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!

Despite what everyone is saying about the death of email because of social networking, email is still a critical component when it comes to marketing your work online. So are you putting your best foot forward in your emails? Or are you projecting yourself as unprofessional, amateurish, or even worse…rude in your email communications? Here are some tips to make your email communications as professional as possible.

1. Always email from your own domain- Be sure to get your own domain name, set up an email account, and send all of your emails from that domain. It looks a lot more professional than an Gmail or a Yahoo! account.

2. Be careful with humor and other hard to convey emotions in emails- Humor doesn’t translate well over email. People aren’t there to translate emotions from your face. So don’t attempt to be humorous or sarcastic in your business emails.

3. Get to the point- Businesses get a lot of email. Whoever you’re sending email to…make their job easier by getting right to the point. No long and rambling emails!

4. Ask before sending images- Sending a bunch of email slowing images of your work is one sure way to annoy whoever is receiving them. Before you send images of your work through email, ask if it’s okay and ask what format they should be in.

5. Optimize your images for email- Make sure the images you send through email are formatted (size, file size, file format) so they don’t clog up the recipient’s inbox. Here is a good article on how to properly format your images for your website and email.

6. Include a signature in your outgoing email- Make sure your signature has your name, company name, email, web address, and other important information and goes out with all of your outgoing email.

7. Spell check and grammar check…and leave the acronyms alone- Nothing screams unprofessional than an email filled with misspellings, grammar errors and acronyms like OMG and TTY.

8. Regularly check and answer your email- This should go without saying. Don’t give out an email address that you don’t check and answer on a regular basis.

9. Don’t email when a phone call or face to face contact would be better- You don’t have to conduct ALL of your business through email. If the situation is too complex for an email, pick up the phone…or if your contact is local, set up a meeting. Sometimes a phone call or a face-to-face meeting will do better than a long confusing email.

Twitter, Facebook, and now Google Buzz…social networking has certainly been the buzz on the internet for the past few years. If you have an online presence for your art, then you’ve no doubt heard that you need to be on at least one of these networks. Or do you? Do you HAVE to jump on the social networking bandwagon in order to promote your artwork online? In this show, I’ll talk about 5 reasons you might want to avoid using social networking to promote your artwork

1. Your customers aren’t on social networks- While there are a lot of people online, not all of them are using Facebook or Twitter. As of August 2009, it’s estimated that 17% of the time spent online is on social network sites like Facebook or on blogs. If you have an audience that’s not social networking savvy or an audience that don’t spend a lot of time on the computer, then social networking might not be a priority for you.

Reality check- That 17% figure cited had actually increased by 6% from the previous year. Keep in mind that while your current customers aren’t there now…there’s nothing saying that they won’t be in the future…plus there’s a chance that you’re ignoring potential new customers.

2. You’re too busy creating art- While it’s important to market your art, you also have to make sure that you’re spending enough time in your studio so that you actually have something to market. Social networking can be an enormous time sink if you’re not careful.

3. You hate being on the computer- If you only use your computer to check email and avoid it like the plague the rest of the time, you’re not going to be really excited to spend even more time setting up a Facebook page or taking time to tweet about your latest work…and your lack of excitement will show.

4. You’ve tried it and not gotten any results- If you’ve already been on these social networks and don’t seem to get any results, then there’s nothing wrong with moving on to other techniques that will yield better results.

Reality check- a good honest effort is more than just a month or two of sporadically tweeting or logging onto your Facebook page. Just like any other method of marketing, social networking does take time.

5. You’re doing quite well without it- You’re selling out at shows, you’re getting plenty of sales on Etsy, and you’re always filling in orders with your gallery accounts…so whatever you’re doing now is working just fine.

Fires, floods, snowstorms, hurricanes…all of these things can be devastating to your art business. Whether the disaster or emergency is as widespread and catastrophic as a hurricane or flash flood, or whether is it’s as personally devastating as a major computer crash, illness, or house fire…any of these events can bring your art business to grinding halt if you’re not prepared for it. Here are some tips for disaster proofing your business, and some of the things you can do to prepare yourself and what you can do in the event of a disaster.

1. Types of disasters to plan for- there are a number of emergencies or disasters that you have to plan for in advance

• Natural disasters- tornados, flooding, wildfires, hurricanes, earthquakes, snowstorms
• Medical and life emergencies- sudden illness (yourself or a family member), accidents, epidemics, disability, death
• Other- computer failure, house/studio fires or flooding, theft

2. Know what your foreseeable risks are- Are you located in a flood zone? Is your studio or business located in a place that’s prone to earthquakes? Take stock of your own medical heath…does your art pose forseeable health risks? Are you prone to certain illnesses? Take concrete steps to help avoid what you can. Call your insurance agent to get proper coverage for your business.

3. Remember that a disaster doesn’t have to happen to you directly to effect you- If you have critical suppliers that get struck by a major disaster, that can be disaster for your business. Don’t be dependent on just one supplier for critical services and supplies.

4. Make a plan- once you’ve taken stock, write out a plan to follow in case of an emergency. List:

• Where you’ll conduct business if something happens to your main place of business
• How people can contact you in the event of an emergency
• Have alternative means of communication
• Who can take over for you if you become incapacitated
• Where all of your critical files and information is located (includes financial info, contact info to lawyers, insurance agent, accountants, galleries, etc)
• Access to online accounts like your website, online portfolio, email, blog
• A backup and security plan for your computers (how often you backup, where to retrieve your backups, and your security)
• A complete inventory of critical electronics and equipment along with serial numbers
• Information about your insurance policy, your policy number, and the name and contact information of your insurance agent
• A cash emergency fund

5. Have a “Pick Up and Go” box- This is a box of vital documents where if you had to evacuate in an emergency that you can simply grab and go on your way out the door.

6. Keep your plan and important documents in multiple places- Your plan is useless if you’re only copy burns up in a fire. Make multiple copies of your disaster plan and critical papers and keep them in multiple places away from your home or studio…such as a relative’s home or a safety deposit box.

For more information about disaster planning and to get a free sample disaster plan, visit: http://www.ready.gov