When Sparta Education Foundation approached Northern Pride requesting help with their web site presence, we felt good about donating $2,000 to the organization to cover the web site re-design costs. This donation would provide the organization with a highly functional and effectively presented new website, a site which would be significantly more informative, more visible, more interactive and user friendly for both visitors and site administrators. The creative new design would incorporate the latest coding techniques and would be cross browser, cross platform compatible. Being able to donate our services to directly benefit the children of our community is important to Northern Pride llc. Some of our programmers have children which are going through the Sparta school systems and we all want to be a part of supporting their bright futures.

In addition to the new website design, the project also included the incorporation of our North Star Content Management System (CMS), a social media package for FaceBook, Twitter and Feedburner RSS, domain administration and hosting services. The custom CMS makes it easy for the SEF organization to control all aspects of their new site, from posting upcoming events, informing site visitors of recent grants, broadcasting SEF news, displaying sponsors and being able to change any content within the site as needed.  The Social Media Package we provided is fully  automated to update the SEF’s social media networks on Facebook, Twitter and RSS, simplifying the process of informing its followers.

Since the launch of the new web site in late October of 2011, the Sparta Education Foundation has seen its average traffic of 5.45 visitors a day (average over 12 month period prior to re-design) soar to an average of 113 visitors a day in Nov. 2011 compared to avg. of 24 in Nov. 2010, and 79 average visitors a day in Dec 2011 compared to avg. of 8 visitors a day in Dec. 2010. This increased exposure will provide the Sparta Education Foundation with future rewards. The combination of a new site design loaded with new features, gives the Sparta Education Foundation the power to be more informative and prosperous, benefiting the public school children of Sparta New Jersey.

Our children are our future … attend an upcoming SEF event or make a donation to the Sparta Education Foundation, and watch our students blossom.

The key components to the site redesign included:

• Design - Site design to precisely meet the conceptual page layouts provided by the client.
• Content Management - Back-end content management system allows Exceptional Risk Advisors to easily manage all content on the site.
• Search Engine Optimization - Site is well optimized for search engines as our North Star Content Manager gives ERA complete control over urls, meta tags, headings and content.
• 301 Redirects & Maintaining URL Structure – A very important factor when redesigning a website. A website redesign could render you website invisible to Google and other search engines. To insure continued search engine rankings, we maintained the existing URL structure when possible and scripted 301 redirects for most renamed pages.
• Internal Linking & 404 Error Pages – Often when a website is redesigned many internal content links become broken and may send the user to the wrong page or even worse a dead end. We conducted a careful review of all internal content links to avoid dead links. Looking forward, since the client now has the power to remove site pages, we set in place a custom 404 error page to capture any pages which may no longer exist on the server, providing the user with an explanation, a current navigation menu and an automatic redirect to the website homepage after 10 seconds.

Below is a screen capture of the new Exceptional Risk Advisor’s home page:

Exceptional Risk Advisors is an experienced team of insurance professionals that specializes in developing, underwriting, and processing insurance products for advisors with prosperous clients including Entertainers, Athletes, Corporate Executives, and Professionals. http://www.ExceptionalRiskAdvisors.com

The custom site design showcases the new logo Northern Pride designed for Shoe Box Self Storage. The site homepage features an accordion style slideshow, plus scrolling specials and the latest news headlines, as well as a live Twitter feed in the site footer. The new web site has been professionally hand coded and enjoys cross browser compatibility.  As with all web sites Northern Pride designs, we automatically include optimization of design code which directly results in faster page load times. The News section has been programmed to automatically posts all new articles to the clients Twitter account and Facebook page. Shoe Box Storage’s Twitter and FaceBook page have been designed to compliment the web site look and feel as well.

When the project was completed, the client was extremely happy with the results of their business re-branding, and as usual, we are very proud of our creative work.

For all your self storage needs in northern New Jersey, be sure to visit ShoeBoxStorage.com

But with Cufon font replacement, it is now easy to replace web safe fonts with custom fonts, and best of all, it works in all browsers. Cufon is super fast and not dependent on a server side language. Cufon uses javascript jQuery technology.

For overall site content, web safe fonts should still be used as the standard, but for customizing heading tags and other special text, we especially like using Cufon font replacement.

To use Cufon on your website:

1. Download the latest jQuery code from http://jquery.com/  Download the jquery-1.6.4.min.js  into your websites directory folder called /js
2. Download the latest Cufon code File from http://cufon.shoqolate.com/ – Download cufon-yui.js into your websites directory folder called /js
3. Generate your Cufon font javascript file on the Cufon website http://cufon.shoqolate.com/ , by clicking on the Regular Typeface button and uploading your font for conversion. You can also create optional boldface and italic fonts.  Acceptable font formats are TTF, OTF and PFB.  Windows users should move the font file out of the “Font” folder first in order to upload to Cufon. If desired, also upload the italic and bold files as well. Select the following glyphs: Uppercase, Lowercase, Numerals and Punctuation. Acknowledge the terms and click “Let’s do this!” When complete download the js files into your websites directory folder /js
4. Upload the 3 js files to your live server.

Now you are ready to install the code:

1. Add the following code between your <header></header> tags. Replace “yourfontname.font.js” with the name of your js file generated on the cufon site. The example code below replaces Heading Tags 1 through 5. This can be modified as desired to replace other tags. Alternatively: The Cufon.replace function could be added to an attached js file instead of writing it into the header of all site pages. :
   <!– Begin Cufon Font Replacement –>
   <script type=”text/javascript” src=”js/cufon-yui.js”></script>
   <script type=”text/javascript” src=”js/yourfontname.font.js“></script>
   <script type=”text/javascript”>
   Cufon.replace(‘h1, h2, h3, h4, h5′, { hover: ‘true’ });</script>
   <!– End Cufon Font Replacement –>
2. In order to avoid a flicker/delay in IE,  add the following code just before your closing body tag </body>:
   <script type=”text/javascript”> Cufon.now(); </script>

Note: Always load the jquery code before Cufon.

There are 2 disadvantage with Cufon: 1.) the text can not be selected and 2.) those surfing the web with javascripts disabled will see the default web safe fonts instead of your custom font. I would also like to point out that it is extremely important that you ensure that you have the proper privileges to use a font.

Get creative with Cufon ! To use Cufon fonts on your website, give us a call at 973-726-0003 and a member of our design team would be glad to assist you.

Northern Pride redesigned the website to help the soup kitchen become more visible and improve it’s online presence. Now the Soup kitchen can easily manage and maintain their site utilizing our signature SEO friendly North Star Content Management System. The newly designed site is fully W3C compliant to ensure maximum accessibility for all users across a wide range of platforms. With a new logo, improved graphics, and integrated social media widgets, the Saint John’s Soup Kitchen is now more informative than ever and much easier to navigate.

The new site will help the soup kitchen increase its site traffic and to better inform the public, making it easier for visitors to get involved through volunteering and raising donations.

The Saint John’s Soup Kitchen has been feeding the hungry and helping the homeless for over 30 years, serving over 700 meals a day.  St. John’s is supported by free-will donations.  They do not receive government funds of any kind.

“Northern Pride is proud to support non-profit organizations such as Saint John’s Soup Kitchen. Last year we donated our web design services to help the Sussex County Interfaith Hospitality Network HelpNJHomeless.org, and this year we are all excited to be able to help the Saint John’s Soup Kitchen. We believe in their mission of helping to feed the hungry, and we are happy to have had the opportunity to volunteer our expertise for their web design,” said Rodney Calafati, principal at Northern Pride.

You can help make a difference, visit NJSoupKitchen.org and get involved! They can use your help.

Gold Shield Private Home Management needed a clean and easy to use brochure style informational website, and they were very pleased with the solution we came up with. Anxious to launch it’s web site presence, Northern Pride completed the design project within a 4 week period.

The Gold Shield Private Home Management web site is a Web 2.0 design, completely powered by our user friendly North Star Content Management System. The site is coded with the latest web standards including XHTML, CSS, JAVASCRIPT, PHP and MySQL. Their site design has been validated to work on most browsers, optimized for speed, organized for maintainability, and tested for usability. We’ve incorporated code to show the current local weather and to display on all web site pages Gold Shield’s latest Twitter Tweets, making it easy for Gold Shield PHM to stay in touch with it’s client base.

Besides web site design and development, Northern Pride provided graphic design services including a custom business logo and business card layouts. Northern Pride also created and launched Gold Shield’s social media presence on FaceBook and Twitter.

Protect and care for your home while your away, contact Gold Shield Private Home Management to see how they can make your life as a home owner easier, The designers at Northern Pride would like to wish Gold Shield Private Home Management great success with their new web site presence.

Is your corporation in need of experienced web professionals?  Find out how we can design your website today.

ShoeBox Storage, Oak Ridge, NJ

Soon we will be unveiling the re-designed website for ShoeBox Self Storage complete with online storage unit reservations, secure payment processing, live chat support and social media networking. ShoeBox Self Storage will be able to easily maintain their new site with our easy to use North Star Content Management System. Look for the new website coming soon at www.shoeboxstorage.com

With that said, if you are reading this article in hopes of getting step by step instructions on how to use this hacking application, leave now. In fact this article is being written for the complete opposite reason, and to hopefully help protect some of our dedicated followers who were unaware of this vulnerability.

By now you are probably asking yourself, is there a safe way to connect to public wifi hotspots and still log into your social media accounts without becoming hijacked. And the answer is definitely, YES.

It is actually very easy to protect your accounts when using a public wireless network, you just need to access your social media platforms via a secure HTTPS connection. With an HTTPS connection a hacker is unable to hijack your account with the FaceNiff application because HTTPS encrypts the data sent and received with SSL, thus making it impossible to access your account.

Social media sites like FaceBook and Twitter have settings to enable this security feature. By default, Facebook’s and Twitter’s https browsing is disabled, but it only takes a minute to setup. You must enable it manually from it’s settings page. Within FaceBook you can activate the security feature in your account settings-> choose account security -> and check the box “Secure Browsing (https)”. In Twitter you can enable HTTPS on the settings page. Once you have activated the FaceBook and Twitter security feature you will be safe. There is no more need to panic and dial 911 the next time you are in Starbucks and the kid across from you reaches for his Droid smart phone.

So for now on protect yourself against hackers and only use the HTTPS protocol for FaceBook and Twitter, and for all online services that allow you to use it. Now, if only someone could develop a counter application to alert us when an Android user with the FaceNiff application is nearby and point them out.

Not only have we re-packaged and updated the site, we have also expanded the site content with a client managed news section and projects section powered by our signature North Star Content Manager. There is also an RSS (really simple syndication) feed with email subscription on the right hand side of every page providing the latest news and events to the visitor. Social media is now an important part of the website with links to the businesses’ Facebook page and Twitter page, including a live Twitter feed in the footer of all site page. The Facebook and Twitter accounts have all been customized by Northern Pride.

For all your residential construction needs in Northern New Jersey check out BChaneyImprovements.com

Here are the instructions to burn your feed with Feedburner:

1. Sign in to your Google Account at http://www.feedburner.google.com
2. Copy and paste the url of your RSS feed into the text box under Burn a feed right this instant. Click the Next button.
3. You will see a screen with 2 prefilled fields recommending your Feed Title and Feed Address. Modify as desired. For Feed Address we suggest using a name similar to your domain name. Click the Next button when finished.
   
4. On the next screen you will see Congrats! Your Feedburner feed is now live. Click Next.
   
5. Select all Additional Features. This will track clickthroughs; individual item views and resyndication; and reach (number of people who viewed or clicked the content in your feed).  Click Next.
   

   How To Setup Feedburner

6. Don’t forget to link to your new Feedburner feed page throughout your website wherever you use the RSS icon. Your link should look like this http://feeds.feedburner.com/yourbusinessname.

To take full advantage of Feedburner, we suggest you add code to your web site to allow visitors to subscribe to your feed via email.  To set this up, click here and follow our online guide. At Northern Pride we make it easy for visitors to our client’s web sites to stay current. If you need assistance with your feeds contact us, we are here to help.

Summer Background

Last Friday, Northern Pride launched a new web site for Advanced Land Management (ALM) of Towaco, New Jersey. The web site is fully accessible, table-less, valid XHTML strict code compliant and built with Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). Our North Star Content Management System (CMS) is incorporated to allow our client to easily update and expand their web site content. Our CMS goes way beyond the basics of simply editing, adding and deleting content pages, for example ALM will be able to modify meta tags to enhance their search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. As the seasons change in northern New Jersey, they will be able to change their web site background design to match the weather, by just placing a check next to the desired season. Some other exciting features our web developers programmed into this site include Cufon Font Replacements for text headings, jQuery Cycle for the homepage slideshow and CSS Sliding Door Buttons for the navigation menu.

Along with the creative web site design services provided to Advanced Land Management of NJ, we also provided ALM with a robust social media package, which included setup and customization of both their Facebook and Twitter accounts. Not only does their web site display their latest tweets, but best of all, their news section  updates their Facebook fan page and Twitter accounts automatically, each time they post a new news article.

To experience the new web site visit Advanced Land Management at www.AdvancedLandManagement.com

If you are looking to launch a web site for your business, or to get your business involved in the social network scene, contact Northern Pride.

Recently, a client of ours which specializes in landscape management inquired about being able to change their web site background image with the seasons. This is a wonderful idea and great way to keep a site looking fresh and current. So, our graphic designers went to work designing four seasonal web site backgrounds and when completed we uploaded the images to our servers, that was the easy part. Next our developers wrote the code which would allow the CSS rules to be modified from within the Clients North Star Content Management System control panel. Lastly, we configured the server .htacess file and all css files to parse php in the css files.

Spring Background

Summer Background

Two Steps To Parse PHP In CSS

To run the (server-side) executable code in the CSS files you need to make Apache treat CSS files as PHP.

1. Place the following directive code in a .htaccess file in the directory where the CSS file are stored. Depending on your server configuration, one of the 2 directive codes below should do the trick.

   AddType application/x-httpd-php .css

   or

   AddHandler application/x-httpd-php .css

2. Add the following code to the top of ALL of your css files located in the folder or subfolders where you uploaded the .htaccess file, even if you don’t use PHP within them!

   <?php header("Content-type: text/css"); ?>

That’s it. You are ready to start adding php code into your css files. Being able to process php code in css files eliminates the need for maintaining duplicate css files and makes it much easier to manage your web site.

So if you would like greater flexibility with your web site, and want the ability to change your site backgrounds, site colors, heading fonts, menu positions, or anything else on your web site that is currently defined in your css files, ask your webmaster to “Incorporate PHP in your CSS, and then add it to your CMS”. If your webmaster acts clueless to what you just requested, give us a call and we will be happy to add our North Star CMS to your web site and give you the control you deserve. With the right code anything is possible!

To start using Google Calendar Sync, download the software and run the application to install it. You will need a Google account or Gmail account to use the application. When prompted enter your Google account and password. Select the 2 Way Sync Option to allow the full synchronization to work and to be able to sync Outlook calendars on more than one computer.

The last step is to set your desired time for the software to automatically synchronize. The default time is 120 minutes but I prefer 30 minutes. Strike Save and the application will begin to sync with Outlook for the first time.

Close the application and Google Calendar Sync is now enabled and running in the background. To edit the application settings or to manually force a synchronization, you can access the application in your taskbar icon tray.

Google Calendar works with a number of desktop applications and mobile devices including iCal, iPhone and iPad, Blackberry, Android, Nokia/Symbian, and Windows Mobile phones.

I have been using the application for several days now and it works like a charm. You do not even know it is running. I should have been using this application a long time ago.

To move a WordPress site to another server or to a new domain name, you will want to do a full migration. We do not recommend using any WordPress plugins for this process, nor do we recommend using the WP export and import tool built into WordPress. We will be moving all the key content files and the WP database from the older server to the new, utilizing FTP and phpMyAdmin. When the process is complete, you will either re-point the domain name servers (DNS) if you will be using the same domain name or if you will be using a new domain name you would create a dns forward for the former domain name to the new one.

You should allow a minimum of 1 to 2 hours to complete the steps to transfer the site. You will experience some down time during the DNS propagation period, rule of thumb is to allow up to 48 hours, but most likely the new site will be visible much faster than that. Prior to moving the site, you may want to consider installing and activating the Maintenance Mode plugin to inform visitors that your website will be temporarily down.

Lets get started:

1. DOWNLOAD THE ENTIRE WORDPRESS WP-CONTENT FOLDER & WP_CONFIG.PHP FILE
   Log in to your existing WordPress site using your ftp client and download the entire wp-content folder and the wp-config.php file to your computer. This files contains all of your WordPress customizations.
2. BACKUP / EXPORT THE WORDPRESS DATABASE:
   On your original site server, log in to cPanel, or whatever server Control Panel  your server provides, locate and launch phpMyAdmin.
   Locate your WordPress database in the left sidebar and click on it. (If you are uncertain the name of the db being used, open the wp-config-php file to determine)
   Click on the Export tab along the top. Make sure “Save as File” is checked at the bottom and click on GO.
   You now have a copy of your WP database backed up on your computer, and will use this database file to upload to the new server.
3. CREATE THE NEW DATABASE ON THE NEW SERVER:
   Create the new Database on New Server: Log in to cPanel or your server provided Account Control Panel and click on MySQL Databases, in cPanel it is located under the Databases section. Click on Create New Database. Name the database something like clientdomain_blog
   Create MySQL User: Next you will want to create a MySQL user and name it something like “clientdomain_clientname”. Then enter a  password, we recommend using a password generator to generate a secure password. If you are using LastPass, just right click in the password field and click on generate password.
   Add User to Database: Next, select the new user and select the correct database and click add. On the next screen that appears check All Privileges and strike the Make Changes button
   You can now return to the cPanel Home Screen
4. IMPORT THE DATABASE TO THE NEW SERVER USING PHPMYADMIN
   From your control panel open phpMyAdmin located under the Databases section in cPanel
   Click on the newly created database name located in the left column sidebar
   Click on the Import Tab along the top horizontal navigation bar. Next, browse to locate  and open the downloaded database backup file, and strike Go to begin the import
   When the import is complete you should get a Green check stating the Import was Successful
5. MODIFYING THE IMPORTED DATABASE
   Now that the database has been successfully imported you will need to modify it in order for it to work properly. This will be performed running SQL Query.
   Assuming your table prefix is wp_ click the SQL tab at the top
   You will need to run 4 SQL queries,
   Note: if you are moving the site from a prior subdomain (like blog.yourolddomain.com) to the root of a new domain you will need to run 8 SQL Queries. First with the subdomain name blog.yourolddomain.com in place of “olddomain”; when that is complete you will run the 4 SQL queries again this time with “yourolddomain.com” without the prefix “blog.”
   
Copy and paste, one at a time, the following 4 strings of code into the Run SQL query box, replacing the words olddomain.com and newdomain.com with your domains, and strike Go. Each time you run a query you should get a green check indicating the database was successfully updated.UPDATE wp_options SET option_value = replace(option_value, ‘http://www.olddomain.com’, ‘http://www.newdomain.com’) WHERE option_name = ‘home’ OR option_name = ‘siteurl’; 

   UPDATE wp_posts SET guid = replace(guid, 'http://www.olddomain.com','http://www.newdomain.com');

   UPDATE wp_posts SET post_content = replace(post_content, 'http://www.olddomain.com', 'http://www.newdomain.com');

   UPDATE wp_postmeta SET meta_value = replace(meta_value, ‘http://www.olddomain.com’, ‘http://www.newdomain.com’);
   When complete click on the Home icon and log out of phpMyAdmin.

6. INSTALL WORPRESS ON THE NEW SERVER
   On your computer, move the WordPress files into your local web site folder.
   Copy and paste the recently downloaded backup wp-content folder overwriting the folder in your clients local web site folder.
   Open and Edit the wp-config.php file with the database name, database username and database password. Save the file.
   Upload all the WordPress folders and files to the new server via ftp in auto mode.
7. LOG IN TO WORDPRESS ADMIN ON NEW SERVER
   If prompted to update the database and/or WordPress, update now. If you enabled Maintenance Mode earlier, you can now turn it off.
8. TEST OUT THE SITE TO VERIFY IT IS WORKING PROPERLY
   Launch your browser and check out your site, make sure all images are displaying and all your old features are still available.
9. LASTLY, UPDATE DNS RECORDS

We hope this guide is helpful in moving your WordPress sites. To have Northern Pride move your WordPress site, contact us for a free estimate. Good luck!

For assistance in branding your business with a professional logo, complete our online contact form and let us know your vision. One of our logo designers will promptly contact you for a consultation. Or call 973.726.0003 for a free consultation and pricing.

Not all of your blog readers are savvy with RSS feeds, and they would prefer to receive your latest blog posts using an email subscription. Assuming you already have a Feedburner account, here are 6 steps to add an email subscription box to your WordPress sidebar using Feedburner.

1. Login to to your Feedburner Account

2. Click on your Feed Title .

3. Click on the Publicize Tab, then click on Email Subscriptions link in the left column and click on Activate.

4.   Copy the provided HTML Subscription Form code.

5. Configure Delivery Options in Feedburner – Click on Delivery Options in the left services column under Email Subscriptions. Select your Time Zone and a desired delivery time window (Schedule) you would like Feedburner to automatically email new blog posts to subscribers, click Save.

Note: When a visitor subscribes to your blog, they will be sent an email verification letter. In order for them to be subscribed they must click on the link in that email to verify. In an effort to get the user to open the automated email and verify their subscription, we suggest you personalize the default email verification letter that is sent by clicking on the Communications Preferences link. Here you can modify the 3 fields: email from, email subject line and the email body. Try changing the email from to blog@yourdomain.com, and personalize the body of the email with a warmer welcome line like “Hi … Rodney here from Northern Pride Blog”. At the end of the body, we add “Thanks for subscribing. We hope you enjoy reading our blog posts. We look forward to reading your comments!” followed by our signature.

6.  Lastly, Login to your WordPress dashboard and click on Appearance > Widgets . Drag the text widget into the desired WordPress Sidebar area on the right. Expand the text widget and paste the HTML code for the Feedburner email subscription, click Save.

Now your readers can easily subscribe to your blog by entering their email address, and all new blog posts will be emailed directly to your subscribers once a day at the time you selected. Since most visitors are still not familiar with syndicated RSS feeds and feed readers, we believe all blogs should offer an email subscription form. Even we use this nice, free feature provided by Google’s Feedburner on our own blog.

To get daily updates to our blog, subscribe to our RSS feed or enter your email address in the Subscribe box on this page.

To start using Networked Blogs, login to your Facebook profile account (not your fan page) and then click here.  The NetworkedBlogs Facebook Fan page will open, click on the Go to App button near the top of your screen. On the next screen, click on Register a Blog and complete the form. You will have to grant Networked Blogs permission to access your account. Then proceed to register your blog.  You will need to temporarily add some code to your blog in order to verify that your are an administrator of the blog. Once your your blog is verified, click on the syndication link to setup the automatic publishing and to customize the appearance of your posts.

Networked Blogs can also be helpful in generating more traffic just by adding your blog to the Facebook NetworkedBlogs directory.

Be sure to invite your Friends to follow you by selecting your friends and Sending a NetworkedBlogs Invitation. In the free version Networked Blogs updates your feed based on how many Friends are following you using NetworkedBlogs. The chart below shows how frequently NetworkedBlogs connects to your feed to look for new posts.

This guide will walk you through the steps to create a HootSuite account and configure it to automatically update your Facebook Fan Pages. All you need is a website with an RSS feed, a Facebook Fan Page and a HootSuite Account.

First: Sign Up For Your Free HootSuite Account

1.  Visit www.hootsuite.com and click on the “Sign Up Now” button to create your HootSuite account.

2.   Select the Basic Free Sign Up Now option (Pro version is also available).

3. Complete the Sign Up form with your email address, full name, password, select your time zone, if you do not want to receive the HootSuite Newsletters unselect, and click “Create Account” button. A welcome email will be sent to you.

Now that you have successfully signed up with HootSuite, lets configure HootSuite to automatically update to your Facebook Fan page wall with any new posts from your RSS feed.

Second Step: Add Your Facebook Fan Page to HootSuite

1.  Login into HootSuite and click on the Add A Social Network link on the main screen.
(Alternatively, you could click on the HootSuite owl icon in the upper left corner to display the drop down navigation menu, then select Settings>Social Networks. Click on the Add Social Network link in the popup window.)

2.  Select “Facebook Page” and click on the “Connect with Facebook” button.

3.  If you are not already logged into Facebook, you will be prompted to Login to your Facebook account. Go ahead and login. Once you are logged in a Facebook Request For Permission screen will appear. Click Allow to allow HootSuite to connect.

4.  A list of your Facebook Fan pages will be displayed, select the FB Fan page you want HootSuite to automatically update, and click the “Add to HootSuite” button.

5.  A Fan us on Facebook window will appear, click the X in the upper right corner to close the pop up window. You have completed the connection to your FB Fan page.

Last Step: Add Your Blog RSS Feed to HootSuite

1.  From the HootSuite Settings window select the link RSS/Atom and click on the Add New Feed button

2.  Complete the screen, by entering the url of your Blog RSS feed (if you are using Feedbuner use that url). Select how often you would like the feed to be checked, how many posts to send up at a time, if you also want text to be uploaded, a prefix for the post such as Blog Post: and the preferred url shortener styles. Most importantly select which FaceBook Profile/Fan Page you wish to upload to by clicking on the profile icon or selecting all if desired. You will see a green check mark over the Facebook fan page selected. Click Save Feed.

3. Your RSS Feed will now appear in the Settings window and is ready to be checked for new entries. HootSuite will now update your Facebook Fan Page automatically.

Hope this guide helps you to spend more time blogging and less time updating.

Before we let you in on how to make Facebook work for you, lets start with the question we are most often asked.

Should I separate my personal profile from my business presence on Facebook?

Yes. I know when it come to real estate agents, your personal network is your business network and it may sound logical to use your personal profile to market your business, however we suggest you keep your personal profile personal, using it to converse amongst your family, friends and colleagues.  Prospective clients may be turned off by a personal post or comment, not to mention what friends of yours may be posting. So keep it separate, and use a Facebook (FB) Fan page for your business brand.

You should also understand that your Facebook friends don’t care about your home listings for sale. They’re on your friend list because they like you and want to stay in touch. If you constantly spam your friends with listings and open houses, your friends will soon strike the “Hide” button to disable your future posts. Use your personal profile to build relationships, but not to market. Continue to grow your base of friends and engage with people on a personal level.   If you stick with keeping your personal profile about you and your fan page about your business, you will successfully expand your friends and fan base.

To create a Facebook fan page, first log in to your account, then click this link http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php to create a fan page. There is no limit on the number of Fan pages you can create. (Just do not create more than one personal profile, as it is against the Facebook rules and they will delete your accounts if someone reports you.)

What is the Secret to marketing your FB Fan page that will engage prospects and build fans?

Emphasize your Towns !

Make the Fan page about your communities, not about you the realtor. On Facebook, people fan things they love and are passionate about.  Lets be honest, most people in the towns you market will not care about your recent awards and achievements, or your open houses or featured listings, but what they do care about is where they live. Become the trusted online resource for the towns you represent, and you will benefit from social media marketing. People will do business with those they know and trust.

To view an example of this working successful strategy check out Vancouver, WA realtor Dale Chumbley’s Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/WhyVancouverWA nearing 1 year old with over 14,000 fans.

Wondering how a Fan page will generate new prospects (aka fans)?

It’s rather simple, if your wall posts on your fan page are intriguing, they will generate user engagement through comments and likes. Every time someone Likes or Comments on your post, your post is displayed to friends of friends.  The more comments you have the more visible your page becomes. As more people see your page and find it interesting they will become fans and your fan base will grow viral.

In order to make this strategy work, follow the posting guidelines and customization suggestions listed below.

Recommended Posting Guidelines For Your Fan Page:

• Review local businesses: especially restaurants, schools, entertainment facilities, etc.
• Inform your fans about new businesses
• Start discussions on community events
• Cover community news
• Upload photos and videos of your towns
• Keep your Fan Page active – Post frequently and rhythmically consistent
• Make your posts personable and inviting
• Share quality, relevant content
• Reply to fan comments
• From time to time, discuss local real estate news, marketing tips and other information that will benefit buyers and sellers, but do not overdo it. Conservatively mix in your marketing message.

Customize Your Facebook Fan page:

• Import your Blog posts into a Facebook tab
• Import Twitter posts into a Facebook tab
• Create a Testimonials tab and encourage clients to post
• Share your listings, local schools and market stats in a Facebook Real Estate tab with Roost Social Real Estate application
• Secure a vanity url
• Create custom tabs with Static FBML application
• Use Facebook ads

Make social media work by putting a little time and effort in connecting with the people in the towns you specialize, and you will soon build trust and creditability as well a community with your followers. This approach will increase your fan page base, allowing fans to engage with each other without feeling like they are being spammed by your direct marketing.

We hope these tips help you to effectively promote your real estate business using Facebook Fan pages.

Lastly, don’t forget to market your Facebook fan page and invite all your FB friends to become a fan of your page through the “Suggest to Friends” link underneath your page picture.

If you need help customizing your Facebook profile or fan page contact Northern Pride for a quick professional solution.