Art & Tech Series 4 The Blogging Story
The Prince William Art Society (PWAS) Artistry Spin
Blog will explore the use of technology and its impact on the world of art.
There are so many tools and resources that can benefit the artists to not only
create artwork, but to inspire them, to share their work with the world and to
potentially sell their artwork. We'll review and offer suggestions on some of
the top trending tech on the web, popular for artists, and those wanting to
find out more about art, and perhaps, YOUR art.
Why an Art Blog?
A blog is a good way to promote your art, your knowledge of art, your art business, and your art website without being overly in your face. As you may know, people buy art more often if they can relate, they can connect to the artist - by learning your story, the story about your artwork, and how it makes them feel. A blog can document the story of you and each piece that you create.
Blogs are search engine optimization food for your art.
Google and other search engines plow through the internet gobbling up new
content, categorizing what it finds. By adding those sweet keywords and keyword
phrases and building your blog content, the search engines will find you and
will understand how to catalog your data.
Social media - your Facebook and Pinterest postings, are
more limited on the content you post, perhaps by character count, the number of
images, who can see your posts, etc. They are meant to be short blasts of info
that the viewer can quickly digest. Blog writing means you can post as much
info as you like to get your point across, and often all the pictures you took
of an art show you are in.
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Your art website is your personal and
professional online art gallery, a showcase, and an art shop that shows who
you are and what you have created, and perhaps what is available for
purchase. Your social media links direct traffic to your website and vice
versa. Your art blog gives you the space to share
your story and your artistic journey in much more detail. That said, you
should have a page or at least a link on your website that directs the viewer
to your blog. Check out Should Artists Have a Blog? Art Blogging Pros and Cons |
You'll Need to Pick a Blogging Platform - Check out the
tools and features of various blogging software and think about what you want
to get out of it - now and into the future. See if its free, a free trial to
try, or what the pricing options are. Not many are totally free as there
may be hosting fees, domain name fees, or have more features and advanced SEO
tools in the pricing levels.
- Google owned Blogger is free and is what I use for my blog, Donna's Cave Paintings and for the Prince William Art Society blog, Artistry Spin. It has a user friendly interface and plenty of templates to suit my needs. Here is a A Step by Step Guide to Creating a Blog Using Blogger
- WordPress.com has a user friendly interface and a free starter plan: its a very popular blogging platform.
- Substack
- HubPages
- Squarespace (free trial)
- Tumblr
- Wix
- Medium
- Ghost
- Weebly
There are more out there of course. These are often
recommended blog platforms for their ease of use with templates, intuitive
interfaces, drag-and-drop features, etc. making setup fairly pain free.
See also How to Use This Blog on
Artistry Spin
How to Start Your Art Blog
Do some research to spot layouts you like to get an idea of what your want on your site.
- You'll need a Name for your blog, and specify the URL for your blog.
- Do you need to register your blog and get hosting?
- Select the theme and layout you like. Templates are often available. Customize the colors, the fonts, what goes where and more.
- Consider sidebars, pages, and other optional features. Be sure and check the Mobile and Computer view of your blog.
- Provide a keyword rich description for your blog.
- Create a Draft post, get a post started. You should always have at least one photo on a post.
- Publish the post and have a look at it live.
- Promote the blog. This is not Field of Dreams in that if you build it, they will come. You have to let your art public, friends, family, the world know that you have a blog and you just posted on it.
- Can you make money with your blog? Some offer this functionality in several ways.
Just be aware that once you chose a design theme, there are some changes you may not want to do later as it might be too drastic a change. I once altered a theme layout on one of my blogs and some of my posts were temporarily no longer with us. Talk about a mad scramble toward recovery!
An option I like in Blogger is that I can create a Post
Template so that whenever I begin a new post, I have my fonts and layouts,
signature areas and info already added to the starter post and can then just
adjust titles and the body as I like.
What Should I Blog About?
Anything you want to. But a main focus area for consistency
is better and in this scenario we are talking about an ART blog. Are you passionate
about art? That should show in what you write about.
Create a list of Blog Topics of interest to you, a sort of
blog idea list and add to it when another light bulb appears overhead.
Sometimes I even have draft posts for blog ideas that I write up over time and
publish when I feel its says what all I want it to.
- Write about specific art pieces and the STORY behind the piece.
- Blog about your goals and what you want to do in the future with your art talent.
- Blog about shows, festivals and area art events you get into and want to apply to or go see.
- Write about what artwork and art series you have in progress. Before and After makes for good posts - we all want to see how the artwork turns out.
- Have a favorite art tool? Why do you love a certain paint brand?
- Obviously, any art shows you have coming up and will be showing in. Pictures of art receptions and definitely your solo exhibits all document your art journey.
- Locations, people and places, pets and favorite art subjects that inspire your artistic self are what you post about.
- Places you go to paint - do you plein air paint? Do you take art classes?
- How about any art groups you belong to?
- Show how you do a specific technique in the media you use.
- Your art studio.
This is just a starter idea list, but blog posts themselves
make for great topics, pins, links to add to Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram,
Twitter, etc. By sharing to all your social media, you're helping to promote
your art and YOU!
Also see How to Use This Blog
When Should Blog?
Whenever you can. Find a schedule that works for you and
stick to it as best you can. Posting at least once a week is often recommended.
You can schedule posts in advance to perhaps post every Monday, or whenever you
like. Content is King on the internet, so having fresh content regularly is
search engine fodder as well as good your art fans.
Want to learn more? What is a Blog? Types, Benefits, and Why You Need One
Well, what do you think? I like that I have a way to say something that I may not always be able to articulate on the spot, but can put together my thoughts on various art subjects and then post them out to the world. There are stories about many of the art pieces that I have and I want to tell that story too. Maybe blogging will work for you, so will you be starting an art blog?
Author: Donna Liguria is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and the PWAS Artistry Spin Blog and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.
*I LOVE reading your comments on my posts! Just remember that the blog comments are monitored so they may not appear right away.
Do you need a handmade, original painting for yourself or as a gift for a friend or family member? Yes, I do most commissions, so please contact me through this blog, on Facebook, My Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com, or go to Donna Liguria Art on Etsy at https://donnaliguriaart.etsy.com to shop my available Artwork.
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