Art Biz Blog

Personalize your Error pages

If you’re changing your Web site around and are afraid people will get lost if you move pages, create a user-friendly page to redirect people.

There is usually a single page that is the default for all of your “file not found” messages on your Web site. For mine, it's Error 404: File Not Found.

When someone clicks on a link to my site that is no longer there or has been moved, they get a friendly message that looks like this:

Now, isn’t that better than someone getting an unfriendly message generated by your Web hosting service? Simply find the file on your site and replace it with a more personal greeting.

Here's another cool trick. You'll notice that not only does my Error page display that the file no longer exists or has been moved. It also suggests an alternative link and provides a way to search the site. You or your Web guru can do this with these instructions and coding.

Recycle those blog posts into art exhibit labels

Today's guest blogger is Val Littlewood, who used her blog text to (1) snag an exhibit and (2) enhance the visitors' experience. I love seeing installations like these. As a former museum educator, I'm keen on stories that can provide viewers with a more intimate and meaningful experience. I discuss such labels in How to Curate & Install Your Art Exhibit Like a Pro.

Image ©Val Littlewood, Pima Cotton

Blog Writings on the Gallery Wall by Val Littlewood

Just over a year now I arrived in Orlando from the UK with my partner. New to the USA I decided to keep a daily art blog which also links into a botanical illustration course I am following. To find some suitable models, I started visiting the nearby Harry P. Leu Botanical Gardens and the blog accidentally became record of this one particular place and its leafy inhabitants.

Most of the plant discoveries were new to me, so researching and writing about their stories became an integral part of the blog. When I approached the Botanical garden to show the work in their gallery space, I suggested that we display the (condensed) text of the blog posts, to accompany the drawing. The director was keen because it sounded “different."

A year on, I put the show up last week, with drawings/paintings and their accompanying texts, and the reception has been really excellent. The staff tell me there has never been an exhibition quite like it before. They, too, have been reading about the plants and telling me how fascinated the public have been.

I know it wouldn’t apply to many artists but, if your blog content is relevant and relates to your subject matter, giving that bit of added value to the viewer with some interesting text is a way of getting them through the door and getting your show accepted by the gallery in the first place.

Val Littlewood's exhibit, My Thirty Five Dollar Garden, is on display through June 23 at the Harry P. Leu Botanical Gardens. Read  more on Val's blog.

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More on This Topic: Guidelines for art exhibit labels

Do you have something to share that will help other artists promote their work more effectively and sell more of it? Pitch it to me! I'll consider guest blog posts that are well written, generous, demonstrate success, and (most of all) are easy for me to copy and paste without needing much editing.

Pack your bags and join other artists in Estes Park--The incentives begin

On the fence about joining me in Estes Park for a weekend of learning how to promote your art more effectively online? Today starts a series of reasons to pack your bags and head into the Rocky Mountains. On most days, these incentives will be teamed up with other blog posts, but to kick things off I’m devoting this entire post to Incentive #1.

WHY YOU SHOULD COME TO ESTES PARK MAY 1-3

Incentive #1
Come to my Estes Park workshop to feel a part of a larger community of artists.

Come because this is no time to go it alone.
You might be scared by lower sales or negative talk you have to listen to. Come into the mountains for a weekend getaway with all kinds of artists who are experiencing the same ups and downs of this economy.

Read the details (save if you register by April 1)

Podcast: Expand your online marketing

Things are changing in the art world. Are you going to yearn for the past or embrace the future?

[6 min. 47 sec.]

Mentioned in this podcast

The Cultivate Your Connections class begins on February 11.

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Does your blogging need a shot in the arm?

Beth Hayden, who teaches live courses in blogging, has recently introduced her Basics of Blogging Toolkit, to help bloggers and bloggerwannabes everywhere get it right. You can order the print version or download it immediately and save $30. Check it out.

Beth is also hosting two upcoming teleseminars on blogging.

January 20: Making Money with Your Blog
February 18: Creating Great Blog Content

Maybe one of these tools will boost your blog in 2009!

Create a Web album at Picasa

Check out this cool Web album (generated by Picasa) on Hilary Pfeifer's blog. It's a documentation of "Bunnywood," her current show at the Portland Museum of Contemporary Craft. It looks like a terrific way to share your images on your blog and create a more dynamic page. Hopefully, it's easy, too! (Too bad the museum's page isn't nearly as interesting. You'd never know about the richness of the installation if you visited their site.)

Hilary was my guest last month for one of the INSIGHTS sessions. We talked about production work vs. fine art, artist residencies, and the twenty years she has been making  a living as an artist. Read about it.

How to announce a new or updated Web site or blog

You have a new Web site? So what? They say that’s the biggest question in PR: So what? You know as well as I that there is no longer anything new or exciting about having a Web site. Everyone has one. In announcing a new site or update, don’t focus on the newness of it. Instead, focus on the content of the site.

The goal of your announcement is to get people to click through to your site and, I hope, to sign up for your mailing list.

Before you send anything, make sure everything on your site is in order. You don’t want pages that are under construction or ones with a lot of broken links. (See these audio programs for Web site help.)

Announce your new or revised site in an email rather than a postcard. Email allows people to click through and to share easily with others. But don’t put every address in the TO line. Instead, use the BCC line to keep email addresses private.

Use a program like Constant Contact that can be formatted to look like your new site. (A list of email distribution sites is in the Resources section of my book. And there is a lot more about emailing this kind of stuff in the chapters.)

In your announcement, describe your art in a way that makes me want to see it.

• Evoke a memory (”Remember when you used to l ie on the grass and see things in the clouds?”).
• Use humor and/or relate your text to a current event (”Tired of reading about the bad economy and Joe the Plummer? You need an art break!”).
• Give away something in a drawing (a catalog, note cards, reproduction, or report) to get people to sign up for your mailing list.
• Tell a story about one of your pieces or your process. Use part of the story in the announcement and place the entire text on your site.

Finally, be sure you ASK that the recipient of your email visit your new site. Don’t tell them to do it in a bossy way ("Visit my new site!"), ask them nicely ("It would mean the world to me if you’d stop by the new site at some point”). Also--and this is a pet peeve of mine--don’t say “Please tell me what you think.” You’re opening yourself up for input you may not want with this invitation.

At the end of your announcement, be sure to ask that your email be forwarded to anyone who might be interested. You don’t get what you don’t ask for!

Can I mention you? Can I link to you?

Continuing the theme of better blog posts, this post is for artists who are new to the blogosphere or just having an online presence. Jackie Davidson was curious about the etiquette of linking to people. She wrote:

I have mentioned you on my website as being one of the workshops I most recently attended. Is this okay? Would you want a link from that paragraph to your website?

Yes, it’s perfectly okay to mention me. In fact, mention me often. And link to me. Link big and link often! But only if it’s nice. ;)

Seriously, mentioning someone on your site or blog is a generous gesture for which you really don’t need permission. You’ll get bonus points if you also provide a good text link. That means that you link to searchable text words (art marketing, artist newsletter, Alyson Stanfield, greatest artist coach in the world) rather than just the URL (artbizcoach.com).

You DO need permission if you are copying an entire text from someone’s copyrighted material. My newsletter gives permission to do this, but also gives specific wording that should be used when doing so. (See the bottom of this page.) And I use a Creative Commons license on this blog (see the bottom of the left column). Check the fine print of anyone’s newsletter, Web site, or blog to find this information.

What I don’t appreciate seeing is my content under someone else’s name or my newsletter forwarded without any credit. I think I can safely speak for most people out there who are trying to build a business online: If you’re prepared to give me credit and a link, go for it!

Image ©Jackie Davidson, My Blue Heaven.

Podcast: Write a better blog post

Is your blog floundering? Are the words just not coming? Listen up.

[4 min. 19 sec.]

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This podcast is an audio version of the Art Marketing Action newsletter.

This blog has gone Pink for October to support Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Learning opportunity: How to use Twitter

Twitter, the hottest marketing tool on the planet, can be frustrating, confusing and a huge time-waster if you don't know what you're doing.

But used correctly, it can drive traffic to your website and even generate sales, sometimes in a matter of just a few seconds.

Joan Stewart, The Publicity Hound, is hosting a teleseminar series Oct. 13 and 14 called How to to Use Twitter to Amass an Army of Followers, Customers & Valuable Contacts--and Promote. (I can personally attest to the great value I received from her previous teleseminars on Facebook and LinkedIn.)

On Day 1, you'll learn the basics of Twitter and time-saving tips. On Day 2, you'll learn specific strategies on to promote any product, service, cause or issue.

If you have a time conflict, register anyway because you'll get a copy of the MP3 audios and the electronic transcripts to review at your leisure.

Seating is limited to 100 people, so register today.