These are the notes for the lecture I’m giving today at SCAD in Atlanta. Thanks to Mike Lowery for inviting me to lecture and for designing such an awesome poster for the occasion.
Here also is a PDF Reference Sheet with all the websites I mentioned during the lecture.
Full time artists can’t afford not to have their own professionally looking website with their own domain name. An artist’s website can be a 24/7 art gallery open to a global audience of millions.
Using a free online gallery service or paying for a premium service is a good way to put your work online, but they lack the professional feel and uniqueness of having your own website. The free blogging software WordPress, provides a way for you to build an impressive portfolio and blog that is unique to your artistic style without having to understand the complex, technical details of website development.
Why use a blog instead of a static website?
Easier to keep content current
No need to know “code”
Dozens of free options for running your blog site
Easily tap into Social Networking with automation
Downsides of Free Blogging Services
Advertisements & other misc that distracts from your art
Sub-domains (you don’t get your own unique web address – you get something like “yourname.artblogs.com”)
Limitations on design & media
Restricted amount of content
Benefits of WordPress
Easy to setup, but limitless customization options
TONS of free themes & plugins
Large community of developers keep it up-to-date
FREE – no catches, no ads, can even be obfuscated
Many hosting services provide one-click WordPress installs
Import existing blogs to move content over
How to Setup a WordPress-driven Blog & Portfolio
- Register a domain name (aka buy one) $7-10/year
- Get hosting. $5-$15/month
- Install WordPress
- Pick your theme
- Pick your plugins
- Start posting
Generating Traffic
- Put your domain EVERYWHERE – business cards, email signatures, everywhere
Link, link, link to your site - Search engines are smart now and associate links from one site to another
- Comment on other popular (and similar) art blogs and always link back to yours
- Use Social Networking sites to bring in traffic
- Have a “Share This” button that lets users bookmark, publish, and email your web page
- Publish updates to Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace automatically
- Submit to sites like Digg.com & Del.icio.us
- Put images on Flickr and pull them over to your site
- Have a “Find Me On…” section with links
- Submit to major search engines & web directories
- Use Google’s webmaster tools & sitemaps
- Integrate a mailing list and publish important updates to them via email (don’t over do it!)
- Sign-up for several free online galleries and put a upload a few of your best pieces, then include verbiage pointing the user to your website
Monitoring the Traffic on Your Site
Google Analytics
Google Alerts
Feedburner
Common Blogging/Portfolio Dilemmas
Form vs. Function
Quantity vs. Quality
Personal vs. Professional
Art Blog/Portfolio No-Nos
- Music that automatically plays
- Splash page – First impressions! Give them a reason to stay on your site and don’t scare them away
- Confusing/vague navigation
- “Under Construction” messages
- Don’t have a blog if you aren’t keeping it up-to-date
- Ads or irrelevant junk in sidebars
- Giant banners – keep it under 200px high
- Bad spelling & grammar
- Display a stats counter
Tips for Making your Site Stand Out
Customize your theme to make it your own
Brand yourself & your site with a name or logo
Quality, Quality, Quality!
Keep your site current & interesting
[...] in May, I spoke to Mike Lowery’s illustration class at SCAD Atlanta about artists using blogging software to maintain an online presence. This week I went back to [...]