Art Palaver Artist Marketing Resource » artist blogs

How To Keep An Artist Blog Updated | AP240S

Daryle Dickens — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:30:00 +0000

Since I am doing more videos like this one I am working on a way to separate the RSS feeds so you can only subscribe to the type of content that suits you. Just FYI, though I have not heard any complaints about the videos. (yet)

If you don’t see a video play simply click this link.

How To Keep An Artist Blog Updated | AP240S is a post from: Art Palaver The Artist Marketing Resource.

What Is The One Thing I Should Do Online As An Artist?

Daryle Dickens — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:30:38 +0000

Recently an artist asked me a really good question. She asked…

I find all the stuff on the internet overwhelming. But I know a lot of artists are promoting and selling online these days. If I did just one thing online what should it be?

This question came out of a conversation we were having about the many avenues available to market and promote you and your work online. Sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn, DeviantArt, Etsy, as well as the countless art sites that offer free profile pages for you to display your work.

I believe if you had to pick just one spot for your online artistic presence it should be your own website. And I further believe that the best option for your artist website is a self hosted Wordpress site. This is the Wordpress software that is found at Wordpress.org, not the blogging service found at Wordpress.com. A tad confusing I know.

The difference between those other internet services and your own website is similar to the difference between owning a car or having to depending on public transportation to get you around. Yes buses and trains can be cheap and even free sometimes but you’re at the mercy of their routes and schedules. The same is true of free sites and services online. You’re at the mercy of how they want things done. But your own site gives you the freedom to do what you need to do exactly how you choose. And these days webhosting has gotten quite affordable.

The Wordpress.org software is free but you have to get a web host in order to use it. These days you can find a host in the range of $5.00 to $10.00 a month that will be there for all your needs. You’ll also need a domain name as well. Those run about $10.00 a year. Most hosts offer the ability to register domains as well.

This site and most of the sites I work with is hosted by Site5 and I can not say enough nice things about them. Customer service is the #1 thing I look for in a host and Site5 has never let me down. But there are many solid hosting companies out there. The best bet is to do a little research and find out what hosting people you trust use.

Most webhosting companies these days offer “1 click install” of Wordpress and many other web tools. Back before 1 click install Wordpress needed to be uploaded via an FTP client. Which can be a bit confusing if you’ve never used one before. Now you just log into your site control panel and look for “3rd Party Scripts” or “Fantistico” to upload Wordpress. This route also offers the support of your webhost. If you have trouble give them a call and they’ll walk you through it. If they are unwilling you might want to keep shopping for a host provider.

Now that you’ve uploaded Wordpress you’ve taken your first step into a larger world. A magical world filled with unlimited possibilities and unicorns. Okay not quite but Wordpress does offer some amazing things for an artist who is making their site DIY. Through the use of themes you have the ability to change the over all look and function of the site. And through the use of plugins you have many more options when it comes to function that you can add to your site. 95% of themes and plugins are free. The best part is the support community that is out there to help you when you have questions. I am not saying there is like a Wordpress hotline you can call when your in a jam but if you do a search for your Wordpress problem you are going to find an answer.

That is my short answer to the question of the one thing you should do as an artist to promote yourself online. There is a lot more I could say about artists using Wordpress so I am going to start a new category that features regular tips and advice for artists who are using Wordpress. Thinking of “Wordpress Wednesday,” because it is hard to go wrong with a double consonant.

What Is The One Thing I Should Do Online As An Artist? 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.