Succeed online

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It's about time I got back to some of my more serious articles, so I'm starting a new series about how the internet is changing the economic aspects of the arts.

THE NEW CREATIVE ECONOMY: PART 1
Don't Sue Your Customers!

The internet has undoubtedly changed how we engage with the arts, particularly in relation to music but also in other forms of creative expression. There's no question that many sectors of the arts need a new funding model - but suing your customers isn't it!

Ongoing battles between the entertainment industry and illegal downloaders are contributing to a damaging fall in consumer trust, according to new research from the PR agency Edelman. The number of UK consumers who said they trusted the industry fell from 47% in 2007 to 31% this year, with confidence disturbed by moves by the music industry to track down and punish illegal music copying, and high-profile scandals in broadcasting.
All quotes are from this article in The Guardian by Jemima Kiss.

Ah, the sweet sound of chickens coming home to roost!

The internet can be a disaster or a boon to the arts, it depends on how willing you are to embrace change. If you can see the potential and are willing to engage with your audience online, you can do well. If you resist the online changes and particularly if you treat your customers badly - as the mainstream music companies have been doing for several years now - your customers will return the favour.

Surveying younger consumers aged 18-34, Edelman found that 55% would take "direct action" against a company if they objected to its practices, 53% would share negative opinions with friends and 46% would ignore a firm's marketing and advertising. Even more damning, a further 39% said they would not invest in those companies.

I've been predicting this for years - anyone with half a brain can see what's happening, except the entrenched and outdated big music companies apparently. If they don't change, they will die. The only reason they've survived as long as they have is that musicians and music consumers didn't have a choice before but conditions have changed. Musicians are no longer so reliant on record companies to fund, distribute and promote their music; computers and the internet make it cheap and easy to produce and then promote your own music online. In addition, there are now there are new online music companies who use different financial models and who treat both customers and musicians much better:

Magnatune is an ethical record label based on downloading MP3's. You choose the amount you want to pay and the artists get 50% of the price. You can then legally share your download with three of your friends. This article by John Buckman about why he started Magnatune is well worth reading because it exposes the problems with the traditional record companies.

The Podsafe Music Network is a promotion network that allows podcasters to download music that they can play on their shows for free without restrictive licensing agreements. Links back to the musicians from the podcasts allow listeners to buy music that they hear on podcasts; I've done this several times when I've heard something that I love.

Independent online record store, CD Baby only sell CD's that come directly from the artists, who receive a large percentage of the cover price. I recently bought two Amy Steinberg CD's from them after hearing one of her tracks on a podcast. My CD's cost about £7, allowing me to return to joy of buying albums on spec, something I used to do a lot as a teenager when music was a more reasonable price than it was in the 90's. In addition, the emails I got from the company were charming and funny and the CD's arrived quickly from the States. I'm hugely resistant to buying music from the mainstream record companies because of the way they behave but I'd definitely buy from CD Baby again because they're cute, well organised and they treat musicians well.

Although prices of CD's have dropped recently for several reasons, musicians signed to major labels still only get a tiny fraction of the profits and may even lose money on record deals. The mainstream record companies still rip off both customers and musicians and then have the nerve to constantly bitch in the media and sue people. As is now becoming ever more apparent, this is a bad long term strategy.

The question I've been asking myself lately is "if I'm willing to buy Fairtrade to ensure producers in the third world are treated fairly, why am I supporting unethical music companies who mistreat musicians by underpaying them and trapping them into restrictive contracts where they often lose the rights to their own music?"

My solution has been to boycott the major record labels whenever possible and buy the music they produce secondhand but this means that the musicians don't get anything at all, which I'm not happy about. There has to be a better way and hopefully some of these new online music businesses will provide a way forward where everyone is treated fairly, especially the people who make the music in the first place.

Let's end on a positive note:

...the survey showed 56% of young UK consumers would rather buy legal content, if it was at a reduced price, than download illegally. That compared well with the 27% who refused to pay for content, and the 17% who said they might pay, but could continue to download illegal content as well. Much piracy, this would suggest, is fed by the lack of a legal online alternative.

If the mainstream music companies start treating their artists fairly, stop suing schoolkids, adapt to the changing conditions of their industry and do a lot of grovelling, then they may have a chance to survive. If they don't, they're history...

Maybe you're asking yourself what this has to do with the visual arts, but as my dad says, "everyone's useful, if nothing else they can always serve as a bad example!"

Get more help
If you'd like more information about building your online presence, check out the free resources section.

I am also available for online consulting if you need one-on-one help.


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Sheree Rensel commented on this post:

I totally agree with comments presented. I too realize that blogging is very beneficial for aspects related to motivation and building an audience. However, I want to know how blogging has helped your INCOME. How has blogging increased your sales or increased the money you get to support your art?
That is the topic for which I am REALLY interested.

Sheree Rensel - Blue
Sheree Rensel: Blue

Ah Sheree, the answer to that would be 'not at all' since I'm not currently set up to make money off my art. I am slowly coming to terms with the idea that maybe I should try to make some money from my work but it's something that I'm still internally struggling with. For a long time I believed that my work was completely unsaleable because of the fragile and often temporary nature of the things that I made. That's no longer as true as it once was but I'm still trying to reprogramme my brain on this issue. I plan to write more about the issue of money and artists in the future.

That's a long-winded way of saying that I'm probably not the best person to answer your question!

Fortunately, Katherine from Making A Mark left a long and detailed comment, some of which addressed this issue. I'm reprinting the relevant bits here:

Kirsty - I absolutely agree a blog should be for yourself. I personally am less on reading 'commercial' blogs where people are blogging for a business which is not their own or because they think it's 'what you have to do' to sell art. These blogs often seem to run out of steam after a bit.

Blogs which just present work for sale (as one e-bay) are fine by me - but IMO they work so much better with a few details about why the artist chose to paint the picture...

...Re. last comment, here's my observation. The people who appear to sell consistently using their blogs as part of their marketing are those who do good quality work. (By which I mean good quality work will find a buyer if you market effectively). What a blog maybe does for them is speed up the process of increasing awareness - and then once you've attracted people who like watching what you produce then you have a ready market of people who are more likely to buy.

I would agree with this, personally I prefer blogs where the artist is not solely focused on selling, although I have no objections to being gently reminded that they've updated their Etsy shop or that a particular piece is available in a commercial gallery. In fact, I definitely think that artists should do that, where applicable.

However, the artists who seem to have the most success online usually seem to take the long view. For example, Camilla Engman is an artist who's had a lot of success online and she seems to have built up her sales in a gentle and organic way. She cultivates an audience for her work by having relationships with the readers of her chatty and informal blog and maintaining an active Flickr presence including starting a new group called Organised Collection recently. And of course, she makes excellent and consistent work that she offers at a range of prices from affordable calendars and prints to the more expensive original paintings.

Camilla Engman - Collection 2
Camilla Engman: Collection 2

Engman is a lovely example of how to operate as an artist in the offline world too. We had a show of her work at the Here Gallery and she included a couple of packs of her little prints as a thank-you gift for those of us who'd helped with the show. She's the only artist I can recall who did something like this and it was certainly appreciated by those of us who unpacked and hung her show, since we were all volunteers and none of us were getting paid. Getting curators and gallery people on your side never hurts!

Get more help
If you'd like more information about building your online presence, check out the free resources section.

I am also available for online consulting if you need one-on-one help.


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I promised a round-up of the comments that other artists have left about their experiences with blogging and here it is, although much later than I'd planned...

Usiku from Writer's Whirlpool writes:

Blogging has allowed me to reach and meet people that possess a range and depth of human experience, yet it reminds me there is a sameness to us all.

What a lovely sentiment, Usiku. One of the things I love most about blogging is the way it can encourage people reach out and help each other - I've seen everything from people offering words of sympathy to people giving real life support such as organising online baby showers, paying medical bills for ill bloggers, supporting families through bereavement or other difficult times, raising funds for charities or coming together to sponsor art projects.

I get so fed up of all the negative portrayals of the internet because it just doesn't reflect my online experience. Blogging is frequently portrayed as a selfish and egotistical thing to do but I've often seen it used as a powerful and meaningful way to connect with other people.

Michelle from Pencil Portraits brings up a point I hadn't considered:

Another benefit to blogging (for me anyway) is that when I am focussed on updating my blog regularly I am more productive in my art, because I can't wait to post it. But I have noticed a definite correlation in lower productivity when I get slack about updating my blog, so even though it takes a bit of time to post, it is definitely worth it for so many reasons.

I love the idea of using a blog as a way of giving yourself motivation - great idea, Michelle!

Mark from Graf Nature Photography: Notes From The Woods writes:

I use my own blog for connecting with viewers of my own work, as well as exploration of my own feelings and analysis of why I do what I do. Turns out, a lot of readers often wonder the same about their own work. Sometimes it helps just to write things down to work out what you are thinking.

Oh, I couldn't agree more, Mark. I've always used writing, and indeed, making my art, as a way to work out what I'm really thinking and feeling. I've always written about my work a lot so writing on a blog wasn't that big a step for me. I think that so many artists work in isolation and having that link with viewers and other artists can be so helpful - just to get an extra set of eyes on the work, if nothing else. One of the reasons I like exhibiting is because of the dialogue and additional perspective that you can get on the work - I guess you can think of blogging as an informal sort of exhibiting process.

That leads us neatly onto Katherine from Making A Mark, who makes a similar point:

1) Blogging can also be thought of as the virtual equivalent of the 'private view'. Thinking of it like that helps people to pitch their remarks - one to one, helpful, informative - but also professional.

2) I like supporting galleries, exhibitions and other artists on my blog - and they come back and tell me they've sold work as a result. More co-operative support for one another would give a nice artistic twist to "the wisdom of crowds"

3) It should never be under-estimated how much slog blogging can feel like at the beginning - but it is habit-forming and it does get easier the more you do it and the more frequently you post. The growth in visitors is also exponential - my second tranche of 50,000 visitors arrived a lot more quickly than the first 50,000!

Woah Katherine - 50,000 visitors! I can't even imagine that yet but maybe I'll get there one day. I do agree that blogging is habit-forming although I think a lot of bloggers get dispirited at the initial 'writing in a vacuum' feeling. I think you've got to be writing for yourself as well as an audience - if you're getting some personal reward that isn't dependant on other people reading or commenting then it's a lot easier to continue. In that respect it's a lot like making art.

Tina from The Cycling Artist blog brings up the importance of regular blogging:

I've been blogging a while but only recently made a pact with myself to do it *every day*. Strangely enough it gets easier. I used to wonder what to blog about, what was interesting enough to write and direct my fans, collectors and other artists too that wasn't just a rambling self-journal. I didn't want it to be for artists only, so had to find a happy balance. Sometimes I get on a bit of a soapbox but hopefully not too often. :)

It's about 20 minutes each day typing up, copying into two blogs (I duplicate my tina-m.blogspot.com blog over to my MySpace account too). It's a nice start to the day actually. And I've just recently found out about RSS feeds and used feedburner.com to set them up - in case any other artists are as mystified about it as I was!

Tina, I'm interested in the fact that you duplicate your blog over at MySpace - do you find using MySpace works in terms of visitor numbers? I've been wondering about setting up an 'outpost' over in MySpace but I don't want to commit to something that's going to take lots of time.

Get more help
If you'd like more information about building your online presence, check out the free resources section.

I am also available for online consulting if you need one-on-one help.


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Erin from the Sculptress blog asked:

Would you clarify something for me? How do I know for sure I am hosting an image, do you mean save the image as a file on my computer and then repost it from the computer file?

Good question, Erin - it was something that confused me a bit at first and my web designer had to walk me through it several times until I got it.

...do you mean save the image as a file on my computer and then repost it from the computer file?

Yes, that's exactly what you do, Erin - from the way you've phrased the question it sounds like you may know how to do that already but I'll run through the exact steps just in case other people are a bit unsure about it.

What I do is this:
1) Find an image I'd like to use
2) Drag and drop the image to my desktop
I do this by left-clicking on the image, holding down the mouse button and dragging the image until it's off the browser and onto my desktop. You can also do it by hitting the right mouse button and clicking on 'copy image' but I think dragging and dropping is quicker. Make sure that you're dragging a reasonably sized image and not a thumbnail.

The image file is now on my computer. If it's too large and I need to make it smaller I can edit the size in Photoshop but I usually don't need to do this.

Next I need to get it onto my web server:

In WordPress there's an upload section just beneath the text box where you write posts. Hit the 'browse' button, locate the image on your desktop and click on it to select it, write the artist's name and the title of the work where it says 'title' (this is optional but I always do it), then hit upload. After a few moments a thumbnail of the image will appear in the 'Browse All' page - the file is now loaded onto your server. You can put the image in a post by selecting 'show fullsize', followed by 'link to file' and then hitting 'send to editor'. You'll see that a bunch of html appears in your post, this is the image file, it'll become an image when you publish the post.

If you're using Blogger you do the following: Go into dashboard and select new post. Now hit the little image button on your blogger toolbar - this is the 6th button along or the second from last. This will bring up an image page. You'll see that it says 'add an image from your computer' on the left, hit the browse button next to it and select the image from your desktop by clicking on it. Now choose the size and layout you want and then hit the 'upload image' button at the bottom of the page. Your image or the image html should now appear in your blogger editing software. This article from Blogger give more details on uploading images, including where the images are stored and how you can check how much room you've got.

The only thing left to do is to add the artists name and the title of the work - oh, and write the rest of the post, of course!

Get more help
If you'd like more information about building your online presence, check out the free resources section.

I am also available for online consulting if you need one-on-one help.


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OK, so you've got your blog started - you've set the table and put the kettle on and now you just need some visitors. So how do you go about enticing people to your site?

Obviously you need to have great content but even if you've got the best blog in the world, people won't know you're there if you're doing the online equivalent of hiding in the kitchen at parties! You're going to have to get out there and meet some people. Here's a few ways to do that...

Link, link, link

The first thing that any article on this subject will tell you is 'link'. There's a very simple reason for this - it works. At least a third of my visitors to both this site and The Diary Project arrive here via other bloggers who've linked to me in their posts or on their sidebars.

Linking is, quite simply, the foundation stone of the blogging world. Sure, you can blog successfully without ever linking to anyone else but you'd better have another promotional strategy worked out. I don't use links much over at The Diary Project because of the type of blog it is, consequently I have to work a lot harder at promoting it. This site, where I link to a lot of other artists, has snowballed for me in a way that the Diary Project just hasn't yet (although I keep hoping it will).

Linking just works. And it's easy: find someone whose work you like, nab one of their images *unless they prohibit that*, host the image on your site so you're not stealing bandwidth, write a little bit about their work and what you like about it and voilà, almost instant blog content with the added advantage that you might have drawn the artist or blogger in question back to your site.

Be generous with your linking, link to people you like or who've done or said something that interests you. It's OK to link to people that you'd like to be noticed by but don't make those the only people you link to. Be genuine and think about linking in terms of good karma, not in terms of what it might bring you. And don't expect to be linked back - you might be, but it's not automatic and it doesn't mean anything if you're not, so don't get huffy about it.

Tell People You Know

You've already got a ready made audience in your existing friends and family - send them all an email to let them know you've got a new blog. You should also change your email signature so that you're automatically letting people know about your blog every time you send an email. If you've got a mailing list, let them know too. Do you have profiles on other sites, especially networking ones? Go round and update them to include your new blog address.

Watch Your Numbers

Get Google Analytics or a similar programme installed on your blog and keep an eye on your numbers. It's helpful to know your baseline and encouraging to see the numbers gradually rise. Plus you can usually spot when you've been linked somewhere. If you are linked, nip over to the person's site, check it out and leave a comment or email to say thanks. Obviously, if you get really huge, it might not be possible to say thanks to absolutely everyone (you've got to leave some time for the studio!) but give it your best shot, especially in the beginning.

NB: If you have already linked to me and I haven't thanked you either by email or in your blog comments, then it almost certainly means that Technorati has missed the link so I don't know about it.

Make Some Cards

A couple of months ago I bought a box of 100 Moo cards to advertise the Diary Project and I've gone through two thirds of the box already. I carry them in my handbag and give them out to people who seem like they might be interested - you know, bus drivers, random people on the street, small children in pushchairs! OK, I'm kidding, I only give them to people I'm already talking to but I do know that people often do visit the project after taking a card because they often email me to tell me they have.

You don't have to get Moo cards made (although they are fab) but you should already be carrying some sort of visual card to hand out to people you meet, so you might as well have your blog address on it too.

Leave Comments

Leaving comments on other people's blogs is a good way to meet people, make connections and get readers back to your own site. If you leave a comment on here, I'll invariably go and check your site out because hey, I'm nosy! I'm not alone in this, it's common blogging behaviour. I don't end up regularly reading everyone's blog but I have discovered some great new sites this way.

Most blogs have a fairly open comments policy and it's usually easy to leave comments, although some sites do moderate to avoid spam so your comment might not appear instantly.

Leave your name and URL so that people can find you. Oh, and definitely make sure that you get your own address right - I'd accidentally been leaving the slash off the end of this blog address in other people's comments for about a month before someone kindly pointed out that hey, they couldn't actually get to my site that way. Boy, did I feel stupid! I can't believe that I could make such an elementary mistake despite being on the net for about 12 years, but I did...

Link To Yourself

If you have more than one site, make sure you link to your other sites in your sidebar or profile. All your sites should link up to each other - it sounds obvious but it's a step that many of us forget about. Looking at my numbers, I can see that both this site and The Diary Project get about 15% of their visitors from my other sites.

Remember my mantra of Make It Easy For People, well it applies here too. If you've got a cool project on the go, a nice little blog or a great new site, don't make people go hunting for them: the information should be right there, out in the open and very easy to spot. When I added a 'My Other Sites' section to the sidebar of The Diary Project, my visitors to this site from over there absolutely rocketed. This site was already mentioned and linked to in the profile, which was right at the top of the sidebar but for some reason having that extra 'My Other Sites' section made a huge difference. Sometimes you've just got to make things really obvious.

You should use this approach in your blog writing too - link to your sites or projects when you mention them in posts. It's not shameless self promotion, it's making it easy for people to investigate this neat thing you're talking about. Treat yourself with the same consideration that you would give to other artists or sites that you were talking about. If you find it uncomfortable to link to your own stuff, then ask yourself, "if this was someone else, would I put a link here?" - you'll probably find that nine times out of ten, the answer is yes.

The excellent Empty Easel has this to say about general linking and this to say about internal linking.

Submit Your Site

This is something to do with the bigger sites rather than individual blogs. Most of the big hubs on the web have a submissions page where you can enter your details. Work out where your work fits and then submit to those sites. This is something I do regularly with The Diary Project - since I don't use links much in the project blog, I have to raise interest in other ways.

A couple of weeks ago I submitted the Diary Project to Craftzine and when they blogged it (thanks Craftzine!), I got a big increase in numbers and visits from that site have continued to steadily climb.

You can also submit your stuff to individual blogs but that's a technique you should use only sparingly because it can be a bit spammy. I know many of you discovered this blog through Alyson Stanfield who kindly blogged about my Why Artists Should Be Online article. I had emailed Alyson directly to tell her about the article because I thought she'd be interested and fortunately she was. However, I already knew her slightly through commenting on her blog and because she'd linked to a previous article of mine, so it wasn't a complete 'cold call'. This is yet another good reason to build up your blogging relationships through commenting - it makes approaching possible allies a lot less daunting.

......

I should also point out that there's absolutely no obligation to try to improve your visitor numbers - if you're happy with a very personal blog that has a small intimate readership (or even none at all!), that's completely fine. It's a valid way to blog and one that I've used for many years over at Livejournal. Just don't expect it to be a particularly effective way to promote your art career.

Get more help
If you'd like more information about building your online presence, check out the free resources section.

I am also available for online consulting if you need one-on-one help.


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OK, if you're not already blogging then hopefully I've convinced you with the previous article in the Artists Online Series that it's something you can do. In the next couple of days, I'm also going to be doing a round-up of some of the comments about blogging that other artists have left me. If you're an existing blogger who'd like to be included in that, then leave a comment telling me what you get out of blogging or how it's helped your career.

If you're new to the idea of blogging but roaring to get going already, then you might be wondering where to start. Well, basically you've got two main options - a blog that's part of your website or a stand-alone blog.

Website Blogs

A dedicated blog with an attached website, ideally hosted at a snappy domain name (i.e your name.com or some variation on that theme) is a great option and obviously, the one I'm currently using.

The advantages are that your portfolio, CV and statement are all right there for people to see. Plus you've hopefully got that snappy, easily remembered site name. This can be quite an important issue - after less than three months, I can always remember the name of this site but not the Diary Project blog address, even though the later has been up since the start of the year. I can never remember the full address of my Livejournal blog either and I've had that for nearly four years! Admittedly I have a stinkingly bad memory but it's certainly easier and quicker to say or write yourname.com than yourname.blogspot.com or yourname.wordpress.com.

Being on your own domain also means that you have ultimate control over your content - this may be a big issue if your art is controversial since the free blogging services tend to put limits on what you can publish on them, especially if there's adult content.

The disadvantage is it's not very instant. Unless you already have a website you'll have to do a fair bit of work - even if you pay someone else to design the site you'll still have to sort out all your photos, update your CV and your statement. If you go with designing it yourself you'll have to do all that and the design and coding. Even with the best will in the world, in my experience, it takes months. Even if you do already have a website, designing and inserting a blog into it might involve some reshuffling.

It's not free either, at the very least you'll have to pay for a domain name and hosting and if you're design-impaired like me, you'll need to pay a designer too.

I do think a dedicated website with an inclusive blog is well worth doing. However, if it's going to take you a little while then you might be better to start a free blog now rather than waiting for all your ducks to be in a row (because we all know how that duck thing goes!) Remember, you can always move your blog over to your dedicated website once you've finally got it up and running - people do it all the time.

Stand-alone Blogs

To set up a stand-alone blog, you'll need to sign up with a blog hosting site. Some of these cost but these days there are lots of places where you can blog for free. I'd say the main ones are probably Blogger, WordPress and Livejournal and I have experience with all three of them.

The Diary Project is hosted over at Blogger and I don't have many complaints. It's pretty stable with only the occasional glitch - I know it had big problems with crashing in the past but I've not seen many in my 8 months over there. The software's not too bad, although I have had problems with certain parts like inserting code into the sidebar. The clickthrough rate from people finding me by hitting the 'next blog' button in Blogger also seems to be quite high - I get a surprising number of visitors to the Diary Project that way. If you go with Blogger, make sure you read this article about improving your visitor numbers.

WordPress can be used to run a dedicated domain, including a blog, or you can set up a free blog over on WordPress itself. This whole site is run on WordPress and while I'm not a software expert by any stretch of the imagination, I like their software a lot. It's free, open source, upgraded fairly often, mostly intuitive and easy to use and the help forums seem quite decent although I haven't needed to use them much. Personally I also prefer the WordPress interface to the Blogger one, it seems slicker and plugins definitely work better.

I've had a blog on Livejournal for nearly four years and I love it over there. That said, I wouldn't recommend Livejournal as a place to host your primary blog if your aim is to promote your art career. It's a very enclosed community so it can be hard to reach a wider audience from there, plus Livejournal is not taken seriously by the rest of the blogging community - something to do with 'drama' and 'weirdos' apparently! While I've loved being a member of Livejournal, I've definitely reached far more people here in three months than I did in three years on Livejournal (although to be fair, I wasn't really trying to get a big audience over on LJ). However, Livejournal and similar sites who use the Livejournal code, like InsaneJournal and GreatestJournal, can be fantastic for building communities and I'll be addressing this in later articles on social networking.

You could also check out Tumblr to make a tumblelog, which is a bit like blogging for people who're too lazy to blog! Tumblr describe them thus, "If blogs are journals, tumblelogs are scrapbooks." I've given it a short go and found it a bit like eating junk food - kind of addictive but ultimately unsatisfying. I don't like the aesthetics, which are deliberately basic - to the extent that posts blur into each other far too much for my taste. But that's just my personal opinion, tumblelogs do work for some people and it really depends on your style of blogging and what you're trying to get out of it.

Read the various FAQ over at the blogging sites, do some research and decide which place suits you best.

Decide On Your Focus

Next, take some time to decide why you want to blog and what you want to get out of it. There are lots of different kinds of blogs and reasons for blogging and you may well find it easier to find your writing voice if you're clear in your intent from the beginning. Read my article on the different forms of art blogging if you're still unsure what your approach should be. You can also just dive right in and at some point, you're going to have to do exactly that, but taking some time to set out some goals first can be helpful as long as it doesn't become an excuse not to start (watch out for those damn ducks again!)

Get Educated

OK, so you've chosen your platform and decided on your focus. What next? Well, you should probably read the Wikipedia article on blogs to get an idea of some of the background issues in blogging, particularly defamation and copyright issues. There's a ton of stuff that you can read on blogging - after nearly four years as a blogger, I'm still learning new stuff every day - but that's a good place to start if you're pretty new to the concept.

Choose a Blog Address

Now you need to chose a name and get your blog set up. I'd advise using your professional name in your blog address, where possible. If you've got a common name, someone else might already have nabbed it but it's a good idea to use it if you can, for the following reasons:

  • Even the most addled of us can usually remember and spell our own names, which is useful when you're telling people where you blog!
  • Blogging under your professional name will increase your Google ranking and make it easier for people to find you.

Choose a Blog Title

Now choose a snappy title for your blog. You might want something that relates to your art practice or, if you're like me, something that makes you laugh. Incidentally, my original title for this blog - "Look At Me, I'm Fabulous" - is still up for grabs, feel free to use it if you want!

Your blog name can include your own professional name but it doesn't need to unless your blog address doesn't. This site rates highly in Google searches for my name because although the blog is called Up All Night Again, the actual blog address contains my full professional name. However, over at The Diary Project, my name isn't in the blog address and I had to change the blog title to Kirsty Hall - The Diary Project because it wasn't registering well in Google. When I added my name to the title, the site's Google ranking improved drastically.

Mind you, this advice is only relevant if your blog is intended to be a professional one: if you're setting up a blog about your interest in clown porn, then you'll probably want to go for a completely anonymous title and blog address! Well, unless clown porn is a relevant part of your art practice, of course...

Setting Up Your Blog

If you're blogging from your own website you may want your blog design to match or echo the rest of your site design, although you can go for a different look if you want. if you're setting up a stand-alone blog, most blogging sites have a range of predesigned templates that you can use. In my experience, you can fiddle around happily for hours until you find one that you like and I'd advise you to do so. If you're a computer expert with good graphics skills, you can also design your own completely from scratch.

You should try to find a template that you like but which will be accessible to other readers i.e easy to read, especially for visitors who might have visual impairments. Don't go for anything too cluttered and if you're planning on posting regular photos of your own work or that of other artists, then I'd strongly advise against background wallpaper. Take a look at other blogs and see what elements you like or dislike in their designs and use that to inform your own choices. If in doubt, err on the side of minimalism and readability.

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Great, your blog should now be up and operational. Now you just need to close your eyes, take a deep breath and start posting... Good luck and remember to have fun with it.

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Well, it's time to get back to the Artists Online Series - today I'm going to be exploring the different types of art blogging.

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One of the golden rules of blogging is that 'content is king'. All the articles about improving your readership numbers will tell you to 'write great content' and 'post regularly'. But how do you do that? Where to start? It can all seem a little daunting at first.

Fortunately, there are lots of different techniques for art blogging and it's probable that you can find at least one that suits you. Here are a few different kinds to think about:

The Blog As Art Project

This form can be a great way to stand out from the crowd. My own Diary Project is an example of this but there are plenty of other artists using blogging to create art projects. Some notable examples are The Textile Files, PostSecret and Skull-A-Day.

I've noticed that art project blogs usually have a set of defined rules, however, this isn't set in stone and blogging is a form that lends itself to plenty of creative interpretation. Blogged art projects can be a one person affair or a collaborative or communal project. If you've got a great idea for an art project, why not take a moment to consider whether blogging could enhance it. Remember that blogging can often bring you a larger and more diverse audience than a gallery show.

The No-Writing Blog

This is an excellent way to blog if you're not confident with writing or don't have a lot of time to write in-depth stuff. Because art is a visual medium, you can put together a great blog simply by linking to other people's work. Do make sure that you have images of their work though, rather than just a text link - you'll have a far more interesting blog that way.

Maditi Links is a good example of this form, she doesn't write about the work at all, just posts an image and a link. Her blog is a feast for the eyes and I visit regularly for inspiration and to find interesting artists for my own blog.

If you want to use this technique, make sure you host images on your own site rather than stealing bandwidth and don't lift any images if the artist has stated that people shouldn't do so. If in doubt, simply ask the artist. Always give full credit to the artist and link back to their site. If you want to include a little bit of text, you can usually pick up a description from the artists' site (be clear that you're quoting them) or write a brief piece about why you like the work.

There are plenty of places to find artists to blog about - Flickr, other art blogs, other artists you already know, general search sites like StumbleUpon! or dedicated art sites like Saatchi Online or AXIS.

Linking to lots of other artists in this way will often improve your traffic since the artists in question usually come over to your blog to check you out. Don't be cynical though, only link to people whose work you genuinely like, rather than people you think might be useful to you.

The Process Blog

Blogging as a way of recording artistic process is a popular choice amongst artist bloggers. It can be helpful for artists because it creates a journal-type record of their practice but readers like it too because it gives them an insight into how an artist creates and the way a piece develops - warts and all! It's a way of unlocking the studio door and that's always appealed to people. If you can talk about your work until the cows come home (erhm, guilty as charged, officer!) and are comfortable showing unfinished work, then you'll probably feel quite at home with this technique.

I don't have any numbers to back this up but I suspect that this could also be a good way to drum up sales because allowing people to see the process might get them emotionally attached to a piece.

Blogging images of your own work also exposes more people to your work - I've found that a large proportion of people who read my blog don't visit my galleries. Posting images of my work on a fairly regular basis means that those people see at least some of my work. Blogging about your own work also allows you to go into greater depth about subject matter or technique than might be appropriate in the portfolio part of your site. If you're not comfortable showing unfinished work, then just show finished pieces and talk about them instead.

The Tutorial Blog

If you're a frustrated teacher then this could be the blogging technique for you!

A step-by-step guide to a technique, especially when accompanied by clear informative pictures, is a great way to draw people to your site. Plus, there are plenty of places where you can promote tutorials - sites like Whip Up and Craftster are always on the look-out for them and I'm sure there are plenty of other sites that would happily link to them. If you can't find an existing place to promote them, then why not set up your own Squidoo? Squidoo isn't something I've got into yet but I know a lot of people find it a useful concept: Katherine from Making A Mark uses it to provide a handy round up of art resources and a search for 'art' on Squidoo gives nearly a thousand results, so there are clearly plenty of people interested in art who are using it.

If you want to try this form, you'll need to have reasonable photography skills and be good at writing out projects or techniques in easy to understand steps.

The Article Based Blog

A similar approach to the tutorial blog but with more words and less pictures. Good if you're confident with writing and have plenty to say on a subject. This really works for visitor numbers - the articles I've written for my Artists Online Series have brought a large number of people to this site. Watch out though, this kind of writing is time-consuming and you may want to balance it out with some of the other forms, both for your own convenience and so your readers aren't drowning in words.

The Subject Blog

If you want a very defined blog, then blogging about a single subject can be the way to go. The Carrotbox is a blog about rings and nothing but rings. You might think it would get boring but it's actually a constant source of delight and a brilliantly condensed way to learn more about contemporary jewellery because there's lots of images and the work chosen is so diverse. The downside to this type of blog is that you may only attract the people who're already interested in your niche subject.

The News Blog

A round up of news stories in the art world is a fairly easy way to provide regular, topical content. You can provide stories without comment as The Arts Journal site does or add your own opinions, like The Arts News Blog does. If you're going to focus on this form you'll need to have the time to keep up with current art stories and you should also have a few research and journalistic skills.

The Opinion Blog

Aren't artists always a bit opinionated? The ones I know certainly are, myself included! If you're a critic at heart, love to analyse things and don't mind sticking your neck out, then you'll probably enjoy this form of blogging. Just remember that being overly critical might not win you too many friends and being overtly nasty can look very unprofessional.

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Of course, your blogging might cover many or all of these forms, there's no rule that says you can only do one and I use a combination on this blog. However, if you mostly blog in one way, why not try shaking things up a little by trying a different form? You might gain a new readership and surprise yourself by being good at something you didn't know you could do.

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Michelle wrote in the comments on the Alt Images post:

Very informative post, Kirsty. One question: is there a place to learn how to create alt tags? The article is clear about what they are, but not how to make them. For those of us who are coding-challenged (or coding-averse, more accurately!), this would be vitally valuable information! Thanks.

No problem, Michelle, I'll have a go at explaining it.

I'll use this image as an example:

Kirsty Hall - Photograph of Broken Cup Handle With Shadows
Kirsty Hall - art, photograph of Broken Cup Handle With Shadows

It's actually pretty simple and you don't need to be scared of it. OK, if you look at the code on your linked image, you'll see something like this:

initial code here="tt-flickr" href="big long string of code"> img class="tt-flickr" src="a different bit long string of code"
width="500" height="305" alt="Broken Handle 01" /> closing code here

Please note, I've replaced the actual code with the helpful words 'big long string of code' and 'initial code' and 'closing code', so that we can see the code instead of just getting the picture again (working out which bits to change took me quite a while, since I'm pretty code impaired myself!) The code may also be in a slightly different order depending on how you've linked the photo. However, the only bit you're interested in is the bit that says, alt="whatever" /> and that will always appear somewhere towards the end.

In this case it originally said alt="Broken Handle 01" />, which was just the title of the image in Flickr. Now Broken Handle 01 isn't very informative, it doesn't give you my name or much about the image, so I changed it to: alt="Kirsty Hall - Photograph of Broken Cup Handle With Shadows" />

Basically, whatever you put inside the two sets of quote marks between the = sign and the /> code will be what Google and the other search engines read as the alternative text for the photo.

If any of you are more technically minded than me and are smacking yourself on the forehead and yelling 'dammit, that's completely wrong', then please do get in touch and I'll change it but I'm 99% sure that this is right.

Making that text searchable and relevant is how your work winds up in Google Images so, you should be adding your name and keywords that are appropriate to that particular work, i.e. 'oil painting', 'landscape', 'sculpture made from pins', etc. Apparently using keywords in alt tags can boost your general Google results too, although I'm not too sure how (magic Google dust sprinkled by the Google fairies maybe?)

Don't restrict yourself to using alt text just as a promotional technique though. You should also make sure that your text is clear and descriptive to make your site or blog more accessible to disabled internet users. Text browsers can't detect images but can detect alt tags and will translate them into spoken text for visually impaired web users. People in countries with poor web access may also have their browsers set to text only and they'll see little written blocks of text instead of your images. Bear this in mind when you're writing your tags. This article has more details on the level of helpful descriptiveness you should be aiming at.

It's a shame that Flickr seems to turn the photo title into the alt text since I can't quite bring myself to label all my Flickr photos with my name (I think it would look way too pushy, weird and tacky). Manually changing the alt text when I post images over here seems to be the only solution right now but I will do a bit of research over on Flickr to see if there's some wonderful way to add hidden alt text to the images without putting it in the titles.

However, if you're uploading images directly into your WordPress site, rather than linking from Flickr, then you can set your alt text very easily. Simply go to the section where you upload images and type the description you want in the box that says 'Title'. I imagine that other blogging software probably has similar options but fortunately changing the code isn't too complicated - just make sure you don't accidentally erase those all important little quote marks.

I hope this makes things a little clearer, Michelle. Oh, and if it makes you feel any better about the subject, I've just this minute realised that I have 235 envelope images to change over at The Diary Project. Someone shoot me now!

EDIT: on the advice of Gyrus, I've changed the term 'alt tag' to 'alt text' as the later is apparently less confusing and more accurate.

Gyrus also points out the following:

Sometimes you might not get the alt text come up when you hover the mouse over an image (it doesn’t come up on Firefox, for instance). Properly, the alt attribute value is “alternative” text, i.e. to use if you can’t see the image (either it’s a text browser, images are turned off, or it’s a speech browser reading the text out). That little “tooltip” that pops up, if it’s there at all, is technically supposed to come from a “title” attribute on the img tag. The title is optional, though. Just thought I’d mention this in case anyone gets confused on Firefox with the alt text not popping up when you mouse over it.

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The next section of my Artists Online Series will look at blogging.

Blogging can be a very useful promotional tool for artists. It's not a substitute for having a good online portfolio or for doing lots of offline work on your career but it can be a useful addition. Not convinced? Here are my reasons:

Blogging Raises Your Google Profile

Since Google prefers fresh content, regular blogging tends to push your Google results higher. Other people linking to your blog posts also increases your Google profile. Make sure you're blogging under your professional name to get the full benefit of this.

It's not just Google that likes new information: people are also far more likely to come and visit your website if you've got constantly changing content. How often is someone likely to blog about your really cool art? Once or twice tops. However, if you're regularly writing good blog posts then you don't just get repeat visits, you may also get repeatedly linked, which means... yes, better Google results! Rinse and repeat...

Blogging Reminds People You Exist

Promotion isn't something that you do once and then it's done forever: it's more like exercising - you need to do it little and often!

Blogging helps with that; if people are constantly coming back to read your blog, then they're naturally more aware of you. You don't even need to constantly talk about your own art; just by visiting regularly they're getting a gentle little nudge that you and your work exist.

Blogging Improves Your Website Numbers

Being able to say to a gallery or a funding body, "well, last month I had X number of visitors to my website" puts you in a better negotiating position because it proves that your work is already popular.

Of course, online popularity won't substitute for offline experience like exhibitions, publications and residencies but it can add to it. Last year I was told by someone in the know that if you're filling out a funding form and it asks about prospective audience audience numbers, you should definitely include your web hits. This had never even occurred to me but apparently Arts Council England counts online viewers as bums on seats!

Blogging Connects You With People

This is one of the most important reasons to blog: I've met some completely amazing people through blogging and some of them have turned into offline friends.

Blogging can help you find a group of people who support your art. This can include other artists, gallery owners and curators but equally importantly it can include lots of non-artists who are willing to be advocates for your work.

Cultivating a group of people who like your work is vital for any artist. Supporters will turn up at your shows, cheer you on, blog about you, tell their friends and even sometimes buy your work. Supporters are great!

Of course, you should also be cultivating a group of supporters offline through using things like mailing lists, but finding sympathetic people who genuinely want you to succeed can often be easier online.

Blogging Gets You Out Of The Garret

Many artists work in isolation and blogging can help reduce that all pervading sense of invisibility. My own studio is in my home: this is definitely the best option for my art practice but it does mean that I don't always get as many opportunities to connect with other artists as I'd like. When I graduated, I did feel very isolated, lonely and out on a limb. I lessened that by starting a artists' group with my college friends but it was a lot of work - I was the chairperson, general organiser and one of the main curators for our group shows. Now I get that all important sense of connection through blogging and online social networking spaces with a lot less effort. For real world connections, I have the Spike Island Associates Programme, local private views and my part time jewellery course.

Even if you are in a studio, there aren't always as many opportunities to connect deeply with the other artists as you might expect - they're busy, you're busy and you might not have that much in common anyway. But online you're not limited to your geographical surroundings - with a little effort, you can find a peer group with whom you truly click on an artistic and intellectual level.

Blogging Breaks Down Barriers

Sure, there's a hierarchy in the blogging world but there's also a surprisingly level playing field. You can leave comments in the blogs of 'far more important' bloggers and they'll generally reply to you on an equal basis. I've spoken in blog comments to published authors and more established artists in a way that I would never have dared to do in other mediums. Blogging opens the channels of communication in a way that feels comfortable to me: I feel much more equal online, I'm less intimidated by what someone's done and just respond to what they write and how they come across. Blogging makes me braver and that has translated into my offline promotion efforts.

In the same way, blogging can make you seem more approachable and human to people who are interested in your art. Why not do the next generation of artists a big favour and help to break down the myth that artists are all crazy, ear chopping introverts or outrageously drunken drama queens! Of course, if you do happen have that kind of personality then you might as well play to the gallery because I've been told several times that collectors just love that sort of thing...

You Can Reach A Wider Audience

People who might not be comfortable visiting a gallery are often happy to look at your work online, especially if you initially engage them with a blog post that's relevant to them. Through blogging you can often reach people who wouldn't otherwise consider looking at your art and those people can sometimes end up being incredibly supportive.

Through blogging, you can also reach a global audience who might not otherwise be able to see your work. To date, The Diary Project has had visitors from 39 countries, including places like Guam, Brunei and Malaysia, while this site has had visits from 29 countries.

I'm not saying this to boast - just the opposite, in fact. My point is that I'm not important yet. I'm very much an emerging artist rather than a well-known one: I'm only five years out of college and although I've had a steady stream of group shows, I've only had one solo show. I'm certainly getting established, through lots of hard work both on and offline but I've not exhibited my work abroad yet and I'm probably still be a couple of years away from doing so. [Although, do feel free to offer me an international show - I'm totally OK with moving it up my agenda!]

So it's quite incredible that people from all over the world have already had the opportunity to see what I do. This would never have happened without the internet - it simply isn't possible from my current position in the offline art world.

Blogging Empowers you

By being active online you take a little bit of the power away from the artistic 'gatekeepers' and put it back in your own hands. You're not just sitting around twiddling your thumbs waiting to be discovered - you're out there building an audience and creating your own opportunities.

Of course, the gatekeepers aren't ever going to be redundant - artists still need gallery owners, exhibitions, audiences, collectors and funders in the offline world. I'm not trying to denigrate the artworld or its gatekeepers but particularly in the early days it can feel as though you're banging your head against a brick wall and getting nowhere. I'm not complaining about that either; there's absolutely no substitute for paying your dues and we all have to knuckle down and do it. However, a little bit of encouragement online can keep you going when it feels as though no one else knows you exist. You're still going to have to engage with the artworld offline but blogging can help to increase your confidence to deal with those interactions.

Blogging can also build confidence to take bigger and bolder steps online. I was blogging over on Livejournal for 3 1/2 years before I got my website up. Setting up a website felt huge and intimidating and quite beyond me at the time, whereas setting up a blog was quick and easy. Blogging was undoubtedly a helpful first step towards finally getting my website sorted.

Blogging Strengthens Your Voice

When you're blogging about your own work, you have to think about your work. You have to put into words what you're trying to do and that's damn good experience when you need to write artists' statements and press releases. A lot of artists hate writing about their own work and find it excruciating - blogging can help you get over that.

Blogging Can Generate New Opportunities

I know people who've been published or been offered exhibitions because of their blogging. It hasn't directly happened to me yet but I have approached people I know in the online world and scored opportunities that way.

Blogging Is Cheap

Blogging costs virtually nothing compared to other forms of promotion like postcards, poster and ads but it can be very effective. Writing a good blog post won't cost you anything except time, energy and a few pence for internet access and the electricity to run your computer but it can get distributed all around the world. Not only that but when people link to you, the information is usually replicated on their blogs plus they also usually link back to you. It's like you sent out a single postcard and someone photocopied it and gave it to all their friends. As we all know, word of mouth can be a powerful thing. Who knows how connected some of those people might be? Who knows how large the audience on their blog is?

Blogging is Fun!

OK, obviously I'm biased on this one but I think blogging is a blast. It's an effective promotional tool for me but it never feels like work because I enjoy it. Believe me, that's a world of difference to how I feel about writing press releases or designing posters!

A variety of views from other artists discussing whether blogging works:
The Painter's Keys

The Empty Easel

Art News Blog

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OK, so how do you improve your Google ranking?

The SiteWizard has an excellent article called How to Improve Your Search Engine Ranking on Google. It might be a bit technical for some artists (it certainly lost me in places!) but it'll give you a bit of background about how Google works. Searching for 'improving Google ranking' will give you lots of information along these lines but the SiteWizard article was one of the clearest I found.

My own tips are a lot less technical!

Use your name

You absolutely must link your professional name with your professional online identity. No one is going to be able to find you if you hide behind a pseudonym!

If you start a new blog, use your name in both the blog title and the username. Google seems to pay a lot more attention to the title and the username than it does to your profile, which is one reason why having your own dedicated domain name is such a good idea.

Even if you host your blog or domain on a free site, which tend to rank somewhat lower than dedicated domains, changing the title to include your name can make a big difference. I was mystified when I searched for myself by name last month and discovered that The Diary Project didn't appear on Google until about page 15. It was outranked by far less important sites, where I was mentioned only in passing, and far newer sites, like this one. I just couldn't understand it. Eventually I worked out that although I had my name in the profile, Google wasn't giving it much weighting. I changed the title of the blog from "The Diary Project" to "Kirsty Hall: The Diary Project" and the page ranking shot right up. It's now on the second page if I search just for my name and the first page if I search for my name + art.

Of course, you might not want to use your professional name in all your online interactions – you don’t necessarily want a curator or potential collector to find iffy drunken photos or blog posts where you're talking about your sex life! Remember that your reputation is all you have online and you need to protect it. Have a personal online identify by all means, but if you don't want it to intersect with your professional identity then make sure you avoid ever linking the two. Google is remarkably smart at joining dots. I linked to my Livejournal in a professional capacity twice and it now comes up in searches of me. This isn't disastrous since I don't write about anything incredibly revealing over there but now I always have to bear in mind that someone searching for me in a professional capacity could find and read that more personal blog. Since I don't want to strengthen that Google association, I deliberately don't link to my Livejournal from here (you're welcome to go and read it though).

Switch Things On

OK, this is an area where I'm not strong but you need to make sure that you've got the right things switched on in your blog or website. If you work with a web designer, make sure they've optimised your site for search engines through using keywords. Check your website or blog software documentation and make sure that you're being indexed by search engines. I used this article by Biz Stone to make sure that I had the right settings activated on The Diary Project, which is hosted by Blogger. Even if you're not on Blogger, it's worth a read because there are some good general blogging and promotion tips.

If you are on somewhere like Blogger, definitely make sure you've added your site to their own listings. It really is worth it: I get a steady stream of visitors to the Diary Project because it's in the Blogger listings. I got 55 visits from there in the last month: it's currently my fourth largest source of visitors to the Diary Project and provides more visitors to The Diary Project than this site does.

Use Your Natural Advantages

If you’re working with an unusual technique or imagery or have a less common name, then you’re always going to be easier to find on Google simply because there’s less competition.

Unfortunately if you’re called Joe Blow and you’re an oil painter, then you’re going to have to work a lot harder to stand out. So pick out the things that are unique in your work and use them in your profile and your keywords. To find those things, imagine you've only seen your own work once in a group exhibition. What would stand out? If you're not sure, ask a couple of friends what stands out for them.

Write a snappy profile

Mention the important things in your profile - your name, where you're from (in case someone is looking for artists just in your area), the materials you use, the imagery you use and any relevant keywords that describe your work. Keep it fairly concise, don't use too much art jargon and and try to employ the sort of terms that would be used by someone searching for work that's similar to yours.

Be In More Than One Place

As Andrea pointed out in comments.
"It’s easier to have a strong web presence of course if you’re something of an internet whore."

Why yes Andrea, yes it is!

One reason that I’m all over the front two pages of Google like a cheap rash, is that I’m in more than one place online. I've used my own name in at least five sites of my own, plus other people have written about me or linked to my sites.

Now, getting yourself in multiple places online is something that definitely takes time and effort and since it's complex, I’ll be discussing the most effective ways to do this in later posts. In the meantime, consider upgrading your profile on any sites you're already on if it's appropriate to do so (see earlier point about professionalism). You could also ask any galleries that show your work if they would link to your website. However, I have been told that some commercial galleries frown on artists being online, so you might want to test the waters fairly gently on that one.

Personally, I haven't always done this well, I used to be positively shy and retiring. For instance, I'd been curating for several years before I twigged that I ought to put my name on the posters of the shows! I genuinely felt that I was much less important than the artists and it was 'putting myself forward too much'. So at the moment, I have very little online documentation of the five years of curating that I did, although I'm planning to put together a curating page on this website in the near future. That said, at least one or two of the shows that I curated turn up in Google when you search for me.

Considering that I didn't get paid for any of the curating I've done, I should at least have been getting some major props for it! It's safe to say that I wasn't doing myself any favours when I was hiding behind that bushel and I regret it now. But at the time, I just wasn't emotionally ready to be more forward. Later in the series, I'll be talking about how to promote yourself when you'd much rather hide under the bed clothes - believe me, it's an area where I have plenty of personal experience!

Link to yourself

If you are in more than one place (see above) then make sure that you link back to yourself in your profiles. Don’t make visitors go searching for your blog, website or Flickr account but instead make it easy for them (there’s that mantra again!) by pointing them directly towards the places you'd like them to go.

Google also looks in the text of sites, so using your name, the name of an art project or your other sites in your own blog posts can also make you pop up on Google more often. You could try doing things like labelling your photographs when you blog them (something I've only just started doing). I don't know for sure that it helps but it certainly won't hurt. Plus it also makes it clear when an image is yours rather than another artist's - important on a blog like mine where I blog both kinds of images, sometimes in the same post.

Linking to yourself in this way also ups your Technorati numbers. Technorati works by giving you a popularity ranking; you start out low and the more sites that link to you, the higher your ranking rises. Now, obviously you shouldn’t try to artificially boost your Technorati rank by linking to yourself more often than is necessary. However, there’s nothing wrong with pointing people at your other sites if it's relevant to what you're talking about or when there's new content over there. It's not manipulative or 'too in your face' unless you're either sneaky or make a big song and dance about it: instead just think of it as being helpful, both for them and, admittedly, for you. Regular visitors will just ignore the hot link but new visitors won’t be left wondering 'hey, what's this other thing they're talking about?'

Start A Blog

If you don't already have one then start a blog.

Blogging improves your Google ranking in several ways.

Firstly, it means that your site has fresh content. Google and the other search engines prefer newly updated sites: a site that’s been updated recently will tend to place higher than a static site that hasn’t been touched in a couple of months or even years.

Secondly, if you’re blogging then you’re usually linking to other people and they’re hopefully linking back to you. I’ll cover this more in more depth in the articles on blogging but suffice it to say that links are very good. The Google spiders love links - it is called the web after all - so the more little threads you have going in and out of your site, the more visible you are to those spiders.

Be Patient

You won't appear in Google instantly so don't be disheartened if you don't see changes overnight. You can help yourself by doing the things I've mentioned but the web is a big place and those little spiders, although surprisingly fast, can sometimes take a bit of time to find you.

If you haven't seen any change in a couple of weeks then reconsider your options. Look at your Google Analytics and Technorati results again, see if you can spot where you're missing out. Keep testing, do more research, do more reading and try new things. Go back and search for yourself in Google again and note any changes. However, be aware that something like building up a blog takes time; you won't instantly get hundreds of visitors unless you're already famous - in which case, you should probably be writing this series instead of me!

Get more help
If you'd like more information about building your online presence, check out the free resources section.

I am also available for online consulting if you need one-on-one help.