January 9, 2006

Blog. Blog. Blog. Blog. Blog. Blogging. Blogger. Blogosphere.

What does it all mean?

I've been working with my Web guru on establishing categories for the newsletter Art Marketing Action archives. One of the categories is "Web Sites, Blogs, and Technology for Artists." Sadly, there are only two articles in it. I'm going to try to rectify that. Why? Because technology isn't going away. Ignore it at your peril, but I'm going to do everything I can to bring my readers into the 21st century--kicking and screaming, if necessary.

"Blog" is short for "weblog." Blogs consist of regular journal entries, photos, audio and video clips, links, etc. They have everything a traditional Web site has and more. Quickly and easily created with automated templates, blogs allow readers to leave comments and interact. (Not all blogs turn this feature on.) Because of this, they are far more interactive than Web sites. This creates a potential for more activity and, therefore, better search-engine placement. Notice I said "potential." You still have to promote your blog just as you do your work or your Web site.

Ding, ding, ding! Chimes should be going off in your head right about now.
Better search-engine placement = bigger audience = more art sales.

Blogs are usually created to focus on a specific topic. As with any marketing device, the narrower your topic, the easier it is to find an audience. This isn't so different from artists who create a niche market for their art. A blog allows you to keep in touch on a regular basis with your audience. Artists can distribute news, updates, and photos without having to rely on traditional media.

People who have blogs and use blogs are called "bloggers." It's up to the owner of the blog to create the content and topics of discussion. A blog differs from a newsgroup or discussion list in that the comments are not distributed to an entire list, but are left on the blog with the original posting. This makes it easy to find all responses to a particular topic.

The "blogosphere" is the interconnected virtual world where bloggers post, comment, and track other blogs.

To find out more about blogging and what you're missing, visit the
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blog