image by Nancee_Art
I often receive emails asking me about what artists should blog about. It’s really not that hard. Don’t over think it.
Artists Should Blog About Their Art. Post pictures of your work. You’ll notice that most of my blog posts have a piece that I really like at the top. People really love interesting pieces of art. If your work is good, putting up blog posts featuring your work, with descriptions and stories about their origins, can have a huge impact on your web traffic and the engagement of your fans.
Artists Should Blog About Their Shows. Pictures, videos, and some descriptions are great ways to get people excited about past and future shows. When you are prepping for a show, whether solo or group, find some images of the space or the building and post them. During the show, take some videos of you talking to patrons or showing off your work.
Artists Should Blog About Their Lives. More and more collectors not only want to buy beautiful art, they want to invest in an artist’s career. The Art world is moving toward people wanting a personal connection with the artist. Blogging about what’s happening to you has been very effective for some artists as a way of making collectors feel like have an insight into the generation of the art and the thinking of the artist. Two great examples: Gwenn Seemel and Hazel Dooney. In addition, these artists create a great support and accountability network around themselves.
Artists Should Blog About Things that Interest Them. Share links to other artists that you find interesting, charities that you want to support, and the things that inspire you. Especially the things that inspire you. People love to be inspired – I know I do. I want to know what makes you excited, what makes you weep, what makes you laugh.
A few pieces of advice about blogging:
- Your Title decides whether or not people read your blog posts.
- Your blog should be a part of your website, not a standalone blog like on Blogger.com
- Sit down and create a blogging calendar. Decide how many times per week you’ll post (it’s Tues, Thurs, Sat here), and what you’re going to write about over the next 30 days.
Good point about hosting the blog on your website instead of Blogger, etc. For example, in my workplace, almost any URL with “blog” in it gets instantly blocked by The Powers That Be.
Wow. A lot of “shoulds” – don’t know if I can keep up. I like visiting stephey baker’s site, not only is her site inspiring but her writing is inspiring too. she really knows how to talk about her art in such a way that isn’t singing the memememe’s but allows others to connect to it’s purpose and vision. I hope to present my vision like her one day – first i need a website.
That is a lot of shoulds…but obviously you don’t have to do them all at once. 😉
oops forgot the site http://www.markedbythemuse.com
Great list of shoulds 🙂 I am coming to most of this on my own but seeing it here verifies and supports my conclusions~
I strongly support having a blog/website.
I really enjoyed your blog post on what artists should blog about. I am an artist and sometimes i hit a road block and find it difficult to come up with new content all the time. Thanks for your tips.
my favorite artist blog: http://dbclemons.wordpress.com/
wonderful writing, sharing ideas tips . . . aaahhhh
Great information and a lot of it. It will take some time to do everything but it will probably be worth it.
Great post! Really good information I am starting out on my art journey hope to make a success of it!