Thinking of giving up on your artist blog? Already given up on your blog?

First, let’s assume that you’re okay with writing. You have no problem collecting words and sharing them with others. With that as a starting point, I hope you’ll revisit your blog because there are four major benefits to Blogging.

1. You will uncover things about your art when you blog about it.

The more you write about your art, the more you will discover about its meaning and your purpose and the better you will be able to articulate your work to collectors, curators, and writers.

This is the #1 reason to blog.

Blogging encourages you to write consistently about your art. There’s a little pressure to “keep it up” once you’ve started a blog, which is good for maintaining momentum.

If you are a working artist seeking a larger audience, your blog should be about your art and your life as an artist.

Write “how-to” posts if you teach, but only if you want to attract students. If your audience isn’t students, leave the how-tos or problem solving posts to service-based businesses, like Art Biz Success.

2. More content attracts more eyeballs for your art.

It’s tempting to forego a blog for Social Media. Who needs a blog when I have Facebook and Instagram? It’s a question I’m asked frequently.

The danger in building up all of your content on social media is that you have zero control over these sites. They’ll do whatever earns their shareholders the most money.

But you can control a blog. Blogging allows you to build content on your own site, which attracts traffic. You’ll benefit from posting on a blog and then sharing to social media, rather than posting only on social media.

3. Blogging can help establish you as an expert in your field.

You’ll be seen as knowledgeable and generous when you share frequent nuggets of information, which is especially valuable if you teach or plan to write a book.

I don’t know about you, but I want to be sure my teachers know what they’re talking about before I lay out money for a class. Ditto for the author who wants to sell me advice.

It’s increasingly rare to sweep a publisher off his or her feet with a manuscript alone. These days, publishers want to make sure you have a platform. You can build that platform (a list of followers) through blogging.

4. Blogging will differentiate you.

Again, assuming that you’re okay with writing, blogging is a real opportunity for you when most other artists are giving up on the process.

You don’t need to blog every day or even multiple times a week. Weekly or bi-weekly is sufficient as long as you’re consistent.

Then again, maybe blogging isn’t all right for you. You shouldn’t be blogging if you have a bad attitude or think about it as “just one more thing I have to do,” it will be a waste of your time. (Ditto for any other marketing you have a bad ‘tude about.)

Nor should you be blogging if you aren’t aligned with the above four reasons to blog.

The commitment to blogging is key to your blog’s success. Without it, your blog might end up six feet under in the ever-expanding graveyard of artists’ blogs.

I’m curious. Are you blogging? How has it helped you? Please leave a comment below and link your name to your most recent blog post.

If you have given up on blogging, tell us why.