Articles
Browse every published article connected to Alka Dalal, with exact attribution and full-archive search.
Articles
Browse every published article connected to Alka Dalal, or search within this exact expert archive.
Everyone has got a Facebook account these days. It is almost obscene how much time people are spending on Facebook playing Farmville, making friends, looking for dates, printing coupons...you name it! But one group of people of Facebook have been making interesting strides in how they use the site: Artists.r
Are there any major websites that you like to frequent with education or materials or even artwork? I wonder if they have a big list of subscribers? If they are signing people up to a free giveaway or a newsletter, chances are that they could have thousands of people on their mailing list. Imagine if you could advertise to that website's mailing list with a promotion of your own be it a website launch, a new book or training video, your artwork or even personal coaching. And you sold those products to that big list and gave the website owner commissions on each sale.
Google has a great social network tucked away in it's machinery called Google profiles. Just like Facebook, you can make friends with tons of people just like you with the same interests and like-mindedness. These are people you want to get to know better because they could become your next customers. Google profiles provide clickable links to all of your websites, sales letters, video channels and other social sites.r
A great way to show off your artwork is to make a slideshow video. A slideshow video is one where you see images moving slowly in and out of the video with maybe a soft background music playing. These videos are great for artwork because you can show off your work in the best light. These videos are often engaging for visitors as well.r
Part of the appeal of shopping online is the great finds you can get just searching around. Art especially is a great find because it's not something mass produced like shoes. To find great art is usually contained to regional art shows or galleries that you may not live anywhere near. What sells the art, however, is how well the pieces are photographed.r
Did you know that you could be making sales from someone else recommending your artwork to their readers? Just like an ad in a magazine, a major site could be advertising your art or art expertise to their visitors and driving traffic to your website. If those visitors buy something from you the website that recommended them would get a commission. This is called affiliate marketing and it is a great strategy for making online sales. Why? Because just a like a high readership magazine, that affiliate website may have much higher traffic than yours, especially if you are just starting out.r
Representing you expertise online can make you big sales. People all over the world search everyday for information on art techniques whether it be watercolors, oils, jewelry making or art appreciation. Putting yourself out there and teaching people what they want to know can build trust and rapport leading to creating customers. How can you teach people the finer things about your art?r
Internet forums are not just fun and popular tools for finding information and making friends, they are great places to build your expertise and teach the world about your art. Forums are some of the first places people go when searching for information not because of the valuable resource they are, but they come up high in search engine results. This gives you, the artist and expert, a chance for real exposure to a worldwide audience of potential customers.r
The great thing about being an expert is that you can spread the knowledge around the world. No matter what kind of things you have to share, there is someone who is ready and willing to learn what you know. Because of the ease and power of the Internet, teaching others has never been easier. Using YouTube, blogs and articles, you can reach millions of people hungry to learn what you know!There is one powerful place to teach others, make a name for yourself and make money as well. Seminars. All over the nation there are seminars put on by artist and giftware wholesale shows.
What is this strange term? Pay Per Click ads are the "sponsored ads" that you'll see every time you search on Google or other search engines. They are usually on the right hand side of the search results and sometimes at the top of the listing.r
Believe it or not, a fancied up blog can help make your web business more money. What kind and fancies am I talking about? Let's go over a few small things that can make your blog exciting and more interactive to your visitors.r
So you have been a fine artist for years. You have sold your paintings, watercolors and oils all over the country for years at galleries, art shows and charity events. But did you know you can turn almost any piece you have ever made into a postcard, t-shirt or even a coffee mug for very cheap? What kind of value would that add to you booth?r
Making videos is fun. But to really make them the best that you can be and show your art in it's best form, lighting your work properly is a must. It's one of the things that people forget about the most when shooting their first videos. It can be a bit confusing at first, trying to eliminate shadows, not overexposing the shot and getting your art to show the proper colors. Let's take a look at some simple techniques.r
Local search is fast becoming the most popular way people are finding the places of business in their area. Forget the Yellow Pages... local search is much more interactive with Google Maps, reviews, hours and staff information. If you are a gallery owner, you will want to make sure that you are included in the local searches of engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.r
If you have been building a database list of newsletter subscribers and sending out your newsletters and ezines on a regular basis, you are doing the right thing. It's great to keep engaged with your fans and subscribers. It will keep your products, business ans training at the top of their minds. But there is something that many newsletter authors forget to do when writing their letters, upsell their services.r
There is no shortage of cool website services on the internet. You now have the ability to show your art and craft show events online with free event services. Sites like Zvents, EventBrite and Yahoo Upcoming lets your friends and customers where you will be showing your work next. It's a lot like advertising in the newspaper but far easier and with a wider reach. Not only that, it gives you another chance to get search positioning for your name and the name of your business that you really need.r
Etsy.com has grown to be the #1 selling site for artists, crafters and jewelry makers. You can create your own store, load it full of images of your jewelry and use the Etsy selling software to take and process the orders. Just like an eBay store, you can create custom headers for your store that help brand your business and upload hundreds of items to sell.r
One of the more interesting things on the Internet to build friends, relationships and customers is the ability to leave comments on others people's website profiles. Back in the old days of the Internet there was little interaction between people on the web (besides chatrooms). Now you have the chance to learn all about people from all the world and ask question and start a dialogue with them. This is your chance to network with like minded people for free.r
This is the number one secret to getting your reader to click out from the article to your website. The author resource box is a text area describing who the author is, that is appended automatically to the end of submitted articles. Internet articles are different than ones in print. On the Internet, a needed conversion should take place...mainly a "click through" to a website. In print, the money has already been made when the magazine is purchased. On the internet, money will be made when the reader clicks out.r
Did you know that major art, craft and gift wholesale shows held at big convention centers are always looking for guest expert speakers? From the famous Rosen group to smaller wholesale shows, a part of the draw for the attendees are the experts lectures and panels that are held throughout the weekend. You could be a speaker yourself to gain to ton of respect and sales.r
Let's talk about buttons, widgets and badges. These are the graphics you see all the time on people's websites saying "Digg This", "Follow me on Twitter" and "Join Me On Facebook." Where do people get these widgets? How can they help your online business?r
You may not believe it, especially after all the work and money you've put into your website, but people will leave your site. A good statistics package will tell you exactly where most people are leaving. This is a handy thing to know and you'll learn some desperation tricks to do something about it later. But for now, we'll try to control where people go when they leave your site.r
A flip cam is a cheap and portable digital camcorder that is easy to use and easy to upload to your computer. You can order it online or from WalMart. What is great about the Flip cam is that you can take it to art and craft shows without lugging around an expensive or fragile camcorder. Why would you want to bring a camcorder to an art show? There are a number of reasons.r
1. Lots of benefits near the point where the person has to make a decision to put in their email address. Opt ins haven't been a novelty for over 10 years. People are afraid you will spam them to death so you must make it extremely enticing for people to risk putting in their email address.r
You need to know about this, but it can be very complicated. If you stick to simple basics and don't try to get fancy, you will have no trouble with the colors you use on your website. All you need to know is that some colors look terrible and some look fine on just about everyone's computer. Just because you are an artist and work with colors everyday, you will still need to look carefully at how the colors you use for your business are represented on the web.r
One way to accent your talents and beef up your profits is to create your own book. Your book can be about you, your artwork or your career. It is one more way to get your work in front of the eyes of thousands of people and another thing you can sell at shows or even Amazon and your website. If you think creating your own book is difficult, think again. It has never been easier to write and publish your own book with what is called Self-Publishing.r
I know how popular WordPress blogs are right now. That's because they are powerful website tools that easily create an easy to use online store, blog or membership site. If you have a WordPress blog and you want to liven it up a bit, here is a great tip for you and showing your videos to the world. if you don't have a WordPress blog site, it's something that you really need to have for your online marketing efforts.r
SEO, or search engine optimization, is how websites are discovered by the search engines. It consists of many different facets including keywords on the web pages, how many there are, where they are placed, are graphics are optimized, how many sites are linking to you and much more. If you want your website to get good positioning, then SEO is a must learn process. Many of the tactics can be learned and implemented by yourself with a bit of practice. It's finding a good mentor that keeps up on the changes that is really important.r
You know those old style, very long sales letters that you always see on webpages? The ones that are always trying to sell you something you don't really need? Well, those old sales letter formats are going the way of the dinosaur and you want to be better than that. After all, your artwork is a visual medium and needs to advertised in a visual way. Video sales letters are the new way of creating excitement for products and services that you are trying to sell on the web.r
If there is any way to offer something for free that people may want, that is something to look into. Books, MP3's, downloads and PDF files are just some of the ways you can promote your business to others. Wherever you promote or give away a file (PDF or MP3) is one more place that traffic can get to your website. If you created an MP3 about how to clean gemstones, and you gave it away on dozens of sites, people from those sites would have to visit your site to download the file giving your site a ton of traffic.r
If you want to get a ton of publicity for your art business, you need to contact the right people with the right package. Putting together a publicity package for yourself is not that hard. It can mean a huge difference in getting an article written about you or a shot on a TV show. Any of these powerful vehicles for publicity can mean big money for you and your business with a lot of visits to your website.r
Even if you don't plan to design websites as your primary business, I recommend that you learn enough to have control over updating your own site whenever you need to. Website authoring programs are designed so you don't have to write all the HTML code from scratch. In fact, you don't have to write any at all if you don't want to, although learning a little as you go along is a good idea.r
Selling ebooks are a great way to not only make an income from the internet, they can help brand your business and help make your work into a household name. Getting the word out as an artist gives you the tools for creating demand for your work in your local area and beyond. Instructional ebooks can make you the equivalent of a best selling author if it catches on and could skyrocket your art business far beyond anything that a show or gallery could generate for you. But selling ebooks one at a time can be slow and tedious indeed.
Building a database of customers is one of the most important parts of marketing your business, no matter what that business is about. From craftspeople to restaurant owners, having a database they use to market ezines, specials, email promotions and even postcards means getting the people into the system. Where can you meet potential clients and customers to add to your listbuilding? Local networking and meetup groups!
Local television needs guests constantly to create content for their viewers. What better way to promote your art business than to get on a local television show and talk about an upcoming art fair, charity event or gallery opening? Getting seen by the community really gets your name out there.... that's what every artist needs if they want to sell more work. And it's not as hard as it seems.r
Making videos for the web is one of the most powerful tools for getting search positioning for your artist website. Videos attract search engines like no other kind of webpage. And they don't have to be just on your website... free hosting sites such as YouTube, Revver and Video.Yahoo attract millions of visitors a day to their sites and with simple searches there people kind find your videos. Most people think videos are too difficult to make by themselves, but nothing could be further from the truth.r
You may not believe it, especially after all the work and money you've put into your website, but people will leave your site. A good statistics package will tell you exactly where most people are leaving. This is a handy thing to know and you'll learn some desperation tricks to do something about it later. But for now, we'll try to control where people go when they leave your site.r
First let's talk about the difference between a search engine and a directory. In a search engine an automated robot spider looks at your webpages to see where an individual page should rank when someone searches for your topic. The only time a real person looks at your site is if the search engine people think you are cheating.r
Advertising your website doesn't all have to be done just online. You can let people know about your website, your art and training services at events and galleries around the town you live in. If you live in a tourist area such as a historic town or beach, know that the customers that visit those galleries will want to see more of your work when they get home. That is how your website will pay off.r
It is hard enough to sell things on the Internet with the amount of competition and sheer number of webpages. Sometimes just simply pitching another product can seem like a futile attempt in making sales. There is another way, however, being the 'resource' for the masses. How you sell information and how well you give away information can make all the difference in the amount of money you make. Internet marketers all over the world are making use of free teleclasses and webinars to add value to their services.
Writing a self-published how-to book on your craft or art could make you a ton of extra money to supplement your business. Art and craft shows are not what they used to be. Making sure you have other products such as DVD's or books can not only make you extra income, but make you the expert in your field. Using self publishing methods, you can be an author in no time without being signed by a major publisher.
Squidoo is a powerful and easy source for promoting your products and services, or better yet, sending high quality traffic to your websites and blogs. How does Squidoo do this? Well, Google loves Squidoo and gives the service very high search engine positioning for its keywords. Squidoo is run and monitored by real people who limit the amount of links that you can put in a "lens" (that's what a Squidoo webpage is called). This keeps spamming from being an issue and the quality of the lenses are what search engines trust.
Blogging is a great way to drive targeted traffic to your websites, sales letters and opt-in pages. Leaving your thoughts down on the Internet on a regular basis helps build credibility for your business or service. There are millions of blogs online for every kind of subject, so how do you make sure your readers enjoy it? Follow these tips to blogging success.
Ongoing learning shows us that the world is changing and that we continuously have to reinvent and rewire. When I read a book by Thomas Friedman entitled "The World is flat," I learned much about our global world and how we're all connected to one another. I was especially intrigued when he said, "You cannot remain analog in this digital world." It's true. A person who keeps learning is a person who doesn't stand still. As the years pass, we can either rewire or retire. If we wish to keep our minds alert and alive we have to continue to be active learners at every age.
The great thing about being an expert is that you can spread the knowledge around the world. No matter what kind of things you have to share, there is someone who is ready and willing to learn what you know. Because of the ease and power of the Internet, teaching others has never been easier. Using YouTube, blogs and articles, you can reach millions of people hungry to learn what you know!
Making money by yourself on the Internet can be hard. Generating enough traffic to your website can be tough when you are just starting out. One way to shortcut around this is to piggyback off of the hard work and traffic that other people have done. You can advertise your services, tutoring, artwork and products on someone else website and give them a commission for any sales they make for you.
Google has a great social network tucked away in it's machinery called Google profiles. Just like Facebook, you can make friends with tons of people just like you with the same interests and like-mindedness. These are people you want to get to know better because they could become your next customers. Google profiles provide clickable links to all of your websites, sales letters, video channels and other social sites.
Ning is a bit different than a social network that you join. Ning gives you the freedom to create your own social network in any topic or niche you desire and invite friends to join. You are the creator and administrator of the network and you can manage members and content. This is your chance to provide a social gathering place on the Internet for a topic that may not have a major social network of its own. As the administrator you can encourage dialogue, upload videos and advertise your products right on the site.
Twitter has changed the way your profile works. You can share videos from a video hosting site URL such as YouTube and when you paste the URL in your Twitter status box, it will play in the new sidebar area that they have created. In the past, the follower had to click on the URL in the tweet and be sent to YouTube to watch the video. Because of Facebook, people are now used to watching videos right in their home page or other profiles without leaving the site. Following suit, Twitter has created a similar experience for their users.
Twitter has taken over the hearts of millions today and if you do not know anything about it, you really want to get on the band wagon and log on to Twitter and learn about it in a matter of minutes. The 140 character message can go a long way and you will be on your way to social networking with friends, colleagues and just about anyone whom you want to follow for their tweets. It is a very fast moving and fun site be on.