How I became a Creative Entrepreneur

When in my final high school years people started asking me what I was gonna do for a living, I never knew what to answer. None of the available options (that I knew of) sounded attractive to me. So I opted for going to college because it was the choice with the most freedom involved…or so I thought.  My college years ended with me dropping out and my parents having nightmares about my now surely somber future. I can’t blame them, I actually had the same nightmares but started concentrating on my art because that was what I really wanted to do.

In 2007 I set up Kabai33 using WordPress. I wanted to sell my art online.  A year later I attended  a Wordpress meet-up here in Berlin, Germany.  Matt Mullenweg, the founder and developer of WordPress was there as well as Janetti Chon of Web 2.0 Expo and Jody Church, the then community manager of Lifestream.fm as well as lots of other people.  For me it was the first time meeting people who made a living through and with  the internet, blogging and social media.  At the end of the night we set with maybe 7 people on a tiny balcony in Friedrichshain and discovered that almost all of us were college drop-outs. I looked around at all those bright, inspiring people and I knew I was in good company and I never thought leaving college was a bad idea anymore.

Helping Others

Back then I decided to do more than just sell my art online. I wanted to  teach other artists how to use wordpress, how to blog and how to eventually make money with it. So I started writing some blog posts for fellow artists and other creative souls:  blogs to follow if you want to sell art online, how to create a Facebook fan page and some other stuff I had learned while building my own blog. These posts got a lot of attention because there seems to be a real need for this kind of information.

Creative Web Biz Kit

So I decided to take it a step further and actually help creative people set up a blog and start their own online biz and set up  the Creative Web Biz Kit for Artists and other Creative Entrepreneurs. It includes instructions on how to get a web host + the actual site set-up (by me) + 10 preinstalled themes (all designed with artists in mind)  + 10 preinstalled plugins which extend the functionality of your blog so you can sell your creations directly from your site and do other cool stuff. And because I really want you to succeed you will also get a 3 week email course that will teach you how to start and grow your own creative web biz! Sounds good right? Head on over and check it out!

Pssst….Get a Discount!

I’m not quite done writing the ecourse and the official launch of the Creative Web Biz Kit will not happen until next week but you can already get it with a  a 20% discount. Yipeee… but only for one week, until  March 19th!

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

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image by cassandrajowett

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Almost three years ago I decided to start selling my art online. I knew I had to get a professional blog and my own business email address. So I signed up with BlueHost to get both.

I did have a Gmail account which worked fine but I wanted something more professional looking. No more myname@gmail.com for me.  I wanted myname@mydomain.com and that is what I got. But when I  sent my first email I discovered that the email clients my web host uses are not at all as sophisticated as Gmail is.

I was disappointed and didn’t know how to solve my problem until I found the solution using Gmail’s Mail Fetcher. It can download messages from up to five other email accounts, centralizing all your email in Gmail. Once you’ve set up Mail Fetcher, Google will check your other accounts on a regular basis, and new mail will appear automatically in Gmail. But the best part is that the recipients of the mail you sent from Gmail will only get to see your other, more professional business email address!

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Here is how it works:

• Go to your domain registrar control panel and create an email forwarding account for your domain (most registrars offer this feature for free with your domain registration).

• Log into your gmail account

• Go to  Settings in the upper right corner of your Gmail screen

• Open the Accounts and Imports tab

• Find the Check mail using POP3 section and click on Add Pop3 Email Account. Type in the email address of the account you want to access, click Next Step

• Check if the sample settings are correct and enter your password

• Now you can choose if you want the retrieved emails to be deleted in your other account or if you want  to leave a copy on the server.

• Click Add Account

• Create custom From address. This allows you to compose messages in Gmail, but have them appear to be sent from your other email account.

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Done!

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

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Standard Plugins:

• Wordpress Database Backup

by Austin Matzko

No matter what kind of blog you have, you will definitely need this plugin! It will help you backup your blog so you are always on the safe side if something should ever happen to your blog (which I hope will never occur of course).

I set it up to create daily backups that go straight to the trash of my gmail account (you can do this by going to settings and creating a filter). If I ever need it, I just go there and download the latest version.

• WP Super Cache

by Donncha O Caoimh

WP Super Cache is a static caching plugin for WordPress.  What does that mean? Well, by using this plugin you will speed up your WordPress blog significantly. The faster, the better. Your readers will like it and Google will like it too!

• FD Feedburner Plugin

by John Watson

If you have a FeedBurner account (and you should!), this plugin will help you make sure that all your subscribers get redirected to your Feedburner feed and therefore will appear in your stats.

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Search Engine Optimization:

• All in One SEO Pack

by Michael Torbert

Out-of-the-box SEO for your Wordpress blog. If you ever googled your own blog, you will know that the listing consits of the title, two lines of text and your url (web address). This plugin makes it easier for you to control what exactly will be shown.

• Google XML Sitemaps

by Arne Brachhold

A sitemap is a list of pages of a web site accessible to search engine crawlers or users. This plugin will generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and Ask.com to better index your blog.

• SEO FriendlyImages

by Vladimir Prelovac

As creative entrepreneurs, most of you will have lots of visuals on your blogs. This plugin automatically adds alt and title attributes to all your images which helps to improve traffic from search results, especially from Google images.

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Comments:

• CommentLuv

by Andy Bailey

Plugin to show a link to the last post from the commenters blog (if they have one) when they leave a comment. Rewards your readers and encourages more comments.

• Subscribe to Comments

by Mark Jaquith

When someone comments on one of your posts, they are usually  interested in your reply or other comments on that same post. This plugin allows readers to receive notifications of new comments that are posted to an entry through email.

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Engaging Readers:

• Social Homes

by Elie Zananiri

Adds a sidebar widget containing a subtle list of all your social homes as linked favicons (see my sidebar). Current services include anything and everything! Just add the full URL to the list of services and Social Homes will figure out what the icon is automatically.

• LinkWithin

by linkwithin.com

LinkWithin is a blog widget that appears under each post, linking to related stories from your blog archive. The widget links to stories that are relevant and interesting to readers of a particular post, keeping them engaged with your blog, and increasing your traffic. It is minimally styled and blends in with your site design (see example below this post)

• Sexy Bookmarks

by Josh Jones, Jamie Carter, Gautum Gupta, Norman Yung

SexyBookmarks adds a list of social bookmarking icons to each of your posts so your readers can share tese posts on their favorite social networks.

• Post Footer Library

by Atlantic Dominion Solutions

This plugin allows you to create a library of code snippets and easily include them at the bottom of Blog Posts on your WordPress powered blog. Add any text or even html. You can use it to remind your readers to subscribe to your blog or to follow you on Twitter or whatever else you wan them to do

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Visuals:

• Shadowbox JS

by Matt Martz

A blog only allows for a certain width of an image due to it’s design. To allow people to view your images in a bigger version, they could click through to the original file. Shadowbox offers a more elegant solution. Clicking on the image will now darken your screen and overlay it with your image. Don’t know what I’m talking about?  See an example.

Installation of all these listed plugins is included in the Creative Web Biz Kit for Artists and Other Creative Entrepreneurs, along with a self-hosted wordpress blog set-up, 10 preinstalled themes and a free ecourse!

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Want more?

Find more plugins by opening the “plugin” drop down menu in the left sidebar of your WordPress dashboard. Select “Add New” and start searching by keyword, author or tag.

Your Turn:

what are your favorite  plugins?

Leave a link to your blog so we can see them in action!

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

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1.  A Simple Guide to Creative Visioning

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Creative visioning isn’t so much about making dreams come true, it’s about becoming the dream come true.  So this map doesn’t lead you to a physical destination, it leads within – guiding you in aligning to the greatest aspects of yourself. When you are fully aligned with your creative genius, miracles happen and dreams come true. In creative visioning we discover that our dream already exists and is waiting for us to come true!

12$

A Simple Guide to Creative Visioning by Andrea Schroeder of ABC Creativity

Follow @ABCCreativity on Twitter

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2.  2010: Creating My Goddess Year Workbook & Planner

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The  2010: Creating My Goddess Year Workbook & Planner is  is filled with 40 pages of worksheets to help you dream, manifest, set your intentions, plan & cultivate your amazing new year. It’s handwritten & illustrated… perfect for you to print out, soak up the rainbow colours of, and make 2010 your gorgeous goddess year.

9.95$

Want to share the fun?  It’s also available in discounted packs of two (for yourself and a friend), of  five (for all your best friends) and as a gift voucher.

2010: Creating My Goddess Year Workbook & Planner by Goddess Leonie of  GoddessGuidebook

Follow @GoddessLeonie on Twitter

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3. The Right Brain Business Plan Ebook

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This colorful, out-of-the-box e-Book, guides you through the creative process of envisioning your business and crafting your unique and personal business plan. It’s like having your own creative cohort alongside you for inspiration and motivation! Takes you all the way from the vision through the action plan.

19.95$

Right Brain Business Plan Ebook by Jennifer Lee of RightBrainBusinessPlan

Follow @artizencoaching on Twitter

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4.  Multiple Streams of Income: A Guide to Creating Income for Artists and Crafters

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In order to create the financial success you desire, you have to find multiple ways to bring in income. You should have a good combination of active and passive income. Read this ebook and you’ll have the beginning of a basic plan and a focus on the areas you need to work on in order to achieve success in your business and make a living doing what you really love.

10$

Multiple Streams of Income: A Guide to Creating Income for Artists and Crafters by Laura Bray of  KatyDiddy

Follow @katydiddy on Twitter

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

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Yep,  it’s finally 2010!

Now, if you follow me on Twitter or are a fan of Kabai33 on Facebook, then you already know that I am convinced that 2010 is going to be my year!

Yes, you heard it right, I am absolutely sure that this year is going to change my life. How do I know? Well, because I will take all my manifestation skills and create the life I want for myself. No excuses!

2009 has been hard on many of us and I too had to go through some very challenging times. But now, that we got rid of any unwanted energies, we are going to fly! We? Yes, we, because part of my plan is to help you do it too!

Last year I wrote some posts to help artists, designers, crafters, clowns, cooks and other creative entrepreneurs to start and grow their own creative web biz. The feedback was amazing and Google Analytics tells me that lots and lots of people have read them and still do.  I guess I’m not the only one trying to create a sustainable and independent lifestyle using my talents and gifts

If you haven’t read them yet, here is your chance to do so:

- How to Set Up Your Own Creative Web Biz in 5 Steps

- 21 Blogs to Follow if You Want to Sell Art or Crafts Online

- 10 Facebook FanPage Tips for Creative Entrepreneurs

- 10 Wordpress Themes for Creative Entrepreneurs

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Win a Blog, Free Ecourse and other plans for this coming year:

While building my own online biz I have learned sooooo much and it would be a waste not to share this knowledge with all of you. And you know what? I am convinced that the more people can sustain and live their desired lifestyle, the better for Mother Earth cause happy people don’t go to war!

That is why from now on I will be writing  bimonthly KabaiBiz articles! But that’s not all. I will also create a free ecourse for artists, crafters, musicians, designers and other creative entrepreneurs. If you want to get notified of upcoming posts, the free ecourse and other goodies , just sign up to my  bimonthly newletter below. Issue#1 will go out on Jan14th and one of the readers will win a free professional blog set-up! I will help the winner to sign up for a web host and then install the wordpress blogging software complete with ten themes and ten plugins that are handpicked and especially suited for blogs with highly visual content. I will even enable you to sell your creations directly from your very own blog. So sign up and start thinking about what your free domain name is going to be!

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And don’t forget to follow me on Twitter for your daily dose of  tips, tools and resources for Creative Entrepreneurs.
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Let’s rock!

p.s. the beautiful pic above was shot by 1suisse

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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GUILT, ANGER, FEAR, JEALOUSY and other “negative” emotions are not just some random annoyance we need to get rid of. They are indeed very valuable because they show us our own as well as other peoples boundaries. They also show us that we need to take responsibility: We can either choose to respect and accept these boundaries from now on or we need to create more space for ourselves so we will not have to transgress these boundaries anymore. The choice is ours to make. We should just never ignore, suppress or otherwise disrespect our own and/or others feelings for it will only result in more undesirable experiences for all involved.

These last three months have been more than challenging for me in all aspects of life. I have been going through endless cycles of  releasing pain, anger, fear, guilt and other emotions we usually classify as negative. There was no way around it and I’m still not done. But today is the day that I want to celebrate my freedom.

I want to celebrate  the freedom to accept and honor my own feelings and boundaries. I want to celebrate the freedom to communicate these emotions so they can be resolved. Through keeping them hidden from ourselves and others we only make them grow and grow and grow until they erupt which usually ends in serious damage. And I want to celebrate the existence of my boundaries because they show me, just like a riverbed does for a river, which is the right direction to flow and which isn’t.

So if you  have also been going through experiences like this lately, celebrate with me. Yes, celebrate, because these emotions are really just helping you to respect yourself and others and in the end will empower you to live the life you came here to live on our beautiful Mother Earth.

Blessings to y’all

with much love and gratitude

Yamile Yemoonyah

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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I know, I know, you must be sick and  tired of hearing about my snail and slug obsession all the time

But I just can’t help it. These little beings are really fascinating to me. Since Snail Spirit has become my teacher and guide some years ago it just keeps crawling in front of my camera and it shows me where to find it’s shells so I can make beautiful jewelry. But instead of a new snail story, I will just let you enjoy the image above and then revisit the posts I already wrote about my favorite creature on earth:

-the first post about Snail Spirit contains a really beautiful photo I took of a snail shell which seems to emanate light from inside the shell.

- number two is a photo series dedicated to slugs and snails which used to grace the slide show on the Kabai33 front page.

-and  the third post shows the Snail Spirit Earrings I created from snail shells I found in nature and gives you three lessons I learned from Snail Spirit.

Enjoy!

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Available for sale as Greeting Cards, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints, Framed Prints and Posters (from €3.63) Get it HERE

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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Q’Orianka Waira Qoiana Kilcher (born February 11, 1990) is an American actress and singer, of Indigenous Quechua and Swiss heritage. She has never pumped a gallon of gas in her entire life and drives a Honda FCX, a fuel cell vehicle. She creates bags from recycled materials as well as her own clothes.

But her main cause is her fight for indigenous rights in Peru.  At the moment her non-profit organization Youth4Truth is raising money to supply the indigenous peoples in the Amazon who try to protect their lands from oil drilling, mining and logging companies, with cameras to document their cause. Just two weeks ago they were met by a  violent response of the Peruvian army who started shooting at the protesters, including men, women and children. 25 people died. To make sure this does not happen again, the rest of the world needs to be aware of what is going on and cameras will certainly help.

She even dedicated her Young Hollywood Award to the protesters and their leader Alberto Pizango and then flew to Peru to see what was going on with her own eyes.

A few years ago she had already once been to Peru and was shocked to find that oil companies where dumping their waist in the local rivers which is also the only water supply the indigenous people in the area have.

Q’Orianka uses every opportunity to speak up for the rights of indigenous peoples. Here you see her at the International Forum on Globalization where she highlights the importance of indigenous issues to all humanity:

Please support Q’Orianka’s YouthforTruth organization by donating here! Also, follow her on Twitter for more updates.

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photo by William Kallay

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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The Photo:

Red Flower Room is a photo I took of a flower on my parents’ Christmas dinner table. It was a quick  shot and there was  no real planning involved. It turned out beautifully anyway. And so I learned again that I am on my best if I do things intuitively.

Intuition:

Intuition is usually associated with the sixth chakra and the color purple and this is absolutely true. However, if your lower chakras and especially your root chakra is out of whack, your upper chakras will never be able to function properly, no matter what.

The Root Chakra:

The root chakra is all about grounding and it’s color is red. Problems with this chakra include past life traumas, disconnected ancestry lineages (either physical, psychological or spiritual), negative clan karma or ancestors that died but are stuck on this here as earth-bound spirits who need help to cross over into the next realm. These problems can manifest themselves in a myriad of forms from bodily pains to psychologically unbalanced behavior and especially in all kinds of trust issues.

Red Flower Room Meditation:

To heal your root chakra  you can simply imagine yourself sitting inside a red flower. It is sun down and you can feel the flower getting ready to close it’s petals around you. Make yourself comfortable in this red glowing, soft and comfy place and listen closely. Do you hear it? A faint sound emanates from all around you. Getting curious, you follow the sound and press your ear against the velvety petal walls from where it seems to come. Now you can hear it more closely and you recognize what it is: It’s the water that comes from down below the earth and is sucked up through the roots and then delivered to all parts of the flower to nourish it with minerals and other substances it needs to thrive and survive. You smile as you lay down again and fall asleep knowing that the roots of this flower make it possible for you to be lying in such a beautiful Red Flower Room.

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Available for sale as Greeting Cards, Posters, Matted Prints, Laminated Prints, Mounted Prints, Canvas Prints and Framed Prints – ( from €3.63, via RedBubble)

GET IT HERE!

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

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About a month ago I finally created a Fan Page for Kabai33 on Facebook (if you aren’t a fan yet, head on over and check it out!). During the process I learned some things I would like to share, as I know that some of you will find this information useful.

1. Create a Fan Page:

First things first.  If you don’t have a fan page yet, go and create one now! Fan pages are a great way to promote your Creative web Biz.

2. Set Your Username:

Facebook finally implemented urls based on usernames. Most of you will have set the url for their private profiles already, but you might not have done it  for your fan- or business page yet.  Both can be set here. Please note that you need to have 100 fans before you can get your url. If you don’t have that many fans yet, proceed to step three first.

3. Page Badge :

A simple Facebook badge can be found on your page admin screen at the end of the right sidebar . Click the badge link and you will get a snippet of code to copy and paste. You can see an example in the sidebar of my Facebook profile. A second badge and guidelines on how to and how not to promote your fan page can be found here.

4. FanBox:

A more interactive way to promote your page is the new Fan Box which can look as simple as the one you can see in the sidebar of my blog (under ‘join me’) but it can also include your latest updates (pictures, videos and all) and also display your fans (see below). To get one go to your page admin screen and find the link in your right sidebar under ‘promote your page’.

5. Facebook Marketing Solutions:

Facebook Marketing Solutions is fan page run by Facebook employees that ‘helps (brand) marketers share with users and create movements on Facebook’ .  They provide news and info on how to market your brand on Facebook. Become a fan to get updates!

6. NetworkedBlogs:

NetworkedBlogs is a very useful application on Facebook. It will import your blog feed to your private profile as well as to your fan page  and into the news streams of your friends and fans. In has it’s own tab which shows your latest blog posts and will let people follow your blog right inside Facebook. See it in action on the Kabai33 Fan Page.

7. Twitter for Pages:

Another app I use is ‘Twitter for Pages‘ by Involver. It adds a tab to my page which displays my last 20 tweets. However, it does not update your status (unless you pay), so if you want to do that you should also get the official Twitter app which will do just that.

8. Live Stream Box:

During the 2009 US Presidential Inauguration, Facebook tested a new feature that let people share Facebook status updates and comments side by side with real-time streaming video on CNN’s website. Now this feature is made public. The  Facebook Live Stream Box is easy to install and takes just a minute to set up. You can include a Live Stream Box anywhere on the Web, or within your Facebook Page, or a Facebook application.

Both Justin.tv and UStream.tv have developed apps to help you do this. You will have to apply to use the one by UStream but Live (byJustin.tv) is ready and as easy to use as any other Facebook app. Check it out!

9. Find more apps for your page:

To find more apps that work on fan pages (not all do) go to the application directory,  click on ‘all apps’  and then on ‘pages’.

10. Facebook Ads:

Promote your page with Facebook ads. To do so you only need to go to your page admin screen and click the green  ‘promote your page’ button in the upper right hand corner. This will take take you to a screen where you can input a title, body text and an optional image (default is your page profile pic).  For more info go to the Facebook Ads Help Ceter.

11. Don’t forget to become a fan of Kabai33 on Facebook

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What's next?

If you liked this post, you might also want to read the rest of the KabaiBiz series for creative entrepreneurs. To get notified of new articles coming out, sign up to the newsletter (see sidebar). And don't forget to follow @Yemoonyah on Twitter for your daily dose of tips, tools and resources for creative entrepreneurs.

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Ready to launch your own creative biz online?

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