What is the Purpose of Your Blog?

Artwork by Sonja Caywood

Questions reguarding the purpose of your blog to consider before you start your blog.

1. Do you want your blog to be a part of your website?
2. Do you want your blog to replace your website
3. What are some keywords you would like to use in the text of your blog?
4. What bloging platform do you want to use? Blogger? Wordpress? or something else?
5. How often do you want to post?
6. Who is your target audience?

You do not need to have all of the answers fully worked out before you begin to blog. Just start thinking about these questions.

If you would like blog, social media or other marketing advice be sure to contact WOW via email, Facebook, or come on in.  We are located in the Laramie Plains Civic Center in Laramie, Wyoming. Suite 271.

The Morning After: Salon des Refuse

It is time for the 17th Annual Salon Des Refuse hosted by Student Art League. The Salon des Refuse will consist of fabulous artwork created by University of Wyoming art students. It will be located in the Works of Wyoming art gallery in the Laramie Plains Civic Center, Suite 271. The reception will take place the morning of Saturday, January 28 from 10am – noon.

“The Morning After” is the opening event and title for the Salon this year. The annual Salon de Refuse is an event started by the Student Art League and consists of artwork that was not selected for the Juried University of Wyoming Student Exhibition. The Salon de Refuse was one of the first alternative art exhibitions set up by famous artists such as Manet, Cezanne, and Picasso. These artists were not yet famous in the 1800s and their works were not allowed into the traditional galleries. We invite you to come look for your own Cezanne among this fabulous work.

The Salon will be open from January 28 – February 17. Student Art League will present a $100 cash award to one artist and Works of Wyoming has donated a membership for a second artist award.

Better Blogs

Blogs can serve a variety of purposes for artists and art businesses.  They can be used to lead people to a website, portfolio, gallery or ETSY shop. They can also replace a website or a photo gallery and of course blogs are excellent for networking.  There are more uses for a blog to the general business world.

Western Landscape Painting by Jill Hartley

Blog SEO
Blogs are great for being found on a search engine such as google. There are ways to increase the likely hood that your blog will be found. A major aspect of increasing traffic is referred to as Search Engine Optimization or SEO. Some simple SEO tips include post often, use text and specific words relevant to your work, and use images. Search engines like new content and posting often allows more opportunities for Google to find you.  Search engines see the text that you use. If you are a landscape artist in Wyoming you can use word such as western, landscape, paintings and Wyoming several times in a post. You do want to switch these words up from post to post. Using photos allows you to be found in image searches, but also encourages people to read your blog.

Link Link Link 
Placing links to your website and portfolio is wise. Links to Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and any other social media sites you have can also benefit your art business. This will show people that you want them to go to your  website, portfolio or ETSY shop.  If they like your blog, they may want to see more work.

Getting your Work Seen 
It is important to get traffic to your site or store and you should place calls to action along with links to any sites or images that you want people to find; however, if people do not visit your other pages (especially right away) it is not a huge problem. The ultimate goal of you blog should be exposure to your work. It is fine if people stay on your blog and read about your work rather than go to your other sites. Many businesses rely on people finding their websites, however, I would argue that the first step for an artist is getting people to see your work and a blog should do that. If people are interested they will view your other pages.

Patience
It is unlikely that you will have instant results. You will need to be patient. Post consistently and as often as possible. Short quality posts will pay off.

WOW is located in Suite 271 of the Laramie Plains Civic Center.  Visit us for more information about blogging.

As you may have noticed Social Media Marketing Tuesday/Thursday is coming to an end.  There will still be posts on this topic, but they will be spread out to meet the suggestions of our readers.  Thanks for your input!

Tweet 

Reasons to Start Blogging

Beadwork by Bethel's Beadwork

There are many reasons to start a blog.  I picked some of the best specific to artists.  Here are some more posts focusing on marketing your artwork through a blog.

1. Expose your work to the public
2. Practice Writing about your work
3. Share photos
4. Engage with artists and possibly clients
5. It can be a lot of fun

What are your reasons for starting a blog? What are some concerns you have?

If you would like more advice on blogging, social media or marketing your art in general, contact wow via email, Facebook or stop in.  We are located in Suite 271 of the Laramie Plains Civic Center in Laramie, Wyoming.

Best Social Media Sites for my Personal Blog/Website from 2011

Image from Felicia Follum's blog

Since I am an artist beginning my professional career, it is relevant to share what social media sites created the most traffic to my art blog and website as well as which sites created the most interest in my work.

Facebook definitely took to lead in social media that led to my artwork being brought up in real life conversations as well as people inquiring about purchasing work. I made a couple deals using Facebook in the past couple months.

Spike upon increase in Piterest
use.  There aresome other high
points as well but I can not
attribute them to anything specific.

Pinterest is another high scoring player in this game. This bookmarking site is fairly new but has proven to be an amazing resource leading people to my blog. It was the one of the top recruiters for the months of October, November and December (I didn’t even use it in October). This buzz was generated virally. Pinterest is a bit more difficult to track your work on, but it is great when you can. I have began investing more time in this site. Pinterst is also perfect for artists. I can talk more about why in another post.  With my increase of pinterest use on Jan 4 and 5 directed back to my website, you can see that the views have spiked as well.

Networking with other blogs has been a significant benefit as well. On the flip side I have learned a lot about how to do this properly. Again, this is probably best for another post.

Digg did well considering I have only been on the site twice in the past year.

Twitter is difficult to measure. I have read that it is difficult to track links from Twitter and they tend to be skewed. However, I am not too terribly concerned with this since I recently began investing more time in the site.

LinkedIn is the site that I use the most but also generated the fewest leads. LinkedIn is great for those of you who desire to pursue photography or graphic design jobs rather than exposing people to your artwork.

Google=154, Facebook=77, Pinterest=72, other blogs=69, Digg=13

In addition to these social media sites, people also found me through Google.com, and other blogs.

How did you find your favorite blog or artist website?  What is it?  What social networking sites have you embraced?

17th Annual Salon des Refuse

The 17^th annual Salon des Refuse will be hosted by the Student Art League of the University of Wyoming at the Works of Wyoming Art Gallery.  The opening and awards ceremony will take place on the morning of January 28, the Saturday after the 37^th annual Student Juried Show reception.

There will be cash awards for select artists as well as hot chocolate and pastries served from 10am-noon.  The Salon will be up from the 28th of January until February 17 (10am-6pm).  WOW is located in Suite 271 of the Laramie Plains Civic Center.

The second annual 2012 Railway Art Show and Sale is back!

The Railway Art Show and Sale is an art exhibition “designed to develop a collection of artwork that represents the history of railways and how they helped build our nation into the society it is today.” The jurors for the exhibition are Mike Pannell, Mike Beeman, and Gordon Horton.

Important Dates
March 12 – Last day digital images and entry form will be received in the Museum office.
Week of March 19 – Decisions will be mailed by Cheyenne Depot Museum.
April 13 – Lat day for delivery of accepted work. Deliver work to121 W. 15th Street #300, Cheyenne, WY 82001 between the hours of 9am – 4pm.
May 18 – Awards reception at 7 pm.
May 19 to July 29 – Exhibition at the Cheyenne Depot Museum.

Awards
1st place - $1,500
2nd place - $1,000
3rd place - $750

For more information and prospectus visit www.cheyennedepotmuseum.org.

Walking Between Different Worlds

Native artist Robert Martinez will be the featured artist at the Cavalryman Supper Club

Laramie, WY – “Having grown up on the Wind River Reservation as a part of many different cultures; Northern Arapaho, Chicano, and Anglo; their differences and similarities have shaped the ideas and the subject matter of my paintings”, says Wyoming artist Robert Martinez.

In the continuing tradition of highlighting a Wyoming artist each month, The Cavalryman Supper Club or as it’s also known The Cav at Fort Sanders, is combining the love of great food with great artwork.

Dianna Strannigan, Marketing Director of The Cav states that showing artwork in our venue definitely gives each artist an increase in public exposure. “When I first saw Roberts work, I fell in love with his
attention to detail and the vivid palette he uses. The perfect compliment to seeing artwork of this quality is to see it while sampling great food, Dianna Strannigan said.

Combining a blend of classical painting techniques and contemporary media, Martinez uses the airbrush to begin his work then moves to more traditional oil brush work. This creates a mixed media piece that combines the old and new in many ways on different levels. “Because of my past I’m continually walking in between worlds, using the new and old, being classical yet contemporary, blending one and then another” said Martinez.

There will be a reception for Robert Martinez at the Cavalryman Supper Club, 4425 South 3rd St.  Laramie, WY on Thursday, January 5, 2012 between 5 and 7 PM. A select compliment of wines will beoffered for sampling in addition to appetizers and exotic cheeses from around the world.

To make a supper reservation please call (307) 745-5551.

Help! Social Media Marketing

Big Face - Wheatpaste by Austen Williams a Wyoming artist

If developing a marketing strategy is on your New Years resolution list, and Social Media Marketing help is what you need, you have come to the right place...

Many people are unfamiliar with the current trends in social media and how social media can be used for marketing.  Social media is something that can be used very effectively for marketing, selling, and promoting your artwork.  There are certainly some tricks to use your time more efficiently as well as some detrimental mistakes that can be avoided while using social media to promote your business.

One of Works of Wyoming’s new services being offered is helping artists with their social media marketing.  These services can include but are not limited to help setting up Facebook, Squidoo pages, a basic website, YouTube, ETSY, Twitter, a blog and more.  These sites and several others have proven to be extremely viable options for artists wanting to make and sell their work.  They are also wonderful at getting your work into the community.  In addition we will be offering Search Engine Optimization (SEO) help for ETSY, Facebook and your blog or website.  If you have a specific interest please let us know and we will see what we can do.  If you are unsure, we can set up a campaign that fits your goals, available time and experience level.

We have discussed the creation of workshops, however, as a member you can currently take advantage of this service for free.  We can discuss your specific needs for your social media section of your marketing strategy.  Please let us know if you are interested in social media help.  If you would like to set up an appointment, please contact me (Felicia Follum) at WOW via Facebook.  See my personal Social Media Campaign here.

WOW's Contact Info


Be sure to follow our blog for weekly Social Media Marketing Tips and “like” our Facebook page for some Facebook marketing tips as well, sales and events in the gallery and gift shop, and other basic updates.

WOW blog

Facebook Business Page

You can reach WOW at 605.742.6574 or vial email.

My Social Media Portfolio

Facebook Artist Page

Art + Design Blog

Webly.com Website - I am using my current website like a Flavors.me website. 

In addition to Cargo Collective (my portfolio), Weebly, and Flavors.me, I am familiar with several more website editors (some specifically for artist) for a variety of price ranges and experience levels.  Feel free to set up an appointment for you social media marketing help today.

Visit Austen's blog to see more of his artwork.