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

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.

If you’ve ever tried to purchase advertising in an art magazine or done co-operative advertising with other artists, you’ll know that print advertising can be rather expensive. One advantage of the Internet is that you can experiment with advertising for your art and not break the bank…if you know what you’re doing. Here are some of the basics of getting started with advertising your art online.

1. Know your advertising options- there are a number of options when it comes to advertising online. Here are a couple that are most common

• Text ads
• Banner ads
• Sponsorships (text or banner)

2. Know your pricing options- most online advertising is based on either impressions or clicks:

• Pay Per Click (PPC)…this means that you’re charged according to how many people actually click on your ad
• CPM (Cost Per Mille)- this is based on how many people will see your ad. “Per mille” means per thousand impressions, or loads of an advertisement (e.g. If a website gets about $5,000 impressions per month, they may charge $20 x 5 CPM or $100 per month

3. Figure out where to advertise- First figure out who your target market is then make a list of likely places to advertise

• Google Ads
• Facebook Ads
• Niche sites- these are specific websites and blogs where your target market is likely to see your ads

4. Research the ad requirements- every website and service has different requirements when it comes to the ad format and design. Familiarize yourself with requirements such as:

• Format- .jpg, .gif, .png, animated vs not animated
• Word count
• File size
• Image size

5. Figure out your budget- Don’t go into advertising without a budget in mind. A lot of business base their ad buys on 10% of their monthly or yearly income. So if you make $1,000 per month online, then figure about $100 per month

6. Know what are you advertising for- Have a specific goal for your advertising or various advertising campaigns. Are you trying to brand yourself?Promote a specific event? Get more traffic for your website?

7. Spend a good deal of time designing your ad- Art is a visual medium. Make sure that your ad is visually pleasing. Experiment with different sizes, animation, colors, photos, etc. If you’re doing a text ad, don’t neglect your copy! A couple of words can make the difference. Plus, remember to point your ad to a specific page on your website instead of dumping people on your homepage. This will make your ad more effective and easier to track.

8. Know that advertising as a long-term strategy- Advertising takes some time to be effective. Don’t run a couple of ads and decide to quit. Most people need to see your ad at least 7 times before they recognize you or decide to click. If you’re going to do advertising, commit yourself to a plan of at least 3 to 6 months and stick to it.

If you’ve been selling your art for any amount of time and had been very diligent about marketing it, you’ve probably felt “marketing fatigue” at one point or another. You simply felt that you can’t send out another newsletter, make another phone call, write out another blog post, or send out another tweet. How do you continue to market when you feel that you’re not getting the results you want or getting the results you need fast enough? How do you make marketing a continual process instead of something that you do when you’re in the mood? In this episode, I’ll talk about how to get out of art marketing burnout and how to avoid it in the future.

1. Adjust your expectations- Are you looking at marketing like it’s a simple math equation? If I do X, Y, and Z I’ll get result A, B, C? Marketing is more like planting seeds and sowing a crop rather than a math equation. Most of your activity takes time to build up to work…and often you’ll see results later than you expect.

2. See marketing your art as a long term task- Marketing your art, whether online or off is not an occasional task that you do when you get the time. Effective marketing is something that you do on a regular, continual basis.

3. Do one small thing every day. While large marketing projects like setting up a website or sending out a large postcard mailing might give you a boost, most of your results comes from stuff that you do every day. Set aside 15 minutes a day to do some small marketing task, like making phone calls, sending out email, commenting on blogs, etc.

4. Don’t go it alone. Get help for the things that you don’t have to do yourself and help for the things that you aren’t good at.

5. Try something new. If your current marketing doesn’t seem to be working, try something different, whether it’s tweaking your current plan, or trying something different altogether.

6. Take a brief break. If your absolutely burned out, take some time to recharge your batteries. Take some classes, read books and magazines. Connect with other artists. But be sure to give your marketing vacation a time limit so you don’t abandon it completely!

One of the most effective ways to market yourself and to increase sales on your art website is to have a mailing list so that you can easily contact people that art interested in your art. So how do you go about setting one up for your art website? In this show, I’m going to talk about what you need to know to set up your own email list online.

1. Who’s your email list for?- A good email program give value to those that want to join it. In order to give value, you need to know who’s likely to join your list

2. What are your broadcasts going to be about?- What kind of information will your subscribers find interesting? Notices about your next exhibition or show? Exclusive deals? Tips and tricks? Industry news and information?

3. Decide on your mailing frequency- How often will you email your list? Once a month? Once a week? A couple times a week?

4. Decide on the format of your broadcasts- are you going to do a regular newsletter? Are you doing short updates instead of a formal newsletter? Are you going to have regular features in your broadcasts?

5. Decide on a email list provider- You can’t manage your email list by using Outlook or Apple Mail. You’ll need the services of an email list provider like Aweber or Constant Contact.

6. Make it easy to sign up for your list- Don’t hide your sign up form! Put your form on every single page of your website so that it’s easy for people to sign up no matter where they are.

7. Give people an incentive to sign up- People need a reason to sign up for your mailing list. They won’t sign up if they think you’re just gong to bombard them them marketing messages.

If you’ve liked the tips you’ve read in these show notes and heard on show and want more information on how to shoot, edit, and post your video online, get a FREE copy of my article series “How to Plan and Start a Great Email Newsletter “.

Video is increasingly becoming an integral and powerful part of the Internet. If you’re not using video somewhere on your website or blog, then you’re missing out on a wonderful tool to help you attract visitors, tell stories about your work, and make more sales. In this episode, I’ll tell you how to get started with online video and some tips on how to create great video content.

1. Don’t get too hung up on the equipment- You can take perfectly good video using a simple FlipVideo camera for less than $200. Some digital cameras even have decent video quality. Start small and build up.

2. The most important thing about taking good video is a steady hand and good light- Make sure your area is well lit…natural light works well. Use a tripod for shooting scene that require a steady shot.

3. Don’t make your video too long- About 3 to 7 minutes is good for most online videos. Don’t think that you have to shoot an epic…especially on your first try.

4. Use online video sharing sites to get your videos up fast- While there are methods of getting your video up on your website without using YouTube, if you’re just getting started, YouTube or some other sharing site is a great method of distributing your video online and on your website.

5. If you’re stumped about what kind of video to shoot, here’s some ideas:

• a studio tour
• a video artist’s statement
• a demonstration of how you make your work
• a “day in the life” video
• how to videos
• a series of video tips
• a photoslide show (Animoto allows you to do this without a camera)

If you’ve liked the tips you’ve read in these show notes and heard on show and want more information on how to shoot, edit, and post your video online, get a FREE copy of my article series “How to Use Video to Promote Your Art Website“.

Etsy, Artfire, Foliotwist, 1000Marktplaces, Big Cartel…these are just a few of the places online that artists and crafters can go to open a website, an online store, or online portfolio. While have a number of choices is great, it also can make it a big hard to choose the right one for you? In this episode, I’ll talk about how to find and choose the right online service to help you build your website or sell your artwork.

1. Decide what kind of features you need- (ecommerce capablity, blogging, marketing, search engine optimization etc)

2. Find a service that caters to the type of art you make- If you’re jeweler, Foliotwist might not be the best place for you while Etsy might not be the best place for high end artists

3. If the service is also an online marketplace, find a service that gets good traffic- If you’re looking to sell your artwork online using one of these services, then you should also sign up with a service that gets reasonably good traffic

4. Ask the opinions of artists who uses a particular service- One of the best ways to cut past the marketing hype is to ask artists who are using and have used a service that you’re considering.

5. Calculate your real costs- All of these services charge differently either by a flat monthly rate, a listing rate, a monthly rate depending on the level of service you want, or by transaction. Calculate how much you’re likely to spend depending on how you use the service.

6. Expect to do real work- Signing up with a service to help you create your web presence doesn’t mean that you don’t have a lot of work to do after your site is up.

If you’ve had a website for a couple of years, you might be thinking about starting a fresh new year with a fresh new website. But redesigning a website can be just a big a deal as creating one from scratch. Here are some tips on how to spruce up your art website for the coming year without losing a lot of money or your sanity.

1. Decide if you really need to redesign your website- Sometimes you can get by with a quick spruce up instead of a whole redesign. Sometimes you can’t. Here are some great reasons to redesign your website

• To fix design mistakes that hinder your website
• To make it easier for visitors to find what they need
• To improve your search engine ranking
• To fix an outdated design
• To add new technology like a blog or ecommerce

2. Know what your redesign is supposed to accomplish- Do you want to make it easier for people to find stuff? Do you want to integrate a blog or an online store? Knowing how you want your website to function and what you want it to look like will make it easier for you to plan out your redesign.

3. Create a plan- Once you have your goals in mind, you’ll need a roadmap to do it. Plan out:

• who’s going to do the redesign
• what kind of software you’ll need
• what kind of technology you’ll need
• how much your redesign will cost

4. Ask your visitors for ideas- Sometimes your current customers will have some great ideas on how to make your website better.

5. Set a realistic time frame- Depending on how extensive your redesign is going to be and how fast you can get things together, you’re redesign might take a bit of time. Plan for this accordingly

6. Don’t forget the search engines- If you’re doing a complete overhaul, avoid getting rid of old content completely. If your website is a couple of years old, it’s probably been indexed by search engines or has incoming links or bookmarks. Keep your old content and links as intact as possible.

7. Test, test, test, and test some more- Be sure to test out your newly redesigned website thoroughly before you re-launch it.

The year 2010 is here and it’s time to start looking ahead to the New Year. Do your beginning of the year plans also include making your artist’s website a success? In this episode, I’ll talk about how to plan for a successful online 2010.

1. Do some basic website maintenance- January is typically a very slow time for artists, use this slump to do some sprucing up and maintenance on your website. Things to check include:

• Your images
• Your links and navigation
• All your online forms
• Your newsletter
• Your shopping cart
• Any kind of multimedia
• Error messages
• The speed of your site

2. Develop some serious goals- What do you want to accomplish this year? To build a web site? To get more traffic? To make more sales? Take the time to develop some measurable goals that you want to have accomplished by this time next year.

3. Do some serious planning- Now is a great time to start planning content for your blog, plans to build more traffic to your website, promotions for your website and creating a task list and schedule to keep everything on track.

4. Expand or redesign your website- If you don’t have a website or you’re website needs some serious updating, take this slow time to do it now in preparation for the coming year.

5. Educate yourself- Again, this is a slow time of year, so take the opportunity to learn more about how to market yourself online. There’s lots of information both on this website and out on the Internet that can get you started. Here’s some resources to help you get going:

• 10 Steps to Getting More Traffic on Your Website

• 5 Reasons Why Blogging is Good for Artists

• 50 Blogging Tips for Artists

• Building a Online Store on Your Art Website, pt 1

• Building a Online Store on Your Art Website, pt 2

• How to Use Video to Promote Your Art Website

• 5 Ways Twitter Can Help Your Business

• How to Use Twitter to Get More Traffic, More Subscribers, and More Customers

• How to Plan and Start a Great Email Newsletter

• 7 Reasons Why Your Online Sales Stink: 15 Minute Craft Website Tips

• How to Build Traffic to Your Art Website: SEO Secrets Revealed

• 5 Ways to Use Your Art Website or Blog to Get More PR

• 89 Press Release Tips

You’ve probably heard of image sharing sites like Flickr, Picassa, and Photobucket and perhaps you even have an account so you can share photos of your last vacation with your friends. But did you also know that it can be a great way to help promote your artwork? On today’s episode, I’m going to discuss some of the benefits (and pitfalls) of using image sharing websites to promote your artwork.

1. What are image sharing sites?

• an image sharing site allows you to host and share your photos online
• most image sharing site has a “social” aspect that will allow you to friend other users, send photos to friends and family or distribute photos through Twitter, blogging, Facebook, etc

2. Sign up with a site and make sure you fill out the profile

• Image sharing sites are social sites…make sure that you fill out the profile so that people learn more about you
• Be sure that you include your website address and information about what you do in your profile

3. Share photos of your work

• Upload photos of what kind of artwork you do
• Don’t forget to include photos of your studio, of works in progress, yourself at exhibitions, and shows, and of yourself!
• Provide detailed titles, descriptions, and tag your photos properly with relevant keywords. This will help you get found by other people…and you’ll pick up some traffic from Google Images.
• Use the sharing tools of the service to help you blog about your work, share photos with potential customers, or distribute photos to people that follow you.
• Be sure upload and freshen up your profile with new photos regularly

4. Get social

• A lot of these sites allow you to form and join topic specific groups
• Find or create a group related to your art and start interacting with the other users
• If there is a friending or contact feature, use this to start building contacts

5. Some pitfalls to avoid

• Read the terms of use and copyright and make sure that you retain the copyright to your images
• If you have professional photos of your art, make sure you have the right to post them
• Some image sharing services allows you to set whether you want other users to share your images or not. Be sure to check these out so that other users know if they can use your images or if they can use your images