A Few Questions About Blogging

A couple of weeks ago, a podcast called The Art of the Business dropped us an e-mail and asked if we would like to chat about blogging on their podcast.  I sent them a copy of Blogging For Dummies to review and they read the entire thing in less than a week. They also sent us some pre-podcast questions and I thought I share my responses.

What use could a blog be to my artistic practice?

In terms of an artistic practice, the most use a blog can provide is the ability to get noticed.  Anyone who has run a blog for more than a few months can tell you that blogs are hit by search engines more often than static web sites.  Blogs have more relevant content and, since they are updated regularly, engines come back more often to catalog the new postings.  There are also tools within most blog software that allow you submit your new posts automatically to search companies.  Over time your site will appear more often in search results over a site that hasn’t changed very much.

What are some basic elements I should include in my blog?

To me, the most basic elements for a blog are:

• Comments
• Archives
• Search
• Responding to your audience.

Comments are the reason blogs exist.  The ability for people to respond to you on your web site is very powerful and can start discussions that can become new and interesting blog posts or new blogs.  Having accessible archives is critical if you want people to find older posts.  A general search to allow people to search your site.  And, most important, responding to comments.  This may not be an “element” from a technoloy perspective, but the human behind the blog should always respond to those who take the time to comment on the site.

How often should I post on my blog?

If you’re serious about the success of a blog, you should blog once a day.  If you have more than one writer, you should blog a few times a day.  This way, you will always provide content for your readers to check out and keep them coming back.  But don’t forget that any content you’re posting is of a certain level of quality.  Don’t just post things about your pets, breakfast, or what you did last night.  If you’re an artist, your product is who you are an an artist.  Talk about the artistic portion of your day.  What kinds of things are you doing to build your art.  Your blog can be only as successful as you are at being creative in starting and maintaining conversations.

What are some ways to drive traffic to my blog?

There are a lot of ways to drive traffic to a blog but, I think there are really two powerful ways that drive the most traffic: awesome content and being active in the blogging community.  When I talk about “awesome content” what I really mean is relevant content.  If the blog is a personal blog, make sure you’re talking about yourself.  Share your interests and be honest with the audience you build around your site.  People will come for the honesty and stay for the cool stuff that you’re doing.  If the blog is about your business, make sure it stays that way.  Chat about business and anything related to the business you’re conducting.  As for being active in the blogging community, you’ll want to make sure that you’re reading blogs and leaving comments on what you read.  Meet up with blog writers in your area and find those with similar interests as yourselves.  If your blog is about business make sure that you are reading blogs in the same industry as your company.  It is a great way to make connections and keep up on what is going on with your competitors, partners, and other similar industries.

Do you have some recommendations for artist’s blogs?

I think the most important aspect of being an artist is showing people what it is that you do.  If you’re a painter, you may want to consider something similar to a photo blog.  A lot of photographers post a weekly or daily photo on their blog.  It may be a good way to post examples of painting that one does.  If the artist is an actor, perhaps a video blog would work better.  Examples of famous scenes or example of past work and adding video posts to your blog.  Musicians would want to post audio.  There are many ways to express your art online - doing what you are comfortable with is the best way to go.

What other things do you think we should cover when we do the podcast?  Any topics we should make sure to touch on?  Drop your ideas in the comments and we’ll make sure to chat a bit about them.  We’re still working out the details about when to do the interview but when it is “in the can” we’ll post a link.