I thought I try a facebook page

Interesting sjr4x4.
Would you not agree that social media (as a marketing tool) is really only appropriate to people who are intrinsically 'social'? ie, like to chat a lot?

Whereas those business owners who are more business-orientated are less-likely to have something to say - and on a regular basis? Hence they become the business owners with "have you visited us on facebook" on the bottom of every page of their website, but when you actually visit there, its empty!

maybe the term "social" is misleading. True, first thing you think of is myspace and facebook, which is a modern day makeover of a 90's chat room, but social networking encompasses so much more these days, and is steadly growing.

If you look at it from a purely business point of view and not spamming friends and family, then there are whole lot of tools available, and different social media networks that a business can tap into. You don't have to spend your life on forums, writing blogs or rattling around talking to strangers on bizzare social sites.

Of course its not just a case of setting up a spammy auto sender, and pumping rubbish into twitter or your new business facebook page with no "friends", but with a balance of automation, and things like a like button on well written content relating to your business, and you are halfway there.

I think we are witnessing social networking morph into a more useful realtime and social search meets traditional indexed content search. Its an obvious evolution, and its interesting to see where it will go.

For business owners that are marketing savvy, then this is a new set of rules to master. For those that aren't, then they can outsource to the willing crop of SEO/marketing companies that are.

I decided to pull off Facebook, could not see the angle of benefit

Well my face book page is finished (see here) so now to start the marketing of it.

I think Steve raises a good point a traditional search and find a product / service and a number of people have commented on it being good / bad / indifferent then has a benefit

Centurion-FPS
What advantage does a facebook page has to lets say building backlinks? Facebook links have a no-follow thingy (sorry I;m not a coder) which facebook is useless.

If you are talking about a fan page, how do you actually make it more visible on facebook domain?

Google

beauty salon wednesfield

And you will find Divas Beauty Salon facebook above the website! Obviously both by me!

Facebook works, ignore it at your peril, otherwise your competitors will flourish!

You are correct in that there is a no-follow with links on Facebook.
The point is you can use Facebook IF you have something useful to say/update on a regular basis to a distinct group of people - your fans.
However, if you are a regular ordinary business owner then my view is you are completely wasting your time getting involved with Facebook. Concentrate on meaningful promotions/marketing.

Dr Ian, I am honestly shocked at an internet marketer pooh poohing SMM, and hammering your website with Google Adsense, each to their own I guess.

Hello Kip.

Unsure what yo mean by 'hammering Adsense'.
But I am attempting to ensure Centurion does not waste his limited resources on an marketing avenues that are highly unlikely to produce results.

A man once said that the world was round, and was laughed at. SMM works fine when done correctly, and as algorithms are already factoring in your SMM to your SEO and rankings I would of thought a professional would push that.

Adsense thing was I do not know people that run adsense on their own websites (not dedicated business ones anyway, directories and blogs I understand).

Do they not direct traffic away from your business? As I have just seen adverts on there that are the same as the services you offer, maybe its just me, I would rather have the client, than the 20p.