Quick Blog Fixes

Have you found yourself doing some spring cleaning around the house and yard?
You can do the same for your blog—a critical component of your Web presence.

Whenever you visit Debbie Gonville Miller's blog, you get a feel for her art instantly.
You instantly get a feel for Debbie Gonville Miller's art whenever you visit her blog.

If you want to feel a little more love for your blog, it’s easy to implement these five fixes.

1. Update your About page.

Add a fresh photo of yourself, tell a new story, or write the text in verse.
Your About page is often the first link people click on. If it doesn’t make you smile, it might be losing visitors.

2. Add more images of your art.

You probably have a blog because you want to share your art with more people. Why are you hiding it? Make sure your art is near the top of the blog at all times. Check out Debbie Gonville Miller‘s blog (pictured above) for a lesson in featuring your art.
Also, give us a way to look through a portfolio of images without scrolling through all of your posts.

3. Write better titles for your posts.

Titles show up in Web searches, in RSS feeds, in emails, and more. Titles are critical for capturing your reader’s attention. Don’t neglect the importance of strong titles.
By the way, “strong” doesn’t have to mean clever. “Strong” means it compels people to read your post.

4. Break up your text.

Long paragraphs are a convention of the past. Use 2-3 sentence paragraphs (max) in your blog posts. When called for, use bullet points, numbering, and bold text to make your blog more scannable.

5. Plan your posts in advance.

The best thing I’ve done for my blog in the last year is to install a WordPress plugin called Editorial Calendar. I can see all of my posts by date and plan future content accordingly. It’s one thing to keep a list of ideas, but quite another to see them on a calendar by date.
You can’t change your entire blog in one sitting, but any one of these fixes will bring rewards.

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13 thoughts on “Quick Blog Fixes”

  1. Thanks for the link to Debbie’s blog; lots of great ideas! I love your newsletter by the way, even though I don’t always do what you tell me I should do. I’m working at it, slowly

    1. Alyson Stanfield

      Helen: Debbie has a great blog that really shows off her art. So many artists hide their art just because they don’t think about it.
      No one could possibly do everything I suggest. As long as some if it’s sinking in, you’re on your way.

  2. Preface: My blog is an internal aspect of my primary website.
    Question: Given the above, do I still need a separate “About Me” page in my blog even if the website already has one? I’ve been using the navigation area in the left column to link to my website “About Me” page. Is that acceptable?
    Oh I like the Calendar idea and am going to see if it will work with my WP (org) theme.
    Thanks!

    1. Alyson Stanfield

      Patricia: That’s fine. As long as you can access About from both main site and blog.

  3. Thanks for the Calendar plug-in suggestion. I do wonder about how to title my posts when I am showing my own original artwork. I usually just give the name of the artwork itself. Is there a better approach?

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Get a transcript of episode 182 of The Art Biz (Rethinking Mailing Lists for Artists) followed by a 3-page worksheet to evaluate the overall health and usage of the 3 types of artist lists.

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