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http://www.craftedweb.com
Country: United States
Language: English
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My name is Nicolette Tallmadge, I currently run my own hand crafted jewelry design business. I’ve been designing and selling jewelry for over 11 years. I got the idea about The Crafted Webmaster when I was working as a full time and freelance web designer. I created my first site in 1996 by learning HTML in a magazine and used that experience to get a job designing web sites for a living. While designing sites full time and on a freelance basis, I was also designing and selling my own handmade jewelry and used my web experience to promote myself online. During that time I helped many of my fellow artisans with setting up their own web sites and with advice on how to promote their business on the web. I now run my jewelry business full time and I’ve built The Crafted Webmaster so I can provide information to other fellow artists and craftsmen so they can learn how to promote their work on the Internet.
Date / Time: 8/13/2009 7:36 PM UTC
These days if you want to sell your artwork or market your crafts, having a presence online is no longer an option, it's now a must. So, if you're at ground zero, where do you begin?
1. Get a domain name (or two, or three)
* A domain name is virtual real estate...it's hard to build a true presence without one. * Buy your personal name, your company name, and a name with some keywords in it. * Don't wait until you're ready to build a website...get it now. * You can get a domain name at MyNamespot Domains.
2. Get a blog
* Go to Blogger or Wordpress.com and sign up for a free blog. * If you don't have a website, your blog can double as your website. * If you already have a website, you should still get a blog. * For more information about blogging, you can sign up for my e-course "50 Blogging Tips for Artists".
3. Build a website
* Build a website using your own domain name on your own hosting service. Online portfolio websites are fine...but you need something that's all your own * It doesn't have to be fancy, it can even just be a couple of pages big. * Starter websites can have basic information, name, contact info, information about your artwork. * Make sure that you have a place where people can sign up for your mailing list. * If you don't know how to set up a email list, you can also read my article series "How to Plan and Start a Great Email Newsletter".
4. Get an account on a social networking site
* Get an account at Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Myspace. Pick ONE of these and concentrate on building a presence. * Fill out your profile and link your profile to your blog and your website. * Start making friends and interacting with them.
5. Get an account at a social media site
* Social media sites are places where you can share photos and videos like Flickr, YouTube, Picassa. * Regularly upload photos and videos of your work, your studio, your events...anything that has to do with your business. * If you're not familiar on how to shoot or upload video to sites like YouTube, you can get a copy of my article series "How to Use Video to Promote Your Art Website".
6. Some important points to remember
* An "online presence" does not equal "a website". * A presence online means that you can be found in multiple places. Don't count on people finding you by landing on your website. * Think of the concept of "home bases" and "outposts". Home bases are places online under your control (i.e. websites you own, blogs you own, etc). Outposts are third party places where you have a presence where people can find you (i.e. Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc). * Build your online presence step by step. You'll avoid getting overwhelmed if you take things one step at a time.
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