“I know I should have a blog for my business, but it feels sort of overwhelming. I mean how much time is this going to take, and what am I going to write about? I’m not really a writer.”
If this sentiment sounds familiar to you, you’re not alone. A lot of artists dread the idea of sitting down to write a lengthy essay about their work even once, much less a few times a week for a blog. They know they should be blogging, but find the whole idea overwhelming. No wonder services like thean be their bestfriend.
Often the stumbling block is a very basic insecurity many of us possess. It comes from years of school assignments handed back covered with red ink, and a feeling of desperation the night before reports were due. The message that came through loud and clear then is still ringing in your ears: you are good at art, not writing. You aren’t a writer.
Here’s the thing, though. If you can write an email, you can blog well.
And you should. Even if you’re business is humming along now, sales are happening and the future looks good, a regularly updated blog will help the future be brighter.
With a blog you bring your customers inside your world. You show them who you are, how you work, and what you care about. You give them a space to interact with you, and with one another. And this space is one you own.
Don’t build your sole platform on Facebook, where algorithms limit how many followers see your posts. Don’t build it in the Etsy forums, or anywhere else for that matter. All of those spaces are nice to have, but nothing is better than your own platform.
So how can you blog well if you feel that you aren’t a good writer? The best answer is to think small. A good blog post doesn’t need to be long or complicated. It doesn’t need to be an essay or tell a whole story. It can just be simple and true. You can utilize essay rewriter services, more about rewirte my essay here.
Geninne Zlatkis shows this well. Geninne is a watercolor artist who’s built a very successful blog with posts that are almost never more than two or three sentences. The text from her post on November 25 is typical.
“Freehand vine in dark blue I decided to paint above my studio window. Making it up as I go with acrylic paint and a round brush. Now I need to finish the other half.”
Three sentences accompanied by a single photo of her studio wall. That’s all. Maybe 30 minutes of her day to compose and publish.
Imagine if you just found Geninne’s work on Etsy. Pretty! But now that you can see her studio wall, you’ve got a whole new perspective. She lives in Mexico, in one of a series of modern houses her husband builds. She collects succulents. She sits at a desk in front of a window while she paints. She loves blue. Without a blog, Geninne is represented online by her work alone, in a sea of pretty artwork. With just these very simple 2-3 sentence posts she is a real person, an artist we connect to and feel we know.
“But her house is beautiful! I live in a rented apartment with a toddler and three cats. This isn’t the Mexican countryside. My husband isn’t a furniture maker. I need to vacuum.”
I hear you. Not everything in your house needs to be in your photos, and it’s okay to clean up first. Take a few minutes and arrange things. Move that pile of unfolded laundry. The key here is good lighting, focus, depth of field. You’d be surprised how beautiful your desk will look if you take a great picture. But you know this already. Photos are incredibly important if you operate online.
So here’s my successful craft blogging recipe for non-writers:
1. Begin with a picture. If you sell your work online, you’re already taking pictures. Take a few more. Casual pictures of your supplies, your desk, your work in progress. What have bought recently? Or found in your garden or at the thrift store?
2. Write like you’re writing an email to your best friend. Just a sentence or two is fine.
3. Read it aloud. Writing always improves once you’ve heard yourself read it. Spellcheck.
4. Post it. Share it.
5. Keep going. Commit to updating your blog three times a week.
Try it. Choose a blogging platform and get started. In the beginning very little will happen. You’ll post and feel like you’re getting nothing in return. That’s okay. Incorporate the ritual of posting into your daily art practice. See your blog as a way to reflect back to yourself where you are right now, and where you’re heading. If you can get blogging to serve some kind of selfish purpose you’re more likely to continue. Want to be a successful editor? Check out Capstone Editing‘s courses today.
A blog is a public thing, though, and interaction is really motivating. Be sure to share. Add your blog URL to your email signature. Put it on your business card and on the messages you send out to customers.
“I already have a blog, but it’s totally neglected. This sounds good. Maybe I should just delete my old blog and start over.”
Don’t delete it! If you’ve started, keep going. It’s entirely okay to change direction. Identify what was inhibiting you from keeping up with your blog in its current state and then make some changes that will strip away those barriers.
If you felt like you had nothing to write about, remember to think small. Show us:
- Two colors that go well together.
- Three paintbrushes.
- The skirt you just cut out.
- What’s in your embroidery hoop.
- Your thread rack.
- New skeins.
- A sweater your grandmother made you.
- Six vintage buttons.
Tell us a little something about them.
Over time, when an idea strikes you, write a longer post about some aspect of your work, create a tutorial, or do an interview. But for now, just let us peek behind the curtain of your life as an artist and maker.
A blog with five long, perfectly edited posts a year is not nearly as good as a blog with 144 short insights into your life and work. Keeping it simple means you can keep it active.
If you have an online business, but you find blogging overwhelming, make 2014 the year you change your mind.
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Perhaps you do aspire to become a writer, or a better writer? Let me recommend a book I read this year that has given me the confidence to work on my own writing. It’s On Writing Well: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction, by William Zinsser. This book isn’t technical. It’s an engaging read and when you’re finished with it you will be a better writer. I promise.
I’ll leave you with some thoughts from Zinsser that I think is really applicable to craft blogging.
“Ultimately the product any writer has to sell is not the subject being written about, but who he or she is. I often find myself reading with interest about a topic I never thought would interest me – a scientific quest, perhaps. What holds me is the enthusiasm of the writer for his field. How was he drawn into it? What emotional baggage did he bring along? How did it change his life? It’s not necessary to want to spend a year alone at Walden Pond to become involved with a writer who did. This is the personal transaction that’s at the heart of good nonfiction writing.”
So, err, do you have advice on how to stop farting around on your blog and get making? Or is that just me? lol
Thanks for this post! it’s something I have been umming and arring on for the last couple of months!
I LOVE this post. Blogging can be such an integral part of a creative business. Customers want to see who we are not just what we make. It is great for business and for those amazing relationships that form between business owner and customer!
Rohn
Thank you so much for this post! I’ve been struggling with my blog and I find this advice to be very helpful. Now for me to put it to use. 🙂
Ha! I always find it funny when I procrastinate from doing the things I love most. Like sewing!
You’re welcome. I hope it’s a little helpful, Cate!
I totally agree, Rohn, and it doesn’t have to be fancy to be terrific!
I’m so glad, Jessica. Happy blogging!
thanks as always for these great pointers
i think i need to focus more on making and less on new blog posts
Thanks for this post, I have no business (yet?) but have been neglecting my blog lately. You’ve motivated me to have another look!
That’s terrific, Sandra. I think it’s important to remember that it’s not too late to return to a blog. You can always update it and enliven it again, no matter how long it’s been.
Good advices. Thanks
Thank you Abby, for giving me a little nudge, when I really needed it… My family has been telling me to start a blog and talk about why I use recycled fabrics, but love all the ideas from bloggers that only talk about which fabric line they are currently sewing with. Mine are the “line from the local thrift store” So I am starting my own blog today……..again thank you for the nudge……
I think you’ve got a great idea for a blog, Lori! Good for you for getting started. Keep in touch!
-Abby
Abby..just say, Go Casey, GO!” I always can use an enthusiastic cheerleader!:~)
I’ve always really liked this site: http://www.toasted-cheese.com/ It has daily writing prompts and exercises to help with writing in general. I discovered it years ago when I was doing Nanowrimo.
Abby, this is such a good post. And I love the think small. Often when I’m sewing, small blog ideas come to me like “Why I love my serger” or “The detritus of sewing” and I have written them down and hope to write some of them. This post is good inspiration. Thanks and great newsletter, too!
Thank you for reading the newsletter, Lisa. And yes, many great blog posts come out of very tiny things. No need to write something weighty every single day.
Is there anyone alive?
But what if the photos are the part you hate? Specifically the taking them (all that time staging and getting the reflections minimized, then the color issues – and after all that you have to tweak them. I’d rather write, but photos are a necessary part of a maker’s blog! I know, I’m whining, I just wish there was a short-cut for the photos!
I think it’s also entirely possible to have a great blog with no photos! But if you’re writing craft tutorials, yes photos are a must.
Thanks Abby, I know you are right. I guess its just a matter of making photographs a habit.
As a new blogger this is so helpful, thanks for the great advice!
Do I need to have a business to blog?
No, you don’t. A blog is just a public journal. Anyone can have one 🙂
I’ve been thinking about starting a blog and this answered several questions for me! YESSS! Thank you for the post . . . encouragement!!
Awesome!