That’s a fair point, Alyson. Although, I don’t think blogging has to require a lot of writing. You can take a microblog approach and weight it more towards the visual. But you’re right, it’s not for everyone–especially if self-hosted blogging, which requires quite a bit of technical knowledge.

I just wish more artists blogged, that’s all. There are so many benefits to it.

Glad you found this, Chris! I don’t think blogging is for everyone. Some artists just won’t do the writing. That’s okay. I love that there are options.

“I have a sense that many people are beginning to tire of social media and may turn to blogs again. Certainly lots of good bloggers have continued to blog and to show that good SEO and an authentic blogging voice are not mutually exclusive.”

Love this. Let the blogging renaissance begin!

I wish more artists would blog too. It’s such a flexible format and seems well suited to a wide range of approaches.

Admittedly, it’s a lot slower going building a blog audience now than it used to be, say, 10 years ago, but the same can probably be said about social networks–not to mention the diminishing returns of spending your time there, and the precarious nature of hosting all your stuff on someone else’s platform.

Come on, artists. Forget about Instagram. Fire your blogs up again!

I’ve been blogging and creating websites for years. In the beginning; the idea was to share my love for the topics on the sites, help promote the creative endeavors of others and share my own work – and to generate some income from each of them. At the moment, they are my primary source of income. Most are arts and crafts related, some are not.

As I am preparing to transition from part-time crafter to full-time artist, I wonder if my past endeavors could undermine my new ones.

When I look at sites like Lisa’s, I see the journey of an artist. Like many artist websites and blogs I’ve looked at recently; I don’t see a lot of what you can currently find on my sites. i.e. There’s no tutorials on something like making a quilted pillowcase or simple Christmas ornament. There’s no tutorials on an experiment with embroidery or free embroidery patterns. There’s no creative and crafty but totally unrelated-to-quilting project tutorials and ideas.

Currently, a search for my name will lead you to my free patterns and a number of non-craft/art related websites; including a semi- abandoned business services website.

Am I overthinking things here? Or, do I need to work on upgrading my online image to remove those less sophisticated projects? Do I try to brand my art under a separate pseudonym or business name? Or do I embrace them as all being part of my journey and try to somehow package them as part of a wider skill set and personal interests?

Thanks for listening, Cherry. You’re an excellent writer, so I’m happy this spoke to you. As I may have said in the episode (I can’t remember!) I believe that you write for yourself and that collectors are interested in the same thing that artists are interested in. They’re interested in your life as an artist.

So much of what she said totally resonated with me having also blogged for an inordinate amount of years (!), although not all on one site, and gone through lots of similar experiences – including having to rebuild my SEO due to domain issues – and editing a ton of old posts. (I bet there were some SEO experts out there having apoplexy at the idea of Lisa deleting those posts!)

But more than anything I resonated with Lisa’s dilemma’s about writing for collectors or writing for other artists, whether to split that onto different sites, how to avoid your blog morphing into a sales page, and how all that dovetails (or not) with social media.

Blogging has changed so much over the years and I’ve struggled with all these issues and continue to do so. All my SEO work is finally having an effect and my blog traffic is starting to climb again – although I don’t blog as regularly now due, like Lisa, to other writing commitments.

So once again I find myself revisiting the ideas behind why I like to write, why I want to get away from the idea of my website as a ‘sales vehicle’ and get back to writing because I enjoy it, I want to connect with others and because, also like Lisa, it helps me learn about myself in relation to my art and hopefully helps others to do the same.

I have a sense that many people are beginning to tire of social media and may turn to blogs again. Certainly lots of good bloggers have continued to blog and to show that good SEO and an authentic blogging voice are not mutually exclusive.

Thanks to you both for a really stimulating listen!

Bharti: You are fortunate to have the support of people who “get” you.

Thanks for listening, Dr.

I love this for you, Linda!