Thanks,
SA

My current web site is very amateurish and out of date. But I've been working on a new one over the last 4 months and plan to publish it within a month. There are several web builders that are still free and a couple that are very good.

I started out using WIX site builder. It is free and is pretty sophisticated for a drag and drop type program. The template I chose was pretty cool. The backdrop was a contemporary style chair and the information I added floated without a box surrounding it. The backdrop was stationary while the information would scroll up and down the page. There was a learning curve but If I can do it anyone can. It took me about a month to design a six page website. Of course they kept asking me if I wanted to upgrade for $. In the end I decided to scrap it because of bad reviews. Complaints about being too slow. Their based in India and this may have something to do with it. Plus if somthing goes wrong I don''t want to deal with someone in India. If it weren't for that last part I would highly recommend WIX

Yahoo Site Builder. Because we have an account it is free. Upgrades are available for $. One thing I like about this program is you download it to your computer. You work on it offline. Then once its all set up you publish it. The reviews on Site Builder were bad too. Mostly the free templates are very amateurish. And I agree. So I used a blank page and built my own. I like Pier 1 Imports web page and copied it, somewhat. This site builder is not as professional looking as WIX and doesn't have some of the gizmos WIX has but it's good enough for me.

I'm with you Steve.

Would love to do the Facebook Business Page but know that it cannot be free.  How much does it cost annually.  I've had people tell me I need to go to Facebook as it's the easiest way to be able to display my various projects so that people get a concise idea of what all I've done and can do.

If you know the ins and outs of it that would be great.  For a former programmer, I am now very technologically incompetent.  I barely know how to spell technological. ; )

Virginia

I bet you know more than you give yourself credit. Facebook is free. If you want them to do some marketing then its extra. Their marketing is all about getting people to like your page, I don't see the need for small businesses like ourselves to do a national campaign.

As far as I know it is still free. I haven't been asked to pay yet. You guys and gals can like mine too please :)
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Minichillos-Upholstery/247909728603428
I don't know why mine need the numbers at the end but oh well.
I liked yours too KD.

Nice page Paul. Those numbers are probably your ID #. Not real important. If you want to change it go to "settings" at the top of the page.

In a perfect world, would you guys prefer that customers abandon the traditional Google search for your website, and just do a Facebook search for your biz page?

The way Facebook For Business is set up is pretty much cookie cutter. 1 template to choose from. This makes all the pages look the same. With very little information. I do not like the time line. Mine starts in 1984 when I first started upholstering. Two big milestones happened in 1988 and 1999. That's my history, I think it's  pretty important. As time goes on that's all going to get buried at the bottom of the timeline. A web page has much more personality and diversity. Facebook is social media. It's all about "likes." A web page is information. I don't see Facebook replacing a web page for now. But it will keep growing and if your into marketing, you need to be on it.

[MinUph]

I've used several providers for hosting through the years. For the last few years I've used GoDaddy. I have never used any of the templated systems before but am considering looking into it more as time to build websites has become more of problem. I've used Front Page for years but it is no longer supported by hosts. At least not GoDaddy.
When 1and1 first came on the scene they were giving free hosting for a year and I jumped on board. There hosting was good. Always up and quick responses to page requests. They are offering some good deals right now. I think a basic hosting account is .99 a month for 3 months. Doesn't get any cheaper. And I believe it includes a free domain name for the year. Be sure to read the deal before going for it.
  If I do build a site there I will comment here on how it goes. I would much rather pay someone to build one for me if I could find someone local.

[Mike]

steve my website is from homestead. intuit quickbook people I pay a low fee 167 bianualy.

and I had a customer show up at my new shop I asked how he knew I had moved he said facebook


https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bayview-Canvas/139172656155816

[BlueFlamingo]

You Misspelled Begins on your BORN page.  BEGAINS

[kodydog]

Thanks. My wife must have corrected it. Spell check doesn't work on tittles. Please double check to see if corrected.

https://www.facebook.com/LaddUpholsteryDesign?ref=hl