by Rebecca Sciullo | Mar 27, 2020 | Artist Blogging 101, Learning
Artist Blogging 101: Outline Your Goals
Now that we’ve outlined the role that your blog plays in your marketing system, it’s time to get ready to build it.
Before you invest time in building a blog for your art business, you should take some time to consider what the purpose of your blog is? What goals do you want to accomplish for your business through blogging?
Your primary intent is likely to communicate with people interested in learning more about you and your work. However, If you have a vision for your art business (and you should!), then your blog’s primary purpose should be moving you closer to that vision.
If you’re not sure what the primary purpose of your blog should be, ask yourself these questions.
What made you want to create an artist blog in the first place? What was your first thought as to why it could benefit your business?
How do you want your blog to impact you as an artist?
How do you think a blog could improve your art business? What are you hoping it does for you?
What does your art business look like five years from now? What success would you have with your business between now and then?
How do you want your blog to affect your followers?
How do you want your income to change because of your blog?
Is there a specific project that you want to share with this blog?
Is there a niche that you would like to establish yourself in with this blog?
These questions should help you outline what goals you would like to accomplish with your artist blog. As you begin to set up your blog, keep these goals in mind. They may determine how you set up your blog, the kinds of pages that it includes, and the content that you share with your audience.
Assignment: Outline three goals that your artist blog could help you to accomplish. Send me an email at becky@artisan-advantage.com and let me know what your goals are.
Photo by S O C I A L . C U T on Unsplash
by Rebecca Sciullo | Mar 11, 2020 | Learning
This is the last post in a four-part series of How Artisan Advantage Started. If it hadn’t been for The Bluegrass Painter blog, I’m not sure Artisan Advantage would have come to be. If you missed the first few posts in this series, start here.
After that initial launch, we tried all sorts of other things to promote his work, such as exhibit at fairs and festivals and entering group exhibitions. We sent handwritten thank you notes on his art print cards. We sent targeted direct mailers to people we thought would be interested in his work. We’ve tried making prints and we’ve used print-on-demand services. Some things worked better than others. Through it all, we maintained a blog. Whatever we were doing at the time, it was announced on the blog, which ended up serving as the focal point for all of his marketing efforts.
Through these activities, I started meeting other artists who were interested in what I was doing with my father. That is when I came up with the idea of an Artist Boot Camp. Artist Boot Camp was my one day seminar helping artists with getting an art business up and running.
Artist Boot Camp was well received. I attempted to cover all of the topics in that workshop on this blog and through individual consulting efforts. Eventually, I realized that my strength was helping artists to use a blog as the basis of their marketing system.
And that is how I got to be here at Artisan Advantage, encouraging you to blog about your art.
The Partnership Continues
As for my father, he is still painting and selling work, both online and in person. He and I are in different parts of the country geographically now, so most everything I do for him is online. One exception is his annual open studio weekend in the summer, which has proven to be a consistent success.
I look forward to sharing more of our story with you. Thank you for reading this series and I hope that you will continue to follow me on this journey.
I love to connect outside of the blog. Here are some ways we can do that:
Follow me on Facebook.
Connect with me on LinkedIn.
Connect with me on Twitter
Connect with me on Pinterest.
Pittsburgh artists, join my Create! Sell! Meet up Group.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Mar 2, 2020 | Blogging, Learning
Recently I started a series of blog posts about how Artisan Advantage got started. If you missed the first two posts, please start here.
Part Three: The Experiment
Next, we wrote a press release that announced his new series of bluegrass themed artwork. In the release we included links to both his website and blog. In the announcement, we explained that he was a bluegrass musician himself. It outlined how the work in the series was inspired by the time he spent picking with friends. We had no idea if anyone would be interested, but figured it was worth a shot.
I emailed the press release to the leading blogs in the bluegrass music industry – Cybergrass, The Bluegrass Blog and Mandolin Cafe. The publishers of each blog quickly posted the information. Within a day, we had over 1,000 hits to his website and blog. From that moment on, we started selling and shipping original art and prints to customers all over the world.
That was pretty exciting. Then, something even more exciting happened. I received a call from a representative of the International Bluegrass Music Association. They noticed his work thanks to the blog coverage and wanted to know if they could commission him to do artwork for the World of Bluegrass. We quickly worked out a deal for him to provide the art and plunged headfirst into marketing his work in this industry.
Nashville!
This relationship resulted in us attending and exhibiting at the World of Bluegrass trade show and awards event in Nashville for two consecutive years. Other commission work followed for both organizations in the industry, such as DelFest, Red White and Bluegrass festival and other private commissions.
The Wall Street Journal then wrote about our success using this strategy in an article about blogging.
Again, to reiterate, this was an experiment. I had no idea what would happen if anything. Thankfully, it did happen and it allowed me to see the power of using this tool to promote your work.
Since that time, we have used the blog a variety of ways to gain exposure for his work and grow his audience.
Next Up: Where we are now.
Snapshot from our trip to Nashville.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Feb 19, 2020 | Artist Websites, Blogging, Events, Learning
I want to thank the Upper St. Clair League for the Arts for inviting me to present at their member meeting last night.
The topic was Building a Strategic Web Presence, where we talked about how visual artists can use blogging to strategically and systematically promote their work. This was the first talk where I was able to focus solely on the topic of blogging for an art business, which as you’ve probably figured out by now, is my passion.
They are a friendly, attentive group. If you are a visual artist in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, I encourage you to visit this art league.
Please visit my Events page, to find out where you can catch this talk. If you’d like to schedule this presentation for your group, please contact me at becky@artisan-advantage.com.
by Rebecca Sciullo | Jan 10, 2020 | Artisan Advantage Book Club, Learning
Next up for the Artisan Advantage Book Club is Find Your Artistic Voice: The Essential Guide to Working Your Creative Magic by Lisa Congdon.
Find Your Artistic Voice helps artists and creatives identify and nurture their own visual identity.
This one-of-a-kind book helps artists navigate the influence of creators they admire, while simultaneously appreciating the value of their personal journey.
• Features down-to-earth and encouraging advice from Congdon herself
• Filled with interviews with established artists, illustrators, and creatives
• Answers the question “how do I develop a unique artistic style?“
It’s easy. All you have to do is get your copy and start reading! Stay connected to the Artisan Advantage blog for posts about how you might apply principles from the book to your visual art business, as well as for opportunities to share your comments about the book with others.
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
