I'm sure most of us complete a piece of artwork, make sure we have natural light and take digital photos, then load them to a computer, do some kind of cropping for clean edges, save the photo, go to FASO, to our Facebook fan page, our Facebook wall and upload the photos, write all the descriptions and move along to the next piece of artwork. For me, this process could take more than hour especially if the digital camera and I were not getting along and if the photos were blurred, I'd have to repeat part of this process at least once. The app ended a lot of this work. [...]

So here's something that surprises me: I see some other artist website services recommending you use their software for your blogging solution, but, for their own company blogs, they use Wordpress or Blogger. That should tell you something. How do they find the pain points? How do they know what to fix? [1] Why don't they think their own software is good enough for their own use? [2] [...]

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." [...]

I asked him who it was that recommended me. He explained that it wasn't someone I knew, but it was people in the art committee down at Metro. They had seen my website (YAY, FASO!!) and evaluated the work in my portfolios to make the decision. [...]

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

Old information is worthless information. And even worse, you just might alarm your fans into thinking you've checked out. Let'em know you're still working this gig. [...]

What has happened is a learning curve on my part, because the more I have listened, the more I have learned from people who articulate themselves well, generously share their knowledge at the level I can grasp it, and genuinely want to see my project succeed. Each change I make adds knowledge to what I picked up from the project before, as well as customizes our website to meet our marketing, client, business, and personal needs. [...]

I like that, because of the combination of my fumbling experimentation with the guiding expertise of technical support, I am less intimidated by (some of) the inner workings of my website. By experimenting with customization options, we created something that is uniquely ours, showcasing the specific products and services we offer, and enabling us to better market them. [...]

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. [...]

Things to look for: (1) A sense of urgency (2) Poor grammatical use in the email (3) Wanting to pay by Cashiers check (sometimes a greater amount than you are asking) (4) They want to use their own shipping agent. [...]

An online empire can vanish over night -- the social art site you know and love today may not be here tomorrow. [...]

I have to agree that SOPA is dangerous based on what I've read so far. If passed it would 'kill' online art communities and art blogs -- the conversation about art that we love today would be gone... along with the wider conversation in general. [...]

But the options are out there, just waiting to be part of our marketing plan, if only we can figure out a way to learn how to use them because it can’t be that difficult, can it, when other people, who are about of our level of intelligence, are using this stuff, and using it well? [...]

Praise from a FASO client. She explains how she uses our stats to do something you can't do with Google Analytics... [...]

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. [...]

This series of using news values to punch up your artist statement has come to an end. So what have we learned along the way? [...]

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. [...]

You've worked hard to be the visual equivalent of a world class musician - don't try to show your work in the subway station. The right people are waiting for you at the right time, in the right places, make sure you meet them there. [...]

How does FASO decide what markets to enter, what products to build, or what features to pursue? We ask ourselves: does it help people share art? Does it help enrich lives? Does it have the potential to take a powerful, emotion-inducing artwork and connect it with the right person? [...]

I don’t mean to sound like a laundry detergent commercial, but if you have a website through FASO (Fine Art Studio Online) and you haven’t discovered technical support, then you don’t know what you’re missing. [...]

I recently learned of an alleged 'massive copyright infringement' situation involving artwork 'ripped' from deviantART.com. The copyright infringement allegations involve a website called Art4Love -- which is owned by Art4Love , Inc., a New York, NY-based organization which apparently had a physical gallery space in NYC -- A4L Gallery -- and has been around since 2005. Art Consultant Chad Love-Lieberman, the companies founder, serves as the CEO. [...]

I am a blog reader, but, let's set this straight: I don't read just any old blog. And while a lot of the blogs I read hang out under the FASO FineArtViews Blogs - Insights Directly from our members! heading, by no means do I read all of them that reside there. "Why?" you ask. Because I am demanding. And because I can't afford to give away very much of my 24 hour day to the blog reading arena, so I focus on the good ones. But for those of you who want to up your readership, here's a list of my demands. [...]

Becoming organized is liberating and allows you to focus on the given task at hand rather than being distracted by other tasks. During your art creating time, you can focus all your energy on creating. During your business time, you can focus on bookkeeping, marketing, organization, emails, cataloging, etc. The two sides of your business will not collide for attention as often [...]

As an art addict I will agree that viewing art in person can't be substituted -- but that does not stop me from discovering art and artists online every morning as I have my second or third round of coffee. [...]

There is no easy way. The trick to being successful now is the same as it has been over the centuries: Work hard, make great art, and promote it ruthlessly. Waiting for success to find you is not a viable business option. [...]

Kathy Bloomgarden, Ruder Finn co-CEO has stated, "The mobile phone is becoming the most powerful online device, and the faster businesses can adapt their services to harness consumer mobile intent, the more rapidly they can capitalize on understanding their customers to drive growth." In that sense one could suggest that artists need to provide their customers-- art buyers-- with a mobile-friendly art website in order to tap into that aspect of selling art online. Thus, I have to commend Clint Watson for understanding that his customers-- artists-- need to be able to harness mobile technology. FASO allows that. [...]

Having and maintaining a personal artist website is important regardless of the state of the economy. Influential voices in the US art community ranging from Edward Winkleman to Mat Gleason have all noted the importance of why an artist should have a personal website. However, as I hope I've made clear-- having an artist website during times of economic struggle can provide an artist with unique opportunities for gaining exposure and promoting artwork. The tactful artist can take advantage of any recession-- and come out ahead. [...]

This practice of hyping raw data from media measurement websites is a form of exploitation. It is exploitation when you consider that the art website companies utilizing this tactic are striving to dupe unsuspecting artists into thinking their services are the best choice when in reality they may not be. Again, this depends on the context of how the information is used by the artist website service. Some make it very clear that the data is not exactly solid information. Unfortunately, the majority I've seen over the years convey the information as if it is factually based on the entirety of Internet users. [...]

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. [...]