Why would an artist need or even want a blog? What is the point of having a blog and how can you have one?

You might be wondering how having a blog can contribute to the success of an artist whether just starting out or already showing in galleries. You may even be sceptical about the value of blogging at all.

If this is you, read on to find out how it can help.

The Advantages a Blog Can Bring

The main benefits, in no particular order are these:

Global reach
Building Familiarity and Trust
Building Enthusiasm
Ease of Use for the Artist
Control of Content

Reaching the parts other methods can’t touch.

First and foremost, a blog can put you in touch with people far beyond your immediate circle.

Those people may be other artists, galleries, and people who like your work.
All these people are valuable to you. Artists may inspire or encourage you, Galleries can get in touch with you, and the people who like your work can get to know you and potentially become your customers.

Any of those groups could become fans, and Fans talk about you and spread the word.

How does it do that? A blog can be connected to many social networks, is loved by the search engines and is ever changing, like a newspaper.

If readers can find something new each time they visit your blog, they may become regulars and even pass it on to their friends.

Building a relationship with your visitors – and customers

Customers want to know who you are.

What do you think a potential art buyer is thinking when they see a work they like? Nine times out of ten they want to know who it’s by!

If it’s by a famous artist, they are re-assured, they know something about the artist and that knowledge validates their taste.

Think about art buyers for a moment – in fact, think first about them, their questions and doubts  whenever you want to sell anything.

When someone is thinking about buying a piece, they have questions.

They want to know more about the artist, where they come from, how they work, what makes them tick, the subjects that inspire them and the materials they use.

It’s true! The quickest decisions to buy are made by the people who already know you, or know something about you.

A little example

If you have ever put on an exhibition of your work, however small, you will have experienced people asking about these things. I have been lucky enough to have had exhibitions in other people’s houses – very generous of them – and of course, I invited people that I knew and the home owners invited their friends, many of whom I did not know.

A young couple were intrigued by a small picture which was an etching, and they wanted to know more about what it was. I spent some time explaining the process and very soon they were asking how I knew the owner of the house, where I lived etc. and just chatting generally. I had never met them before but by the end of the ‘party’ we had made a connection and off we went our separate ways. I didn’t think about ‘selling’ the etching.
They contacted me a while later to buy that etching.
I doubt they would even have remembered it had I not talked with them.

What did I learn from this experience?

• I noticed that people want to be comfortable with their choice and to know that I cared about the work.
• Not only do they want to know the Price, they also want to know its Value.
• People want to know who you are.

What does this tale tell you?

Fanning the flames of enthusiasm.

When someone buys a work of art, be it large and loud, or small and discreet, they are delighted. They feel precious about it, are proud of their selection and want to show it to their friends.
People love to share their delight. They’ll sometimes even throw a dinner party to show it off and get a reaction!

Your customers are your greatest ambassadors, but don’t forget, they sometimes need to justify their choice, validate the integrity of the piece perhaps, so their friends won’t think them foolish. They don’t necessarily want approval for the art they chose, but they do want it to be ‘worth it’.

Your blog is where they can get to know you and help their friends find out about you.

Starting a blog is Not hard to do.

Once a blog is set up you can start writing immediately.
You can fine tune and add functionality as you go along – nothing is written in stone.
You can change how it’s organised and the overall look without much trouble. You can add and remove categories, and it can be simple or swishy as you like. As you learn more you will be able to add things – or not.

The Choice is Yours

The point is, YOU are in control of the content of your blog. You can write your content, save it for later or publish it right away.
You can edit older posts, change the date and add pictures or videos. You can even delete things if you want.
If you have your own blog on your own domain, you are in charge of the result.

Not only are you in control of your own content – you can decide who is able to comment – you can even decide who is able to see certain posts.

The more advanced options can be learned on the go or you can ignore them and keep it very simple.

Finally, you can grow your blog at your own pace. If you are bursting with ideas you can go ahead and post every day, and if the fancy takes you only once a month, well – that’s alright too.

The main thing is to actually USE it regularly, and it will grow naturally.

Even if you don’t have any idea what you will write on your blog, I encourage you to start now. You could surprise yourself once you get going.

I will be adding information about how to set up your blog at a later date but before that I will talk about domain names.

Do you have any ideas how a blog can affect your business as an artist?

Leave a comment now:)

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