And you are STILL wrong, Mel

> In fact, it IS a waste of time. If someone's looking for your website,
> they search by name. If I put my art online (which I don't), you would
> search for "Mel White" and after finding that there are at least
> 500 people online named "Mel White" you'd search for "Mel
> White" and art. Or you'd search for one of my comic books by title.
> You make sure the site is findable, but don't pay and go through the
> stress of getting it to the top of the heap because it still won't pay you
> back by generating that much more in sales.

SEO is NOT a waste of time. You assume that people have websites just for the customers that know them already and know their site's domain name/URL. SEO is not for that. SEO is for finding NEW customers. NEW. What a concept, huh?

You're just beating around the bush, now. Sure, if you are creating million dollar masterpieces here you probably aren;t going to do much SEO. What we are talking about here is stained glass art which can also be classified as crafts. BIG difference. Why would Carla not want people who are looking for stained glass crafts but do not know of Carla or her site to NOT find her site?

> Remember, I'm speaking from experience as an artist and a member of a
> community of artists. We've done this. We've been there. Drew the t-shirt.

That's nice and all, Mel, but the fact of the matter is, just because you've been there does not mean you know exactly what you are talking about. And in this case, you do not.

> People buy art in ways different than they buy information products. Art
> is a matter of taste as well as an impulse buy. Your site could be numero
> uno for all categories and specific categories and that won't mean your
> target audience will find it. They buy on size (numbers don't mean much to
> folks, but "gosh that's about the right size for my bathroom
> wall" does mean something) and color (which is different on Macs and
> on PCs) as well.

Again, you are confusing expensive pieces of art with non-expensive arts and crafts. Arts and crafts are just another product, just like any home decor item. And people do in fact search the web for home decor and this is what I have seen on Carla's site (from just a quick glance).

> Having a good set of tags and titles on your images so that people can see
> them on a search in Google images is worth taking the time on. Optimizing
> for pottery and checking every week to make sure you come up at the top of
> the heap or in the top 100 is not.

Sure it is and that is all part of the internet marketing process more or less.

> Remember, I'm speaking as an artist and as one of the officers of an
> international artists' organization, ASFA.

Again, that does not mean you are right or that you know what you're talking about in this instance.

> Blog is better, and blogs have the advantage of (if you put them on a
> large blogsite) crosslinking with other artist blogs. This is generally
> how people find new artists in the most efficient manner (since the people
> who like their art will often like the same art that they like.)

If you know anything about SEO, you'd know that blogs are part of the SEO process (for now, at least) and SEO is definitely a part of internet marketing.

> Taking advantage of the blogsphere and putting comments in other artists'
> blogs (particularly people who show up at the same shows that you do) is
> an extremely effective method and not very time-consuming. So you're
> targeting at no cost and for little effort people who are likely to have
> an interest in your art. If they like your style, they'll check your blog
> daily to see what's going on and where you're going to be and will comment
> on rough sketches and so forth. And they will put up with 2-line blog
> messages, a picture or two, and an irregular schedule in a blog.

Again, you are talking about internet marketing.

> Newsletters stuffed with images aren't welcome in many email inboxes and
> are likely to be nuked. Diary-style newsletters don't get read. We know
> this because artists have tried it (even prolific writers like my friend
> Maggie) and it simply doesn't work. In fact, it's been tried as a co-op
> effort. Doesn't work.

You have narrow mind. Newlestters can come in all shapes and sizes and can serve different purposes for different markets.

> Newsletters will work as long as you have a source of income supporting
> you and an aide who works for you for free and devotes their complete
> workday efforts to marketing and promoting you. This is the reason that
> artist Real Musgrave (a friend who does the Pocket Dragons) is so
> successful -- his wife, Muff, is a one-woman marketing tour-de-force who
> devotes her entire day to getting his product to shows, dealing with
> vendors, dealing with resale, packaging, producing newsletters, and so
> forth.

> But that means someone devoting their entire life to promoting your art.

> Yes. Completely. You spend less, in fact, on a good set of business cards
> with a tiny picture on it (I've done this) and put those cards in a little
> holder on your art show panel. You will get MORE clicks and more business
> from those cards (it's been tried, believe me) than you will from paying
> for clicks.

Again, you speak of internet marketing. Exactly my point. No one ever said that internet marketing is only done online. In fact, internet marketing must also be done offline, especially for some businesses. Some more than others, some less than others.

> Which is done most effectively offline for artists. Not online.

Again, just what I said. But it all depends what kind of "art" you are talking about. Arts and crafts that are classified as home decor pieces are definitely something that people buy online and definitely something one could, therefore, sell online and market online as well as offline.

I really don't know why you insist on labeling ALL art the same way. It really isn't. And as such, all of it is not marketed or bought in the same manner.

Take a look at Carla's site. Look at some of the stuff she makes. It can be classified as home decor and therefore there is a ready and waiting market out there to buy it, even from a website. If marketed correctly to them. Which requires internet marketing, online or offline.