Art Marketing Buzz » Resources

Art Marketing: 5 Days 5 Tips, Number One

Tim ONeill — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 14:24:59 +0000

Art Marketing, Five Days of SEO Tips

Following are some cool tools to help get some traffic to your blog. They are for WordPress users. The first tip can make a huge difference in getting organic search engine traffic. In marketing your art more eyeballs viewing portrait art, abstract piece or latest oil painting will translate to more sales. So here we go.

1) XML Sitemap Generator

What is a sitemap and how does it help me with art marketing? Sitemaps are one of the best ways for webmasters to let a search engines know there are pages on their sites available for crawling. Basically, a Sitemap is an XML file. That file will list the URLs and some metadata about each URL. The metadata may include when the site it was last updated, the URL’s relevancy to the rest of the site and how often the site changes. This information helps the crawl the site more efficiently and intelligently.

The way pages are located by the web crawlers is by referral. New pages are discovered from links within the site and from links in other sites.

The XML site plugin generates a dynamic site from each blog post which facilitates a faster crawl rate from the major search engines

Features: These are copied from the XML Generator Site

Available in many languages
Generates automatically a sitemap for all types of WordPress pages
Calculates a priority for each post, based on the number of comments
Notifies Ask.com, Google, Bing and YAHOO about changes via ping
Includes a WordPress filter for other plugins which can add their pages to the sitemap
Generates a static XML file as well as a zipped version

Download Here

Guido Daniele-Hand Paintings

Tim ONeill — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 15:26:05 +0000

I am sure most of the readers here have seen the amazing art of Italian Artist Guido Daniele. You can see more of his art at his site Guido Daniele dot com.

Digital Paint Magazine Now Published

Tim ONeill — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 23:51:56 +0000

My friend and colleague, John Derry and I recently launched a virtual magazine that is aimed at the Digital Arts. It is called Digital Paint Magazine.

The 2nd issue will be out next Monday. I wanted to give readers here a heads up about a few things going on over there.

First, there is a podcast that we also have linked to the digital paint magazne site called Digital Paint Radio, it is a new podcast show. We also have an area for classifieds called of course digital paint classifieds. They are free, well kind of, the only requirement is a link from your site to the digital paint magazine site. Thats it.

Finally I have a really fun series going on the digital paint magazine blog about SEO.

So check it out and let us know what you think. We are anxious to hear.

Below is the initial podcast.

Listen to this episode

Gallery Wraps for your Fine Art

Tim ONeill — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:10:12 +0000

I love the presentation of a piece that is gallery wrapped. Wraps may not be the proper scenario in many cases but…for taking things on the road for street fairs and other venues like that, I think they are great.

Some of the great things about gallery wraps for me as an artist are;

1-They save me money when I am putting together a show. High quality framing is expensive.

2-They save me time, time in production, packing and unpacking.

3-I can easily protect my paintings. Custom made boxes are very inexpensive and I dont have to worry about glass.

4-A nicely wrapped canvas presents a “neutral” piece and keeps the focus on my work.

Obviously there are some challenges as well. I can hear the moans, groans and gnashing of teeth. You really have to cater your presentation to the location and the show. I am not thinking that a show made up of 50,000 dollar pieces, and hosted in an Antebellum home would be the proper place for a gallery wrap. On the other hand a high end show in a contemporary home a gallery wrap will work great.

Another thing to point out is that you don’t have the opportunity to make a back-end sell on a nice frame. If you have developed or want to develop a nice back-end income framing is one way to do it. I personally work with a professional framer for my clients. I know I leave some money on the table doing that but…I don’t like to frame, I would rather paint.

So for my work, most of the time a gallery wrap is good for an initial presentation. Even if you don’t want to use wraps for your large upper end pieces you might consider using them for smaller less expensive pieces or even for a print series.

So if you are interested in a very cool inexpensive way to wrap your images, check out Hahnemuhle Fine Art. They have been a favorite of mine for the high-end paper for some time. This new system for putting together canvas wraps is awesome.

Here is a video from Hahnemuhle’s PR office. This original video didn’t have sound. Kari from PR informed me a new video will be out in September.

You can get this wrap system from your local art supplie shop or you can contact Hahnemuhle Fine Art directly for the nearest vendor.

Be A Part of Art Marketing Buzz

Tim ONeill — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:54:55 +0000

Are you one of those folks that come across stories or articles that likes to share that knowledge with others? If you are why not consider submitting your article or musings for publication on the Art Marketing Buzz website?

If you have been a reader for any length of time you will kind of know the format of what we publish. Advice or information that may help artist in the areas of marketing, business, creativity….. you get the drift.

You have heard me talk about the most popular and ever present WIIFM (what’s in it for me). Well in answer to that, your article will be permanently archived on the site and also will be viewed by a ton of people. We will ad your link which will give you those all important backlinks the search engine spiders love so much. You can potentially pick up some readers for your blog or site….maybe even find a new raving fan for your artwork.

If you have any interest shoot the article to tim@artmarketingbuzz.com.

Portrait Lighting Workshop Jan 24, 2009

Tim ONeill — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:33:19 +0000

Here is a short workshop presented by myself, Randy and Brett Hampton. We have a blast with this. It is short, informative and inexpensive.

Dear Digital Photographers,

NEW WORKSHOP SCHEDULED

PORTRAIT LIGHTING AND REALLY AWESOME WORKFLOW (RAW)

JANUARY 24, 2009 FROM 10 am TO 8 pm

This 1-day workshop will give you the opportunity to work’ hands on’ with studio and location lighting equipment. You will learn posing and lighting techniques to improve your shooting skills. There will also be a workflow session that will cover shooting in RAW file format for ultimate quality control. You will also learn tips and tricks of editing with Lightroom and PhotoShop.

Please go to www.digitalcameraworkshop.net click on the Portrait link for complete details and registration information.

Portrait Posing and Lighting Workshop Outline

Session one 10AM to 4:30 PM
THE POWER OF CORRECT EXPOSURE
•    f/stop and shutter speed selection with manual exposure mode
•    using a flash meter to set light intensity
•    exposure target use for color control in post processing
THE WORKING STUDIO, LIGHTING AND POSING
•    lighting with main, fill, background and hair lights
•    umbrella vs. softbox
•    background selection
•    exposure control for a white background
•    reflectors and light modifiers
•    using window light

Session two 5:00 to 8:00 PM
REALLY AWESOME WORKFLOW – RAW
•    Shooting RAW – a recipe for success
•    Lightroom and Photoshop production
•    Using actions and other editing tools
•    Photographic painting demo
Lunch served at 12:30 and dinner at 5:00 PM
Two photo studios on site for student use
Students supply their camera gear and laptop.

Questions: call Randy at 402-423-8992
Nebraska 4H center.

http://www.digitalcameraworkshop.net/Portrait.html

Wacom tablet tuts

Tim ONeill — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 02:58:24 +0000

http://guides.macrumors.com/Setting_Up_A_Wacom_Tablet_Tutorial
http://fox-orian.deviantart.com/art/Wacom-Photoshop-Painter-Guide-85536306 http://www.wacom.com/tips/photoshop.cfm

Buffalo Bill Artist Rendezvous Call for Entries

Tim ONeill — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 15:09:20 +0000

This is an event that will bring your Art to a new level. What is an Artist Rendezvous? Well the Buffalo Bills Artist Rendezvous is in North Platte, NE. This event is put together to bring Western Artists together with Western models. The artist and actors/models work together to organize scenarios for photographing, those images then are used as resource material for the artist. This event is in during the week of NebraskalandDays, which is a celebration of Nebraska’s western heritage. June 20-22, 2009. This is a unique opportunity to meet high-end professional artist working in the western genre. Care is taken to limit the number of artist to 50 to ensure a specific market is not flooded with the same model/location/scenarios. Artist and models are on an invitation only basis.

Artist work directly with the actors/models to create the scenario they have in mind. The event is 250.00 for artist if they sign up by January 31, 2009. After that the entry fee goes to 300.00. That covers the three days of opportunity to work with the actors. The actors are paid by the artist who work with them. So each model will makea different amount of money. A person who has a unique look or regalia may be utilized more than someone else. For Artist bugeting purposes generally artist spend 2000.00-3000.00 in the weekend in tips. A good rule of thumb is $1 a minute forthe actors time. If the model or actor has equine or another animal then it may be 2$ a minute. It really works nicely. It may sound like a bunch of money to some but you are getting access to a model in period western gear, If you work with that model for 15 minutes it will only cost you 15-30 bucks. Oh and also this particular event is held at Buffalo Bill State Park in North Platte. We will ahve access to the barn, cabin and house for images. We also have 240 acres next door with 3/4 of a mile riverfront that we will utilize, and finally we will be able to access the Historical museum grounds where there are over 20 buildings to be used. As an additional benefit there is also an established art show that artist can jury into to make good use of time and travel expenses. The Nebraskaland Days Governors Art show is at the Qualty Inn and Suites Sandhills Convention Center. The art show is a separate event not associated with the rendezvous. We are working together though to make a better opportunity for artists. The participation fee for the Governors Art show is only 100.00 and includes a 16′x4′ space to display your work, admission to an Artist’s reception and Buffalo Bill Rodeo on Thursday, June 18 and a buyers reception on Friday June 19. Their will also be a 25% commission for any sale or commissioned work arranged during the show.

The artists and models will be invited by a jury process. If you have interest in application please contact Tim ONeill at topimages@msn.com. or 308-520-6512. You also can view the blog at http://www.buffalobillartistrendezvous.com/