This post is by guest author, Karen Cooper.  This article has been edited and published with the author's permission. You should submit an article and share your views as a guest author by clicking here. We've promoted this post to feature status because it provides great value to the FineArtViews community.  If you want your blog posts listed in the FineArtViews newsletter with the possibility of being republished to our 15,000+ subscribers, consider blogging with FASO Artist Websites.  This author's views are entirely her own and may not always reflect the views of BoldBrush, Inc.

Greetings,

Welcome to the Cooper studio, Jefferson, Iowa.

Did you read that title?  Then you already know what this article is all about.

I am a blog reader.  And it gets tougher.  I am demanding.  (Of course, I mean that in an ever so politically correct way.) 

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.  (And of course, I say that with a friendly smile on my face.)

1.  I want you to entertain me.

2.  I want you to make it easy.

3.  I want you to keep it clean and neat.

4.  Oh, and throw in some good information while you are at it.

Already I hear the blog writing experts gearing up their keyboards to comment on Demand #1.  "Any good art blog should be written for information, not entertainment", is surely what several people are getting ready to tell me.  "Grow up and get serious for once" is likely what someone else is thinking.  Now while I may be the slacker that fell asleep in art history class on more than one occasion (seriously, he had a very dry British accent that lulled everybody to sleep), here's the bottom line:  I am your blog reader.  Possibly I am out in left field all by myself with this entertainment demand, but I doubt it.  If you had two blog articles that dispensed the same information, one with a "dry British accent" and the other with an enjoyable lilt, honestly, which would you read?  My inner muse just warned me that ONE of you will insist on the dry British accent.  Ah, well.  You get my point.

Moving on.  Easy--I want it easy.  One click should do, right?  And you know that little icon on the menu bar that looks like a link of chain?  You should use it.  People that worry about sending their blog traffic to other people's articles with that little icon--no room for that kind of worry in this game.  Think of the benefits you can give your reader by showing them other's information on the same subject!  And we really don't need to be concerned about whether or not the reader will follow the link back to us--we have excellent blog articles, and of course they will return.

#3  Keep it clean and neat.  I always thought this was a no-brainer.  But I have a blog author on my no-click list because of rampant use of four letter words.  Wouldn't it be great if we only had a dry British accent versus the enjoyable lilt to discuss?  But sadly, no, we have seedy matters to talk about as well.  And while we're seedy, may I say "please don't insult me with your lazy omission of the use of the capital key"?  Didn't we all learn in first or second grade that the first word of every sentence is capitalized?  And then, are we all using "full screen mode for entry text"?  If yes, look at the menu bar, and count over to the 13th icon.  I like when people use that one too.

Finally we get to #4.  Undeniably, the most important part of any blog, is the information.  Whether it be about the painting you just finished, the award you've won, or an article on prejudice against conservative art--any of those are legitimate reasons for the existence of your blog.  Someone, somewhere, wants that information.  They want to know.

Try to picture that person that wants to know.    What if (ouch) they look like me?  My husband tells me I'm kind of unique, but really, I'm a fairly normal person.  What if the rest of your potential readers are just like me?  What if they are demanding?   Odds are good that they are, you know.  I am a blog reader, and I do have my list of demands...

Thanks for stopping by.  Have a lovely day.

Later, Cooper

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Editor's Note:  You can view Karen's original post here.