Image from DMahendra
What will you do in 2010? How will you grow your art business?
The Holidays, especially the lull right after Christmas, are a great time to sit back and reflect on what you will do to grow your business. What has worked and what has not.
What has not worked at The Abundant Artist
Trying to be all things to all people. This site has received a lot of attention from painters. Even though I knew that, I have continued trying to produce content for painters, sculptors, actors, and lots of other people. Every time I start trying to focus on content for people besides painters, my traffic drops like a brick.
Being “Salesy.” I went to a couple of marketing conferences this year and got really excited about some of the things that I was learning. One of the mistakes that I made was turning this site’s home page into a long-form sales letter. People stopped signing up for the newsletter and they stopped reading the blog. Oops. Got it folks. Made that change.
What has worked at The Abundant Artist
Listening and engaging. As I follow my traffic and see what people are interested in reading, I am discovering that painters and craft artists are especially interested in looking for ways to create more income and grow their businesses. About 48% of all of the traffic to this site is from referrals sources – Facebook, Twitter, and other blogs linking to this site. As I interact with people across the Web, it builds momentum.
Packaging. I’ve been offering consultations on how to grow an art business online, but it wasn’t until I changed from offering consulting rates on the site to offering a package like the Internet Marketing for Artists (IM4A) Group Project. For individuals I also began offering individual consultation packages that include a complete review of your Web activities and recommendations for your business going forward – IM4A Quick Start Package.
Teleseminars. I held the first Abundant Artist teleseminar in November, and it went off really well. We had a whole bunch of artists tune in to listen to the five things that every artist needs to sell art online. You can listen to the recording here.
My plan for the New Year:
Engage more. By nature I want to connect with all of you more. It’s what I do. I want to find out how you build your businesses and how I can help. I know that most of you would rather be in the studio – I’m thinking that I can help you with that.
More content. How to build Web sites on your own, how to get more traffic to your site, how to use social media, and so much more. Come back here to learn how to do it!
Group Coaching sessions. I can’t take the time to reach out to all of you, but I can offer more group coaching sessions (next one starting on January 12, 2010), as well as a possible advanced group coaching session later in the year. The IM4A Project group coaching sessions cover how to position your marketing, Web sites, email marketing, social media, and other marketing tactics.
Surprises. From time to time I’ll be offering special promotions on coaching sessions, Web site offers, and other neat things. Check back or sign up for the mailing list to find out more.
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