2) Make a sub-folder called /otherdomains/

3) Inside of that folder, add a new folder for each new domain you want to host there.  I.E. /mynewdomain.com/ or /coolslicksite.org/

4) In the root folder (where the IP address defaults to) put this in the .htaccess file

RewriteEngine On
Options +FollowSymlinks

# Check if directory exists, than point domain to it.
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} -d
RewriteRule ^(.+[^/])$ $1/ [L]

RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} !^(www\.)?yourmainsite\.com$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^([^.]+\.)?(.*)$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} ^(www\.)?(.*)$
RewriteCond /full/server/path/to/otherdomains/%2 -d
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/otherdomains/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ otherdomains/%2/$1 [L]

AddHandler server-parsed .html .htm

6) Point other domains’ A-Records at the IP Address of this location

— FOR INCLUDING PHP IN .HTML PAGES
RemoveHandler .html .htm
AddType application/x-httpd-php .php .htm .html

— FOR INCLUDING HTML IN HTML PAGES
Options +Includes
AddType text/html .html
AddHandler server-parsed .html

—– 301 REDIRECT – entire domain, retaining page structure:
Options +FollowSymLinks
RewriteEngine on
RewriteRule (.*) http://subdomain.domain.com/$1 [R=301,L]

——- 301 REDIRECT – page to page
Redirect 301 /oldpage.html http://www.example.com/newpage.html

AddHandler application/x-httpd-php5 .php

The 1st option is to just click the “Become a Fan” and you will become a fan without even leaving whatever page you’re currently on.

The 2nd option to to click through to the Vegas.com Facebook Page where you’re shown a bunch of custom created ads promoting various Las Vegas offers.

I’ve pasted a screenshot of that landing page here so you can get the idea, but it’s an interesting approach.  A lot of Facebook pages are pretty generic.  That’s kinda the point of Facebook, and I think this approach lets you stand out a bit in your offer to new visitors.

So this ad below really caught my eye, because it tells me that one of my friends is already a fan.  Very cool approach, an amazing way to build trust into your ads.

This is definitely a vote for using ads to drive people to your Facebook page, rather than to your website.

One ad that got my attention is this “Geisha In Your Pants?” from Cordarounds.com.  I had no idea what this cordarounds company is, but their site looks great.  Really into their stuff.  I especially like their “pants for biking” category.

As my current “big question” has to do with whether or not to send Facebook ads directly to your own website, or to your Facebook page, I wonder how this ad does for them.

But I can talk about my own personal experience.  The ad got me curious.  I clicked the link to see more.  Initial site impression is one of trust.  Initial product impression is “cool, I want a pair.”  But then I clicked away to leave.   Am I going to remember their name?

What if they create an incentive for me to “become a fan” of them by giving away one pair of pants per week.  One pair of pants around $100.  It’s just a question of numbers, really.  How many new fans would you be happy to receive for $100/week?

If I were working on this campaign, I’d be curious about two different approaches.  While I’ve heard that it’s good to send people to a Facebook page, had I been sent directly to a Facebook page I wouldn’t have been able to be immediately impressed by their site design.  So what if their homepage had a big blazing “welcome Facebook people” and then stated the offer loud and clear.  This would be using their own domain name as a landing page to increase response.

Whichever of those methods works best, I know that the “tried and true” method of building relationship first, and customer second, is only going to become more and more of the de-facto method as interaction and “friendship” becomes easier and easier.

This is one of the immediately-alluring themes of Facebook ads, the ability to target people based on certain aspects of their profile.

So the headline of “For Cornell Alums Only” is obviously not something I’m accustomed to seeing online, so it immediately grabs my attention.  My opinion of the offer in the ad is that it’s too limiting, speaking only to people who are consciously aware that they “chose the wrong major”.

I think that if this ad focused more on the 25% discount for Cornell Alums, and stressed the wide-range of “continuing education” available, they’d have a wider audience.  But that’s my immediate marketing opinion.  This campaign could be wildly successful for them.  Only the data tells the real story.

So I clicked on the ad, and it brought me to a page on ecornell.com’s site.  One technique I’ve heard about lately is that some people say it’s more effective to have ads that point to your own Facebook page, instead of going outside of Facebook.

I get the sense that the guiding principle of success on Facebook is that it’s a trusted environment.  The more you can stay within the bounds of implicit trust, the more successful you’ll be.   So as long as the focus is on trust, we can acknowledge that it might be possible to send people to another site…just make sure the level of safety and transparency is equal to that of a Facebook page.