I decided it was time for me to create a Facebook page for my little blog, so I can really try to build it out and maybe get some followers! I’d like to think that what I’m putting out there is educating or entertaining someone, but I’ve never really promoted it so it’s time to take action.
When I went to create the FB page, I (for the life of me) could NOT find where to choose the “Personal Blog” category! And that’s what spurred this entry. Read on to learn the basics for setting up a Facebook page and how to select a category like “Personal Blog,” “Personal Website,” and more!
Creating Your Facebook Page
First of all, here’s where you can create a new Facebook page. As you’ll see, right away they want you to choose a category. Your desired page may fit multiple categories, so it’s up to you to decide which one is best for your needs. Of the 6 types they’ve laid out for you (1. Local Business or Place; 2. Company, Organization or Institution; 3. Brand or Product; 4. Artist, Band or Public Figure; 5. Entertainment; 6. Cause or Community), all but the last one have a dropdown menu with category choices. Don’t worry if your desired category isn’t there – just pick what’s closest or tickles your fancy. In my case, I went for “Brand or Product”and chose “Website” from the dropdown.
You will be asked to enter your page name, which should be the title of your blog, the name of your business, or whatever you want the world to know your page by. Note that Facebook has certain rules in place about what is allowed in a name – for example, I tried to enter my blog name, ((little fat notebook)), but it was immediately rejected because I’m not allowed to use symbols. You are allowed one set of parentheses, but there can only be two words in it (like this) and obviously I’d have three if I went for (little fat notebook). Alas, I then tried just plain little fat notebook and that’s not allowed because the name must start with an uppercase! I didn’t like how Little fat notebook looked, so I went for the boring old Little Fat Notebook. Luckily, you can change it after the fact!
Setting Up Your Facebook Page
Once you agree to their terms and click Get Started, you’re prompted to fill in a description and add links to your site(s). Next upload an avatar/profile picture to represent your page. You’ll then be taken to your brand new Facebook page! A quick 3-step tour is given and then you’re given free reign. Feel free to add a cover photo, invite friends to like your page, and share your very first post!
Adding a basic description.
Uploading a profile picture.
Changing To A Better Category
Now here’s what you’ve been waiting for: how to make the page exactly as you want it! At the top, you’ll see an option to Edit Page, with a dropdown. The first option is what you want: “Update Info.” Here you’ll see that the category and subcategory choices are far more plentiful than they let on earlier in the process! That’s where I found a previously unmentioned category called “Websites & Blogs,” which contains the subcategory option I had been hunting for: Personal Blog. The nice thing is that you can change this at any time, so as your site/brand evolves, you can update the category accordingly.
A few other tips:
Once you get 25 fans, you can reserve a vanity URL (or username, as Facebook calls it). This means that rather than an ugly URL like https://www.facebook.com/pages/little-fat-notebook/457453117668145, you can get a pretty one like https://www.facebook.com/littlefatnotebook, which is much easier to direct fans to. I still need to claim mine! (So hey if you don’t mind, please like my page so I can claim my vanity URL soon!) [Update: I was actually able to claim it when I had just 16 fans – check out my post on claiming vanity URLs to see how.]
When you reach 30 fans, Facebook will provide “insights” about your page, which includes data about the reach of your page and each post (how many people see it, pretty much), how many people are talking about (sharing) your posts, and how many posts you’re putting up daily.
Also note that I was able to update my page name from Little Fat Notebook to all lowercase. Unfortunately you still can’t add symbols, but as mentioned before, you can use one set of parentheses.
I highly recommend putting your website URL in the Short Description so users can easily click to your site from your FB page. Just be sure to input the “http://” so it becomes a clickable link, as shown. (Click for full size.)
Now that you have a Facebook page, check out my tutorials on:
~how to manage your Facebook page
~how to link your social media accounts
~how to claim your vanity URLs, and more!
You can find all my “how to” posts for useful tips like how to make a favicon and random things like how to set your iPhone/iPad to stop playing music at a certain time or even how to win a Facebook contest!
If you have any questions or tips of your own, I’d love to hear them! Please do share. 🙂
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April 24, 2013 11:12 pm
Thanks for all the great info. I didnt know about where we could edit the category to websites and blogs. This was very helpful!
lynnssouthernheart recently posted..Bacon, Bacon, Bacon…
April 25, 2013 12:31 am
Yay I’m glad I could help! Facebook makes it hard to figure out.
May 13, 2013 3:38 pm
Thanks! This was helpful.
elle recently posted..spring break at the “fun” parent’s
May 25, 2013 11:20 am
You’re welcome!
May 24, 2013 3:17 pm
this was great information! i am glad i stumble on such great info.
thanks !
Amoi recently posted..Having Nothing to Wear …
May 25, 2013 11:13 am
I’m glad I could help! 🙂
May 26, 2013 9:25 pm
Thanks for this! I was racking my brain trying to figure this out.
May 27, 2013 10:41 pm
@Jessica & @this little house: So glad to hear I could help you. Stay tuned for a post on tips for managing your Facebook page, coming next month! 🙂
May 27, 2013 1:31 am
this post has helped me out loads, thank you!! new follower 🙂
this little house recently posted..a {couple of} weeks in this little house
July 5, 2013 1:36 pm
Thank you for your help! I was totally lost!:)
July 5, 2013 6:28 pm
@Emma, you’re very welcome! Be sure to also check out my post about managing your Facebook page once it’s set up: https://maryqin.com/how-to-manage-facebook-pages
July 17, 2013 4:32 am
Thank you for this info. Very helpful!
July 23, 2013 9:41 am
Thanks,
I need to confirm about the subject and google takes me here.
Then, I complete making my facebook page for my ‘twin blogs.’
Liked your page too.
All the luck and best (Y)
S. Hauzel Sailo recently posted..Blog Contents Table
July 25, 2013 9:22 am
@S. Hauzel Sailo, thanks for liking my page! Glad you were able to make a FB page. 🙂
July 24, 2013 12:50 pm
Hey!
Thank you for a good tutorial!
Already used it! 🙂
Please check my Fb fan page @: https://www.facebook.com/MyDailyIssue
Or even my website!
Thank you again!
July 25, 2013 9:31 am
@Mydailyissue Glad to hear it!
July 29, 2013 6:25 am
Thank you SO much! I was about to go crazy when creating a Facebook page for my blog and with your post it was a piece of cake! 🙂
Miss J recently posted..Instaloma
August 5, 2013 4:10 am
Thanks for great help 🙂 Very user friendly
August 7, 2013 10:55 pm
Thanks for this post! Excellent help, just what I was looking for.
August 13, 2013 6:48 pm
Thank you so much for this!! I had been pondering about making a page, and I appreciate the info!
Jen recently posted..Cape May and it’s pin worthy moments…
August 15, 2013 7:22 am
Thanks for this- it was exactly what I needed!
August 18, 2013 8:23 pm
thanks for such an informative post! Was really useful for me. 🙂
lyn recently posted..Turning two-and-a-half
August 19, 2013 9:02 am
THANK YOU!!!
This was driving me crazy, and your post helped me! I was trying to set up an FB page for my new blog, http://badpixofgoodfood.pamsez.me, and was getting seriously vexed by the apparent mystery of how to assign it to a personal blog category. Leave it to FB to make a simple thing difficult! 😀
PAM_SEZ recently posted..Stuff I Have: Digital Food Scale
August 23, 2013 9:57 am
Thanks for this wonderful post! I think many people will thank you for it! I shall now show my gratitude by liking your page, I am the 48th! Hope you will drop by my blog and also like my page Kids R Simple! Off to set it up now!
Simple Mum recently posted..Can mums really travel without kids?
August 27, 2013 8:21 am
Thanks so much for this great post! It really helped. I am jumping in finally–only took me 5 years…..I was stumped on how to find personal blog. I still have some work to do on the FB page but at least I have it started!
Beth Ann Chiles recently posted..Teapot Tuesday—Garden Style
August 27, 2013 9:42 am
OMG! Thanks so much for this. Life saver……really appreciate it!
September 10, 2013 5:52 pm
Hi, thanks for sharing.
I’m wondering if it is possible to create blog via fb instead website? (I dun have website/blog at this moment).
Thanks.
September 11, 2013 8:28 am
Hi Hyacinth,
You can write notes in FB but it wouldn’t be quite the same as a blog. You can always get a free account at WordPress.com, Blogger.com, and other similar sites. They make it easy to blog with many templates to choose from. You can then use a service like NetworkedBlogs to update your FB feed whenever you post something to your blog.
~Mary
September 27, 2013 9:48 pm
i am stuck On ”add another site option”
wht the eheck…plz helP me 0ut.
September 28, 2013 9:44 pm
Hi Lubaba, if you could clarify what you mean I can try to help. Where are you seeing this and how are you stuck?
September 28, 2013 9:33 am
Thanks so much, I couldn’t figure out how to find it and yet I knew it existed from other pages.
September 29, 2013 9:08 am
Thank you so much! I was getting worried!
🙂
x
Heidi recently posted..Spotlight On Sophie Hall
October 2, 2013 4:11 am
Hey ty so much 🙂
October 5, 2013 4:46 am
Thank you so much for this! After following your easy tutorial I have finally made a Facebook page for my blog. 😀
Furree Katt recently posted..Embarrassing Stuff That’s Happened To Me In School
October 5, 2013 11:15 am
You’re welcome! Glad I could help.
October 5, 2013 6:02 pm
Awesome! Thanks!!! That tip helped me : )
October 11, 2013 10:06 pm
Thank you!! Very useful information!
Jamie recently posted..Day Eleven: Something Blue
October 12, 2013 4:23 pm
Thank you! This was exactly what I needed.
November 17, 2013 1:16 pm
Thanks for the info, so helpful. On my way to like your FB site.
November 21, 2013 7:38 pm
Thank you so much this was a huge help. I decided to create an FB page to help meI develop a following that way through my warm network, and it came up as a “community.” Thanks again and I am looking forward to reading your other posts!
Jeremy recently posted..Keep The Passion Ignited
December 2, 2013 2:08 pm
I am planning to start a FB page for my blog and I found your post very useful. Thank you. 🙂
December 2, 2013 11:51 pm
You’re very welcome! Thanks for your comment & good luck setting up that Facebook page!
January 9, 2014 8:32 pm
Thanks for sharing this! Very helpful. Im starting a blog and setting everything up before I make it live so this was perfect to figure my way around Facebook for “blogs” 🙂
January 9, 2014 8:51 pm
Glad to be able to help. Have fun with your new blog!
January 14, 2014 10:03 pm
Thanks for the great info!! This post ranked well in Google!!
Crystal recently posted..Are You A Dreamer?
January 15, 2014 4:54 pm
Thanks Crystal! That Google traffic seems to be working well bringing visitors. Good stuff!
January 16, 2014 5:18 am
Thank you Crystal. I was struggling to get to “website and blogs” point but finally I did it.
I launched a fashion blog quite recently:
http://www.fashionaddicted.co.uk
and a facebook page is a must as well 🙂
January 16, 2014 11:05 am
Thanks for posting this!!!
January 21, 2014 8:00 am
Hi and Thank you so very very much for posting this. I was going (almost) insane trying to figure out how to start a page in the personal blog category.
Again, thanks, you saved my brain from a total meltdown.
Tess
Tess recently posted..Acadermia – Skönhetsmässa och beauty bag
January 23, 2014 6:23 pm
So glad to hear I could prevent a meltdown, Tess. 🙂
February 6, 2014 5:05 pm
hi,
thanks for posting this. i followed the instructions and i still don’t see an option for “personal blog”. do you know if they disabled it or am i doing something wrong?
February 9, 2014 2:20 pm
Hi Paola,
Can you let me know which step you got to when doing what I wrote about in the “Changing To A Better Category” section? I can try to help you troubleshoot from there.
~Mary
February 8, 2014 3:36 pm
hi
this is really helpful and I wish I had seen it before i set up my page, I picked community because I didn’t know which to choose. Is there any way I can change it or do I have to start again? i have 155 followers so don’t want to lose them.
hope you can help
thanks
Jenny and John recently posted..Renovation project – Scrapyard challenge
February 9, 2014 2:19 pm
Hi Jenny and John,
I believe what you want is what I outlined in the “Changing To A Better Category” section of this post. Let me know if you’re talking about something else though.
~Mary
February 10, 2014 5:05 am
Hi laelene
I have managed, it was me, thanks so much for your help and reply, I don’t know if you can help on this one, but how do I add Twitter icon etc to the page, I thought i was unable because it was a community page, but I have now changed it and still can’t add them.
I really appreciate your help, thank you
Jenny and John recently posted..Renovation project – Evolution Fury 3, not what it said on the box!
February 11, 2014 8:50 am
Really useful – thank you. It would have took me ages to do this without your tutorial.
March 5, 2014 12:32 am
Thank you Tess! I’ve recently started my own blog and totally believe in self promotion. Being able to link via social media I think will def help get traffic! Thank you for such a detailed explanation. Very much appreciated!
March 5, 2014 12:32 am
Huge thank you Tess.
Very detailed and easy to follow!
Greatly appreciated.
Bec recently posted..Easy peasy healthy meatballs.
March 5, 2014 3:11 pm
You’re welcome! Though who is Tess? Lol 😛
March 6, 2014 8:46 am
Was looking for help for a week now!!!when I found your tuto. Great help, clear and efficient! Thanks a lot!
It worked…The funny part now is to get fans 🙂
BTW, here is my FB (ugly)address : https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mon-Armoire-%C3%A0-Th%C3%A9/760517323973417
Not sure it was clever to use French accents 🙁
March 8, 2014 1:35 am
Tks! Just used your tute to set up my personal blog FB page. Tks for stepping me through. Pips.
March 8, 2014 7:02 pm
Thanks for this–it was very helpful! I used it to set up a Facebook page to accompany my blog, http://notahipstermom.blogspot.com.
March 12, 2014 2:38 pm
Ohh. I was getting mad with this stuff and stumbled on your blog.You are a saver girl :)))
March 16, 2014 12:06 am
I’ve been trying to work this out for months, thanks so much for your post really helpful.
March 25, 2014 4:20 am
Thank you so muuuuuch !!
Morgane recently posted..Red Addict Brunette