Those Facebook fan pages look great, but how do I create a custom one for my business?

There's been quite a shift recently in our business; obviously we're still focusing on our core business of SEO, PPC management and conversion optimisation, etc. But we're now getting more heavily involved in social media by creating and managing Facebook Ad's and helping clients create Facebook fan pages.

Fan pages are quite nifty, because you can almost replicate a page from your own website within Facebook, where a lot of people just happen to spend their time these days.

So, here's a ‘step-by-step‘ to show you how to create a Facebook fan page for your business.

1. Set up a fan page in Facebook.

You'll need to link the fan page to your normal account (as someone needs to be an administrator and it might as well be you). Once you're logged in, the biggest challenge you'll face is how to accomplish this first step.

You'll find the ‘fan page' link conveniently located in THE MOST UNOBVIOUS PAGE LOCATION IN THE HISTORY OF WEB DESIGN! It's hidden down in the bottom left hand corner of your screen:

2. Next, just fill in the details about your Fan Page, giving it a name, etc.

3. Having created the fan page, the next step is to perform a search for ‘FBML' (Facebook Markup Language Application) as this will allow you much more flexibility for customisation when building your new fan page (as you'll see a bit later):

4. Click on the Static FBML result:

5. Step 5 is just as easy; just add the Application to your fan page once you're in the Static FBML App Page:

6. Navigate your way back to the fan page and upload a profile logo (image) and then click ‘Edit Page':

7. Once you've clicked ‘Edit Page' you'll see in a list your new FBML application in the applications associated with your page list. Click the Little Pencil Icon located far right of the App to edit:

8. Next you enter the name for the custom tab in the Box Title field, and enter your desired HTML in the FBML field - if you want to insert a banner across the top, the width you can play with is 765px (all very easy if you know HTML).

Choose Save Changes and preview the new tab on your page.

9. Go back to your fan page. Choose the Plus sign (+) in the row of tabs, and choose your new FBML tab from the list of available tabs. This will make your new tab appear in the list of tabs.

You can also remove the default tabs which you may not need (eg. links, photos, discussions, etc) by clicking on those tabs, then selecting the pencil icon and selecting Delete Tab. Be warned though.

Do not delete your new FBML Tabs; they're gone for good if you do!

10. On the Wall tab, select Settings. Choose your FBML tab from the drop down menu next to ‘Default Landing Tab for Everyone Else'. This will ensure all visitors land on your new themed tab when they visit your profile!

That's basically it; you've created a nicely customised and themed fan page. You can also link your new fan page to your Twitter account, which means any tweets you make will appear on your wall, and any wall posts you make will appear as new tweets (watch out for the 140 character Twitter limit though).

Of course, add some additional content about your business or campaign, try adding the wildfire promotion application (which I haven't tried yet), and try and get as many fans as you can!

To finish up, here's a really nice example from Jason West's company, Websalad.

For more Online Sales expert advice, click here.

Chris Thomas heads Reseo, a search engine optimisation company which specialises in creating and maintaining Google AdWords campaigns and Search Engine Optimisation campaigns for a range of corporate clients.