I like using affiliate marketing. If I find a good product, I want to share it with you. We’re all trying to make a living at what we love. If something makes your marketing or business admin easier, I’ll share. I cannot tell you how much I’ve learned from other artists about good products that have helped me.

Many businesses use a service like Link Share or Share a Sale as a central site for managing ads. Ad creation is easy. Active marketers are continually providing new ads and banners. That part of it is great.

However, the code generated by these sites is deprecated, filled with uppercase. Link Share still uses deprecated code that will make your site invalid. I clean up the code after I copy it, but frankly, that’s such a pain.

I try to write my sites with valid code, but I often find that it’s the code that I get from third parties that breaks it. I know, this is more of a personal gripe, but I sure would like to skip the code edit every time I go to add a banner.

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Monday Marketing Meeting—Open Question to Affiliate Marketers

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“Painting is just another way of keeping a diary.”
-Pablo Picasso

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Art Quote of the Day

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Post from: News From the North Country

Wordless Wednesday—March 3, 2010

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No matter what happens, people gravitate toward pleasant images maybe even more so as a panacea for hard times. There’s no reason that someone cannot enjoy your art, even if they cannot afford the cost of an original painting.

Instead, offer your clients opportunities through secondary sales to purchase your art. Create prints or cards of your work. On your website, post links to these related items under your original art listing. Make sure the links open a new page so you can keep visitors on your site.

For me, my secondary sales were strong through the past Christmas season as well as on my affiliate sites. While I might have wished for a few more art sales, I wasn’t disappointed with secondary sales.

That’s the key. With secondary sales, you are diversifying. That’s what you as a self-representing artist must do. I tend to think the Great Recession, as it has been named, hit many of us by surprise. I think we were in shock. We didn’t believe it would happen.

The lesson to take away from this situation is to diversify your income resources. Remember that adage about eggs and a basket? Do the same with your art. Protect your art income.

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Monday Marketing Meeting—Related Products

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Post from: News From the North Country

Wordless Wednesday

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Today’s Marketing Meeting is about making those images work for you. First of all, there is one thing you need to understand. If an image is on the Internet, it can be copied. Watermarks or no-right-click scripts will protect it. However, as soon as it is created, it is yours. You own the copyright.

Watch your image size.
If you have concerns about image theft, this is one step you can take which has added SEO benefit. Don’t put your best images on your website or blog. That is, take the original and reduce its size and resolution.

Your image should be 72 dpi for resolution. This low resolution, of course, makes for a so-so image if printed. The nuances of your work have not been compromised. The benefit for you is that your site will load quicker. Visitors are less likely to navigate away because of a slow-loading site. Keep images under 50k. Use your image editing software to optimize your images for the web.

Select a good name for your image.
Do not keep your cellphone or digital camera’s file name of IMG464646464.jpg. Instead, give it a meaningful name that uses the keywords you are prompting. “Red-floral-original-watercolor-painting” is more useful to crawlers and gives visitors a better idea of what you are selling.

Notice the dashes. Those older browsers are still around, like it or not. They can process file names better with dashes rather than underscores.

Don’t forget your alt text.
The alt attribute was originally an accessibility feature. Now it is expected. Think of it as another opportunity to use your keywords. Like your file name, make it meaningful and descriptive.

While you cannot control all the factors that determine your page rank, the on-page factors give you an opportunity to improve your site’s SEO. Don’t pass any chances to make your site more search engine friendly.

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Monday Marketing Meeting—Image Guidelines for SEO

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"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep."
- Scott Adams

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Art Quote of the Day

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One thing you never want to have happen is for your site to go down or to expose users to security risks. The best way to keep your site secure it to keep it up to date. So, today’s marketing tip is about making time for security.

A security check up needn’t take long. I visit my blogs and website once a week to check on the little things, like making sure they are still up.

I’ll go to the Administration section of each of my blogs and install any necessary Wordpress or plug-in updates.

More often than not, updates are security fixes. By keeping your blog or website up to date, you are keeping it secure from hackers. If you’re running an e-commerce site, that is essential for your business. If fact, nothing is more essential than the security of your site. It is top priority.

If you check in often, your site gets updated more frequently and you make the search engines happy. That is your second top priority. Besides, the more often  you do it, the more routine it becomes. It doesn’t have to be a drag.

As you put together your weekly to-do list, don’t forget the security of your site. In this small way, you show your users and clients that you are a responsible seller.

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Monday Marketing Meeting—Keeping Everything Up to Date

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At the very least, you should clean out the interior of your computer once a year. You will need a can of air, a hand vacuum, and a electrostatic bracelet. The bracelet is available from office supply stores. It may be over cautious, but if you’re doing this in the winter, your chances of static charges are increased.

First, turn off and unplug all peripherals. Open your computer, following manufacturer instructions. Be extra careful handling the cover. Oftentimes, the covers can have extremely sharp edges.

Use the can of air to blow out dust outside of the computer. Do not point it from outside of the computer pointing in. The can will get very cool the longer you use it. Spray all around the interior of the computer.

Second, go through with a vacuum and sweep up any dust or debris. Run the nozzle over disk drives, ports, and other openings.

Third, wipe off the cover’s inside with a damp cloth. Put it back into place. Hook your computer up and you’re ready to go.

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Monday Marketing Meeting—National Clean Out Your Computer Day

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Another place I find hairs is in my studio. Sophie has been pretty needy these days, in one of her high-maintenance modes. She patiently watches me paint each day.

Well, I was working on a wash for a sky. A good sky either makes or breaks my landscape paintings. If I don’t get it right, the painting becomes scratch paper.

I wash getting ready to drop in some color when I noticed one of those little gray hairs in the middle of my sky. Apparently it was in my brush, unbeknownst to me. The wash was wet enough so I was able to get it out.

Which brings me to my watercolor tip for today. I’m sure that I don’t need to tell anyone to wash their brushes after painting. It comes naturally to us artists. My lesson with the cat hair taught me that I need to rinse my brushes before I start painting too to prevent Sophie hairs from ruining my washes.

It doesn’t take much time. Just fill a bowl with water and rinse and dry them before using because you know those hairs are everywhere.

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Watercolor Tip: Clean Those Brushes

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