Adding Widgets to Facebook Fan Pages

I am so excited about the new sparkly widgets on my fan page, I simply MUST share. Did you know you could add code to FaceBook pages?! I only found about this recently, and only figured it out today.

Today, I stumbled (again) upon this FBML thing, FaceBook Markup Language. Well, this place was saying HTML works, so my initial monstrous image of having to learn this "FBML" turned into "Oh, it's HTML, I can tackle THAT!"

So for those of you wanting a pretty widget on the side of your FaceBook Fan Pages, here's a little mini-guide based on what's worked for me:

1. Go to http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=4949752878 (Static FBML App) and click the "Add to my Page" link under the avatar.


2. An "Add Static FBML to your Page" window pops up, and you should see the avatar of your fan page in there. Click the "Add to Page" button next to it.


3. Now go to your FAN page and click the "Edit Page" link under your avatar.


4. Scroll down to Applications, and you should see FBML in there. Click the "Edit" link immediately underneath the FBML line.


5. You will now be in the "Edit FBML" window where you can edit the Box Title to say whatever you want, like LINKLOVE, for example. You can also put any text or HTML widget code into the FBML area. For example, to add a link to the LinkLove blog:
   <a href="http://linklovesuccess.blogspot.com"> LinkLove Success Stories Blog</a>
   Keep in mind you are designing for a 200 pixels wide area.


6. When done, click the blue "Save Changes" button at the bottom.


7. Go to your FAN page, find the Boxes tab at the top and click on it (may be hidden under the >> at the end of the tabs, click the arrows to expand).


8. On the Boxes page, you will see your LINKLOVE FBML. Click the tiny edit pencil in the upper right corner and choose "Move to Wall Tab"


9. TAADAA! It's now on the left side of your wall. You can even grab it and move it up and down (as long as it's under fans). Pretty cool huh?

You can see the widgets live at http://facebook.com/mvfans.

So that's it. The mighty FBML I was so afraid of trying out LOL

Do let me know how those instructions work for you or if anything looks confusing. Enjoy!