Today my task is to find out how to claim my Facebook Place Page without the use of a cell phone.  Turns out, I can access the mobile version of Facebook (touch.facebook.com) just fine with my laptop browser (using Firefox).  The page spreads out to fill my screen, I can post my location, access my personal profile, my Facebook email inbox, my photos, and my news feed.

Screenshot of touch.facebook.com on my laptop

It seems the only thing I can’t do is “check in” which instantly reports my activity and location to my Facebook friends.  When I click the “check in” button, I get the repeating “loading” icon and it never resolves.  This is a bummer!

can't check in!

Got a mobile device and want to claim your Facebook Places Page for your business?  Go to http://touch.facebook.com/#places.php and follow these directions from Facebook:

1. Access the Places application on your supported device.
2. Click “Check In.”
3. Click the “Add” button to the left of the Places Names search box.
4. Enter a name for the new Place as well as an optional description of it. Then, click the “Add” button at the bottom right of the page.
5. You will then have the option to both write a description of what you are doing at the new Place, and/or tag your friends there
6. Click the “Check In” button to share your visit.

The default location for any new Place you create will be where you are currently located. Also, keep in mind that any Place that you create is public. This means that other people may see your created Place while browsing Facebook or the Places application.

Please keep in mind that only official representatives of a business can claim the Place on Facebook. Click here to learn more about the benefits of using Facebook Places for your business.

Here is the official Facebook video on how to edit your Facebook Places privacy settings:

And here is the complete Facebook FAQ on Facebook Places: http://www.facebook.com/places/#!/help/?topic=places

At the end of my quest, the answer for me: wait until Facebook merges Facebook Pages with Facebook Places.  Then I should be able to update my Facebook Place on my Facebook Page.

Brenda Horton of Hware was looking at my website to check out my BuddyPress integration and noticed my site was loading very slowly.  I started researching ways to speed up my site and this post is the outcome of a full day’s work (literally, 9am – 8+pm, eating at my desk).  Let me share the results with you.

First of all, why speed up your site?  The search engines now look at page load time to give your website a good page rank.  Plus, you may easily lose potential sales or email captures if your site takes more than a second to load!

My quest for faster load time information led me here: http://www.larre.com/2010/01/24/amazon-s3-and-cloudfront-with-wordpress-and-dreamhost/ – a blog post about using Amazon CloudFront with my web hosting company, Dreamhost to create a CDN (content delivery network) to spread out the http requests from users (thus decreasing load time).  Turns out, my favorite web hosting company, Dreamhost, is not only a green web hosting company, but is the first to roll out this new feature!

Hire me to activate this feature on your site, or Dreamhost/Wordpress users, here are the steps involved:

1) Deactivate and delete any other caching plugins you may already have installed on your WordPress site.  Verify they are completely deleted using your ftp program to make sure the plugin folder is REALLY gone.

2) Create an Amazon AWS Account. Please note: it may take several hours for your account credentials to be functional.

3) Log into your Dreamhost web hosting panel and go to “Goodies” –> Amazon CloudFront.

4) Copy your Amazon CloudFront settings into the Dreamhost settings and click “Create CloudFront.”  Dreamhost automatically creates the new CloudFront bucket for you.  It will appear in your AWS Console after it is created.

6) Install W3Total Cache DEVELOPER version.

7) Activate the plugin and enable CDN only.

8 ) Configure the CDN settings and click “create bucket” then “test.”

9) Upload the media library, includes files, theme files and custom files to the CloudFront using W3 Total Cache , the AWS Management Console or S3Hub (for Mac) or the Firefox add-on S3Fox (for PC).

10) Make sure you set the ACP (permissions) to “Read Only” for “All Users” or “Everyone” otherwise your images and other content may not show up.  Here are the screenshots for using S3Hub:

Read up on how to use Amazon CloudFront.  Also you may want to take advantage of the new AWS default root object feature for enhanced security.  Let me know how it goes!

P.S. I am an affiliate of Dreamhost as well as a user and a big fan (as you can tell!).

Hear from trusted and knowledgeable business experts and professionals from the ERC, SEDCorp, the One-Stop Business Center, GROWSierra Foothills, Private Industry Council of Butte County, City of Nevada City, City of Grass Valley, and Sierra Commons.

Connect with other local business owners and organizations that can help you succeed. The Nevada City Chamber of Commerce will introduce the area’s many local professional organizations including Business and Professional Women, Soroptomist of Nevada County, The Exchange, Rotary, Local Green Sierra/Green Drinks, Think Local First, WHEEL, and SIGBA among others.

What: Nevada County Small Business and Entrepreneur Seminar Presented by Nevada County Economic Resource Council, New Business Network and H-Ware
Date: Thursday, June 24, 2010
Time: 830am Registration, 9am-noon Seminar
Where: Holiday Inn Express, 121 Bank Street, Grass Valley, CA
Tickets: Free, Space is limited please RSVP to jesse@ncerc.org
Info: Jesse Locks, (530) 274-8455 or jesse@ncerc.org

See you there! Bring lots of business cards!

1) Add custom tables with MCE Table Buttons plugin

This plugin allows you to insert a table to your specifications right within the WordPress WYSIWYG editor by adding buttons to the kitchen sink.  As you can see here,

2) Add a favicon with Favicons by Ioane.  A favicon is the little image that appears on the left side of the tab of your browser like this:

To transform your own image into a favicon, use this Favicon Generator.

1) With Firefox open, install the Firefox add-on, Web Developer Tools

2) Re-start Firefox when prompted

3) Go to the Firefox Menu—>Tools—>Web Developer—>Images—>View Image Information and Firefox will open a new tab for you listing all the image information you need.

Any questions? Feel free to leave a comment.

1. Upload your .mp3 file to your media library through your WordPress backend.

2. Copy the file location.

3. Paste the file location in the “share link” area on Facebook.

4. Add a description in the text field above the link and a short link back to your site (use TinyURL.com if it’s long).

5. Click “attach” to attach the link.

6. Change the artist name and album name if needed.

7. When you are ready, choose your privacy settings and click “Share.”

Your .mp3 will now stream live on Facebook!

More Facebook techniques from Cat’s Web Weave

(*make sure you have a backup copy of all your template files before you do this!)

1) Log into your WordPress backend.

2) Go to Appearance: Editor

3) Open single.php

4) Place this code right before <?php the_content(); ?>

<iframe src=”http://www.facebook.com/plugins/like.php?href=<?php echo urlencode(get_permalink($post->ID)); ?>&amp;layout=standard&amp;show-faces=false&amp;width=450&amp;action=like&amp;colorscheme=light” scrolling=”no” frameborder=”0″ allowTransparency=”true” style=”border:none; overflow:hidden; width:450px; height:60px”></iframe>

5) Click “update”

6) refresh your blog page and see the new Facebook Like button at play!

And if you don’t want to delve into the code, use this super easy plugin by Todd Williams!