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 18,000+ 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.

Folks, today I've got good news. And I've got bad news, and that's just the way it is. Let's get started. The good news is after a pile of messed up emails, I (er, my paintings) have been accepted to the Geneva Fine Arts Fair, Geneva, Illinois.

The bad news, brace yourself. I hopped over to this very website, to add it to that page labeled Schedule, and with horror washing over me, discovered that on this fine March 11th, 2012 THERE in big bold print was my (I am so embarrassed to say this) my 2011 schedule.

How do things like this HAPPEN? I, who have written articles about the risk-to-character of artists who let their personal web space run amuck. Fade from lack of attention. Fall behind the times? I have succumbed to the fault of not checking out my very own website.

Now in defense of artist-website-owners universal, I can say to you-our-fair-readers-of-the-front-side-of-this-webspace, normally all our viewing happens on the backside. We need to add a painting image so we go to the menu bar, click the button that says "your artwork portfolio" and do the work. Add the painting.

And when my favorite events started sending me happy letters (acceptance letters!) this spring, of course I wrote a blog post about that.

But I forgot all about the page on my website labeled "Schedule". That place I personally had set up so that my friends and patrons of the summer art fair world know where I, and my paintings will be. And I forgot about it because I had failed to follow my own good advice about reading the thing from the viewer's point of view!

There is a pathetic line that goes something like "Don't do as I do, do as I say". Yeah, that means revert to that article I wrote awhile back. The one that talks about how each artist should visit their website from the patron side on a regular basis.

As artists, we add things to our websites with a regular (hopefully) and timely routine. And when that happens from the backside of the control panel, we lose track of what's available to our viewers from the front side of that control bar. On days like this, that can become concerning. Dios mio.

But now, I've followed my own advice. I've read my website like a regular viewer, from the front side. All of those embarrassing OUTDATED entries have been corrected. You, my artist friend, should go do that to your website, too. 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. Keep that front page current.

Later, Cooper

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