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  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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Creative Web Biz - the art of creating an online business

Yep,  it’s finally 2010!

Now, if you @Yemoonyah om Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/yemoonyah" target="_blank">follow me on Twitter or are a fan of  Creative Web Biz 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  weekly biz 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 @Yemoonyah on Twitter" href="http://twitter.com/yemoonyah" target="_blank">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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Creative Web Biz - the art of creating an online business

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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 (make sure to choose the ‘official page’ option, not the ‘community page’)

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 25 fans before you can get your url. If you don’t have that many fans yet, proceed to step three first.

3. Page Badges :

Facebook badges can be found on your page admin screen under ‘Marketing’ in the left sidebar . Click  ‘get a badge’ and then ‘page badges’.  You will then get a snippet of code to copy and paste anywhere you want on your website, in email signatures or anywhere else around the web.

4. Like Box:

A more interactive way to promote your page is the Like Box which can be customized to include your latest updates (pictures, videos and all) and also display your fans. To get one go to your page admin screen, follow the ‘Marketing’ link in the left sidebar and click on ‘add a like box to your website’. Customize as you like, get the code and past it on your site or blog.

5. Facebook Marketing Solutions:

Facebook Marketing Solutions is fan page run by Facebook employees that ‘helps 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 Creative Web Biz FB  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,  then click on ‘pages’.

10. Facebook Ads:

Promote your page with Facebook ads. To do so you only need to go to your page admin screen, follow the   ‘marketing’ link to your left and then click on  ‘advertise on Facebook’. This will 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. Get a custom tab for your page

Add advanced functionality to your page using the Facebook Static FBML application. This application will add a tab to your page in which you can render HTML or FBML (Facebook Markup Language) for enhanced page customization. This way you can add a newsletter sign up form or any other special info. Just find the ‘add to my page’ link right under the (missing) picture on the application page).

12. Don’t forget to become a fan of Creative Web Biz on Facebook!

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Creative Web Biz - the art of creating an online business

When I started  Creative Web Biz all I had was a dream. A dream of making a living while doing what I love. It took me a while to get where I am right now (and I am still just at the beginning), ut I have already learned a lot on the way. And I know that there are many artists, cooks, writers, musicians and other creatives out there who feel that it’s time to get serious and build a business around their talents. That is why I started Creative Web Biz. I want you to follow your own dreams and find your own happiness . Why?  Let’s just say  I’m convinced that the more happy people we are here on planet earth, the better for all of us!

Following are five easy steps that will help you set up your own creative web biz:

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1. GET A WEB HOST AND  A DOMAIN NAME:

HOSTING:

What is a web host and why do I need one? A web host basically lets you rent web space on which you can then install your own blog or site. Many of you might already have a blog on blogger, wordpress.com or typepad but the problem with not self-hosted blogs is that you have no real control over your blog. If  for example Blogger decides to close your account, there is very little you can do and you will lose your content, your readers and basically the foundation of your web biz. This has happened to more people than you would think and you don’t want it to happen to you. This is why I recommend  you start a self-hosted blog (you can easily import any exsisting blog posts  from all major blogging sites) . To do so  you need a web host. I use BlueHost. They are number one on wordpress.org‘s recommnded web host list and they offer an easy installment of wordpress and a free domain name to go with the account. You can get one for only 6.95$ a month.

DOMAIN NAME:

If you already have a name for your creative web biz, great. If you don’t, here is a short list of things you might want to consider:

- short and memorable makes it easy for people to find you

- your own name is always a good choice

-  if it’s more than one word, use hyphens for better reading (rose-seymour.com instead of roseseymore.com)

Remember, one domain name is free (if you already have one you can transfer it) if you sign up with a host.

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2. INSTALL WORDPRESS:

Go to wordpress.org (not wordpress.com) and download the software. Then watch the video. It will show you how to  install wordpress on BlueHost in approximately 5-10 minutes.

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3. THEMES + PLUGINS:

THEMES:

Now that your blog is installed you want to find a theme that represents what your creative web biz is about.  I listed ten of them in my ten wordpress themes for artists post. They contain both free ones as well as premium ones.

The first place to look for themes would definitively be the the official wordpress themes directory. There alone you will find over 750 skins for your blog.

If you have some money to spend , you can also go for a premium theme. My theme was created by Thad Allender from GraphPaperPress. He designed this one as well as all his other themes especially with artists, designers and photographers in mind. Go check it out.

Best WordPress Themes has a great list of more than 60 themes that are certainly also worth looking at.

PLUGINS:

Plugins are modules that add to or improve the core functionality of wordpress. They will help you customize your blog and just like there is a themes directory there is also a  plugins directory with over 4000 plugins. Some of these plugins are essential but not very obvious to newbie creative entrepreneurs :

All In One SEO Pack – Out-of-the-box search engine optimization for your WordPress blog

WP- Super Cache – Very fast caching plugin for WordPress. It will help to speed up your blog.

WordPress Database Backup – On-demand backup of your WordPress database

Google XML Sitemaps – This plugin will generate a sitemaps.org compatible sitemap of your WordPress blog which is supported by Ask.com, Google, MSN Search and YAHOO

For more plugins  go to the plugins directory and search with keywords like gallery, shops, forums or whatever else your little blogger heart desires.

You can also start out by browsing the most popular plugins to see what others use.

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4. START SELLING:

As independent artists we all have something to sell, be it paintings, crafts, music, a book or a theme we developed. There are three different ways to do this. You can either sell through a hosted shop solution like Etsy or you start selling  directly from your blog or your Facebook and MySpace profiles.

HOSTED SHOPS:

The most common way to sell for artist entrepreneurs is through  hosted shop networks. These shops are  easy to set up , there is no inital investment required and the sites will automatically attract customers for you (although this will not be enough, you will definitively have to go out and promote your shop).

ART/PHOTO PRINTS – RedBubble , Imagekind

SELF PUBLISHING - Lulu (also ebooks), Smashwords (ebooks), Blurb ( very good photobooks)

ALL THINGS HANDMADE -  Etsy (great site), ArtFire, 1000Markets

DESIGN -  Zazzle (put your art on aprons, keychains, posters, shoes, skateboards and more(, Cafepress (mugs, t-shirts, mousepads, caps, hoodies and more)

MUSIC -  get your music out to iTunes, Rhapsody, Napster and other music distribution systems with the help of  Tunecore or ReverbNation

FROM BLOG:

You can also directly sell from your blog which has the advantage of no fees and total control over design and prsentation.

EJUNKY -  E-junkie provides shopping and buy now buttons to let you sell downloads and tangible goods on your website, eBay, MySpace, Google Base, CraigsList and other websites. It also lets you create personal affiliate programs which is a great feature (read how to set  up your own affiliate program with E-junkie). Their plans start at 5$/mo. I use E-Junkie to sell my Creative Web Biz Kit and to host my affiliate program.

FROM SOCIAL NETWORKS:

Almost anybody has a profile/page on either Facebook or MySpace.  More and more applications are being developed that let us sell directly from these profiles/pages.

One that works on both is ShopIt. They have a Facebook app as wel as a MySpace app.

FACEBOOK:

Marketplace – sell and buy anything through the marketplace application.

Check the applications directory for shopping applications (if you don’t know how to find new apps read this first). Etsy, Zazzle, Cafepress, ReverbNation, iLike (who work with Tunecore) let you all sell your stuff from your profile or fan page.

Search for more applications here.

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5. PROMOTION + MARKETING:

Last week I wrote 21 Blogs To Follow If You Want To Sell Art Online. It lists blogs that you should check out as they will help you understand how online promotion and marketing works, how to improve your blog, how to engage your readers, where to find buyers, where to find other creative entrepreneurs and how to have fun doing it.

The best advice I can give you right here and now is to be authentic and creative. Craft your business. Create it like you create your art or your designs. Have fun and other people will want to join in.  Get inspired by others and inspire others. That is our job as artists right? To inspire the world with our creations. If you do that  people will be glad to support your work and therefore help you  make a living doing what you love.

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I’ll help you get there!

I hope the  information I collected here will help you get started as an indiepreneur. Let me know how it goes! And if you have any questions,  just ask me in the comments. The only thing I ask  is that you please go through the links in this post when you sign up for either BlueHost or E-junkie or GraphPaperPress. I will  then be able to collect a referral fee which will help me pay the bills for CreativeWebBiz.com. Thank you!I

Now, if you don’t want to do it all by yourself, because you don’t have the time or you just don’t wanna bother with all the tech stuff, I can do it for you! That’s why I created the Creative Web Biz Kit. Go check it out!

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Creative Web Biz - the art of creating an online business

Who is Goddess Leonie?

Goddess Leonie is an artist, a wise woman and a Creative Web Biz owner. I found her blog about six months ago and have been subscribed since.

Here is what she does in her own words:

I do things to help you and me find and discover and celebrate this Goddess inside each of us. I make artworks to celebrate your Soul Story and the Goddess In You. I’ve photographed women as Goddesses from the desert centre of Australia to villages in India. I create e-courses and retreats for you to help experience the creative and spirited Goddess inside you. And I do Goddess Guidance coaching & oracle reading sessions for gorgeous women all over the globe, to help you find clarity, guidance and spirit on your journey.

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What does this have to do with business coaching?

No , she is not a biz coach, I know that.

But….

To develop her own Creative Web Biz Leonie works with Naomi Dunford of IttyBiz, who in turn helps solo-preneurs earn more money and suck less. Now, I don’t have the money to be coached by her, but I do read her blog and have learned lots from that alone (first lesson-cursing on a blog is okay) . And as Goddess Leonie is implementing all the grat advice she gets from Naomi, I watch and learn from her too.

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Creative Web Biz lessons from Goddess Leonie:

1. Making custom art:

I always thought this was not for me, but now I decided to start making custom handmade energy jewelry (if you haven’t seen my jewelry yet, check it out here).

Here is how it works: you tell me what kind of energies you want to attract in your life, i.e healing,  abundance, more meaningful relationships etc.) and I will do a shamanic journey for you to ask the spirits for help and guidance and will then create a piece of jewelry that will assist you on an energetic level to manifest these desired energies in your life. There will be more info coming on this soon!

2. Create an e-course:

When I started my Creative Web Biz series I wasn’t sure if anyone would be reading it, but now I know that there are many, many creative entrepreneurs out there,  who want to learn more about this topic.  I’m planning to set up a course on Creative Web Biz in in the future, but not quite yet. I will let you know when I’m ready!

3. Don’t do it all at once or you will feel overwhelmed in no time.

Take one step at a time or your head will start spinning so fast it might take off and fly away. This happened to Leonie and here is a post by her on  how to stay sane during business busy-ness.

Of course, there is much more to learn from Goddess Leonie as well as Naomi, but this post was really just meant to inspire you. Go out and find people in your niche and learn from them! It will make you smarter, get you more readers and let you meet great new people.

In fact, I liked writing this post so much that I will start a new series. I don’t have a name yet but it will be about Creative Web Biz ownwers and what you can learn from them.

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Now it’s your turn:

If you know any Creative Web Biz owners that inspire you, please share their names and sites in the comments, so we can all learn from each other.

Creative Entrepreneurs need to stick together, right ?

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Creative Web Biz - the art of creating an online business

this article was updated on August 12th 2010

Many artists, musicians, designers, crafters, writers and other creative people have  Facebook accounts and can use these to reach more people and grow their creative business. There are many things to be done that can help you promote and market your work and I will name 25 that I think would be useful to implement.

This is not a post about markeing though, it’s more about the little things Facebook offers that you might have overlooked but that can have a big impact on your  creative biz because you streamlined your profile to work for you.  The tips reach from fairly basic  to pretty advanced, so there should be something for everybody.

1  add your website/blog url to the info box under your profile pic:

If you have a website and/or blog, you need to let people know about it and make it as easy as possible for them to get there. Every link that leads back to it will also help with your search engine rankings. To do so you will have to go to your profile then click  “edit profile” right under your avatar picture. Then click “contact information” and fill in your website/blog url. Save your changes.  Now click on the little pencil icon in the right hand corner of your  information box and choose to show your  your website url to all your page visitors.

2 add a Facebook link to your blog  and/or website:

Give people that visit your blog/site the chance to connect to you on Facebook (and other social networks) by adding a link to your FB profile from your blog. This way they become part of your community and will always know about your latest projects and news.

3 let your friends help you:

Every time you update your profile with a link, a photo, a video or anything else , all your friends will see this in their news feeds. Now if they like or comment on your items it will also go out to their friends and can go viral from there. The more friends you have, the more exposure for your art,  your films or recipes you will get. But just adding random people is not gonna do anything. You need to find people that are truly interested in your work. Start with the friends you already have and work from there.  To do so take a look at your home page  sidebar . At it’s lower end you will find the friend finder link. Follow it and you will be able to find your email and IM friends and add them to Facebook.

4 create friend groups/lists:

Let’s say you live in Los Angeles, you have a gig coming up, you created an event (see no 20) and you want to invite people to come. What you should definitely not do is invite all your Facebook friends, because people in Shanghai won’t be able to come anyway and you don’t want to spam them with (for them) useless info. What you do is create friends lists. It’s real easy to do  Go to your “Friends” page and start creating  lists  in the left sidebar. To make it even more easy, facebook will let you add people to lists right when you ask them to be your friend or when they ask you. Use this feature and your Facebook life will be much easier.

5 friend group feeds:

On your  home page you have a  sidebar on the left where you can choose to see  friend group feeds. This simply means that you can choose to only  see what your friends in Paris are up to or maybe you have a customer list and you want to find out what kind of  people like your designs so you can better plan your Facebook ads (see no 24)

6 import updates from your blog  and other social networks:

Right beneath the status baron the right you will find options and if you click on it, you can go to settings. It will show you a number of sites ( Flickr, YouTube, Digg, Last.fm, Delicious and more) which can be set to automatically import updates. You also have the option to import your own blog rss feed. (Alternative: if you have a FriendFeed account, get the Friendfeed application to import even more sites)

7 share with your Facebook community:

If you install the Facebook bookmarklet you will be able to share content from around the web with your community: links, videos, photos. If you share information that inspires others you will always get some love back.  Drag the  Share on Facebook button to your browser’s bookmarks bar (the one below the search box). From now on, you can let everybody profit from the knowledge you find online.

8 use ping.fm for status updates:

Ping.fm will let you update your status from inside  your browser and it will send the same updates to other social networks as well, i.e. MySpace, Tumblr, LinkedIn and many others. After you sign up you can install their Firefox add-on here

9 facebook applications: notes, photo, videos and links:

This might be obvious but I have seen many artist profiles without any photos or  videos or notes (see no.6 to import your blog here).  Use these in-house Facebook applications to show your work and get the word out.

10 Tab management:

You’re talented. Strut your stuff! Move your photos box to your profile and don’t hide it in your boxes tab among butterflies and friend hugs. To manage the wall tabs on your profile page just click on the + sign on their right. select and then drag and drop in the position you want them to be. To delete a tab, click on it and then on the little pencil icon that will appear. There you will find  a delete tab. To move and remove boxes, click on pencil icon in upper right hand corner of the box in question. There you will be able to delete or move it to your wall or to the boxes tab.

11 manage your application settings:

You can make  applications post new content to your wall and therefore also to your friends news feeds every time you upload a photo, a video or write a new note.

go to account, then applications settings in the right upper corner of your screen. Select edit, choose application and change your settings to add a tab, choose who can see the content and handle additional permissions.

12 search apps:

Besides the apps mentioned above, there are many, many more third party apps. This means that they are not made by the Facebook team but rather by other companies and individual developers (you can even learn how to make one your own). So go ahead and explore because some of these will even let you sell your merchandise, handmade crafts, paintings or books right from your Facebook profile or page (zazzle, etsy) while others will help you connect your different communities around the web (youtube, twitter, friendfeed).  To search the database go to  the applications directory and start browsing.

13 add your youtube videos to profile and pages:

Want to show your art or music videos on your profile and pages? Pick one of these apps to do it for you.

14 your own art application:

Upload and share your art work with artshare

15 get more readers for your blog:

If you have a blog you can join over 450.000 other bloggers on NetworkedBlogs. It will let you find new blogs to read and new readers for your own blog. Add a tab or box to display which blogs you like and be sure to find other bloggers to network with and to get inspired. Join the Creative Web Biz page to get started.

16 marketplace:

buy and sell anything you want with the marketplace application.

17 etsy shop for profiles and pages:

If you took the handmade pledge and have an etsy account you can add your etsy shop on your profile or your business/fan page.

18 sell t-shirts, cards, posters and other merchandise  in a merch store:

Zazzle and Threaded both make it possible to add a store to your facebook page. Check it out

19 sell your music:

If you have an account with ReverbNation , let people listen to , download and buy your music with their app

20 create events for your art shows, music gigs and book readings:

With Facebook Events, you can organize gatherings and parties with your friends, as well as let people in your community know about upcoming events. The Events applications page displays your upcoming events, any invitations you have pending, and links to your own events.

21 fan pages:

Fan pages let you do the same stuff your profile does without the limit of 5000 friends. It is also useful if you want to keep private and business seperate. You can read about the benefits of  fan pages here and also check out ‘10 Facebook Fan Page Tips for Creative Entrepreneurs‘ here on Creative Web Biz.

22 join other peoples fan pages and interest groups:

To find other people interested in film, writing or cooking join other peoples fan pages and/or groups. Check if your favorite artist has a fan page and join it. Chances are that his/her fans might like your art as well. Add some of them to your friends. Check out what groups your friends belong to or join these to get you started: Creative Business Owners / Twitter Artists  Artisans and Art Lovers /  Artdictive / 1.000.000 facebook artists / Artists who refuse to starve. Creative people share their business secrets

23 facebook ads:

Ever noticed the ads on your profile page? Well you can advertise your creative business as well. If you create an ad that is entertaining, informative or engaging you might win some new fans. Read this post by Mari Smith to find out more.

24 facebook connect:

facebook connect is an application that will let your blog readers sign in to your blog with their facebook credentials. The comments they leave will be displayed in their facebook profiles and feeds. This means more exposure for you and your work. Here is how to add facebook connect to your blog in 8 minutes

25 even more tips and tutorials:

30+apps to do business on facebook

facebook posts on mashable, the social media site

a whole blog with facebook tips

Facebook tutorials

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That’s it, or at least as far as I’m concerned. But i ‘m sure there are many more tips and tricks for creative entrepreneurs on facebook and I’d be happy to read them in the comments  or on the Creative Web Biz Facebook page.

Creative Web Biz - the art of creating an online business

When I started showing my art on the web I set up a free website at freewebs.com. But after a while I realized that making constant updates to a traditional website is just too much work. And so I looked around for a better solution. It didn’t take long to find out that a blogging system was really what I was looking for. It is designed to be updated frequently and has over the years developed into a tool which is being used by hundreds of millions of people to let others know what’s going on in their personal lives, their companies or where they share their holiday pictures and videos or the latest news on government policies. So why not use it to share my art ?

After I decided to start a blog I pretty soon found out about WordPress, a  blogging software that anyone can use for free. You even have two choices: you can go to wordpress.com where you just have to create a free  account to start blogging right away without having to worry about hosting or coding or web rankings or anything else than the content for your blog. Just choose one of about thirty themes and a few widgets and you are ready to go using the most advanced blogging software available with all it’s benefits but without the hustle of hosting and maintaining it yourself.

Or you go to wordpress.org where you can download the software and then upload it onto your own server. A self-hosted blog gives you the choice of about 700 themes in the themes directory plus tens of thousands of themes on other sites. They range from simple one column old-fashioned blog templates to magazine style and photo blogs to full-fearured video sites for vloggers.  There are also about 3500 plugins available from the plugins directory and many, many more out on the web. Plugins can help you with event calendars, galleries,  shops,  mailing lists and even search engine optimization and web security. New themes and plugins come out every day and can transform your blog into a content management system (cms) that lets you use it as a blog, a  portfolio, a gallery and a shop to show your art, write about it, discuss it with others and sell it. But that’s not all. If you connect it to your social networks like RedBubble, Zazzle, MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter you can make it a very powerful promotion and marketing tool for your own art business. If you are sick of waiting for some gallery or agent to “discover” and “push” you to the realization of your dreams, which I’m sure includes making a living of your art, you might as well try something new and just do it yourself. With a little knowledge about web 2.0 and social networking sites you have more than a chance to start living your dream and earn a living while doing it.

I started my blog about a year ago and I have learned quite a bit along the way and so from now on I will be sharing my experiences with you. This post is the first in my new “Web2.0 for Artists” category. I will be writing about wordpress, social networks for artists and how to use web 2.0 to get your art biz going.

And the first step I recommend is setting up a blog at wordpress. If you have never hosted a site yourself you might wanna start by setting up your blog on wordpress.com. Get your account, start blogging and don’t worry about any tech details. If you want to expand later on you can do so very easily. Get a web host, download the software from wordpress.org  and import your old posts from wordpress.com.

I skipped that part and got myself a host and so next time we will discuss which plugins and themes are best suited for art blogs.

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Creative Web Biz - the art of creating an online business

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Charles Lewis aka  Chuck is a christian rapper (poeticprophet.com) and SEO consultant (PopLabs).

He combined the two by rapping about SEO methods for marketing and optimizing a website for search engines.

So if you are in the process of setting up a website for your art biz listen to the above video.

Wanna hear more?

Check out more videos by the SEO Rapper

Creative Web Biz - the art of creating an online business

Spider Woman, as known by some Native-American tribes, is the goddess that sits at the center of the galaxy and spins the web of life. Her web is the matrix of our reality as we know it and connects us to everybody and everything in our own and throughout all other dimensions and universes.

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By listening to her lessons we are being enabled to perceive these other realities through psychic vision and telepathy. In a dream state we alter our consciousness and are therefore able to move along these threads of her web to faraway places while our body is safely resting at home.

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The internet represents this web of life in our three-dimensional reality. It connects people from all over the world with each other and therefore makes boundaries in every sense pretty meaningless.

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This is really good news for all artists, as we are now finally able to publicize, promote and sell our own art, without being dependent on others (who will only help you with these tasks if they think you will make them good money), and even without any initial investment !

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When I discovered these possibilities for myself, I celebrated my own personal independence day. Being slightly autistic, it has always been rather hard for me to socialize with other people, which is not a very convenient treat if you try to leave the ‘starving artist’ stigma behind.

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So here I am starting my very own WordPress blog to see if Spider Woman will bless me and help me prosper.

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And as I know many other gifted people who sadly gave up their talents because they didn’t see the possibilities Spider Woman is offering all of us, I plan to post about web2.0 for independent artists regularly. I want all of you to be able to follow your calling, for your calling comes from the spirit world and will help transform Mother Earthinto the beautiful planet she is supposed to be !

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image by cybershotking

Creative Web Biz - the art of creating an online business