June 21st, 2010
If you’re ready to build your own website to promote or sell your art…you might have discovered that there are a lot of ways to do it. When it comes to building a website for your artwork, you’ll want to choose a website building method that’s low cost, easy to build and maintain, and flexible. One way that fits all of that is Wordpress. If you have you’re own blog, you’ve probably heard of Wordpress. But this popular blogging software is good for more than just websites. On this show, I’ll go over why Wordpress is a great choice for building your art website.
The most common ways to build a website include:
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DIY build from scratch- you’re building your website by creating individual web pages using some type of web page building tool like Expression Web, iWeb, or Dreamweaver and HTML.
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Professional web designer or developer- you work with a skilled web designer or developer create your website for you.
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Turnkey web builder service- you use some kind of service like Big Cartel or the website builder software provided by many web hosts to develop your website.
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Open source e-commerce or web software- you’re building your website using free or low-cost web building systems like Wordpress, Joomla, or Zen Cart.
Why Wordpress? Here’s 4 reasons:
1. Wordpress is free to install and use- Unlike some of the other paid software and services, you can install and use Wordpress to build your website for free.
2. Wordpress is easy to use and maintain- If you can type in some boxes and press some buttons, you can use Wordpress.
3. Wordpress is flexible- While Wordpress was primarily created run blogs, it can be used for so much more including building a regular website
4. You don’t need to know graphic design to use Wordpress- There are a ton of professional looking, pre-made designs called “themes” in which you can use to create the look for your Wordpress website or blog.
If you are interested in learning how to build your own website, I’m holding a free webinar on Tuesday, June 22nd at 8 p.m. (EST) called Easy Website Building with Wordpress. There’s absolutely no cost register, it should last for about 60 to 70 minutes…plus it will be recorded. So if you have the leave the event early or if you can’t make the event at all, you can watch the replay later. The seats are limited, and since this is a free webinar the seats tend to fill up fast, so you should reserve your spot soon. You can click here to register or learn more.
June 17th, 2010
If you’re thinking about building your own website to showcase and sell your art, you might have found that there are a number of options available to you. And as often with the case of having a lot of options, the more you have, the more confused you get, and most newbies don’t really know what the best choice is. Here are of the things that you need to consider when you are thinking about building your own website and some of the most common ways to go about it.
Before you begin building your website, consider these issues:
- Cost- how much will it cost you to develop and maintain your website?
- Maintenance- how and who will keep your website running?
- Control- ultimately who controls how your website functions, looks, and who’s the ultimate owner?
Here are the most common ways of building a website:
DIY- build from scratch- you’re building your website by creating individual web pages using some type of web page building tool like Expression Web, iWeb, or Dreamweaver and HTML.
- Pros- it’s low cost, you have complete control over how your website runs and looks.
- Cons- you have to know what you’re doing, a certain level of expertise in design, HTML, and web development is needed. If you’re a beginner, developing your site will take a large chunk of your time.
Professional Web Designer or Developer- you work with a skilled web designer or developer create your website for you.
- Pros- You can get a well designed, professional looking website while you can concentrate on making art and running your business. Plus a good web designer can help you maintain your website and give you advice on other web related issues
- Cons- A good web designer will cost you. You’ll need to closely monitor your web design costs. Plus finding a good web designer can take a certain amount of research
Turnkey web builder service- you use some kind of service like Big Cartel or the website builder software provided by many web host to develop your website.
- Pros- You can have a great looking well designed website for the fraction of the cost of a designer and you don’t need to have a lot of technical skill.
- Cons- How your website looks and functions is limited by what service you use. And because your service is standardized to accommodate a large number of people, your website may look similar to others that use the same service. It may also be harder to move your website if you become dissatified with the service.
Open source software- you’re building your website using free or low-cost web building systems like Wordpress, Joomla, or Zen Cart.
- Pros- Website software like Wordpress, Joomla, and Zen Cart is free to install and these programs will help you build a website without having to build individual pages or knowing a lot of HTML. Plus often this software is free to install and use.
- Cons- There is a bit of a learning curve in installing and setting up the software. And there is a bit of a learning curve in learning to use it. Plus, you’ll be responsible for making sure that your software stays up to date and running.
If you are interested in learning how to build your own website, I’m holding a free webinar on Tuesday, June 22nd at 8 p.m. (EST) called Easy Website Building with Wordpress. There’s absolutely no cost register, it should last for about 60 to 70 minutes…plus it will be recorded. So if you have the leave the event early or if you can’t make the event at all, you can watch the replay later. The seats are limited, and since this is a free webinar the seats tend to fill up fast, so you should reserve your spot soon. You can click here to register or learn more.
June 1st, 2010
A lot of attention has been given to social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. But there is another social networking site that artists often overlook. That overlooked networking site is called LinkedIn. Even if you already have a presence on Facebook or Twitter, there are a number of reasons why it makes sense for artists to have a presence on LinkedIn as well. On today’s show, I’ll discuss the advantages of using LinkedIn to promote your artwork and give you some tips on how make the best impression.
1. LinkedIn has a couple of advantages over other social networking sites
- LinkedIn is more business-like and professional than Facebook or Twitter…personal stuff is not the focus
- Getting connections is bit more secure than other social networking sites
2. How artists can use LinkedIn
- LinkedIn is a great place to meet higher end clientele. If a lot of your work is with professional, companies, corporations, or organizations, LinkedIn is a great place for you to be
- There’s a number of artists also on LinkedIn. Join some of the artist groups to get advice and information
- LinkedIn profiles also show up on search engine results. This gives you another place to be seen
3. LinkedIn Tips
- Fill out your profile as completely as possible
- Update your status regularly
- Update your profile regularly
- Start gathering contacts
- Give and get recommendations
- Ask and answer questions
- If you have a blog, connect it to your LinkedIn profile
- Show your artwork on LinkedIn through Slideshare. Get an account on Slideshare, create a slide show with your artwork and use the Slideshare app on your profile
- Join and participate in some related LinkedIn groups
- Advertise your LinkedIn profile
March 9th, 2010
Just like there are a lot of things that you must keep control of in the offline part of your art business…there are a number of things that you need to be in control of if you have an online presence or if you’re selling your artwork online. Unfortunately, a lot of artists give up a lot of control over their online presence simply because they don’t know how certain parts of the Internet works or because they don’t want to get into the technical parts of running a presence online. And this usually ends up in disaster for the artist who caught unawares. In this show I’ll talk about how to keep control of your online presence and how to avoid some of the pitfalls that can take how your present yourself online out of your hands.
1. Register your own domain name…and always register it yourself- Domain names are like digital real estate. If you wait until you’re ready to build a website before you register your domain name, you might miss out permanently. You don’t have to have a website in order to use a domain name, you can send email under your own domain name or forward it to your third part store or blog. You can get your own domain name for as little as $8 per year…so there’s no reason why you shouldn’t have your own domain name even if your not ready to build a website yet.
2. Have more than one place online where people can contact you…perferrably a channel that you have control over, whether it’s a blog, social networking site, or your own website. Websites and social networking services aren’t forever. If you have multiple places where people can contact you, you increase the chance that people can find you and you have a back up if one channel disappears or goes down.
3. If someone is helping your with your website or other technical aspects, always keep control of the login information- This applies to domain names, web hosting, social networking passwords, etc. Always be the main contact for any of these accounts instead of your assistant or web designer.
4. Come up with some good strong passwords for your various accounts and change them regularly. Account hacking does exist and one way to combat it is to create good, strong, hard to guess passwords. You should also remember to use different passwords for each account so that if someone guesses one password, they don’t have access to the rest of your accounts and change them up regularly. If you have a lot of log in information, use a program like RoboForm to help you organize your passwords and login information.
5. Keep backups of everything- Blog posts, customer data, email addresses, sales data…losing any of this information can spell disaster for you. Keep regular backups of all of this information on a weekly basis…especially if they reside on a third party system.
February 25th, 2010
There’s a lot of choices in services and software to start and run your art blog including Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress, LiveJournal, Squarespace and more. So what’s the best choice for your blog? The service or software you choose for your blog depends on a number of different factors including cost, features, and ease of use. Here is some information about different types of blogging services and software available and how to choose the right one for your art blog.
Blogging services vs self hosting
- Blogging service- this includes services like Blogger, Wordpress.com, LiveJournal, etc. A blogging service is something that you sign up to get your blog. A blogging service is responsible for hosting your blog, providing features, doing upgrades, and maintaining the technical side of your blog.
- Self hosting- this includes blogging software like Wordpress.org, Moveable Type, Mambo, Drupal that runs on a web server that you manage.
Free vs paid services
- Free- some blogging services (Blogger, Wordpress.com, LiveJournal, Vox) and software (Wordpress.org, Mambo, Drupal) are completely free. Many of these services make money by putting advertising on your blog.
- Paid- other blogging services (Typepad, Squarespace, Wordpress.com) will charge a monthly fee to host and maintain the technical aspects of your blog. Some services such as Wordpress.com offer a free basic service and will charge for additional features.
Factors to consider
- cost- how much are you budgeted to spend on your blog (hosting, monthly fee, set up, domain name)? Are you willing to pay for a monthly service? Are you willing to help someone help you set up a self hosted blog?
- ease of use- how much technical expertise do you have? Are you willing to maintain the technical parts of your blog if you decide to self host? Do you have the technical expertise to install your own blog or would you rather use a service that takes care of this for you?
- features- what kind of features do you want for your blog? Do you want a custom look for your blog or can you use a generic theme? Do you want your blog to match your website completely? Do you want the ability to sell from your blog? A photo gallery? Show videos? Add a mailing list sign up? If you’re using a blogging service, the features you can have on your blog is controlled by the service.
- control- how much control do you want to have over how your blog runs and looks? Some blog hosting services have a terms of service control what you can and can’t do on your blog (eg. using your blog to make sales, subject matter of your blog, etc). Plus, if the blogging service shuts down, then you can lose your blog.
If you’re thinking about starting a blog or if you already have a blog and you want to be more effective, sign up for my FREE e-course “50 Blogging Tips for Artists “. Get a free tip in your email every day that will help make your blogging life easier. Sign up now!
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