How to get a custom welcome page for Facebook

Getting a custom welcome landing page (aka welcome tab) to invite someone to Like a Facebook Page has become a popular tactic for businesses and organizations to build its audience. While there is Facebook Developer documentation online that has a Page Tab tutorial, I don’t find it plain and simple to use. Here are template-driven web apps for generating a custom welcome page (and asterisked ones have additional apps that integrate into Facebook page tabs):

• http://www.pagemodo.com
• http://www.shortstack.com
• http://northsocial.com
• http://fanpageengine.com
• http://hostfb.com/
• http://socialstage.com
• http://socialdragonflys.com
• http://wp4fb.com
• http://www.faceitpages.com * [ed.note: this app calls it a “fan gate”]
• http://iframes.wildfireapp.com
• http://www.tabsite.com
• http://apps.tradablebits.com *
• http://www.socialappshq.com *
• Static HTML: iframe tabs
• http://pages.wix.com/ppcfpa/fb_102
• other apps listed in socialmediaexaminer.com, another list
• + Steve Fogg’s step-by-step guide to build one for free http://www.stevefogg.com/2011/10/09/how-i-created-a-facebook-landing-page-for-free-and-you-can-too/

Of course, growing audience engagement takes more than a welcome page, but sometimes non-techie decision-makers aren’t aware of the total cost of effort to keep fresh content flowing consistently. (cf. When A Welcome Tab Isn’t Enough: Use Custom Facebook Tabs To Give Fans More)

[* Unfortunately, much of this info is obsolete, since Facebook changed the rules of the game, and Facebook pages use that timeline format since February 2012]