Successful Artists and Bloggers | Alexandra Novik-Khamis

Are you becoming frustrated selling your art online? Do you find it difficult to generate traffic to your artist website? Maybe you need to start focusing more on your artist blog. In this post, discover why artists who blog are successful selling art online.
Blogs have come a long way from when they started. In the beginning, most people who blogged used it as a journal or diary. Now blogs are an important part of a marketing strategy.
Many artists have built a successful art business by blogging on a regular basis. They have built a following by writing articles about their niche, artistic style and techniques and showcasing their artwork.

Over the past few years, I have seen the importance of content marketing rise to the point where if you do not have an artist blog you are missing out.
Now you might be saying, “But I am an artist, how will blogging help me?”
Your art blog will allow collectors, enthusiasts and other artists to connect with you on a personal level. Blogging will help you to build trust and friendships with people who will become potential customers and advocates of your artwork.

The more people get to know you as a person, the more they will feel connected to your artwork. They will start to follow your art journey and share your story with their friends and family. Those people will become your best advocates and help you to build your online presence.

Here is an example of how it might work.

If a person starts to follow your art blog and enjoys your art and articles they will tell their friends and family.

Let's say that five of their friends start to follow you and they tell their friends. Now if each of those five people gets five of their friends to follow you, you will have 31 potential customers. This would have been accomplished just by telling your story. You would not have to spend a penny on advertisements, all you would have to do is spend a few moments on your computer.

First, let's talk a little about how blogging will help your online art sales. One of the reasons people go online is to find information. The more blog posts you publish, the easier it will be for people finds you. The people who are searching for information you are producing are your target audience. Your target audience is the people who will be interested in purchasing your artwork.

How does writing blog posts help people find you online?

Search engines recommend blogs and websites that relate to the query that is being asked in the search bar. The more posts you write, the easier it will be for Google and other search engines to understand what your artist blog is about. Google will see you as an authority in your niche. When people are searching for content that relates to your art blog, Google will recommend your blog to the reader.

How does Google understand what your blog is about?

Google and other search engines crawl posts every day. They gather the information and with a sophisticated algorithm rate the posts and sites they have crawled. Your rank will determine what position your posts or site will be ranked in the search results.

For example, if you paint horses and you have only one post that relates to horse paintings, Google will not rank your site high in the search results for the keyword phrase “horse paintings”.

But if you have a hundred different posts that relate to “horse paintings” Google will see you as an authority and you will be ranked higher.

You can easily see how writing detailed information about your niche will help you to be found online.
How can blogging help your offline sales?

Blogging is not only for artists who sell art online. It is a great tool to market your local events.

Inform people of any upcoming events you will be showcasing your art at. Some artists do well by blogging about the new artwork they will be featuring at the art shows as well as highlighting any sales they might be having.

You can even write and share pictures of past events. This will show your audience how much fun they will have if they attend the next event. Include a list of all upcoming events.

Another strategy you might want to consider using is to offer a special coupon if the reader joins your email list. This will not only help you to build your email list but it will also inspire people to visit you at the events.

To sum it up, blogging will help you to build an online presence that will attract your target audience and keep your following up-to-date with all of your upcoming events.
When you are selling your art at craft shows or art shows you are able to talk to potential buyers. There will be times when you will be asked to tell your inspiration for your art and you will be able to share your story.

Selling art online is different.

You are not there in person to help potential buyers feel connected with your art.

This is where blogging comes in.

You can tell the story being each piece of art you have created. Doing so will help the viewer feel more connected to you as an artist and your artwork.

Story Telling Ideas:

Write about the inspiration and message of completed art.
Write about art in progress.
Categorize similar paintings and write about them.
Write about top-selling art for the year.
Write about prior years creation.
Write about the progress you have made throughout your career.
Write step-by-step tutorials on your artistic style
Write about supplies that you use.
Write about artists that have inspired you.


Express Your Views and Share Your Message
Expressing your views and sharing your message will separate yourself from other artists.

If you have an opinion on a style of art or anything relating to your art career, share it. Your opinion matters and might help out other artists.

Best practices:

Only share your opinions if they pertain to your mission and brand.
Do not offend anyone.
Explain why you have your opinion.


Blogging Keeps Your Goals on Track
Blogging is like a journal. You can look back throughout the year and see if you are still on track with your goals.

You will have a written document of your art progress as well as your art marketing progress.

Use blogging as a tool to help you build a stronger art business.

Teach Other Artists!
Your blog is a great medium to help other artists learn how to enhance their artistic skills and the business side of selling art.

We all learn from other people and past events. Share what you have learned and build relationships with other artists.

Teaching ideas:

• Artistic techniques
• Supplies
• Color
• Organizing
• Selling
• Craft shows
• Social media
• Blogging
• Website

There are so many aspects of being an artist who sells art. Write about the areas that come easily to you. Help other artist’s journey be a little easier and more productive.

Conclusion:

I bet when you were dreaming of selling your art you didn’t think would have to be a writer too.

I know I didn’t.

The reality is that there will always be things that we do not like to do or things that do not come easily to us.

Blogging might be one of those tasks you turn your head to.

If you are serious about selling your art online, you will have to make an online presence. Blogging will be a powerful tool to help you separate yourself from other artists.

Some information is taken from here