My Sharpie Scribble Style drawing of David Bowie with a Bowie knife. He was on the cutting edge of music for decades. I drew this for Facebook a friend while living in Richmond, Virginia, and then left at a bus stop by accident because I'm an idiot. I started trying to sell my Sharpie art in late 2015, and I wasn't known as an artist at all then. I've sold around 90 originals and 150 prints over the five years since, using my blog and Facebook as my main promotion.
If you make some kind of art or write, and want to sell or promote it, I think you should have a blog. Now I'm a longtime, hardcore blogger (12 years, 40+ blog ideas tried, about 6 serious ones, 380,000+ total page views), so of course I think you should have a blog. It's kind of like asking an insurance salesman if you need insurance, the answer's always, "Absolutely." But do you think you need a blog? That's the real question. Here's why I think blogs are good for artists and writers.
As most all of you know, a blog is a kind of website that you post on time after time, on a regular basis. It's on the internet, as opposed to on a social media platform, like Snapchat, Facebook, etc., which means people can do a Google/Bing search for your blog. When you blog your thoughts, ideas, frustrations, photos, videos, or whatever, it's available for most of the world to read. If you actually want to sell your art or writing, getting your name out there is how you begin to do that.
Another good reason for a blog is that, because blogs are constantly being updated (2 or 3 times a week is a good goal for most people), search engines love blogs. Blogs rank high in search results more so than a website that was built once, say in 2014, and has been sitting there untouched ever since. New content on your blog tells search engines "Hey, there fresh stuff here, check it out."
Another good thing about blogs, unless we hit the Mad Max days or something, the internet's going to be around for quite a while. Social media platforms, as big as they are these days, come and go. When's the last time you checked your MySpace page? How 'bout Friendster or Squidoo? Sure, everyone's on Instagram... right now. But it will fade in popularity at some point, and all your content will fade in popularity as well, or maybe diasappear. Blogs tend to be around a long time, and they actually gain readership over time, as people find and share different posts.
Another good thing about blogs is that you can write primarily, like I do, or you can embed videos of yourself or others, you can add links to podcasts, you can link every post to your social media, your Etsy or Shopify site, or anywhere else. That makes a lot more places in the online/social media world where people can find your photos, art, songs, writing, or whatever creative work you do. Blogs aren't a substitute for social media, but a good addition to social and other forms of promotion.
You can also use you blog to promote your fav hashtag. Take a second and search mine: #sharpiescribblestyle . Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram. I'm not on Snapchat, so you can skip that one. I don't rock on all of those, but when I meet someone who wants to check out my artwork, I tell them to search my hashtag... anywhere. Social media usually leads them to one of my blogs at some point. I'm a fucking homeless guy (no booze, no drugs, just for the record), but I have a better online/social media presence than most small to mid-sized businesses.
The internet and social media platforms are sort of like free land where you can build a big billboard that says, "Check my stuff out!" When someone does see your stuff, and thinks it's cool, they can easily share it with other people. That word of mouth (and word of mouse,text, and share) promotion gets your name, and what you do, out where lots of people can see it. If you blog steadily, and spend some time promoting your stuff, you begin to build a following, or build a bigger, and more important, more solid, devoted following.
I was able to start selling mediocre art quickly in 2015 because I already had a solid following for my Old School BMX freestyle blogs. As I got more orders, my art game improved a lot, since I was drawing every day. I also got more orders, and became known as a Sharpie artist with a totally unique style. I don't make real living off my artwork, but I've been able to scrape by as a working artist, for five years, and now I'm pivoting to do more writing, and a bit less artwork. What I've learned from promoting my blogs and artwork can help a lot of other people, like yourself, promote whatever it is that you do, whether it's art, writing, music, small business, whatever.
So that's my basic thoughts on why artists and writers in particular should have blogs, in my opinion. Hit me up with any thoughts or questions on Facebook (Steve Emig- North Hollywood) or Twitter (@steveemig43). Now get back to creating something worth promoting.
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