Member blogs

[tommymerle]

I've been keeping a blog for a while now. I have found it most helpful in keeping my clients informed of the progress on their project. I do find occasional traffic to the site from people I assume are looking at how I do mold making etc.

Any others out there blogging? And how are you using it.

here is a link to mine, http://tomchristiansen.blogspot.com/

[GlennT]

I don't blog, text, twitter, or tweet, unless I've ate too many beans.

[evaldart]

Interesting Tommy. Could such a thing work also in place of a website (feature picture galleries, bio, statements etc)?
My website needs some serious updating, and thats expensive...for something that I am not even able to update myself.

[obseq]

Originally Posted by evaldart

Interesting Tommy. Could such a thing work also in place of a website (feature picture galleries, bio, statements etc)?
My website needs some serious updating, and thats expensive...for something that I am not even able to update myself.

If you need someone to update your site and maintain the same general layout, it shouldn't cost too much at all...
Alternately, something like livebooks.edu is a good option if you want to be hands-off and still want something that looks great. Not exactly cheap, but for some, it's worthwhile.

[hzjhds]

Originally Posted by GlennT

I don't blog, text, twitter, or tweet, unless I've ate too many beans.

Yes, there too much noise on net but sometimes there is somehing interesting on it too

[rika]

E, take a look at wordpress.com, it's user friendly. It's not only good for blogging, it also offers web hosting for a premium. You can choose your own features such as domain name, customizable page designs, uploading/updating is easy, you can also upload vids and embed your blog.

http://en.support.wordpress.com/introduction/

here's the cost of premium features,upgrades:

http://en.support.wordpress.com/upgrades/

You could try it out first with a free blog, see if you like it (as with everything, there is a learning curve), and take it from there.

Here's a blogger friend's site, with a link to his blog if you scroll down to Heliopoli. I really like that cross-reference from site to blog, blog to site.
http://adamcorbinfusco.com/

[tommymerle]

Originally Posted by evaldart

Interesting Tommy. Could such a thing work also in place of a website (feature picture galleries, bio, statements etc)?
My website needs some serious updating, and thats expensive...for something that I am not even able to update myself.

I'm learning , slowly, about this internet utilization business. What a couple experts have told me is a blog will get more attention if you are updating it regularly. The search engines value new material more than information that has been around for a while. So, updating a blog frequently keeps you at the top of the heap on searches. If I had to to it over again now I would not bother with a website and just do the blog thing. It's free and easy and manageable by yourself if you have but rudimentary skills. Probably the most important thing is a digital camera and something to say.

[tobias]

Tommy I switched to a blog based web site last year. It's a template I got from word press. It's very easy to update and post articles on it. I find that I get more traffic to it if I post a new article. Mostly I post how I did its and this is what is going on type of stuff.
E its not difficult to figure these things out. My biggest problem is that I don't post often enough and have to figure it out every time I go to update. Lol.
Really the web it just an online portfolio any ways.

[evaldart]

But as far as the URL tag, how would folks find YOU, Do all those little code ltetters and numbers have to appear or could I simply call it evaldblog.com?

[rika]

If you use the free version, it would be evaldblog.wordpress.com or the same with blogspot. With the paid version you can go with any domain name that is not yet taken.

[mantrid]

The most important thing is good SEO for giving good rankings on search engine. I dont think blogs are any good for this. I cant ever remembering seeing a blog in any search results I have done. If you are serious about selling your works online you really need a website with good SEO.

I recommend statcounter.com for seeing who is visiting your site and what they do when they are on it. It even tells you which search engine they used to find you, what search words/terms they used to find you (most important thing for SEO), and very useful, where you ranked in their search results

[evaldart]

I think I would enjoy being the proprietor and eternal subject of a blog. Of course, I would have to assign the scribbling me to that upkeep, lest the sculpting me become vengefully bored and smash up everything on the desk.

[tommymerle]

Originally Posted by mantrid

The most important thing is good SEO for giving good rankings on search engine. I dont think blogs are any good for this. I cant ever remembering seeing a blog in any search results I have done. If you are serious about selling your works online you really need a website with good SEO.

I recommend statcounter.com for seeing who is visiting your site and what they do when they are on it. It even tells you which search engine they used to find you, what search words/terms they used to find you (most important thing for SEO), and very useful, where you ranked in their search results

I think SEO means Search Engine Optimization? Anyway I tried a google search on myself (I know, ego ho'), tom christiansen sculpture. The first Tom Christiansen that turned up was James Christenson (note spelling difference) but that was a site that is paying to be at the top of the list. Next came 2 websites that are for my business, tcsculpture.com and lastchancefab.com. Most surprising the next 2 were from Facebook (which I post to when I update the blog). Then came the site of a radio station with an interview they did of me, then 2 links to my blog.
The lesson in this, thanks to your post, I better update the web sites and also keep referring back and forth between the different sites.

[mantrid]

You miss understand how search engines work. Anyone who types into a search engine 'tom christiansen sculpture' already knows you and what you do and would probably have already visited your site. When you use that search phrase, yes you will be at the top of the list as there are probably not many tom christiansens who sculpt and have a website.

You will be wanting to attract new customers and clients, they dont know you so the trick is to be on the top of the list for search terms that potential new customers will use. This is where your SEO comes in in order to push you up the list. Unless you do something very specific like sculpt with an unusual medium or have very specific subject matter you are competing with millions of other sculptors. You use clay but unfortuntely so do millions of others.

If I wanted a clay sculpture I would use the search terms 'clay sculpture' when I type this I cant see your website listed, because of course there are millions of them and the chances of yours being on the top are like winning the lottery. You have to focus on a smaller market to slim down the list. eg your SEO could be designed around the search words ,'clay sculpture USA minnisota figurative, contemporay, abstract etc'. Doing this wont affect you listing position for people searching for clay sculpture but it will ensure you are top of the list for a minnisotan looking for a local sculptor and put you higher up the list for people looking for a US sculptor.
If you type 'minnisota clay sculptor' I still cant find you so you need to work on your SEO
Not addressing your SEO is like having a shop with no sign outside, lights out, windows boarded up on a street in the middle of nowhere, the only customers you will get are those who already know of your existence

[tommymerle]

Got it! Looks like I'm in for some late night learning or asking a 12 year old for help.