New Website!
Artists are very good at procrastinating
It’s taken me well over a year to get round to re-doing my website. I always forgot how to update my old website using WordPress because it was so much more fun to paint than do computer stuff. So of course I’d get annoyed and waste half a day reminding myself how to do a simple change…..which meant I’d put off the task for even longer.
After a lot of research (another excuse to procrastinate!) I was debating between Faso and Squarespace, both set up for artists, when I listened to an Art Juice podcast. Louise was interviewing Mariana Durst about branding. I’d also listened to various podcasts about investing in oneself for marketing, not just for fun workshops so I bit the bullet and signed up for Mariana’s website template using Squarespace 7.1.
Best thing I could have done!
Procrastination shelf
Yes, it still took me another six months but as I write I’ve just realised I’ve learnt a few things these past few months:
Building your own website is actually very creative. For instance I enjoyed choosing my colour palette (have a look at Coolers website) and working out layouts.
Thinking about my “branding” made me concentrate on what I really wanted from my art. Where my passions are. I love painting dogs in watercolour but I love the sea even more so. The long term plan is to start painting sea creatures instead. Watch this space.
I’m enjoying writing again
I’m not as bad at technology as I first thought. We’re never too old to learn new tricks! Ok, some things still make me want to throw the laptop out of the window (Mailchimp in Spanish!) but after a lot of trial and error, I can now design a poster on Canva. Who’d have thought? One day I’ll work out DNS settings.
There’s an amazingly supportive community out there. Here I am on an island in the Med but I have support at my fingertips. Many find social media intrusive and annoying but Facebook and Instagram have been my saviour. The Connected Artist, Cold Wax Academy and Art Tribe groups have all helped me build this site and put my business head on. If there’s a problem you can ask the question and receive a wealth of advice and support. No one is nasty, unlike other groups. We all have to start somewhere and we all remember that. Success is applauded and gives us hope to reach whatever goals we may wish to attain.
Building a website has not helped my beer consumption! At the end of many a day I’ve badly needed one to get me out of a grump when I had a technical hitch….and then many a day I’d need one to celebrate a small success. Thanks to my ever supportive hubby for keeping the fridge stocked
So now that I’ve just waxed lyrical about building a website I’ve now got to work out how to send Newsletters.
And keep updating the site.
And work out how not to end up in Spam
I don’t mind these days, it’s fun now that I’ve got the knack of it all…..famous last words.
I definitely deserve a beer now! :)
