The question you need to answer is this: are you having fun playing with the 20% on Facebook, while ignoring the much larger network of people you can reach via the "dark social network?" [...]

There are many people out there selling courses, doing webinars, and pushing products that teach artists how to do SEO. Many artists see it as a path to the promised land of "traffic" and sales. I can see why: for those of us who did business in a world before Google, the idea is enticing... set everything up "correctly" and watch a steady stream of customers come to your site. But, unfortunately, for most artists, that path won't work. [...]

Over the years I've thought of different ways to get a targeted audience to my site. Some things worked, some didn't. Blogging about other artists is one way to do it. [...]

The things we focus on get bigger and more important in our lives, as if they gain energy from the attention we give them. Those are the things we think about. The things we fix. The things we worry about. The things we improve. I ask again, what are you focusing on? [...]

After you've generated your xml sitemap, you have to let Google know about it. I'll cover that in another installment, however as a side note for FASO customers - you don't have to worry about submitting your sitemap to Google, we automatically create and submit your xml sitemaps for you. So the bottom line is (for FASO customers), you don't have to do anything to take advantage of xml sitemaps! [...]

...make sure that your links are relevant. What's relevant? Your art, your website, another website featuring your art -- the theme to this is you, you, you, which goes against everything your mother spent the formative years hammering in, but you are the product that you are marketing. It's difficult to do this without drawing attention to yourself. [...]

Of course, the more we know about something, the more secure we are with experimenting and doing something different ? it's when we're unsure of ourselves that we depend heavily upon the voices around us, some of which are helpful, some of which are shriller than they are knowledgeable, others of which are trying to sell us something. Trust your instincts. [...]

Find your back road. The one where your kindred souls travel. And then sell them the "Best Artwork on the Planet." [...]

Anyway... my approach and wish for my website are at odds with the 'norm' that everyone seems to be following, I know. I'm not interested in the least in 'traffic' as many are. What I have always wanted to get out of the Internet is a chance to connect...to have conversations...to meet people. A connecting of minds, without any pretense or third party involvement. This challenge became the game. [...]

Just because it's complex and ever changing doesn't mean that you can't give it a try, though, and the best way to do this is to do what we did last week: just get started. Writing anything is better than writing nothing. [...]

I can't give you any better advice on how to market and sell your art than Seth's last sentence, "When in doubt, when your (art)* marketing isn't working, the answer is easy: go one circle in." [...]

But, by offering something of value that is exclusive to your newsletter, you can convert anonymous blog followers into newsletter subscribers. [...]

Keep in mind that your artist website may benefit from blog posts about your art-related influences (assuming your art blog is located on your artist website). For example, your blog/website may receive traffic from specific searches due to art blog posts you have made about famous artists -- or even lesser known artists who happen to have high online visibility -- who have influenced you. Point blank -- those blog posts may help to increase your website ranking based on those specific searches if people discover your content when searching... especially if you utilize social networking websites to introduce others to your art blog articles in general. That is a good reason to get over the intimidation that many artists feel when considering art blogging. There is so much to gain... you just have to start posting in a way that is less intimidating. [...]

So go ahead, call yourself something kicky and cool ? The Staggering Stegosaurus Studio ? but somewhere, make sure you add your name, a very important part of you, to your brand. [...]

I found the process valuable as it made me write down, in one place, a lot of information I had scattered across our blog posts and in my head. Since we don't know how much of the information will be used in the actual article, the interviewer, John Parks, kindly gave me permission to post my answers here even before the article is published. I've cleaned up the raw answers I sent him (there was a deadline) and expanded a bit upon them. I hope you find some useful information in them. [...]

In Part 1 we explained why Search Engines are important for artists and the role they play in the "Attraction phase" of your online art marketing. In this post we'll look more closely at how to be successful with search engines. [...]

In this post I'll explain why SEO is important for artists and precisely where it delivers its true value. In Part 2, I'll give you a brief introduction to the three foundations of SEO so that you can get started on optimizing your own artist website. [...]

Hilary Senhanli Engaged the FASO Community and her Web Traffic Soared. So did her email newsletter subscribers. That's something you don't get with Wordpress or Blogger. [...]

Don't clutter artist websites with "cleverness" like animation and moving visuals. Keep it simple and visitors will look at your artwork. A proper online presence for every artist begins with a good old-fashioned website. Your art website is your "home base", your "hub." If you branch out into other online tools...great...but individual artist websites are where art collectors begin and end when connecting with artists. As such, make sure that your website utilizes a design that is clean and consistent. [...]

Want the ultimate SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tip for artists? It's this: make sure that your name is so important, as a visual artist, that Google would be embarrassed not to have your name come up on page one when it's searched for. [...]

Scenario: Leo Davinci has an artist website at leodavinci.com and wants to start blogging. He is also wants to make sure that he sets up his blog in a way that helps him the most with search engines. In other words, he's concerned about SEO...There are a few options available to Leo for starting a blog [...]

In my last article, I outlined some of the factors that we think Google uses to determine how to rank search results. This needs some more discussion. After all, if you're going to "optimize" your website for something, it helps to know the factors you're optimizing for...What you need to understand is that there are actually two types of SEO - on-page SEO and off-page SEO. [...]

I've become known as the "anti SEO" art marketing guy. That's because I've been quite public in my opinion that, for the most part, SEO is not a great use of an artist's marketing time...but...in the interest of "giving the people what they want", I'm starting a series called "SEO for Artist Websites" that will be a regular feature in FineArtViews from this point forward.....or at least until I run out of things to say. [...]

If you've sent me a Facebook invitation, I apologize. I'm sure I haven't yet responded. Why not? Because, I've decided not to use FaceBook. For that matter, I'm not using Myspace, LinkedIn, Ning or any of the other countless social networks out there. Why not? Mainly because I see absolutely no compelling reason to use FaceBook. The Internet itself is a social network, using something like FaceBook seems artificial and unnecessary. Perhaps it made sense when it was a hang-out just for college kids but it's a tool that [...]