Now that you have your blog up and running it is time to build an audience for your blog.
The objective of art blogs is to have people read your blog posts and see your artwork.
You do not want to spend hours writing blog posts that people do not read or even worse know they exist.
In this post, I am going to talk about 4 strategies that will help you to build an audience for your blog so you can sell more art online.
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Original Patel Painting by Dave Nevue
Build An Audience For Your Blog
Blogging and creating art are very similar.
You put your heart and soul into your job and when it is finished you want to start sharing it with people.
Just like your artwork, you will need to find people to see your blog posts.
It is said that it takes a good two years until you start to see some real results.
To build an audience is sluggish at first but once you start to get indexed by search engines your traffic will grow quickly.
The good news about working hard and being patient with your art blog, you will be generating free traffic. Yes, it is free!
The more art blog posts you publish, the more content search engines will index.
The more posts you have indexed the better your chance will be to attract new readers.
The more readers you can attract to your blog the better your chance will be to sell your art.
4 Tips To Build An Audience For Your Blog
- Friends and Family
- Social Media
- Comment on Other Blogs
- SEO
Friends and Family
The easiest way to build an audience for your blog is to ask people you know to read your posts and join your email list.
Your posts will be a great way for friends and family to keep up-to-date with what you are working on.
They will also help you grow your audience by spreading the word about your blog and online art gallery with their friends.
Keep in mind your friends and family will be the most supportive people you will know throughout your career.
Do not be shy to ask them for their help.
Ask them to critique your posts.
It is always a good idea to have someone share their thoughts so you can look at your art business with different eyes.
They might point something out that you overlooked.
One of the most difficult parts of writing content is writing for the readers and not yourself.
Whatever they might say, use it as constructive criticism.
Try to incorporate any ideas they might have to better your writing.
Your goal is to write the best content you can, so people who do not know you will want to visit your site regularly.
You do not have to use every piece of advice that is thrown your way, but it is a good idea to keep an open mind.
Social Media
Social media networks are another great way to promote your artwork and blog posts.
Social media networks are like blogs in many ways.
Social platforms like Facebook and Twitter are an excellent way to communicate with people in real-time and gain a following.
Your artist blog should have different content than what you are sharing on your social media sites.
There would be no reason for your audience to head over to your blog if the content is the same.
You can post highlights of your post and a link to read the entire article. This has worked well for me.
I see many artists make the same mistake over and over on social media platforms, all they do is advertise on their social media platforms.
Don’t get me wrong. It is ok to promote some art you are trying to sell.
However, if that is all you do, you will lose your following.
People go on social media sites to socialize.
To see the best results on your social media platforms, socialize with your following.
Get to know them personally.
Share blog posts so they can learn more about you.
Engage with them when they comment on your posts.
To put it simply, use social media to build relationships.
We all know what happens when someone gets to know you and trusts you.
They will want to purchase your art.
Here are a few articles to help you with your social media marketing:
- 7 Effective Social Media Marketing Strategies for Visual Artists
- 10 Social Media Marketing Tips Every Artist Must Know
- 11 Ways to Build Trust on Social Media for Artists
- Developing a Social Media Marketing Strategy
- Choose One Social Media Platform to Focus On
Comment On Other Blogs
In the early days of your blogging, you will have to work hard to get your name out there and let people know you have an art blog.
Find other blogs that share the same niche that you do.
If you comment on their posts, you will start to gain a relationship with the authors.
Just like social media, it will take more than one or two comments on a post for an artist or author to start to recognize you.
Find some posts that you really like and add your thoughts in the comment section.
The comments you leave should add value to the author’s post.
A good way to get recognized quicker is by asking a question about the topic the writer was discussing.
The author will notice your comment and respond back.
If you are consistent, add value and ask good questions the author of the blog will start to remember your name.
They will eventually want to learn more about you.
They might visit your blog and start commenting on your posts.
Other bloggers are like you and enjoy comments on their blogs just like you do.
You might even be able to help each other out.
After all, we are all artists trying to do the same thing.
I believe that it is imperative to the growth of your art business to give back.
SEO
Learning about SEO is a great way to build your audience.
Take some time to learn how Google crawls and indexes your site.
Start by learning the basics of SEO.
Take some time to learn about keywords and how to incorporate keywords into your blog posts.
The more you can learn about basic SEO the better your chance will be to rank higher in the search engines.
You do not have to be an SEO expert, you only need to know more about SEO than your competitors.
Below are some articles to help get you started.
- Is SEO Important for Artists Selling Art Online
- WordPress SEO: Optimize Your Artist Website for Search Engines
- SEO Checklist for Artists Selling Art Online
Conclusion
To build, an audience for your blog takes a lot of effort and time. You will not see immediate results. Being consistent is the best way to build an audience for your blog.
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