The Buzz about Blogging: What
Artists and Photographers Need to Know
Suppose you could open your studio to millions … share the
ideas and stories that spark your creative drive and the artwork
that rises — and sells — as a result. Wow!
Well, with a blog, you really can connect to unlimited audiences
and art lovers. And the artblog that tells a real story has the
potential to suddenly swell a global network of fans, peers and
buying customers.
So it's no wonder there's so much buzz about the blogosphere. It's
the new medium of exposure, where storytelling is generated, shared
and ranked within the online audience, not delivered from a single
podium. The popularity of the community-generated art blog Post
Secret is a great example of the blogosphere's swelltide. The
five published
PostSecret art editions surely declare bloggers' impact on profitable
revenue, too.
What is a Blog, Anyway?
A blog is little more than an online journal. Individuals or a
group collective sometimes publishes Blogs. The most popular bloggers
provide daily or frequent updates; journal posts are a mix of news
and opinion that's threaded with related hyperlinks. Though blogging
may have started as the muse of diarists writing for personal fulfillment,
today's blogosphere is equally crowded by popular offerings centered
on professional and business development or work blogs. And with
good reason:
Most blogs have onboard social tools that enable the audience
to engage and spread information across a wider community. For
artists, these tools will extend your story and your work, and
do it much better and faster than you could reach all these people
yourself.
Search engines really like blogs since bloggers are connected
and provide timely, dynamic content.
Blog Publishing Resources
You can find a plethora of free or highly affordable self-publishing
blog tools online, as well as a broad range of tools, interactive
components, syndication features and even template options. As a
working artist, you'll want to ensure the program or hosted solution
you choose allows for image uploads. Likewise, you may want the
ability to customize a template and manipulate images so you can
create a blog that reflects your brand and artistic style.
For the basics and even more, excellent get-started blogware solutions
can be compared using this guide by Online
Journalism Review. Popular choices include:
- Windows/MSN
Spaces gives you a low-level website, and a smart easy-to-do
blog feature is built right in.
- Blogger.com
is comparable, and allows multiple authors, too.
- Typepad
and Wordpress
are favored by serious bloggers. Both are easy to set up and maintain.
Extra features and powerful social tools can be easily integrated
with only minimal fees. Typepad's photo gallery gives you plenty
of room for multiple images, and it's a real benefit if you plan
to build a collective or promote multiple sales.
Blog Profile: A Mix of Multimedia, Muse & Marketing
Artist
Elise Tomlinson
http://www.elisetomlinson.com/blog/index.html
A multimedia and figurative artist, Elise Tomlinson's blog combines
the best-practice tools and methods that rise small talented sectors
into social media giants. Her blog is more than a working artist's
journal — it's a multi-faceted blend of slice-of-life personal
diary, gallery and marketing artblog. Each facet compliments others,
making this package a supreme demonstration of how Web 2.0's social
networking serves as a powerful sales platform.
Tomlinson's template is branded — it reflects her primary
work style. Photographs and artwork are well integrated. Tomlinson's
package not only engages her audience, but also promotes the work
of commissions, originals and print sales, exhibits and events.
Moreover, Tomlinson's every post is continually creating a dynamic
online portfolio that adds to the artist's traditional business
case; yet it equally stands alone. She adds blogosphere value with
applicable links via image and content. Note the natural segue to
an event — an the link to the event sponsor:
Yesterday I went and met the other guest artist who I'm exhibiting
with (in how many day's Rob?) at the gallery and the gallery
rep (who was great) showed us where we'll be able to display our
work...
Reader comments provide evidence of Tomlinson's social power and
the support from engaged audiences that are as reflectively diverse
as the many facets expressed through her chronicles. Though her
blog centers on daily artistic pursuits from her home studio in
Douglas Island, Alaska, photographs and posts on Alaskan life and
simple day-to-day events appeals far beyond her locale or generation.
Note audience comments,
which also show the impact of authenticity and the value of blog
propagations, networks and links.
While researching a possible move to Alaska, I found your
"Life in Alaska" page. Thank you for providing a wealth
of information. Next I read your 100 Things... page. I actually
cut/pasted several of them because you sound eerily similar to
myself....
Hi Elise, I found your website from the Golden Paints website.
I really like your work and was excited to learn that you work
in a library, in rural Alaska, and are an artist...
Tomlinson also includes reviews and testimonials with archived
reader comments. Though these reviews could read like marketing
hype, the addition is instead another facet of the creative mix.
Why? Tomlinson blogs everyday disappointments, joys and personal
growth that clearly seem just as important to this artist as her
ideas, inspiration, artwork and professional progress. Altogether,
it's a blogging work of art and genius that makes a bold, impressive
statement in the blogosphere.
Tips, Techniques and Steps You Don't Want to Miss
- Choose the best solution: Choose a blogging
solution that's in sync with your tech quotient and dovetails
your time, lifestyle, marketing budget and artistic plans and
future.
- Keep it simple: If self-publishing seems difficult,
keep it simple. You can grow your blog as you learn, adding layers,
tools and art elements aligned with your tech growth. Or, you
may want to start as a member blogger of a collective, a good
choice if the sole journey seems too intimidating or time-intensive.
- Keep a blogging routine: Blog at least once
a week and when time is limited, commit a few minutes regardless.
Three five-minute updates over a week are better than five or
10 days of nothing. Your readers, and search engines, will soon
lose interest if your blog reflects a disappearing act.
- Allow comments: And comment on other blogs,
too. Authentic engagement is what blogs are all about. It's probably
best to moderate comments, or approve commentators before giving
respondents full reign.
- Use links in your blog entries: Give your audience
a taste of information and a variety of ways and sources to quest
for more.
- Get the word out: Eye social media tools and
registrations to help leverage your blog work and extend it to
external audiences. To start, register your blog with Technorati,
a blog search engine, and add a Digg
component.
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