7:58 PM on Friday, September 26. 2008
Don't forget; Network, Network, Network!
I've known this bit of advice all of my internet life, but it's only been recently that I've stopped listening to myself. I'll be sitting around, asking, "Why doesn't anyone pay attention to my blog/gallery/shop?" Well, somewhere down the road I just stopped applying the advice and kernel of wisdom that I know works best.
You see, when I started out as a pixel artist and cyberpet person way back in '99, I was pretty unknown. But because of my continued participation in all sorts of things in the community, from forums to email lists and taking part in other people's websites (it was the 90s, for goodness sake; you didn't have much socializing options. Blogs were brand spanking new, and I didn't get my very first one until 2000). But I was very active, and I made sure to interact with all the well known people of the community. So after a while, I no longer needed to advertise my website. It was just known. People knew about me, and that was it.
And today I'm a legend because I'm older than dirt in that community. But I digress.
The point is that you need to network and socialize in order to get your name out there, and I've been totally ignoring that fact for several months now. It's just so much easier to sit around and do nothing. But trust me, it really does help.
The last two days, I've been talking on a continuing thread in one of the Etsy forums. It's nothing too special, but it's fun. A bunch of people chatting and promoting their wares. Well, I haven't gotten a sale in weeks now, it seems (which, since I've only been there a month, isn't surprising). But after two days of socializing, my views have gone up, people who are hearting my shop have gone up steeply, and I got a sale tonight on these cuties:
And it's not just the conversation I've been taking part in, but I also joined an Etsy team (EtsyVeg, baby!), I joined some Flickr groups, as well as the EtsyVeg google group. It's exciting stuff, and it all helps bring people into my blog, my art gallery, and my shop.
I could advertise with real life money, but why not use a little bit of energy (and have fun doing it) and advertise for free? Start with the free advertising, and then work your way up.
You see, when I started out as a pixel artist and cyberpet person way back in '99, I was pretty unknown. But because of my continued participation in all sorts of things in the community, from forums to email lists and taking part in other people's websites (it was the 90s, for goodness sake; you didn't have much socializing options. Blogs were brand spanking new, and I didn't get my very first one until 2000). But I was very active, and I made sure to interact with all the well known people of the community. So after a while, I no longer needed to advertise my website. It was just known. People knew about me, and that was it.
And today I'm a legend because I'm older than dirt in that community. But I digress.
The point is that you need to network and socialize in order to get your name out there, and I've been totally ignoring that fact for several months now. It's just so much easier to sit around and do nothing. But trust me, it really does help.
The last two days, I've been talking on a continuing thread in one of the Etsy forums. It's nothing too special, but it's fun. A bunch of people chatting and promoting their wares. Well, I haven't gotten a sale in weeks now, it seems (which, since I've only been there a month, isn't surprising). But after two days of socializing, my views have gone up, people who are hearting my shop have gone up steeply, and I got a sale tonight on these cuties:
And it's not just the conversation I've been taking part in, but I also joined an Etsy team (EtsyVeg, baby!), I joined some Flickr groups, as well as the EtsyVeg google group. It's exciting stuff, and it all helps bring people into my blog, my art gallery, and my shop.
I could advertise with real life money, but why not use a little bit of energy (and have fun doing it) and advertise for free? Start with the free advertising, and then work your way up.
My life is art. When I dream, my imagination flies, and when I wake, it tells its story on paper with pen. And when I look out a window, I see endless possibilities. But I have a long way to go still on my journey through the clouds of art and imagination. Won't you join me?
Comments
I'm horrible at networking. I can never find enough time in the day to do all the networking that I should be doing. Between blogs, art forums, etsy, websites, myspace, facebook,livejournal, dawanda, and trying to fit art somewhere in between I lose time to use all of them. And by the time I have gone though all of them, the day is over and the next day is replying to everyone and posting again. a never ending cycle that sometimes gets out of control. Don't get me wrong, I like doing all of it, just sometimes wish I had a magic wand to help me :p
Oh gosh, I know what you mean! In seems like I can spend half my day just networking, and I don't get everything done that I wanted to do. It's pathetic. It makes me wonder how so many people actually do that sort of thing; or are they just lying?