Julie R. Neidlinger: Lone Prairie Art Works

Success with Etsy.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

My friend has a store on Etsy, the web site that features handmade and original items of all kinds. I have a few items on Etsy myself, though I haven't made the decision to jump fully over to Etsy. I haven't decided the ifs and hows of keeping a store on my site versus having it on Etsy. Or, if I should move all of my "craft" type items to Etsy and maintain my art gallery on my site.

I've written about Etsy on this blog before, albeit briefly. Its low listing prices and great help with graphics, stores, marketing, and forums (plus a public forum where people list things they need someone to make for them) make it something akin to a huge art fair.

Regardless, Etsy is a favorite place of mine to visit and shop. And, for some, it has really been a path to online, home-based success. An article in the Minot Daily News (April 14, 2008) featured Jenna Lou Dauer. She makes absolutely fabulous purses and wallets and sells them (with great success) on Etsy.

Check out Jenna's store. She has great taste in fabrics, colors, and design. She's also begun to gather attention on other sites. Jenna Lou also has her own blog, and is part of a Minnesota group of artisans tied into Etsy.

Personally, I prefer the higher-priced handmade, not-from-sweatshop stuff. I've gotten a few purses from Yukiko Sato for the simple reason that they are delightfully made and very unique. I've gotten a purse to give as a gift from Amani Ya Juu, a company that features African women and helps them earn a living making really great purses. As I go through my closets and work at remaking and reusing clothing, I realize how the cheapness of things has contributed to not only excessive consumerism and greed, but the abuse of the people in countries forced to make things for so little pay. A $40 purse might be more than the similar $15 purse at Target, but I can promise that when you buy it from a person and make a connection to the person who made it, you're less likely to just toss it away next season.

And so, I encourage you to shop Etsy, and sell on Etsy. If you really want something unique and not cookie-cutter common, that's the place to go.

Labels: internet, links, marketing, selling

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Internet business success: No free lunch. Really.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

My first rule of thumb when it comes to any product or service that someone is trying to sell me in regards to the internet is: before I pay you anything, let me do some research of my own.

I don't know how many times I've gotten enticements in the mail or my email that sell programs and seminars and all kinds of fabulous tools for the low low price of $Too Much. Gimmicks, offers, freebies -- all to entice me to spend my money making someone else's business a success. There are so many free and low cost services and information available on the web that it is foolish to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars for someone to collect it and print it out for you at a seminar.

Up front, let me say that very rarely do I pay for web site services that I use as a webmaster. And, if I do, I certainly don't shell out thousands. I do research to find the best tools at the lowest price. In no way am at the point that I do that yet. My web site, my client list, and my income has slowly but steadily grown over the years.

So, it was with eight years of experience and all the above thoughts that I attended a StoresOnline seminar with my employer at my very-much part time design job. The seminar promised a free lunch, a free business planner, and an introduction to internet marketing. Rather than rehash the hard-sell for their product or theorize what they were or were not about, let me point you to this page. You can also do a simple Google search on StoresOnline and find the first page of hits to be full of negative reports. Take that for what you will.

What struck me was the make-up of the audience: hard-working people with multiple jobs, many elderly and retired people, and a high number of disabled or people obviously experiencing medical issues. In other words, people desperate for an additional income. StoresOnline was using Marketing 101 to sell their product to this select audience:

Offer something for free.
Offer just enough information to whet appetites but do little else.
Raise the intensity and pressure level to spur people to act or else they'll "miss out."
Offer a selective (i.e. time-based) discount.
String them along for further "rewards" (discounts).

StoresOnline -- and other companies like them -- have customers who have had success. Though they specifically state that results aren't guaranteed, that these are not the normal results, and that there is no such thing as a "get rich quick scheme", they only speak in terms of success and getting rich quick. The way they are selling their product seems to perpetuate the myth to a very hungry and desperate group of people that the internet is the answer to all their independent income needs.

The StoresOnline speaker suggested that these were the six highly successful tips and secrets needed for people wanting to start a business online:

Top the search engine lists
Strategic linking
Permission email marketing
Vertical portals
ePublishing
Target marketing
Affiliate programs
Drop shipping

The speaker also listed three "crucial" steps that must be followed in order to prevent business catastrophe:

The right knowledge and training.
The right tools and support.
Take action.

You can see how these would fit nicely into their own marketing plan and encourage people to do business with them. I can't say that the three steps are out of line or out of order, but I would like to extract them from a specific sales model and say that the right knowledge and training, as well as the right tools and support, are available from more than just a company like StoresOnline.

High-pressure sales tactics do not work on me. In fact, they create a reverse outcome: I am less likely to buy from anyone using them because they do not allow me time to think. I won't act on anything I can't first think about. The more I am pressured into buying or deciding without a seller stepping back and giving me time to think about it or research it on my own, the more likely I am to simply walk off and get away from the pressure. It is that reaction that led me to research StoresOnline, which led me to discover many heartbreaking letters and stories of people who dropped a lot of money into the hopes of reaching internet sales success. That led me to try to write a post on a topic -- having a successful business on the internet -- that I still am grappling with on my own. I hope this helps. Someone.

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What about that list? Are they right? Are those things the key to internet success?

Top search engine lists. Yes, this is vital. They are absolutely correct in stating that poor search engine ranking will really, really hurt. Unless you have incredible word-of-mouth success, search engines are how customers initially find your site. If people can't find your site, what's the point? Search engine optimization (SEO) has volumes written about it on the internet. It's a fluid topic, with the things I had to understand when I first put up my site in 1999 being very different now. The internet grows and changes and the search engines change to adapt. SEO requires constant vigilance.
Strategic linking. I discuss links in more detail below. This is tied into SEO, as well as into networking (also discussed below).
Permission email marketing. Again, I talk about marketing below and this will be covered. Basically, this is very different from the idea of blanket marketing, but instead marketing to those who are interested and have asked for you to include them in your marketing efforts.
Vertical portals. A vertical portal is basically a site targeted to a specific audience, customer, or consumer. StoresOnline, and businesses like them who are selling you web sites, encourage multiple web site purchases. Each site would have a different focus or product. Obviously, this works well for them since they will do better in sales. There is a place for vertical portals, but that isn't necessarily a given success/failure issue. Some sites have a variety of products and services and manage to market or arrange their site in a way that customers with a specific interest have no problem finding what they want (Amazon.com, for example). Other sites have too much variety and haven't found a way to "direct traffic" to the proper places. [See also Vertical Portals.]
ePublishing. Publishing without having to deal with paper and printing costs is obviously a help. Instead of paying postage to send out newsletters and such, you can use your target audience or current customer list to send one out via email. ePublishing is important. You need to keep your web site front and center with customers so they don't forget about it. You need to let them know of sales, offers, new products, changes, etc. This ties into the concept of keeping your web site content fresh, which is discussed below.
Target marketing. Target marketing is vital to small business or companies that don't have the budget to blast ad campaigns to a large general audience in hopes of picking up a few customers here and there. Target marketing makes sense, and with all the tools available on the internet that will help you discover your market is, there is no reason to not keep this in mind. The key here, of course, is that first you must know who your market is. Is it geographically based? Product-based? Age-based? You can't target them if you don't know who they are. This requires you to both know your product or service, research who uses it, and go from there. [See also Target Marketing]
Affiliate programs. You can find a pretty decent overview on how affiliate programs work here. Again, like target marketing, with the technology available and the fact that you are using a medium (the internet) that encourages such programs, it can be vital to your internet business should it apply to the product or service you offer.
Drop shipping. StoresOnline's program heavily relies upon you finding a manufacturer with goods you sell on your web site. The key is drop shipping. You never handle the goods, but the orders are forwarded to the manufacturer who fills the order and ships directly to the customer. It is for this reason I'm not sure StoresOnline, and other businesses like it, are a great option for people with their own product to sell. Drop shipping is something I, as an artist and "manufacturer" to people looking to just what StoresOnline is advocating, refuse to do. (I have it on my ordering information page that I will not drop ship, and may blog about the reasons why later.) Drop shipping isn't a key to internet success. There are all kinds of businesses out there that do not require it. It is just one aspect of being able to nearly fully automate your web site (which is one of the selling points of StoresOnline) since you neither fill orders nor create the merchandise. This all depends on the web site and business you have. [See also Drop Shipping]

I don't know anything about web sites. What can I do?

Start. You can at least get something started. For free. Read here on how to do that.
Software. There is software available to help you design a web site using a WYSIWIG interface. A great one is Dreamweaver, although MS FrontPage is also popular. There are also many free software downloads or online services that help you create a web page in this same manner.
Web host-provided services. Many of the web hosts offer decent template or store services in their package already. My host, Readyhosting.com, offers a free minimal store with the basic package purchase. You can upgrade this to offer more products. And it requires no HTML or other coding knowledge. GoDaddy.com also offers such services. Find a host that offers automatic web-creation and/or store services.

What steps to I follow to get started with a web site?

Buy a domain name.
Find a service to host your web site.
Build your site.
Pay for a shopping cart service or use a free option.

What about payment options for my customer?

Merchant account. If you have a brick and mortar store, you most likely have a credit card merchant account already. You can use that to enter credit card payment information.
Free options. If you are a new online business or a private individual just getting started, you can use PayPal, Google Checkout, or similar services at no cost. These don't even require a shopping cart, but can use the free "buy" buttons.

What brings search engines to my site?

Content. It seems obvious, but so many people miss the point. If your web site has little to no content, and if it isn't constantly being kept fresh, it starts to sink. Keep your content fresh and relevant. I often encourage people with web sites to start a blog or news page on it which, if done well and regularly, fits the bill perfectly. [See also Web Feed]
People linking to you. Links to your site tell search engines to take you "seriously", that others on the web are linking to your content and your site and that not only are you not a spammer, but probably have some degree of relevancy to whatever topic is getting linked. Links from highly reputable and well-visited sites carry even more weight. Link popularity is important, though I personally do not take too much part in actively seeking and trading links, particularly with sites that aren't relevant to what my site is about. [See also Google Bomb; Link Popularity; Reciprocal Link]
Patience during your gradual building. Don't wait five minutes after uploading your site and then start fuming. New web sites are made every day. Even with work dedicated to making yours stand out, it doesn't happen in moments. Some search engines take longer to "trust" your site. [See also Sandbox Effect; Supplemental Result]

How can I market my web site?

Find customers who want to be found. Think less along the lines of shotgun marketing, spraying a wide audience and hoping to hit a few who are interested -- works great if you're a huge corporation with the money to burn, but if you're small, like me, I need to be a bit more targeted in who I market to. [See also Permission Marketing].
Be creative. I've written about marketing in other posts. You might find a few ideas in those posts. Some of the ideas are low-budget and small-scale, but they are creative. Try something new. Don't just take an ad out in the yellow pages and call it done.
Network. The grand old 1980's and 1990's buzz word. If you think you should do it through some form of a social networking web site, try it. Join online forums with connected interests and do make your web site your signature. Leave comments on blogs that are relevant and bring people back to your site to see what you're about. Get started on social networking sites. The internet is a place of connections, of links and clicking and discovering new people and things. That's why it's called the "web." Network, make people want to connect with you and your web site, but...don't spam. [See also Viral Marketing; Word of Mouth Marketing; Social Networking]
Don't spam. Don't leave comments on blogs that do nothing but tell readers to check out your site. Don't collect email address from people when they don't give you permission to use them for commercial purposes. Don't leave comments on forums clearly trying to harvest clicks and links.

What can I expect if I do as you suggest?

Saving money by doing something yourself will cost you time at the beginning. You will make mistakes. You will have to learn by trial and error. You will have to do some research on the internet and find out what the new, hot tools are, what the new trends, software, and technology is. Decide if it's for you, and see how you can go about making it work for you.
You can't remain happy in your ignorance. You're going to have to have a little computer knowledge, and a little internet/web site knowledge, too. If you turn everything over to a designer, you have no way of adding tools (such as Google Analytics, as described below) on your own. You will have to wait until your designer can do it. Find ways to build, manage, and control your own site as much as you can without it becoming a burden.
Probably not millions. You may or may not find success. But, for certain, you won't have shelled out thousands and found disappointment or dashed expectations. My main point here is that what many of these companies are selling is already available for free, with a little work. If you would rather not be bothered by all of this, by all means, sign up for a company like StoresOnline and see what you get. You may be a success. You may just lose your money. I can't give you any better odds than that, anyway.

-------------------- LINKS and RESOURCES --------------------

General and Website Marketing Links:
Learn what others have to say about internet marketing.

ePublishing Services and Resources

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) links:
Learn what other people have to say about increasing search engine traffic on your site.

Stat Analysis links:
Learn who is visiting your site, what brings them there, and why they stay.

Keyword and Link Research:
Learn what keywords are being used on the web and more.

Labels: internet, links, marketing

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Artists and web sites.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

When I first started LonePrairie.net, back in 1999, there weren't a lot of options for people who wanted a web site other than building their own. The internet changed a lot, though. At this point, anyone can have their own site for free.

In a sense.

Which leads me to artists having their own web sites. And blogs. My advice for any artist (or other person, for that matter) who wants their own site is to use some of these free blogging sites. This is anything but uncommon. To avoid having to include a "blogspot" or "wordpress" URL, purchasing a domain name and then forwarding it onto the blog is the easiest solution.

Case(s) in point:

The Nicaragua Resource Network - North Dakota is my latest use of just such a system. The old site, while perhaps a little better looking (the downside of this is the use of obvious blog templates, though you can modify them to a degree), did not have the ease I found necessary to constantly update. As NRN-ND gets more involved and the information needs and frequencey of news became more involved, I found being the webmaster a real drain.

Blogs, with their database way of working, should make this much, much easier. New content? Easy to put up, categorize, and accessible from any internet connection.

For artists or people selling things, a simple PayPal or Google Checkout account, uploaded images in each post, and a "buy now" button will do the trick.

My current personal preference is Wordpress.com. Lots of features, including static pages. I personally buy my domain names from GoDaddy.com just because...I do. They're cheap and have great customer service.

So:

Sign up for a free blog account (Wordpress.com).
Sign up for a PayPal/Google Checkout account.
Buy your domain name (GoDaddy.com)
Forward your domain name to your blog URL.

Done.

What the heck. Get some free business cards at VistaPrint.com with your new web site address and call it a day. Minimal investment and ease of use. It's a fine start. Maybe not the final answer if your business grows, but a good way to get online, at least.

Labels: blogging, internet, marketing

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Google Checkout.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

In an attempt to expand my burgeoning arts and crafts empire here at Lone Prairie, I signed up with Google Checkout, and will soon be integrating it in my current shopping cart as well. It'll take a few days lag time, to be sure, but very shortly, I'll be fully Google Checked Out.

I'm sure my sales will sky rocket.

Frankly, PayPal has started to annoy me. No specific reason I'll go into here.

(Old school! High fees! Freezing of accounts! Monopoly! Not part of web 2.0! My opinions!)

I still have PayPal integrated into my cart, and it'll still be the main way people will likely pay with credit cards for a while, but Google Checkout (from the people who promise to not be evil but have the greatest potential to be) looks cool, and I rather like have one Google account for everything from my RSS reader to online word processing to...buying and selling and tracking orders.

I rather like it a lot. All in one place. The interface of everything looking similar so that as long as I become "Google intuitive" I won't have much of a problem with any of their sites and services. No credit card fees through 2007. Free to sign up.

Even my illustrious blogs are through my Google account.

Please don't be evil, Google people.

Google Checkout offers the option of sending email invoices to bill customers, which is such an improvement on me constantly mailing them out. The electronic invoices contain a link that takes the customer right to where they pay. Easy. And I get a copy of the invoice in my own inbox. I also like the fact that there are nifty logos and buttons that assure people that yes, I can take credit cards and that no, I'm not some shifty business that will abuse their credit card number.

Seriously, I doubt I'll see any difference in sales or customer reaction, but it's still a cool new gimmick that lets me add more stuff to my website and feel all professional. I'm placing bets that people will start getting used to Google Checkout like they did with PayPal. On the other hand, it could go the way of BillPay (or BillPoint or whatever it was called) and some of those others that PayPal murdered. We'll see.

Anyone else out there using Google Checkout?

Labels: marketing

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Marketing art.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 1 comments link this post

I will be the first to tell you that I don't know how to sell myself.

By "myself", I mean that I don't know how to sell my art. I have lots of creative low-level ideas of how to get people's attention, but they seem to stall at creative and never get people to open up their wallet. My biggest method of selling what I make is, sadly, marking down the price. And that's not a successful way of making a living.

Basically, marketing is an unknown for me.

I've identified, over the years, reasons why my selling success is fairly low:

Personality: I don't have the personality for person-to-person pressure-type sales. I am extremely introverted and while extroverted people just shrug that off as an excuse...they really don't know that it isn't. It comes with serious hurdles. (I also don't think extroversion is the preferred personality trait in life across the board, but we'll just let that slide.)

Want: I don't like pushing people to buy something if they don't really want it. Conversely, I don't know how to make people want something. Too much hucksterism makes me feel like a liar and I despise gimmicks and perceived dishonesty in this regard.

Anti-Consumer: I have an irritating anti-consumerism streak inside of me and I hate to feed the monster of consumerism in other people just so I can sell to them.

Closed Mouth Syndrome: I absolutely am not able to talk about myself and my work in glowing terms and positive adjectives which convinces people that yes, this is what they absolutely need made by a person they can without question buy from. I can't brag on myself at all, but customers sometimes seem to need to buy from a person that exudes confidence in what they make.

Trust Issues Part 1: I know I probably need someone to do the selling for me, but I'm too stubborn to ask for help because I think I still need to solve this problem. I also don't trust people much at all, since I've had experience in the past with people who were going to "get your art into the big time" and all they really wanted was a hard copy of my portfolio for their own enjoyment, or some free art as a "sample."

Trust Issues Part 2: I've had to many experiences with shysters, people who order art or commission art or express interest or make promises, and never send the check to pay. I've been contacted by companies that promise to sell my work if I'll only pay $X to list on their web site, and nothing has come of it. It is distasteful to deal with people using up and making money off of artists without concern for the artist. I've been suckered into donating for "good causes" and seen not only no return, but more and more requests for art in which the artist is seen merely as a supplier.

Pride: I have a pride streak that doesn't want to create art for what I call "match my sofa" buyers, genre art that speaks to a specific niche. And, when I do decide that such pride is stupid, (usually when a big bill is due) I feel guilty while creating that art. Such pride is stupid.

Tastes: I have begun to wonder if my personal tastes and aesthetics are seriously off from the masses, since the art and craft items I create (that I know I would swoon over if I saw in a store) don't seem to inspire much reaction beyond a "cute." Cute does not pay bills. In fact, I often get people gushing over things I've made, but I absolutely cannot get them to go the next step, which is to buy. I wonder if they are gushing out of sincerity or if they think I need reassurance that I "can draw" which I don't need at this point in life. I know I can draw and that I make interesting things.

Summary: I can create something that people like, but I can't seem to make anyone want to buy it. That's kind of the basic problem, isn't it?

Solution?: I was emailed a link from someone who wanted to help by suggesting some art marketing books by Jack White. (Not the White Stripes singer, mind you.) These books can be found here:

Right now I do not have the $25 to purchase any of the books (highly ironic, if you think about it), and I always wonder, with my experience with buying such books in regards to writing, if the author is the success because he or she has convinced other people to buy his books. Nevertheless, the books look interesting. I'd love to hear from anyone who has read them or is familiar with their message.

Labels: art life, marketing

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Click and shift economy.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I'll never get rich because I'm unwilling to take part in the "click and shift" economy.

That's what I call it when people make gobs of money off of things like click-through advertisements on their blogs and web sites, when they make money through things like referral services and the selling of mailing lists and -- through clicking and shifting.

I have an overworked sense of what is honest, and for me that means I do not make money off of non-work, non-production, or anything that seems gimmicky. I do not help flood the world with more advertisements. I need to know that the money I have earned is because I worked for it in a very tangible way, either through an actual product made and sold, or through a service for hire in which the end result was measurable.

No referral gimmicks.
No pyramids.
No strategies.
No schemes.
No ads.
No outside pressure.
No traitor-ized email lists.

And hence, no riches.

I want to make sure that if someone gives me money, they get something tangible in return. It's a kind of low-level, unprocessed and raw form of capitalism. Elemental, maybe, or infantile. No doubt laughable to those with an over-developed sense of business acumen who have, or are in, the process of acquiring wealth.

But I don't like "click and shift" for the same reason I hate office jobs that involve shuffling papers and marionetting to the pull of procedural strings: there is a real lack of producing something and adding to the world, with a real danger of doing little more than using up air and taking money for the privilege. It feels like I've accomplished nothing more than taking money from the sucker Barnum supposedly told us about, or a person trying too hard to make money without working.

I don't want money from a sucker. I don't want money from clicks or shuffles or referrals.

And hence, no riches.

Labels: art life, marketing, writing life

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Tooting your own horn when it's out of tune.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Taking out a huge ad in the New York Times Book Review for an idea for a children's book seems desperate. I'm in no danger of doing that myself, however, because I certainly can't afford such a method of garnering attention or a publisher.

A friend emailed me this morning and told me about just such an instance. Keith H. Lewis, a wealthy man, has written a children's book about a character named Henry Sparks and has taken out a large ad directing people to his website (a horrible Flash monstrosity, but I'm prejudiced against Flash), and laid it all out on the line.

My friend didn't think the synopsis was very good and frankly, I don't either. However, I'm one of those people who rarely think a summary, or pitch, of an idea sounds good and then when I see the final product I often have a change of heart. With Sparks' synopsis, though, I had the strange feeling I was reading bits out of my favorite books as a child.

Go read the synopsis. I think you might recognize a few of these 1960's era books: Tom Swift, Happy Hollisters, Brains Benton, etc. The idea of making things out of junk reminds me of a series from the late 1970's and 1980's that I can't remember the name of anymore, but was about a group of boys who built stuff, including a cool fort, out of junk in an uncle's junkyard. They solved crimes and such. Perhaps the familiarity of his synopsis was why it didn't strike a chord in me; it's a very 1960's vein of children's writing which has been done.

But back to taking out an ad in order to obtain an agent or a publisher; will it work? Is it just the audacious, daring thing that will land this guy a publishing deal or will it irritate publishers to no end?

Frankly, I don't know. How would I know?

I did read in a book by Noah Lukeman, a book about getting published, warnings to not surround a "pilot" manuscript with too much legal wrapping because editors had enough manuscripts to slog through and weren't interested in stealing every idea that came their way. In fact, he said, they looked for an excuse to reject a manuscript and being too paranoid or too pushy could be just the thing.

The other concerns I have is that letting it be known you have money and are willing to spend it might attract a not-so-honest publisher. There's plenty out there; I've written about a few on this blog. If you have money and are willing to spend it, I'm sure someone will publish your work. Also, Mr. Lewis may never know that his writing was the real thing; it may always be that he bought and paid for the publishing, waving money to attract someone to buy the book. His book may be published but he won't know that it was purely on merit and not a vanity publication, bought and paid for even though through a traditional publishing house. Of course, if all you want is to be published, maybe these finer points don't mean anything.

Again, I don't know. I'll just have to watch the shelves of the bookstores and see if Henry Sparks arrives on the shelves in the future. Who knows. Maybe Lewis' ploy will work. This blog post suggests editors aren't as vicious as Lukeman's book hints at.

Labels: marketing

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Idea Generator: Using your art and writing skills in the classroom.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

I only taught in the public school system for one year, but there was one thing I quickly learned: even the best teachers get worn out and often struggle for new ideas to bring excitement to the classroom. For this post, I've pulled together a few ideas I've come up with for just such a reason, some of which I've used in the classroom both as a teacher and during the many times I taught as a substitute teacher.

As always, leave comments if you have some ideas or thoughts you'd like to share with other readers.

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Publish your students' work: There are many ways, with the self-publishing bonanza on the internet, that you can publish the work (both written and drawn) of your students at no cost to you until the final book is purchased.

Visit Cafepress.com to see a number of products, including three different kinds of paperback books, calendars, blank journals and posters that you could put your students' work on. Lulu.com is another site that provides a great selection of book options, from comic book formats to full-color options. Give your high-school students the chance to be published before graduating! The nice thing about these online services is that it allows parents, grandparents and the school to purchase the books online. Simply linking to the page where the book can be purchased from the school web site makes the whole transaction no-fuss.

What a great opportunity to create a book at the end of the year, letting the students select their favorite writing and art. They could buy their own copy, or, at the very least, you could purchase a copy at cost and put it in your classroom library. Calendars would be a great way to highlight the student art and be a great gift for the students to give to a parent for Christmas or other occasion (rather than another craft item). Let the students create the cover for blank journals that they will use to write in the rest of the year. You could also make a large poster, using a photo of the class, listing this year's rules or goals underneath. This poster would be special to just that class, and could be used as a prize at the end of the year. Hold your own art contests and shows, with winning art entries going onto a shirt or poster.

Class web site: Using free or low-cost web hosting services, you can make a web site for your class where art and other work that is appropriate can be published online. (Note of caution: as always, keep internet safety in mind and do not reveal too much about your students that could place them in danger.)

This is a great way for parents to see what is going on in school, and for students to get involved and learn what publishing online is all about. Also, it makes a great incentive to do good work, as the whole world can view it! Click here for an article that talks about publishing online. Click here for a good checklist and set of guidelines one school uses to see that the work is suitable for online publishing; here's another page that has similar content. There are even web sites that specialize in publishing student work online, a great motivator for those students who love to write! Click here for a list of these kind of sites.

If you have a class newspaper (see below), the current edition could be available online.

Classroom newspaper: Consider reading or assigning the book The Landry News by Andrew Clements, and then starting a class newspaper. Students could take turns each month being the journalists working on the paper.

This project would be a great way to teach various writing skills, highlight spectacular art, and would help students learn how to observe, ask questions, find out facts and take an interest in what is going on around them. It's also a good way to help the summarize what they are currently learning in their own words. With desktop publishing software, digital cameras, laser printers and copy machines...a class newspaper is a very do-able idea! There's even a book on how to go about doing it.

Here are some sites with ideas to help in the creation of your own newspaper:

And don't forget, I have a nice (and ever-growing) selection of printable art project ideas on this site.

Labels: art life, marketing, writing

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Idea Generator: Gorilla marketing and beyond the jungle.

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Marketing yourself and your product or writing is tricky because there are people like me in the world: we hate advertising and obvious sales gimmicks. Not only do we ignore them, we lash out at those who would push them on us. It's easy to turn off clients and supporters if you abuse their trust by being too pushy or crass, bombard them with constant sales pitches.

Just ugh.

The fact remains, however, that you have to get yourself, and what you do, out there to the public. Sounds like a quandary, right? You have to dance around the fine line of giving your prospective customer just enough to leave them wanting more, no more no less. What you need are some creative ideas, and I have just a few to get you started. I'm one of those brainstormers who has, once a brainstorming session gets underway, a million ideas of which six are even realistic. However, they're sometimes a good six. So here's a few I came up with in a hurry.

As always, leave comments for other readers if you have ideas or actual success with unusual marketing plans and would be willing to share them.

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Faux newspaper: Print up (at minimal cost at a quick copy center like Kinkos) 11x17 papers folded to look like small newspapers, and place them around town. People have a tendency to snatch up these kinds of free publications. They should be designed to appear to be a free newsletter or indy publication, but don't be overly deceptive. Use your art and writing skills and give your readers some actual tips, news and ideas. The articles and images should be catchy, useful beyond simple ad copy, and cleverly worded to drive traffic to your web site and business. This is a great way to gain subscribers to your online newsletter, or paper newsletter, if you have such a thing. Be sure to include a coupon or contact information if you want readers to contact you.

Subscription Sales: The idea is the same as companies that offer "Dessert of the Month Club" or "Jelly of the Month Club" - except you offer art of the month, or maybe a story or serial novel each month, or card of the month... you get the idea. The length of the subscription would vary, as would the cost you charge (as long as shipping and product costs are met!). This might attract the "collector" personality, who wants the full set of what you make or who likes being part of an exclusive club. The idea could also be promoted as a great gift idea for your customers - 12 months of unique items for that special someone! Think of the anticipation it would build in a customer or reader: a product or story just for them. Don't forget, of course, to include a tie-in with your web site: "Visit our website to see related items of this new design" or "Read more from the second in this series" - something like that.

Labels: art life, marketing

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How do I prevent kleptos from stealing my images, ideas and soul?! (Part 4)

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

So you've put your art, your writing, your ideas, your soul out there on your web site. And five minutes later a woman in Tampa downloads your pictures, prints them out, and sends her new cards to her friends.

Of course this happens, although I have nothing against Tampa. I remember a rather humorous incident where, at an art fair, a woman approached me and gushed about how she loved my art work and how, just a few days ago, she downloaded and printed out my web site images and framed them.

"They look great on my wall!" she said, oblivious to what she was telling me.

"Of course they look good on your wall," I said. "The originals that I make my living selling usually end up on someone's wall."

She didn't take the hint.

I've seen some artists use a little bit of Java script that prevents the web site user from using the right-click option to copy, paste and print. However, that's a simple work-around fix that is easily...worked around. There are more ways to copy and paste than with a right click. Some websites truly do have a more sophisticated option for preventing all kinds of copy methods but if you're an artist or writer without a professional creating your web site, and are instead doing it on your own, you may not have the knowledge for this kind of coding.

The bad news? If you put it on the web, people will "borrow" it. For visual artists, however, you can at least put a faint watermark in the middle of your web images that say "(c) Your Name, www.yoursite.com" so that even people with Photoshop won't want to waste time trying to get your watermark out. Even if the image is downloaded, the true creator always travels with it and it certainly doesn't make such a nice wall-hanging with a watermark in the middle.

The other thing to remember for images on the web is to keep them around 72 dpi, and no larger than 96 dpi. Once you start hitting 100 dpi, your web page will load very slowly, for one thing. The other issue, which we're talking about, is that at 72 dpi the resulting printouts from your art are very limited and can't be enlarged.

For writers, well, I honestly don't know what you can do to protect your writing. With a simple CTRL P, anyone can print out a web page and get your words. Your best bet is to make sure every web page has a copyright notice and your name. This is important for visual artists as well. I even have my own copyright page which, I admit, is a bit obnoxious. However, I take copyrights seriously and so I have a serious copyright page.

Any other suggestions out there?

Labels: art life, marketing

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What, in the name of all that is good and holy, does and artist or writer need on their site? (Part 3)

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Glad you asked, but I'm not sure I've figured it out for myself yet.

Let's get the obvious things out of the way.

Contact information: Even if your some kind of curmudgeon, you need to let people know how to contact you. Make it easy and obvious to find on your website.
Mission statement/Resume: Let people know who you are and what you do so that they know you're not a charlatan. No one wants to commission work from someone they don't know, so help these "strangers" out by becoming less strange to them.
Your work: You need your art online if you're an artist, and some writing samples if you're a writer. I'm famous, unfortunately, for always being in a state of construction on my site. My art hasn't fully been online for two years now, which is unacceptable. Don't be me. Be better.

People who love you will visit your web site with little prodding, though they may pester you regular emails wondering when you're going to get some new content or art online. These folks you've already won over, so listen to their prodding. The people who don't email you are probably wondering the same thing, it's just that they aren't going to bother to come back after a few visits with no changes.

In other words, you must keep your website fresh, current and always full of new things. The easiest way to do this is with a blog, or web log, which I have many of. In fact, all of my galleries and shopping areas of this site use blogging software, so the technique is by no means limited to writers. There are many wonderful art blogs on the internet. By their ease of use, blogs help us update easily and often.

I would suggest a current events page, or a front page that announces special events you'll be part of. If you don't have any special events, for crying out loud, make them yourself! Set up your own public reading. Set up your own art show. Set up your own online auction for charity, or your own art class.

A newsletter, discussion board or other means of keeping in constant contact with your web site visitors is also a good idea, unless you send out horrible newsletters. You want to reward people for signing up, and not abuse their inboxes with a constant barrage of useless content. In a world of too much information, select what you share wisely. Make it worth their time, and make them want more. For artists, think of free projects. Most people love new ideas or projects. Give them some. Writers could share writing prompts or tips.

I have a page on my site where people can download art projects and lessons for free. I know I am attracted to a site that lets me get something just for visiting. You don't want to hoard or be stingy, even with your ideas. Reward people for stopping by, and give them instant gratification with something that can be downloaded and used. Artists could offer projects, like I have. Writers could create free journaling pages or creative writing lessons.

Though I am clearly biased for recommending these two sites as examples of excellence (because they are both close friends), I really do think they stand on their own. They inform, the give out freebies, they're chock-full of rewards and good stuff for web site visitors. Check them out, and be sure to add links to other sites that you think are good examples (and tell us why, of course).

Sarah Regan Snavely - Artist
Corrine Kenner - Author

Check out this article by Kim Cole on web sites for authors. It will give you some helpful tips on what to have.

::Part 4: How do I prevent kleptos from stealing my images, ideas and soul?!::

Labels: art life, marketing

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Web pages that suck: How to make a bad web page. (Part 2)

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Our last post talked about avoiding bad web pages and some cautionary design considerations to look out for. If you insist on creating a bad web page anyway, this post will tell you exactly what you need to do to drive your customers and readers away in droves.

Center everything on your page.
Make your page so wide that your visitors have to scroll horizontally to read everything. (Though this is tricky since you can't control the settings on your visitor's computer.)
Tell your visitors how your web site is best viewed, expecting them to change their computer's settings each time they visit your site.
Pack your site with high resolution images and lots of sound files or other slow-loading gimmicks so your visitors have to sit for a week for your page to fully load. You can even help them out by flashing a "loading" graphic so they know they have to wait.
Have irritating or severly busy background imagery and/or music.
Use lots of different colored fonts, and lots of different fonts.
Set up confusing navigation that isn't standard throughout the entire site.
Have each page look different from all the others because its more fun to do lots of different designs even though it may confuse your visitors into wondering if they are still on your original site.
Use lots of java scripts, cursor trails, animated gifs, scrolling text boxes, cookies, blinking text links, page transitions and flash anything.
Use lots of horizontal dividers because you think they work great as an organizing tool.
Make bottomless pages that scroll forever and have no "back to top" links.
Forget about the concepts of value and tone when using color, and put bright red text on bright blue backgrounds so your visitor's hearts stop right there and they die while trying to read from your wite.

Think about it.

If you are an artist, and your website is ugly, your customer is going to think "This has to be the world's worst site, and hence, this must be a terrible artist." Though this connection would seem obvious, you would not believe how many times I've gone to the website of an artist and found it so awful that I am appalled and think "Gee, of all people, you'd think artists would have a sense of design...." and then I move onto another site.

Remember:

People on the web don't have patience (won't wait more than 15 seconds for a page to download).
People on the web are easily distracted (one hyperlink away from leaving you behind)
People on the web have become jaded (gimmicks no longer cool, just immensely irritating unless your visitor is a 13 year old boy).
People on the web are sophisticated (they know what a good site looks like and will not tolerate your rainbow font and "America the Beautiful" background music while trying to take you seriously as an artist).

Your goal isn't to anger and turn away your viewer! Convince them before they've even seen your work that, just by looking at your site, you are an artist and writer to be reckoned with.

Unless, of course, you really want to make a bad site. Then go to it. Because hey. I could use a good laugh.

::Part 3: What, in the name of all that is good and holy, does an artist or writer need on their site?::

Labels: art life, internet, marketing

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Web pages that suck: Don't let yours be one. (Part 1)

written by Julie R. Neidlinger 0 comments link this post

Not everyone needs a website. Small beauty salons, for instance, really don't. The most they can do is offer you a coupon or scare you with photos (this site does both nicely). But artists and writers?

You need a web site. Trust me. It's the best portfolio you can have, plus a good site will give you the opportunity to build your client or readership base with newsletters and repeated visits.

However, if you build a bad website with poor design, particularly if you are calling yourself an artist, you'll turn away a higher number and quality of clientele. This post is the first in a series addressing web sites for artists and writers. I encourage you to comment with further ideas or suggestions, particularly from you veteran artists and writers who have had a web site for a while.

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One of my favorite sites on web site design is Vincent Flanders "Web Pages That Suck." His listing of top web design mistakes of 2004 is loaded with not only humor but some great information on what to avoid and what to think about when making your web site. The top mistakes made by web designers for 2004 are:

Believing that people care about you and your web site.
A man from Mars can't figure what your website is about in less than four

SECTIONS

TODAY'S HEADLINES

TOPICS

LINKS

Success with Etsy.

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Internet business success: No free lunch. Really.

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Artists and web sites.

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Google Checkout.

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Marketing art.

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Click and shift economy.

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Tooting your own horn when it's out of tune.

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Idea Generator: Using your art and writing skills in the classroom.

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Idea Generator: Gorilla marketing and beyond the jungle.

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How do I prevent kleptos from stealing my images, ideas and soul?! (Part 4)

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What, in the name of all that is good and holy, does and artist or writer need on their site? (Part 3)

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Web pages that suck: How to make a bad web page. (Part 2)

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Web pages that suck: Don't let yours be one. (Part 1)