01 Jul 2009 Need Inspiration? Look Out Your Window
Author: Chris |  Category: Watercolor Tip  | Tags:  | Leave a Comment

Artists are always on the lookout for inspiration. We train ourselves that way. Any scene is a potential painting. Monet had clouds for inspiration. For me, it’s right out my window.

Living on the lake is inspiring. A lot of wildlife passes through our yard. During this time of the year, flocks of Canada geese and ducks come through, feeding on the aquatic plants on the shoreline. We planted a native prairie garden a few years ago. The blazing star and purple coneflower attract butterflies and bees, besides being a beautiful showcase of color. We also set up a hummingbird feeder to attract hummingbirds.

I never to be amazed at their beauty. In our area, we have ruby-throated hummingbirds. Their irridescent greens and reds never cease to capture my attention. Nature really does have the best palettes. The hummingbirds are frequent visitors to the feeder. They never fail to surprise me. I’ve tried photographing them, but haven’t succeeded as of yet. A bird that can flap its wings 70 beats per second can be a challenge to capture. My plan is to find some nice photo reference images and create a painting in our backyard setting. Inspiration is just outside my window.

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30 Jun 2009 Branding In the Address Bar
Author: Chris |  Category: Marketing  | Tags:  | 2 Comments

As we all know, the Internet and its usage is expanding in phenomenal ways. The evidence is clear: Facebook announces vanity URLs and the world pauses to get to their computer. It’s all about branding.

Even as a self-representing artist, developing your own brand is key to your marketing plan. Your brand begins with your website. Your site should have its own name and logo. That is evident. However, you take your branding to the next step with a favicon. A favicon is that little icon that shows up in the address bar next to the site’s name. You have several options.

Your favicon can be the an miniature version of your logo. My favicon, as you can see, uses the ‘W’ from my site, Weborg Lodge. It’s in cursive to reflect an artistic style. Your favicon can do the same and convey the message of your art. Are you an abstract artist? A swish of different colors can convey your style. Paint a lot of farm scenes? How about a smiling cow?

To use a favicon you need to upload an image with the .ico extension to the home directory of your site. The image itself can be created in programs like Gimp. The ideal size is 16 x 16 pixels. You will also need a bit of code for it to be recognized. This line of code should be placed in the <head> section of your website, with your information substituted.

<link rel=”shortcut icon” href=”http://www.yoursite.com/yourfavicon.ico” type=”image/x-icon” />

Wordpress comes with a handy plugin that will do this for you, but you can also add the code if you feel confident editing theme files. You will want to look in the header.php file.

Any little bit you can take to get your brand out there helps you establish authority. It helps visitors recognize you and your art. Remember, selling your art is as much a business as it is about creating art.

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29 Jun 2009 Monday Marketing Meeting–Using Your Local Advantage
Author: Chris |  Category: Marketing  | Tags: ,  | Leave a Comment

Today’s marketing meeting discusses sharpening your market edge. Art, as we all know, is a highly competitive business arena. Being found, much less heard, can be a daunting task. One way to accomplish your marketing goals is by playing your local advantage.

Small business Internet marketing involves using your niche to your advantage. If your work is displayed locally, you have that local advantage. Marketing can come from other local businesses that may be willing to hang your works in their shop for a small commission. The Internet provides a host of new opportunities.

Smart phones that are GPS-enabled are seeing a wealth of new applications and services. Take Google, for example. The Google mobile application detects your location and will help you locate businesses in your area. Other free applications like Poynt and Good Food Around Me offer similar services.

Marketing with keywords defining your local area such as Minnesota art, Midwest art, help reduce your competition and increase your chances of being found. In this highly competitive online marketplace, it behooves the self-representing artist to play as many cards as possible. Using your local advantage can lead to more sales.

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26 Jun 2009 Sharing the Link Love
Author: Chris |  Category: Blogging  | Tags: ,  | Leave a Comment

Lots of useful marketing information. Of course, the best place to start is with your own data. Enjoy!

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24 Jun 2009 Finding Beauty In Little Things
Author: Chris |  Category: Just Off the Easel  | Tags:  | One Comment

oak original watercolor paintingOne of the greatest gifts I’ve known from painting is the ability to see. I don’t just mean noticing things, but really seeing the nuances all around. I’m reminded of the time I first really saw the variations of green. It was a revelation.

Another thing that painting has done for me is to open my eyes to the beauty in little things. No longer is an old boat just an old boat. No longer is a snow-draped forest just a forest. There are differences in color, shade, and contrast. There are shadows and texture. I’ve come to love texture and what it can do for a painting. What character you give a mere barn when you age it with some spatters and drybrush. It takes on a whole new meaning.

This little painting, Mighty Oak, illustrates just that concept. Just leaves, you say, but no, there is more here. The real challenge for the artist is bringing something as small as this to life. With the right texturing techniques, a viewer can almost smell the leaves. And what of the sand? Again, texture is at its best. The proper spatter and you can almost feel your feet smart from stepping on the tiny pebbles in the sand.

Yes, this is my joy in art–bringing objects to life. Every day that I paint, I am so grateful for the ability to truly see.

Mighty Oak
Watercolor on paper, 6″ x 4″
Sold with double-cut mat
$39.99

oak original watercolor painting

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22 Jun 2009 Revisiting Monday Marketing Meeting–Easy To Buy
Author: Chris |  Category: Marketing  | Tags:  | Leave a Comment

I’ll be back this week after my vacation in wonderful Door County, Wisconsin. Reminder to everyone: take those vacation days. This past Monday Marketing Meeting discusses online sales and how to get potential buyers to convert, that is, make the sale.

Okay, you spent the time to update your site.  Your code is good.  The site loads fast.  Take a good look at your site now.  Have you made it easy for potential customers to buy from your site?

The page that a visitor finds on your site, i.e., the landing page, must make it clear to them about what you want them to do.  It may seem a no-brainer to you.  You’re selling art.  Here’s art.  What’s the problem?

Remember, you have precious little time to impress a visitor and then convince them to buy.  Think about how to optimize this experience.
Error free pages are mandatory

A bad link, a missing image, a slow loading page can mean a lost sale.  Check and double check your links.  An HTML editor like Microsoft’s Expression Web can run compatibility reports and broken link reports.
Make it easy to purchase.

Don’t leave your visitor guessing.  Too many times I see artists with gallery pages telling them to email for more information.  Wrong!  All you’re doing is adding an extra step to the process, a step that an impulse buyer may not make.

If it’s posting a price that bothers you, let go of that.  Your online presence is for your to make the sale.  If it’s too high for a potential buyer when you list it, it’ll still be too high if you email the price back to them.  Save yourself the hassle.  Post the price.
Did I say make it easy to buy?

You have art for sale.  You want the visitor to buy it.  That’s how you make it easy with a visible “Add to cart” or “Buy it now” button”.

There are many options for finalizing that sale.  Some do well with using PayPal buttons.  It’s an easy option, however, unless it’s integrated into a shopping cart set up on your site, it does take them off the site to complete the sale.  Just something to bear in mind.

If the thought of using PayPal bothers you, there are other options for credit card processing that are not affiliated with eBay.  An advantage of using a service like Merchant Acceptance.com is the ability to also process checks if you choose to do so.  Again, you’re making it easy for a visitor to buy and are providing them with as many different ways to do so.

It’s an uphill battle trying to succeed with an online business.  Do yourself–and your buyers–an enormous favor and make it easy for them to buy from you.

Update: Your blog or website should be written for your visitors, for what they want and what they need. Certainly a quick checkout process is one of them.

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15 Jun 2009 Revisiting–Monday Marketing Meeting–Refreshing Your Content
Author: Chris |  Category: Marketing  | Tags: , ,  | Leave a Comment

I’m on vacation for the next two weeks in lovely Door County, Wisconsin. While I’m away, I thought I’d use the opportunity to revisit some past posts for the Monday Marketing Meeting. Search engine optimization or SEO is a never-ending task.

A sure way to help your site/blog page rank is to keep your content fresh. Search engines like content that is updated frequently.

Take a site like Amazon. Here is a site that updates frequently, thus its high ranking. Of course, a site like Amazon has so much fodder for new material. Coming up with content certainly isn’t an issue. Blogs have the same advantage–assuming that you post regularly.

For you as a self-representing artist, how do you approach this SEO strategy? Blogs touting a painting a day, following with such, fare well. For a website owner, your challenge is different.

No matter how well done your website, chances are you can always find a tweak. Maybe you’ve discovered a long missed area. Or perhaps your Google Analytics review revealed new keywords. You do that once a week,right?

Here are opportunities for you to make changes and refresh your content. Seems like a hassle? Consider the alternative, the sandbox effect. Sites keeping their content fresh will slowly bury your dated site. Pages in your site will be un-indexed.

Your website/blog is an investment in your online presence. For optimal optimization, you’ll refresh your content frequently.

Update: I schedule a time to refresh content once a month. After doing a monthly WebCEO check, I look for any issues and repair them as part of my content refresh.

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