Creating a Welcome Page on Facebook

Creating a Welcome landing page for your photography business on Facebook is a easier than it looks and is great way to encourage visitors to "like" your page as well as let them know what your business page is about.  You can also use the same steps outlined below to create a link to a coupon.   Here's our Facebook link http://www.facebook.com/momswhoclick.  If you're already a fan, click on "Welcome!" on the left-hand side.

• You will need to create your image—this is the fun part that can be time consuming only because of all the options you have to design a page.  You can use the Facebook Welcome Page we created which is a basic, customizable psd file. The key to remember is your image should not be wider than 520 pixels.   The length can vary but keep in mind you don’t want to make your vistors scroll down to see all of your info.  Once you have designed your image, save it as a Jpeg file and load your image to a photo-hosting site. There are many free options including Picasa, Flickr, Photobucket, etc.  
• For this example, we used Photobucket (note: I’ve had trouble using Flickr).  Using your Photobucket account upload your photo.  Once your photo is loaded, click on the photo and copy the direct link code located in the Share this Photo box located on the right sidebar. 
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• Next go to FB and open up your business page.
• Go to the search box on Facebook and type in FBML.  Once on the FBML page, click Add to My Page located on the left.  A window will pop up with the pages you administer and click Add to Page.
• Once you’ve added the Static FBML application, go to your business page and click on Edit Page on the right.
• When you are on the Edit screen of your business page, click on the Apps link on the left. You will see a list of applications that you’ve added/were added by default.

• Look for FBML application from the list, and click on the Go to App link.
• You will be taken to Edit FBML page where you can change the Tab title to “Welcome” and paste the following code along with your direct link code from Photobucket into the box.  The Photobucket code goes in between the “ “. <img src="http://photobucketimagecode”border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
• Click Save Changes and then go to your home page and the Welcome link will be listed in the left side bar.
• Click Welcome and your new page should appear. 
• If you would like to change the default landing page to the Welcome page go to Edit Page and change the Default Landing Tab to Welcome.

Here is a video that shows how to set up a FBML tab that may also be of help.

Cookie Splash--Stop Motion Photography

Months ago I stumbled upon a Cookie Splash photo by a young photographer from The Netherlands.  Siebe (who publishes his work under the name De Vetpan Studios) is an amazing self-taught photographer who one day decided to test out how well the ISO on his new Nikon D700 would preform by taking a photo of a cookie dropping into a cup of coffee.  He posted his creation on Flickr and it had more than 5000 view counts in just one day.

Needless to say, he inspired many others (including myself) to do the same.   You can find nearly 1,000 photos in the Cookie Splash Group on Flickr.  If you want to create your own Cookie Splash photo, check out Siebe's tutorial that shows you how to set it up.  Basically, all you need is a colorful mug, a favorite cookie and a good trigger finger.

If you have created a Cookie Splash photo or are now inspired to try it, please post your shots.  We'd love to see them.  BTW, the photo above was my first attempt (by myself--no assistants were used to drop the cookie).    I got really lucky.  I thought I could perfect the shot and tried several more times but none of those photos turned out as well as this one.  Good thing I have long arms!