Comments have value!
I just wanted to take a moment to give an example of the power of blogging, and leaving comments on them.
The comment below was left on my blog three months ago. I've highlighted Dot's comment for a reason. The search below it took place in March...
(I saved Dot's comment as a jpeg. That's why you see my copyright notice on it. It just looks like text here on the page. Her original comment is still on my post, "Marketing Art On The Internet, Part 2")
As you can see, someone DID search on "pontatoc, ms," "belted galloway in pontatoc, ms" to be exact, and landed on Dot's comment! On my site, you'll see Belted Galloway paintings. But I've never seen a visitor come looking for "Pontotoc Mississippi" before.
Now by no means am I telling you to "tailor" your comments for search. That wouldn't work...and if I see it, I'm going to delete it as spam as would most other bloggers. But being natural does work...and you never know who is going to search for what. After all, there are millions upon millions of searches being conducted every day! One source states that the average number of searches in 2011 on Google alone was 4,717,000,000...per day.
The only problem with me using this example is that with "secure search" in Google, which more and more people are using, I can't show these kinds of results because they don't appear in my visitor logs. This one was a "non-secure" search. But that doesn't mean they aren't happening. Even with "secure searches," I can still see what pages site visitors land on. Not a lot of information, but still useful. If it had been a "secure search" in this case, I would probably have guessed that someone searched either on Dot Courson's name or Pontotoc, Mississippi.
Got blog?
To have this happen on a comment says something to me. If just a comment can bring in a visitor looking for a particular subject, what can an entire blog post itself written on that subject do? So is blogging a "crap shoot" or a waste of time? I think not.
6 Responses to The Power of a Blog
via kliewerstudio.com
There's no need to worry about keywords - as you blog, your subject matter and musings will naturally create a vocabulary that is unique to your work.
And do spend time reading other blogs - not just so that you can comment on them, but so that you can "hear" other bloggers' voices and see what they are thinking about. I start every day reading at least a dozen blogs, and then I have no shortage of things to ruminate on while at the easel.
Just make sure that your blog is well designed, easy to load across multiple platforms, searchable and archived. Set up a feed, too, so that your followers can get it delivered to them. Don't postpone getting started because you don't have a masthead yet or are waiting to accumulate cross links - just jump in and start blogging, and choose something new to implement each week/month. The longer you wait to start, the harder it'll be!
Thanks, Brian!! :)
via kliewerstudio.com
Very enlightening when you told me about that search. I doubt that they were looking for oil paintings, but one never knows:
I was contacted by the DAR- (Daughters of the American Revolution, I think) yesterday for permission to take images of my paintings to Washington DC to show in a slide show of Mississippi artists.
And also was contacted yesterday by an individual about one of my large landscapes that is on my website.
One never knows how word about your work gets around! ....At least I don't! I just try to stay involved - and I learn so much form people like you and your audience. Very informative stuff here!
via kliewerstudio.com
Yeah, I agree Kim. And that's a very well written comment you posted there. :) But it's true!
Dot...yep, it was wasn't it? I just started laughing when I saw that search result, as you know. :) But, even though they probably weren't looking for a painting, you never know when something you do might "turn someone on" to art. That can happen, and if they're searching on something that your work is already associated with...ahhh...you might gain a new collector. Or perhaps they know someone who collects art on that subject and pass a link on to a friend.
That's why I view comments left by artists who dismiss blogging as showing their naiveté. I've had a few of those here, but I know it works or can.
That said, it's about time I started posting some new art! Sometime next week, I hope. So...I'm off to see the wizard! :)
via kliewerstudio.com
I have an excuse- I'm off a 5 day plein air invitational I'll be blogging about: The Southeastern Plein Air Invitational was last week. But now I have artist Anne Blair Brown from Nashville staying with me now and she is teaching a 3 day workshop with me here in Pontotoc and have artists from 3 states who are attending.
Next Thursday I'm leaving for Jacksonville, FL to the Women Painters of the Southeast annual show and am an officer and I'm today finalizing the donations and prizes from a few of our wonderful sponsors: FASO, JFM Eenterprises (frames,) and Gamblin. I've organized a paint out for the show weekend and along with Paula Holtzclaw leading a paint out with members from 13 states to paint that area.
I've been so busy that I haven't posted what work I've done! Not good!... So I'll be blogging at you soon!
via kliewerstudio.com
via kliewerstudio.com
I mentioned the other day that this blog is still relatively "new" since it hadn't been used much. So that's what I've been up to...trying to get some "meat on the bones" for the search engines. And text is the way to do it...
But I think I've fleshed it out enough now and can start focusing more on paintings.