Photograph of Kilauea Lighthouse
We just returned from vacation. This vacation to a tropical island was all that it could be with relaxation, great food, sunshine, and the surf. On the airplane as we traveled I read an article about the business blog. Immediately I decided to create a blog about blogging.
The idea of writing a blog about writing a blog will help me to clarify what it is this blog is meant to be. First and foremost this blog is about the business of painting. Professionals unfamiliar with business blogging tend to equate all blogs with personal, diary-type endeavors filled with self-centered posts about the writer’s life. I hope that this blog can be a look behind-the-scenes of painting. To be an open, honest, and tranparent look at what I am painting and why. I like sharing the thoughts and quotes from artist past and present, as these are keys to successful painting along with the rules and practice required for this endeavor.
Comments on all paintings and subjects are not only encouraged but also desirable in this blogging world. Please leave a comment and I will respond.
Here are a few points and definitions from the article I read:
· Keep your blog casual and personal.
· Social media refers to the more dynamic, interactive aspect of the evolving web.
· That through a blog’s comments functionality, business can interact directly with clients in a public, worldwide forum.
· Any company can establish a strong presence in the blogosphere, thus powerfully branding itself as open, honest, and transparent.
· Write compelling titles, get to the point quickly, tell the truth, keep posts short, and invite readers to respond.
· Post three times a week.
· Plan, jump in, and then clarify as you go.
· Keep an eye on success.
8 comments:
Donna..I am so interested in this! I agree with you that blogging is valuable on so many levels, but just yesterday I read someone's blog and I recoiled...it was "I did this" and "I did that" and I realized that is how my blog probably comes across too..meh! HOWEVER, I also love having a place to put my work and I have sold some pieces from my blog. I am straddling some sort of gallery of my work thing and "art-info" thing and I probably should have two blogs instead of trying to merge them. I will be tuned in to see what you do next. Vacations are great for re-charging the batteries!
Celeste, your blog is wonderful! You share so much of your artists life and the lives of other artists. Your blog is what inspired my blog. So keep going. I will find a link to the article and share.
For everyone else please visit:
http://celestebergin.blogspot.com
Celeste is open, honest, and transparent!
I visited and left a comment on Celeste's blog already! thanks for pointing me there, Donna...
I read the article after finding the post on WC. I wonder about the subscribers to my blog. I don't want to get too wordy or post so frequently that they become bored stupid with what I say. I try to comment on my work without being overly "I" conscious, but I am the one writing it so it comes of necessity! Still, how often is too often? The article suggests 3 times a week, which seems sensible to me. But there are weeks when I post nothing (sometimes for weeks on end) and then suddenly I have five or six things I want to post in a week. Why is that? I guess the creative juices get turned on. Question is, do you think that's just too much? Sometimes I hold back, then I forget to post at all! (OY! LOL)
Thanks for showing me the article--very interesting, Donna. I'm keeping an eye on your blog, too. Love the Gold Rush painting!
Hi Deborah. I do know that if you go very long without updating your blog people will forget to check or stop looking. I am trying for three times a week at the most. I update when I have a new painting that is worthy. Last week I was gone on vacation and when I returned a phone call from a friend prompted me to update my blog. She noticed I had not done so for some time. That was great to keep me updating.
Some days I have a painting, but no words and on those days I keep it short. Other times I feel like writing and writing…….
I have read your blog and did not find it overly "I" conscious. I think the difference for us is we are writing about something we love and something we are creating so it turns out to be about the work.
Thank you for looking, reading, and encouraging me.
Hi Donna! I just want to say that I enjoy reading your blog so much - whether it is about your art or someone inspirational to you from the past. I don't even mind the "I" thoughts - this is your blog and you are sharing what makes you, the artist, tick. I'm no good with writing and often, something you write about makes me say "I feel that way too"! So keep up the good work. Yours is one of my favorite blogs.
Hi Donna T! Thank you. I think you write just fine Donna. I enjoy seeing your paintings and what you write about your day on wetcanvas. Even about the bugs when you are out plein air painting. Any story about an artist has to include the bugs. I will include that next year when i am out - LOL
I too read that article when you posted the link on WC, and I saved it, so thank you! I'm also conscious about the "I" aspect, and my thinking is that as I do talk about my paintings, or my learning something, there will be a lot of "I" (and me and myself) in a blog-post. When I read other people's blogs, I tend to like the "I did this, *because*...", that is, the reason, or the experiment, something that is more than just "I did".
As painters, I think we all enjoy how a work was done, and why. And links to ideas, like this article about blogging proffessionally. I've picked up that customers, potential and existing, like to get to know the artist more informally, and like to know more about the work they bought/are contemplating to buy.
And, to be honest, to me it is more enjoyable than I thought it would be to speak about what was on my mind when painting. And when somebody responds, and we get a communication, that is really lovely!
Charlie
Donna, thank you so much for the article. It really helped me in deciding what I wanted to emphasize and what to leave out in my new blog.
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