Please help this rookie blogger!

[SunsetSue]

Blog: Art Bistro (http://SueEllenCowan.blogspot.com)
Goals: I am blogging to create interest in my artwork and hopefully to direct traffic to my website in order to make sales.
Design Goals: I would like it to look artistic and professional.
Audience: Artists and art buyers, galleries and agents.
Other: I would love a very honest critique so that I can make any improvements necessary. Any comments you make will be appreciated and help me to learn.

[adalante]

Hi Sue,

The first thing i suggest is for you to change to WordPress instead of blogger, i'm biased because i love WordPress but i'm sure any WordPress user would agree with me.


With WordPress you will have some quality gallery plugins at your disposal that will allow you to feature your work even better, plugins are basically enhancments that can be added to your site.

You might also want to upload your works to flickr.com

:)

[samwoodfin]

I'll second the move to WordPress, especially with Google screwing with Blogger's comment system. Then check out the NexGEN Gallery plugin (http://alexrabe.boelinger.com/wordpress-plugins/nextgen-gallery/), which is both wicked cool and very easy to use.

And if you haven't, already, check out WetCanvas (http://www.wetcanvas.com) for networking with other artists. (The site seems to be down, right now, but I'm sure it'll be back... maybe...)

[SunsetSue]

Thanks so much for the feedback Adalante and Sam, I do have my work on Flickr and am a member of WetCanvas. I just found out about Wordpress so will start a blog there and see how it goes.

[adalante]

I just found out about Wordpress so will start a blog there and see how it goes.

By "start a blog there" i suppose your refering to WordPress.com, i urge you to consider WordPress.org, a self hosted version of the same software.

[samwoodfin]

By "start a blog there" i suppose your refering to WordPress.com, i urger you to consider WordPress.org, a self hosted version of the same software.

Ditto! And, for the record, I only recently made the switch, but I wish I'd listened to all the people here at TBE a LOT sooner!

[SunsetSue]

Thanks again. Just to let you know, I have started a Wordpress.com blog. It was amazingly easy! and I transferred all the stuff from the original Art Bistro blog without a hitch. I will also look at the wordpress.org site and get back to you on that. If you are interested, check out the new one: http:Paintworks (http://www.paintworks.wordpress.com) You guys are awesome!

[ses5909]

Looking better already Sue. The big reason folks are recommending wordpress.org is the control you will have over it. You do have to have your own domain and web space (should be able to find for as little as $70/year) but it's still a commitment. I would also recommend it, but if you don't want to host your own blog, than wordpress.com is a good alternative.

You can get your own domain for your wordpress.com blog as well, which would be really neat.

[adalante]

Yea, definitely looking better already!, Maybe you get try to get a little familiar with WordPress.com before deciding to go for a domain name and hosting it yourself.

:)

[SunsetSue]

Thanks for all the info and help everyone. Can I get you to take one last peek at it and see what you think now? I want to know if it will be easy for everyone to view, and find everything. Is it well laid out? Any major mistakes? Looking forward to your final review.

[Evan]

I like the blog, I think it shows off you artwork well.

I'm not sure how much texts you need in the posts. Is it more of a website/gallery to display your work than a blog? I'm not sure what the blog - comments and such - adds for interested people. Perhaps a sense of getting to know you which I think is probably what getting repeat customers will be about.

My only suggestion is to make it more obvious how to buy. Have a box or button that is the first thing people see. I didn't spend long but I didn't find how to buy.

[SunsetSue]

Hello again and thanks so much for all your input. I would like to make the Paintworks banner clickable but at the moment am on wordpress.com and using a template so am not sure how to do it. I paid to have the ability to edit the css. Does anyone know how to do this and can you give instructions for dummies?? :bigsmile: Also How do I get a button for purchases and how do I install it? This also would require instructions for dummies!! My apologies for being such a pain in the ....umm, behind!