Can I Call A Blog Post “Miscellaneous”?

Posted by on Feb 27, 2012 in Art, Art Marketing, Blog, Everything Green, Food, Ideas & Inspiration, Living & Design, Upcycling & DIY | 1 comment It’s my blog, I can call it whatever I like! This is a little visual review of random things I did, that kept me busy in the last couple of weeks, days… Here’s a sneak-peak into the life of Franziska! Enjoy Can you change the color of your leather boots? Hell yes you can! Will they last? I don’t know but I painted my boots from purple to brown to glossy black: I made...
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Selling Your Art Prints Online

Posted by on Feb 12, 2012 in Art, Art Marketing, Blog | 7 comments Just recently I was asked by one of my twitter friends if I could write something about art prints and what my recommendations are. Personally, I use Fine Art America for orders within the US and MyGall for my German friends. All you have to do is take photos of your beautiful artwork, upload them (for example on Fine Art America), add the commission you would like to make on each piece and they...
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Where Do You Buy Your Gifts?

Posted by on Jan 23, 2012 in Art, Art Marketing, Blog | 6 comments We all do it. I am no exception, I do it, too. We all buy gifts. There’s only a few people on this planet who do not make gifts to others. Some gifts are free (like a smile), some are hand- or home-made but most of us actually buy them. Not all gifts are useful, pretty or thoughtful. I got gifts in my life that actually made me more mad than anything. Yes, gifts can do that, too. Especially...
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What To Do When There Is No Market For Your Product Part II

Posted by on Dec 16, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog, Ideas & Inspiration | 2 comments In Part I, I wrote about the most important ingredient that you need in order to have success for the product that you are trying to sell: PASSION. You need to love what you do and you should not have a single doubt that it is great and has value. It’s the result of the work that keeps you up at night! There are many different ways to sell your artwork and let me assure you this: there is...
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What to Do When There is No Market for Your Product Part I

Posted by on Dec 14, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog, Ideas & Inspiration | 6 comments “It’s all about passion…” (source of quote: myself) As some of you may know, I used to be an Executive Chef working for celebrities and the upper class for many years before I got married and settled. In 2008, I moved to an area that doesn’t offer much culturally (read one of my earlier posts). Contemporary museums, grand operas and world theaters are not exactly...
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How To Set Up A Booth For An Art Fair

Posted by on Oct 23, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 4 comments Finding information about how to set up an art stall at a fair can be quite challenging. So I decided to sneak around at markets and see what other artists are doing. I involved them into conversations, and the help and information I got was priceless (thanks guys for your help!). Every fair is different: the locations, their setup, the surface and their requirements. For our local Saturday...
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The Challenges Of A Self-Employed, Full-Time Artist

Posted by on Sep 17, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 24 comments It’s been pretty quiet here on my blog: this week, a friend from my childhood together with her husband came to visit and I dedicated all my attention and time to them. I picked them up at the airport, they stayed with us for a couple of days and now they’re off to explore Texas; before they return to Germany, they’ll be back for another 2-3 days. Self-employment is fabulous...
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How The Internet Can Change Your Life

Posted by on Sep 7, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 20 comments I clearly remember the day when I opened my very first email account with the help of my former boss, the Executive Chef of the Steigenberger Inselhotel in Germany. It was at the end of my chef’s apprenticeship just before my graduation in culinary arts in 1999. Back then, it was only vaguely perceptible how the online world would change my life. At the end of the same year, I moved to New...
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Creative WordPress Themes For Artists

Posted by on Aug 18, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 10 comments After a long time of research and many attempts to build a nice, clean and good-looking website, I finally found a great theme builder. The themes that I have been using previously were all great and they definitely served the purpose. All I needed was an SEO friendly blog where I can add plugins and connect to my readers and online friends. So far, I used two separate websites, one for my blog...
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Great WordPress Themes for Artists

Posted by on Aug 16, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 7 comments My site has been up and down a lot in the last two days and the theme changed several times because I have been testing stuff. Now, my old theme is back up but it’s missing a lot of my old widgets (lost them while experimenting). So here’s what happened: After many many attempts to find the perfect wordpress blog theme, I finally found Clear Line Theme (which I am currently using) and...
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How To Attract People To Your Artblog

Posted by on Aug 5, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 8 comments So now after I talked about how you can scare people away from your artblog, I thought I should leave a constructive post how to actually attract and have them come back! - don’t use music on your blog: if people want to hear music they will turn their favorite channel on - use a template that is neutral and not too flashy, too dark or distracting from beautiful pictures, artwork and the...
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How to Scare People Away From Your Artblog

Posted by on Aug 4, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 14 comments In the last year, I have come across quite a good amount of blogs. I have seen pretty stuff, ugly, loud, colorful, scary, interesting, boring, you name it -seen it all! And guess what? I have made almost every single mistake on the list (except the loud part). Sometimes, we need others to tell us what’s wrong with what we do and some good criticism could help. I have had some good online...
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How To Clean Up Twitter Effectively

Posted by on Jul 20, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 22 comments Do you know the feeling when you go to Twitter and all you read is stuff that you’re not interested in? B O R I N G … I don’t want to waste my time with people who bombard spam at me (not the meat) or got nothing to say. Today, I un-followed my husband on Twitter a) because he doesn’t follow me b) he doesn’t use it. It’s pretty simple, I don’t follow...
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Should I Have Google+ ?

Posted by on Jul 14, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 11 comments Oh no! Not another social media site… It’s all getting too much, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, MySpace, Friendster, etc. I have to admit, I thought the same when I heard there’s another platform coming up. Then I thought, ok, maybe I should check it out and see what it’s got to offer, won’t hurt. Just open it, if I don’t like I’ll close it again. No,...
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Target Market For Artists

Posted by on Jun 3, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 0 comments I have been doing some analysis over the past weeks figuring out what the ideal client for an artist would look like. The first exercise would include to objectively categorize the kind of artwork you create: 1) is it sculptures or 2D, i.e. paintings that you make? 2) are they hung on a wall, do you paint on the wall, how much room do they need? 3) what medium do you use: oil on canvas, mixed...
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Why You Should Have An FB Fan Page

Posted by on May 19, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 6 comments What is a Facebook Fan Page? Facebook is a social media site and it offers -besides your personal profile page- a fan page where you can present your business. It allows you to post photos, announcements, events and much more. You can even check your demographics, what age visited at what time. If you reach 25 followers, you can determine the ending of the url of your site like I did:...
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How To Get Accepted By Technorati, Part II

Posted by on May 1, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 9 comments After I signed up with Technorati and claimed my blog, it took a couple of days until they accepted my application. In my last post I wrote about how to apply at Technorati and how to place the code they send on your blog post. The code has to appear on your RSS feed, so it’s best to place it somewhere in the beginning of your post. Right after I posted the code, I logged back into my...
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How to use Technorati as a Blogger, Part I

Posted by on Apr 24, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 10 comments AEN5W7MDXGBD Want to know what’s this number? Read on! I just decided to submit my blog to Technorati. Technorati is a real-time search engine for bloggers. Once you signed up with them, your blog posts will automatically show up on their website and people can find you through keywords. The sign-up process is quite easy. You choose a name and a password and then you will receive an email...
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Best Must-Have Plugins

Posted by on Apr 15, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 2 comments Just recently, I found two very useful plugins for wordpress blogs; they are absolute must-haves in order to stay engaged with your readers: - ReplyMe - CommentLuv 1) ReplyMe -it took me a while to find this one and ever since I’ve installed it, my readers and I love it. What it does: whenever someone comments on your blog and you as the admin respond, the commenter will be notified. That...
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How To Promote Your Online Art Business

Posted by on Apr 10, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 0 comments After I decided I wanted to turn my painting talent into a full-time business, I actually had to get into gear and start painting. All of my paintings are left behind in Germany, so I had to start from zero and I spent the last three months with producing. The next step was a portfolio/catalogue -all of the paintings need to be accessible to the public, so I took pictures with a high-quality...
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Marketing: Design Your Business Card

Posted by on Mar 7, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 2 comments Having business cards for your business is vital. Most people aren’t even aware that you can use them as a part of your marketing strategy. It should deliver a message of what your business represents, what you do and most importantly that people still remember who you are when they come across your business card months later. I have made many mistakes when I went out there networking but...
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Creating A Logo For Your Brand

Posted by on Mar 6, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 0 comments So I have been busy for the whole day creating a logo for my art business. There are so many things you have to keep in mind. It is hard to have a neutral perspective about what you do, which message you want to deliver and how to represent your brand best. These are the steps I have taken to create my logo: 1. Brainstorming and making notes about how I would describe my artwork and my style....
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Keep Blog and Website Separate?

Posted by on Feb 28, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 6 comments After numerous hours/days/months figuring out how to build a blog, I finally have my blog set up the best way I could find on the internet. And finally, I have my own website where I can sell my paintings. I would like to share the best options that I have come across with you. I have made some stupid mistakes but it has been an amazing learning experience. This is what I would do if I had to...
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Choose The Right Color For Your Brand

Posted by on Jan 7, 2011 in Art Marketing, Blog | 0 comments Never underestimate the importance of your brand’s color. With the color of your website, your logo, signature and font you represent yourself and what you stand for. Colors influence: - emotions - reactions - actions because they have a meaning and stand for something. It is interesting that colors cause an emotional reaction because of how we feel about them intuitively but also because...
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Do You Google Yourself?

Posted by on Nov 18, 2010 in Art Marketing, Blog | 2 comments You may wonder why this could be important? Why should you google yourself? I am attending business networking groups to make connections, to meet interesting people and to expose my brand. When I moved to the US, I didn’t know anyone besides my husband, so I decided to find groups to meet people: Meetup was one of the options to find groups. Ever since, I have  met with all kinds of...
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