Art Palaver Artist Marketing Resource » art blogs

Leaving Comments On Blogs Is A Smart Way To Build Traffic To Your Blog

Daryle Dickens — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:44:18 +0000

One of the big advantages to blogging is being part of a community. A community that will offer support and encouragement when needed. But community and connection do not happen unless you do things that help foster them. One of the best practices an artist blogger can get into is commenting on other blogs. I should take a step back and also mention that you will be a better blogger if you are reading blogs. That is writing 101, want to be a better writer, read. If you’re not in the habit of reading blogs I suggest you use Google’s blog search and find some blogs to read.

Don’t just read, interact

As you read a blog post think about how you can add to the discussion. You’ll no doubt form an opinion on the article you’re reading, share that opinion via the comment section. This helps the publisher of the blog and it also helps you and your blog or website. For publisher it helps them get to know their readers a bit better which can help guide and improve their content. For you it is just one more place to have your name and a link to your work out there. People read comments, often times more than the article itself. We want to know what other people think. When someone reads your comment they have the ability to click on your name which will take them to your site. And depending on how the blog publisher has their code set your link might also be indexed by search engines. (That topic would need a post for itself.)

Quality over quantity

The practice of commenting on blogs is so valuable to building traffic that many bloggers schedule their commenting practice. Or they have a set amount to schedule on everyday or every week. But more important than quantity is quality. Leaving a good comment that actually adds to the discussion takes a bit of thought. Do not be tempted to leave a comment such as “Great post!” or “I agree!” Comments as simple as those are pretty transparent, the blog publisher knows you are leaving a comment for the sake of leaving a comment. Don’t do it.

Let’s say you do agree with the post, then tell us why you agree. Relate some experience you’ve had that makes the point of the post true for you. The same can be said of a post you disagree with. “You make an interesting point but in my experience this has not been true because…” Something along those lines. Don’t feel you need to write a lengthy comment, just show us you did put some thought into it.

Also you don’t want to leave comments where you blatantly ask for people to visit your site. “Great post. I wrote something similar on my blog: www.yourblog.com” Tacky.

Look for commenting policies

Some blogs will have specific guidelines for commenting. This is common with larger blogs that get tons of traffic because they are common targets of comment spammers. If you become a regular reader check out their “about” page and see if they offer guidelines for commenting.

It’s all about traffic

Recently I talked the importance of writing for other blogs and having others write on your blog, the practice of leaving comments serves that same purpose in a much simpler fashion, it build traffic to your site. And when you are promoting and marketing yourself online traffic is the very valuable. And by traffic I mean visitors to your site or blog. The more visitors you have, the more fans you will add to your fan base, the bigger the fan base the more sales you have.

If this is something you have not done and want to try I recommend starting with one comment a week. Make it a goal to leave at least one good genuine comment on a blog every week. And since you’re here reading this post that has a comment form below why not start now?

Live to create!

Photo credit goes to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/gothcandy/ / CC BY 2.0

Leaving Comments On Blogs Is A Smart Way To Build Traffic To Your Blog is a post from: Art Palaver The Artist Marketing Resource.

Join Me On The Adventure Of Art Palaver

Daryle Dickens — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 23:49:55 +0000

It can be a bit scary to make the move to full time artist. The idea of generating all your income strictly from your art can be so hard to fathom. Art is often a passion and a true passion just keeps calling to you over and over again. For many the dream of being a full time artist is something that simply will not go away no matter how far out of reach it feels. Of course this applies to all passions.

A few years back when I started this blog I never had the notion that it would ever be anything more than a hobby. It began as a simple information outlet for a webzine I was running at the time. That webzine is now moth balled but this blog remains. And the more I worked at the blog and the more I learned about everything relating to blogs and blogging the more I liked it. Out of that a passion for blogs, specifically Wordpress blogs, grew. I can understand how to many people the idea of having a passion for blogging is odd. Thankful passions are not something we need to justify.

Exactly a year ago I left the security of a full time job to pursue a life of writing. I know at my core I am a writer but I did not know exactly what that life would look like because writers come in many forms. And mind you this was just a week or two before the economic meltdown hit the news. I choose to leave my job, I was not laid off. At first it seemed like horrible timing because I was venturing out on my own during a historic recession. In hind sight though I am thankful that things played out the way they did. If I was at my job when the economy tanked I probably would have hung on to it out of fear of the poor economic climate and not begun the adventure that I’ve been on the past year.

I’ve kept myself and my family afloat this past year by being a wordslinger for hire. Using my skills and my pen to do what ever writing related work I could find. And I am thankful that for a year I have managed to survive. Even while having to endure unexpected auto repairs and very high medical bills the freelance adventure continues.

Through this year I’ve also been working on developing Art Palaver more. Because at the end of the day of all the projects and creative endeavors I have going this site is the one I care about the most. Recently I had a story come through my pen about chasing mountain tops. (Find it here.) That story helped me to gain a sharper focus and a stronger drive for Art Palaver.

I am writing this post today to tell you that I am going for it. I am going to pursue my passion of being a full time professional blogger right here at Art Palaver.

What does that mean?

Good question. Bottom line it means that I must generate income from this site. Before you say anything I want to tell you that does not mean Art Palaver is going to be full of ads. I like the clean and simple look of Art Palaver so I am not going to muck it up with ads hoping for nickels when people click on something. What it does mean is that I am going to start rolling out products and services of my own here on Art Palaver.

My passion for Art Palaver comes from my passion for creativity and my belief that creativity is very important, that it is what makes us human, and we would all be a lot better off if more people worked on their own creativity. It is because of that belief that I started to work with artists of all types in helping them sustain themselves through their craft. So far it has been mostly on the local level but through this site I will be able to help many more artists no matter where they are located.

Going full time with Art Palaver means there will be more posts. It means the site will evolve faster when it comes to design and function. It means I will be available more to answer your questions and reply to your emails. It means more podcasts and videos. It means it will get better and we will all learn a lot more. It means new adventures and new friends. It means a lot to me to be able to write this post to you. I am thankful to be in a place where I can go for it.

So please join me on this adventure that is Art Palaver. Together we can learn a lot, we can go to amazing places, and most of all live very creative lives.

Thank you,

Join Me On The Adventure Of Art Palaver is a post from: Art Palaver The Artist Marketing Resource.

A Blog Can Do A Lot More Than You Think

Daryle Dickens — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 03:43:00 +0000

It all started with web logs.

The word “blog” comes from the term “web log.” Starting in the early 1990’s people would post diaries and journals online through various digital methods. For a long time the content of most blogs was the boring and mundane details of the diarist’s life. These origins have created a stigma that remains today. People often ask me why I read blogs. “Why do you care what someone’s cat had for breakfast?” I don’t care.

Blogs have been evolving at a very rapid rate these past couple of years. They have become so much more than online journals, even though a lot of people still think of them as just that.

Bikes and blogs.

Before I moved to Colorado in early 1999 I was living in Illinois just outside of Chicago. And one Spring I decided that I needed a new bike, a mountain bike to be exact. A mountain bike is a bicycle designed for off-road cycling, including jumps, and traversing of rocks and washouts, and steep declines, either on dirt trails, logging roads, or other unpaved environments. (thanks Wikipedia) I can tell you there is not a lot of that in the suburbs of Chicago. So why was I buying a bike designed for such things? Because like blogs mountain bikes had evolved. A mountain bike is the most versatile and useful style of bike available. Due to its rugged construction I knew it would be ready for whatever I needed it for. In the suburbs we do not have rocks, roots, and downed logs to traverse. But we do have curbs, potholes, and uneven pavement to deal with. My mountain bike has always handled whatever my city commute threw at it.

Blogs are a lot like the mountain bike. They were created for one use but now people use them for many things that go beyond simple blogging. This is good news for any artist looking to showcase themselves and their work online because now it is possible to use blog software as a content management system for your website. An artist can now create a site through a blog in a way that your visitors will not even realize they are visiting a blog. And blogging software can handle just about anything your decide it needs to handle.

A few examples.

Here is a great example from the Owen Gallery in High Falls New York: (click on image to visit the site)

The gallery’s site was built using Wordpress, a leading blog software. Here is another example:

August is Artist Blog Month here at Art Palaver.

Throughout the month of August I am going to be talking a lot about blogs and what a great tool they can be for artists. I wanted to start off by planting the notion in your head that you may not know blogs as well as you think you do. Today is just a teaser of what is to come. If your not using a blog yet I’ll give you all the reasons and knowledge needed to begin. And if you already have a blog we’ll make it better.

Please let me know in the comments what exactly you’d like to know about artist blogs or what problems your having with yours.

A Blog Can Do A Lot More Than You Think is a post from: Art Palaver The Artist Marketing Resource.

What are the tools other artists use?

Daryle Dickens — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:32:34 +0000

We all wonder what tools other artists use. Especially artists that we like. I know when I visit another artist’s studio I can’t help but look around at their studio to take a peek at their tools. What brands do they use? Do they buy the expensive stuff or the cheap stuff? What unusual tools does the artists use? We can learn a lot through other people’s experience.

The blog “The Tools Artists Use,” is showing us just what tools other artists use. The bulk of the blog is interviews with artists that focus on the instruments they use to create their art.

The blog was started by Bill Turner who was inspired by the Comic Tools blog and the book An Illustrated Life.

“With the Comic Tools weblog now focusing more on comic art tutorials, I felt that a site focusing on what’s used in creating art was missing. Plus, I want to include artists of all kinds and not just comic artists. I’m always curious what types of pens or paints or paper that other artists are using to create their art. Whether the artist is a self-taught notebook doodler or a RISD-trained professional illustrator, the process of creating art fascinates me.”

If you too are curious about the tools other artists use head over to http://thetoolsartistsuse.com/ and satisfy your curiosity. You can also contribute your own interview to the site by clicking here.

What are the tools other artists use? is a post from: Art Palaver The Artist Marketing Resource.