as i sit and think about what the best ways to spend my time are, i've been considering how and where my web presence is best felt. and i always come back to my blog. i've written several articles and tips on how and why people in the business of handmade should blog. the premise being, many people choose to buy handmade to support artists and a good blog gives your fans a glimpse into the lives of the artists they're supporting. sneak peeks into studio spaces, interviews on artistic beginnings and techniques are interesting things we all love reading. you can also promote your favorite colleagues and artist pals, or post relevant tutorials, tips, tricks and other useful information to mix things up a bit.
as much as i'm a fan of blogging, like most things, it doesn't come naturally to everyone. quite frankly, not everyone should blog. there's no harm in starting a blog to see how it works for you, but if you find you hate it or you're just not good at it, just delete your blog: you gave it a shot.
- what do you want to get out of your blog? Keep in mind your goals, and pick topics that members of you feel comfortable and knowledgable enough about to talk about every day: what you make, information on your city, neighborhood or community, or something that makes your life unique that will be engaging for your target demographic. remember, you don't want to be too personal (no gossip! and be safe!), as you want to strike a balance between personal and professional. you want to connect with a specific group of people (your readers and potential customers!) by making the blog fairly specific and full of information, but keeping it broad enough that you can eventually have a pretty large readership.
- find your tone. for example, you can be an instructional blog, you can adopt a professional voice or you can really be yourself. the best blogs are genuinely written and consistent. setting a tone that's true to yourself makes a blog easy to read.
- blog often. blogs are an interesting medium because they can literally be up-to-the-minute information. no one wants to read a stale blog. seriously.
- a wise blogger once told me "no one cares what you had for lunch today." (unless your blog is all about food, i suppose...) make sure you're blogging about things that are interesting to more than you and your dog.
- include great photos! these could be photos of your studio or workspace, little snapshots of your everyday life, in-progress shots of items, or photos of you out and about. photos can make a blog-reader feel like they're being treated to a behind-the-scenes tour.
- have actual content. (this post might be a good example of that. ;) )
- blog often. (this is the most important tip.)
- use widgets! twitter, flickr, amazon, etsy and many other sites all have gizmos you can include in your blog's side bars to keep the page dynamic even when you can't update. this also presents your work without writing dull show-off posts about your own craft over and over again.
- blog often! the more often you blog, the more people will check your blog.
- if you find it's not working, don't let your blog sit around decaying! remove your blog from the web—there's nothing sillier than a blog that hasn't been updated in eight or nine months.
here are useful places to spruce up your blog:
- http://www.flickr.com/badge.gne — a photo widget that puts photos from your Flickr group onto your blog
- http://www.twitter.com — free mini-updating messaging site that you can widget into your blog.
- http://zimbio.com - syndicate your blog to related wikizine
- http://meetup.com - meet other bloggers in your area
- http://sethgodin.typepad.com — marketing guru seth godin on how to get blog traffic
blogging should be an enjoyable part of your daily routine, as well as attract fans to your work. it's a way to engage the people you're creating for, and should highlight positive aspects of what you're doing and the things you learn along the way. exchange links with other bloggers you feel compliment your work, include lots of widgets, read and comment on other blogs to increase your readership. mostly, have fun with it.
