5 Colossal Mistakes Artists Make on Their Art Blog

Artists are always looking for ways to increase traffic to their art blogs, but many make mistakes that keep them from succeeding.

In this blog post, we will discuss 5 colossal mistakes artists often make on their art blog and how you can avoid these pitfalls, so your art website thrives.

Mistakes Artists Make On Their Art Blog

People learn from trying something new and learning from their mistakes.

If you are afraid of trying something new, you will never learn a new skill.

Also, not being open-minded to learn from your mistakes will prevent you from growing.

If you want to sell art online, you need to be willing to try new ideas, learn from your mistakes and spend time researching.

To be successful at art blogging, you need to:

– Be open-minded and learn from your mistakes.

– Spend time researching what’s trending in the world of art marketing online.

– Research how other artists do it on their websites. Ask questions like “What are some effective ways for increasing traffic?” and “What are other artists doing that I am not?”

At the end of this post will be some bullet points on how to grow a thriving art blog but first, let’s go over some common mistakes artists make that hurt their blog.

Avoid These Mistakes Artists Make On Their Blog 

Five areas many artists are overlooking with their blog:

• To Broad
• Not Consistent
• Writing Weak Content
• Keywords
• SEO Optimization

To Broad

Many artists start a blog and write about the highly competitive topic of their choice, hoping that they will drive thousands to their site every month. It is not easy for bloggers targeting broad niches to rank high in search engines like Google because of the competition targeting the broad keywords.

Blogging can be very beneficial because you can express yourself personally while also providing information on your chosen niche subject matter. By narrowing your niche, you can provide more quality information and drive up traffic without the need for excessive promotion.

Here is an example of a broad niche:

I typed into Google’s search “Horse Paintings.”

There are about 174,000,000 results in horse paintings.

The odds of posting about horse painting rank high in search where people will find you slim.

To understand the competition for ranking high in Google’s search, I went to Google’s Keyword Planner and typed in “horse paintings.”

The average monthly searches are between 10K and 100K. The competition is high.

That tells us it would be challenging to rank on Google’s first page.

Why is it important to rank on the first page in search results?

Most people never click on page two when they are searching for.

When was the last time you went to page two, three, or even four when you looked for information?

Most people will click on the first three results. After that, the click-through rates decrease drastically.

Now that we know that it will be difficult to rank for the keywords “Horse Paintings,” let’s see if we can narrow down the niche.

I typed in the phrase “Clydesdale horse paintings” in Google’s search and Google’s Keyword Planner.

There are only 452,000 results in search, and the competition is medium.

You will have a better chance to rank higher with targeting the keywords “Clydesdale horse paintings” than you will with targeting “horse paintings.”

Take some time and plan for your blog. Think of your long-term art business goals.

• What area would you like to be known as an expert in?
• What would drive your target audience to your blog?
• What niche would produce more sales?

Not Consistent

Mistake 2 is being consistent with publishing blog posts.

How many times have you put something on the back burner just because you do not like doing it?

We are all humans, and it is in our nature to do things that please us and postpone things we do not like to do.

Do you like to blog or write?

If you do, you are not like many artists.

In fact, I know very few artists that enjoy writing.

If you asked me a few years ago if I would spend time writing every day, I would have laughed and said there is no way.

What changed me?

What motivated me to write every day?

Operating an online art business motivated me. Being able to grow an art business that supports my family motivates me.

To succeed, I needed to create a lot of content.

In the beginning, I struggled.

It was challenging for me, but I forced myself to write every day. Now I can honestly say that I enjoy it.

When you start to see the results, you will learn to enjoy it as well.

Digital marketing is a different beast than it was ten or fifteen years ago.

I didn’t have to blog when I started selling art online in the early 2000s.

There was not as much competition, and Google’s algorithm was different.

Businesses of all sizes know that if they want to have a successful business, they will have to incorporate a content marketing strategy into their marketing plan.

It is safe to say there are thousands of artists just like you trying to sell art online.

Who will sell more?

The artists have worked hard and made an online presence.

How did they build name recognition with all of the competition?

• They post more content than other artists.
• They are consistent when they post and the topics they cover.
• They strive to make every post better than the previous one.

Writing Weak Content

Now that you know how important it is to write content regularly let’s talk about the quality of content you will be providing.

I am going to be blunt. You will not attract or keep an audience if you write garbage.

Think about it. When you go online to find information, what do you expect?

You expect Google to provide you with the best content that is out there.

That is what Google strives to do. They want you to have a pleasant experience. They do not want to have you spend thirty minutes trying to find a solution to your problem.

You would become frustrated if every article you clicked on did not give you the information you were looking for.

The same goes for your readers.

If you want to attract people interested in buying your art, provide them with great content. It would be best if you focused on writing blog posts that are helpful and informative.

Do not just post random thoughts or art critiques. Provide your readers with something they can use to improve their lives.

Keywords

Another problem I see with art blogs is that they do not focus on keywords.

Your target keywords will be what your specific niche is.

Using the example we talked about earlier, your keywords would be “Clydesdale Horse Paintings.”

If your specialty is painting Clydesdales, you will want to create content that relates to Clydesdales.

You do not only have to write about Clydesdale horse paintings. In fact, you will want to write anything that is associated with Clydesdales.

Why would you want to write about Clydesdales and not just about your paintings?

That is a great question.

By writing about Clydesdales, you will be attracting an audience that has a passion for Clydesdales.

They will be the people who will be more willing to purchase your art.

For more information on keywords, visit Keywords 101.

SEO Optimization

Another mistake I see with art blogs is they are not optimized for SEO (Search Engine Optimization.)

SEO helps you to communicate with Google. Think of Google as having its own special language.

Optimizing your site for SEO allows Google to know what your site is all about.

The more Google knows about your site, the easier it will be for Google to refer your site and content to the right audience.

Like I said earlier, Google wants to provide the best content for its users.

You will need to do some learning about SEO, but the basics are straightforward to understand.

For more information on SEO, read:

SEO Basics – What Artists Need To Know

SEO Checklist For Artists Selling Online

These two articles will help you understand SEO basics and show you how to start optimizing your site and posts.

Wouldn’t it be disappointing if you spent all this time creating great content but didn’t rank in the search engines?

Take some time now to learn about SEO. You will be happy you did.

Why Artists Start a Blog

The main reason to have a blog is that your blog will be the main fuel for generating traffic to your website.

• People will not just find you online because you uploaded a new painting on your website.
• People will not stop what they are doing to go to your Etsy listing after you hit publish.

You have to write content for people interested in what you offer and drive them back to your online art gallery.

Other Benefits Of Owning A Blog

Not only will your blog drive quality traffic to your art postings, but you will have many options available to earn extra money.

Ways you can make money from your art blog:

• Sell original art
• Sell prints of your art
• Sell prints of your art on merchandise
• Google Adsense
• Banners
• Affiliate marketing
• eBooks
• Courses
• Monetize YouTube videos
• Offer services

These are just a few ways you can generate extra income from your art blog.

Instead of waiting for an original piece of art to sell, you can supplement your income from your passion, being an artist.

Building A Presence Online

It takes some time to be noticed online. To put it in perspective, there are over 1 billion active users on Facebook.

Millions of blog posts are published daily.

How can you stand out from the crowd?

A quick way to start separating yourself from other artists online is by learning from their mistakes.

There are so many artists trying to make a presence online that will never be noticed. They will be lost in the crowd.

Why do some artists struggle to make an online presence?

The main reasons artists fail online are that they are unwilling to research, are afraid to try new things, keep repeating the same mistakes, and give up too soon.

You are not reinventing the wheel. Learn what works and what doesn’t work.

There is no simple solution or a magic wand. You have a unique art style, and you will attract a unique audience. Be willing to try new ideas.

Stop repeating the same mistakes. Know what is working and what is not working for your business. Track down your statistics. Develop monthly plans that discard strategies that are not producing results.

Do not give up. Never give up. I can promise that you will fail if you give up.

Be patient. Making an online presence takes time. You will be one step closer to living your dreams every day you work on growing your online art business.

Art Blog Ideas

Art topics to write about: processes:

– How to paint a landscape.

– What supplies are needed for watercolor painting?

-Different types of art media, such as drawing and mixed media: What is it, and how do you use it?

-Best oil paints

-Different art tecniques

For even more blogging ideas visit,110 Art Blogging Ideas

Best Blogging Strategies

1. Know your audience

2. Be consistent with posting times and days of the week

3. Include a link to buy your artwork in your blog posts 

4. Build your mailing list. Create an email list for those who want more frequent updates 

5. Have multiple social media accounts that are updated regularly, but not all at once (i.e., don’t post on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram all at once) 

6. Collaborate with other artists by featuring their work in exchange for promotion or sharing their content on your blog

Final Thoughts Mistakes Bloggers Are Doing

Please don’t make the same mistakes artists make on their art blogs.

Learn from their mistakes. Work smarter, not harder so you can spend more time in your studio.

Start working on these areas:

• Specific Niche
• Be Consistent
• Writing Great Content
• Optimize Keywords
• SEO Optimization

If you can perfect these areas, you will start to separate yourself from the crowd. These tips are from successful bloggers who are generating over six figures a year.

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