The Quicksilver Workaholic

Don’t over look the little stuff!

I know it sounds like a small thing, or perhaps more trouble than it's worth, but if you belong to any email or discussion groups or forums, or if you respond to business emails, use your sig line as consistently as you can when you post.

By that I mean add any pertinent live links–your website, blog, CafePress or Etsy store, etc. below your name. Make it EASY for people to find you.

This is more important than it seems. It’s not too likely prospective buyers or clients will take the time to go searching the archives of a discussion list in the off chance you may have put your website on one of your posts. People are busy–be professional and considerate and make your website or other contact information easily available. If not every time, then often.

I learned that years ago, on both the AJMarketing list I’ve mentioned before, at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AJmarketing/, which I've inherited from list founder Aisling d'Art, and from the Botanical Arts list’s founder, Cynthia Padilla.

Cynthia is terrifically generous and helpful–not to mention knowledgeable about marketing. (That list is here, by the way: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/botanicalartYahoo –if you have an interest in botanical art, nature, flowers, gardening, nature photography, whatever, you may want to check it out.)

I can’t tell you how many times people have told me they found me by clicking on one of the links in my sig! It’s led directly to new students, buyers for my paintings, commissions, and commercial work–I was surprised, too, but a little thing like this DOES help build not only an online presence, but credibility.

Most email programs have an easy way to add that signature block–in Outlook Express, which I use, you just go to Tools, then Options, then Signatures, and create what you want to say. It will automatically add it to any NEW posts that you generate, but I usually choose to go in and add it manually if I’m responding to someone else.

To manually add a sig to an email I’m responding to, I hit Insert at the top of the post’s window, then signature, and pick which one I want to use. Bingo!

Actually, you can set your email program to add your sig to ANY email, whether new or one you're responding to, but it puts it at the top of the post. I prefer not to leave what I’m answering dangling at the bottom. ;-)

Unfortunately, if you’re responding from a website, like one of the Yahoo or Google groups, you’ll have to cut and paste your sig lines yourself, but really, it’s worth it. Remember, you're making it easy for people to find you, and if you hope to sell your work or market your art services, you want them to do that!

Keep it professional, and do try to avoid overkill.

I try NOT to have a whole encyclopedia dangling under my name (that can be irritating if people get email in digest form and have to scroll through too much), but I’ll admit I go in so many directions and try so many different things, it’s hard not to!

To attempt to solve that overkill problem, I have several different sigs I use when the occasion demands. When I’m doing my online classes, there are links to those sites. When I’m writing my eBay lists, I have my eBay I.D.s and not a lot more.

What you’ll normally see at the end of one of my posts is this:

Best--
Kate (Cathy Johnson) kate@cathyjohnson.info
http://www.cathyjohnson.info/
NEW-Original Art: http://cathyjohnsonart.blogspot.com/
Artists' CDs & More: http://www.cafepress.com/cathy_johnson/
Art & Tutorials: http://www.flickr.com/photos/cathy-johnson/
YouTube slideshows: http://au.youtube.com/user/KateJosTube
Artist's Blog: http://katequicksilvr.livejournal.com/

And yes, it IS a lot. But each one of those places offers information, and may appeal to a different need. (I tried to figure out how to do a live link (like just saying "YouTube slideshows") without the whole URL, but it doesn’t seem to be possible, in Outlook Express, anyway...)

No need to take my word for it, of course! Alyson Stanfield stresses this in her terrific Art Biz Coach website at http://artbizcoach.com/index.htm, mentioned here before (catch up with Alyson on Facebook, too!). Constance Smith and Susan F. Greaves encourage using the automatic signatures in their book,
Internet 101 for Artists, Second Edition: With a Special Guide to Selling Art on eBay. 

The book is not only for eBay sellers, however! (I’ve done fairly well with my eBay gallery at http://members.ebay.com/aboutme/cathyjohnsonart though now I tend to use the new Fine Arts Gallery blog rather than eBay for selling most of my original art.)  There's plenty of good advice for finding your way around the 'net.  You don't have to be a computer genius...most of these tools are easy.  Just take it a step at a time, and pay attention to the small stuff.

Be aware that some sites limit how many lines you can use in your signature block--for those places, you can create a dedicated sig--it takes only a second or two to add it to your post.

Take the time to make your links live, too...people like being able to click on it and go right there.  Again, you're being considerate and recognizing that everyone is busy.  So rather than saying artbizcoach.com, or simply telling the name of your blog--mine is katequicksilvr--give them a way to get there in a flash (even with dial-up, it's quicker than expecting them to add the http:// and so forth...

When Aisling d'Art first told us about adding that sig line, I was a little skeptical...but I'm here to tell you--and her--it works, and thank you!

(And of course, as usual, this applies to more than art--if you're a musician, an actor, a writer, or a plumber, people need to find you quickly and easily--there's a lot of choices out there, make it easy and desirable to choose you!)

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The graphic at top is the banner a friend designed for my fine arts gallery on eBay, at stores.ebay.com/Cathy-Johnson-Fine-Art-Galleries--I may change it so it matches my other fine art banners, but I do love it so want to get a little more mileage out of it!

I tried doing this post the other day, with lots of links and recommendations. It had gotten quite long...and LiveJournal hiccuped. It disappeared, entirely.

So I’m writing it elsewhere so I can hit SAVE! I’m going to break it down into 3-4 posts, too, to spread over a period of time.

It’s a timely subject, given the economy, and there are some conflicting theories about how art and artists will be affected. Some less pessimistic analysts suggest that people will want things of lasting value, and care about beauty...let’s help our friends, patrons, and clients to hold onto this more positive outlook!

Art IS important. It’s real, it’s personal, it’s unique. Almost nothing around us has been designed unless an artist took pencil in hand first, from the chair you sit in to the card you send this season to the car you drive.

Artists ARE important in our culture. And original, fine art is a treasure. Let’s not forget that...

That said, marketing our art is one of the hardest things we ever do...in part because we may be unsure of ourselves and our place in the culture. Someone made an unkind comment in our formative years and that little kid is still smarting from it. Perhaps a parent suggested we get a REAL job, even while they put our youthful efforts up on the fridge.

We need to trust ourselves and the creative urge, and know how important it really is–because it is. It’s what sets us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom; it’s what we have in common with the Creator. It’s a gift, and we need to honor that gift, with gratitude.

Like any other gift, it’s meant to be used and enjoyed and shared...so what’s stopping us?

I learned most of what has worked for me from an online group started by art and marketing guru Aisling d’Art. Check out her website at http://aisling.net/ –especially The Business of Art, here: http://arts-careers.com/success/ She’s just moved to the handsome new site, but there are a LOT of useful articles to peruse and leads to follow.

I inherited the online group from her, when she moved on to other things–you’re welcome to join us and ask questions, search the archives (especially for anything from Aisling) or share your expertise! It’s here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AJmarketing/

I know it has helped a lot of artists along the way to supplementing or self-sufficiency--and there's always someone who has more experience to help.

One thing I picked up from the group was the Art Biz Coach site, Alyson Stanfield’s terrific resource. You can check it out online, http://artbizcoach.com/, subscribe to her newsletter, and follow the many links she provides to learn more than you ever imagined about the subject. (I've also gotten her CD on creating e-books, a project for the new year, and picked up many tips from the newsletter.)

Many of us have a dream of making a living as an artist–or supplementing our income at any rate. We just may not have fully defined what it is we want, what our goal is, so it’s not only hard to work toward it, it’s hard to recognize when we’re there. This is only one of the things Stanfield covers in her popular book, I'd Rather Be in the Studio!

I’ve read bits and pieces of it, and now await my very own copy in the mail! There’s always more to learn...

A couple of other useful books on my shelf include Zen and the Art of Making a Living and Art Marketing 101, Third Edition: A Handbook for the Fine Artist

Do you have a special favorite? I’d be delighted if you’d share what you’ve picked up along the way.

One of the most important things I learned, during my long career, is that it's really true--what goes around, comes around. I was helped along the road to making my living as an artist when I was very young...when I asked what I owed for that help, the kind gentleman just said “help someone else along the way.”

So that’s what I’ve tried to do, whenever I have the chance. I hope you’ll do likewise.

Oh, and the graphic at the top of this post? It’s from my new online sales gallery at http://cathyjohnsonart.blogspot.com/ where I am at last offering original paintings and art. I hope you’ll bookmark it and visit often.  I'm trying to put some of what I've learned to work, there...