As an artist, the key to selling more artwork is maximizing its exposure. The internet is an increasingly popular tool for promoting original art, and if done properly, can be quite profitable.
One of the most effective (and free!) online marketing tools for artists is the blog. Artist blogs provide an easy way to display your art, discuss your creative process, post exhibition announcements and more. Best of all, blogs require no working knowledge of HTML and the search engines love their dynamic content.
What is a blog and how will it sell my art?
A "blog" is a web-based diary or journal. The author of a blog, also known as a "blogger", publishes content on a regular basis about a focused topic. These regular postings typically provide a "community" feel by allowing site visitors to post feedback to your journal entries. This mode of communication can deepen relationships with potential art buyers, leading to increased sales.
Blogs also have the ability to archive all of your previous posts, dynamically creating an individual page for each journal entry. The feature is great for art buyers using search engines to find original art. For example, if you have a blog post describing a painting that you just completed of the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset and an art buyer in Florida goes to Google and searches for "painting of Golden Gate Bridge at sunset", there is a very good chance that your blog entry will appear pretty high in the rankings. Cha Ching!!
Many artists have felt the pain of email marketing losing its effect due to spam filters, junk email overloads and virus paranoia. blogs provide a new way to communicate with clients, fans and industry professionals. This trend can support your Email Marketing efforts by allowing blog subscription options for site visitors so that they are notified whenever your blog is updated along with providing a permanent place on the web for all of your postings as opposed to newsletter emails that are typically deleted.
How to start a blog
To begin, visit some of these free blogging sites, all offering unique template options that even an artist can appreciate, image uploads and syndication ability.
- Blogger.com (blogger.com) - Simple to set up and multiple authoring ability
- MSN Spaces (spaces.msn.com) - Create your own mini site, with an exceptional blogging feature
- Live Journal (livejournal.com) - Requires a bit of 'blogging knowledge' to get it set up
- Blog Drive (blogdrive.com)
If you're interesting in reviewing additional blog features, these sites require a small monthly fee to maintain.
- Typepad (typepad.com) - starts at $4.95/month
- Tripod blogs (tripod.lycos.com) - starts at $4.95/month
Note to artists with MySpace accounts: MySpace provides members personal blogs, but it is import
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