All Things Metal Clay
An Expert Guide

Do you like reading stories of people reaching their dreams? There’s a cool one in this week’s Chicago Reader. Read it here.

Do you ever watch HGTV?

And see how people tell the interior designer, “Well, I like stuff that’s modern (or traditional or whatever), but not too modern. And I hate blue and I really don’t know what I want in this room, except it’s boring now…”

And then the designer creates something fabulous that is exactly what the couple wanted, but didn’t know they wanted it?

That, I was thinking today, is exactly what my website designers do for me. They pull out of me what I want the site(s) to look like, and make it better than I would make it if I were trying to do it myself.

That’s the value of using professional designers.

As self-employed business owners, we can get into the habit of trying to do everything ourselves. I hold that you can’t do everything, that you must choose.

What do you choose to do? What do you hire other experts to do for you? Post a comment! Thanks!

It’s the first give away on the blog!

I just got my review copy of Bounce! by Barry Moltz yesterday and I’m almost done reading it. I like it. (review coming soon.)

Read Barry’s blog here. I especially like the rants.

I found out about Barry’s book on Liz Strauss’s Successful Blog, check it out here.

The book hits stores January 28th.

To enter to win a brand new, hardcover copy of Bounce!, post a comment. A winner will be chosen at random from the comments!

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(Part II of a series on blogging for jewelers and artists.)

What is your goal?

Since you’re writing for free, and you could get paid to write, why do it?

Well, to drive traffic to your site and sell more jewelry,

OR

to raise your profile as a professional and get your name “out there.”

Elaine’s Rules for Blogging:

1. No white text on a black background. If I go to your site and you have white text I will leave. And I have a big monitor. It hurts my eyes, period, and I’m saving my eyes for jewelry making.

2. You must self-host your blog. You may start out on Blogger if you must, but then you must move to self-hosting your blog. Why? Because if you don’t, you won’t be taken seriously. And you should own your content and own your site, you just should. Start off right from the beginning.

3. Use Word Press for your software. It’s the best, trust me.

4. No pictures of you with your pet. No pictures of your pet, period, unless you make products for pets and they are modeling. No other exceptions. Same goes for your kids. Others may disagree, but if this is a professional blog, then keep it professional. If you want a mommy blog, get a mommy blog. You may put that one on Blogger.

5. Read the meta blogs, the blogs about blogging. Keep learning.

6. Use social media to spread the word about your blog.

What are people interested in reading about? What readers do you want to attract?

You, I assume, want to attract people who buy handcrafted jewelry.

So, what do you your readers, your customers want to read about?

Sample blog:

http://luannudell.wordpress.com

I love Luann’s blog, it’s tightly, tightly focused. She’s opinionated, but that’s okay, because it’s on topic. She keeps it impersonal. If she mentions something about her personal life, it’s as an analogy for something, there’s a point to it.

Hers is one of the blogs in my Google Reader. I like it even though she uses hardly any pictures, I think she should use more.

Okay, so for you, the artist blogger:

I would suggest you read a ton of artist’s blogs, specifically jewelers, there are some on my links page.

Use your new blog to do this:

- talk about what you’re making, see the Happy Day Art blog for a good example.

- talk about what shows you’re doing — scan and post the post cards.

- decide how often to post and then do it. At least three times a week.

Things like that. Every post you do should be focused on this:

- promoting the image of YOU, Jewelry Artist Extraordinaire

- giving your future customers a chance to peak inside the YOU art experience. Because that’s what buyers of handcrafted jewelry are buying.

Your blog should build your brand.

Whew what a lecture! Ask me questions!

(For more sample blogs, check out my Links section; if you’d like to read about blogs I’ve highlighted and why do a search on “Blog of the Week.”)

Be sure to read the comments for some great info. from other artist bloggers!

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Here’s the start of a series on blogging for artists and jewelers.

I thought I’d start by telling you why I have a blog. It started as an idea to drive more traffic to my main website, www.CreativeTextureTools.com. Then it sort of grew and grew and took on a life of its own.

Now I continue the blog because it’s fun, it’s a great networking tool for me and it also helps people find my tools site.

I could share some of this information that I post on the blog right on the website, but there are advantages to using the blog platform. It’s easier to publish on a blog, for one, and it’s something that people can handle even they are not super tech-savvy.

Another benefit of using a blog to publish is that it’s a more informal way to publish, and it’s a two way conversation.

And, you can take advantage of blogging search sites to let the world know that you have a new post.

So why would you want to have a blog, as an artist or jeweler?

This is the most important question for you to answer. Why do you want a blog, if you do? What do you want it to accomplish for you? You must answer this question before you commit to taking on a blog.

More on this tomorrow…

In the meantime, check out some of the artist and jeweler blogs in the Links section, above.