by Rebecca Sciullo | Aug 5, 2020 | Learning
Artists learn from other artists. You learn from them when you take workshops, attend artist talks, and invite them to demo before your art club. When it comes to blogging and building a web presence for your art business, you can learn from them as well.
Taking time to look at other artists’ web strategies and evaluating the strengths and weaknesses can give you ideas on how you can improve your efforts.
Learning and Inspiration from other Artists
You aren’t looking to copy them. Instead, you are looking for inspiration and ideas that might work for you as well. Using someone else’s work to motivate yourself and come up with new ideas is useful if you work towards unique ideas. It is a great way to evolve towards something that is uniquely yours. But stealing content — text, images, artwork, taglines, and so on — is not appropriate.
Areas to consider when you are visiting the blogs and websites of other artists.
Content
What kind of information are they sharing with their audience? Could you share information along a similar line with your audience?
What kind of voice are they using to speak to their fans? Could this help you to develop yours?
What makes you want to take a closer look?
Do they connect to any other interesting sites that are relevant to their work?
Are they using videos? If so, do the videos give you any new ideas of how you could present your work?
Blogging
How often are they posting?
How are categories and tags used, organized, and displayed?
Do they post series that include several articles or pieces?
Are they posting things other than images of their work, such as reviews of websites, books, or podcasts?
Learn and Make it Yours
Take what you’ve learned and use it to beef up your blog and website — all the while focusing on creative work that is uniquely yours.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Jun 17, 2020 | Artist Blogging 101
In preparation for a new series of blog posts that will feature exceptional artist blogs, I’ve been reviewing many websites. One thing that I’ve noticed is that artists often use small font sizes on their blogs.
Don’t Overlook Typography on Your Artist Blog
To make your site easier to read, ensuring that your visitors stay and read your posts, make sure you are using a font size of 14 or larger.
Also, keep it simple with one or two font styles.
How to Change Your Font
Most templates will come with default font styles and sizes. You should have the ability to change them.
If you’re using self-hosted WordPress, you can change your font size under your dashboard’s Appearance section. Below are links to tutorials on how to change the font in other common web platforms.
Change your font in WordPress.com
Change your font style in Squarespace
Change your font style in Wix
Change your font in Weebly.
Show Off Your Blog
Do you have a blog that you would like to show off on Artisan Advantage? Send me a link to your site at becky@artisan-advantage.com, and I will consider it for a featured review.
Photo by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash
by Rebecca Sciullo | Jun 15, 2020 | Artist Websites, Blogging
Did the pandemic catch you off guard? It sure got me! I think it did most of us in many areas of life. In business, some were prepared better than others to weather the storm. While most of my business is online, I was still not adequately prepared to pivot everything to an online model.
Art Sales During a Pandemic? Yes!
For my artist father’s business, however, we were prepared. He enjoyed consistent sales during the pandemic and he sold several pieces of original art while people were under stay at home orders. Many people were redecorating and shopping online while stuck at home – artists who were in a position to get in front of people online benefited from this trend. As you may have read in my prior posts, the crux of his marketing efforts stems from his blogging system. Thankfully, this system did its job during this time.
Get Serious about Putting Your Art Business Online
If you’re serious about selling your work, you should have a heightened sense of urgency to beef up your online presence. Being “online” is not a silver bullet for success. You still have to do the work.
My recommendation is to set up your artist blog to be the focal point of your marketing efforts.
In addition to setting up your artist blog, here are three other immediate actions that you can take to beef up your web presence.
Make Sure Your Website is Up To Date
What do people find if they look for you online? Will they find up to date information or a neglected website with blog posts dating back to 2012? If you currently have a website, then make sure that all of your information is up to date, including the best way to contact you and pricing.
Start an Email Newsletter.
Get in the habit of sending an email newsletter at least once a month to your fans and followers.
Get Active on Social Media.
Promote the same message and theme as your blog with the ultimate goal of driving people back to your site. Start with one channel and stick with it.
This post isn’t to make you feel bad, because it’s never too late to start! It’s a reminder and encouragement not to put off working on your online presence any longer. Artists can no longer afford to ignore this area of their business.
For more information on blogging for your artist business and other marketing ideas, please subscribe to my newsletter. For help with your artist blog, read more about my Artist Blogging Services.
Photo by Ben White on Unsplash
by Rebecca Sciullo | Jun 10, 2020 | Artist Blogging 101, Learning, Productivity
Since many people are working at home now, there are many articles and information on social media about productivity. It can be challenging to work from home under the best circumstances. Throw a couple of homeschooling kids and other homebound family members in the mix, and it is tough to avoid distractions. You need to understand how to manage your time and resources efficiently.
This situation might be old news for you if you are a working artist. You are probably already used to working on your own. If not, you wouldn’t get anything done. One artist I know wakes at 4:30 a.m. to get a start on his day. He knows that this is the golden time when he can create and work in the studio. I find that early mornings are best for me, although I can’t say I rise that early!
Starting an Artist Blog Takes Time and Focus
If you’ve recently started a blog, adding this task into your daily routine can be a challenge, and you might need a refresh on some productivity ideas. Here are a few ideas that I’ve used to manage my situation.
1 – Figure out what time of day works best for you to focus on different tasks. When do you find your energy best suited for writing or focused at your computer, brainstorming ideas?
2 – Once you determine the best time of day for this work, regularly block it out on your calendar daily or weekly. Do not deviate from your schedule. Treat this time as though it is an appointment outside of the house.
3 – Avoid things that suck your energy while working in your block or zone. The usual culprits include email, television, and social media.
4 – Create a pleasing workspace.
5 – Last but not least – take some breaks. use a Pomodoro Timer. I like to get outside for sunshine and fresh air.
Maintaining an artist blog is not just about technical know-how and writing. There is an art to staying on track and growing your site. Find and stick with strategies that help you to do this.
If you’d like more idea on how to maintain your artist blog, please sign up for my regular newsletter.
by Rebecca Sciullo | May 18, 2020 | Artisan Advantage Book Club, Learning
Next up for the Artisan Advantage Book Club is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. This is not a new book, but it’s been on my reading list forever.
Here is an overview of the book taken from Goodreads.
Internationally bestselling author of Last of the Amazons, Gates of Fire, and Tides of War, Steven Pressfield delivers a guide to inspire and support those who struggle to express their creativity. Pressfield believes that “resistance” is the greatest enemy, and he offers many unique and helpful ways to overcome it.
Join the Club!
It’s easy. All you have to do is get your copy and start reading! Stay connected to the Artisan Advantage blog for posts about how you might apply principles from the book to your visual art business, and for opportunities to share your comments about the book with others.
Sign up for my email newsletter here.
Disclosure: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” If you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.
