Internet Marketing For Artists

Internet Marketing For Artists (And Other People Too)

We are Breaking EvenWe have an office in Bar Harbor.

We've designed over 100 websites and have spend more hours on social media than we

will ever admit (thousands.)

Everyday, we find out more things we don't know... but we're ok with that.

[email protected]@breakingeveninc.com

The internet is...

As you see, they are spending time on social media websites.

Most people's online goals can be accomplished with social media

1) Drive more traffic to my website.2) Make more money in my (online) store.3) Be known as a 'leader' in the industry.4) Get good word of mouth.5) Do better customer service.

Today, we'll talk about this!

Important: You Need More Specific Goals

S = SpecificM = MeasurableA = AchievableR = RelevantT = Time-bound

Vague goal: I want more Facebook likes.SMART goal: I want 500 total Facebook likes between January and May of 2013.

Great, but what can I measure?

Clicks on a link- Bitly.com and/or Google Analytics

Scans of a QR code-Some paid service (or Google Analytics)

Traffic to social media: Facebook Insights, etc.

Any Link: Bitly.com

● Free (keeps data for a period of time)● Can customize the URL

Let's do a sample one...

1) Create account on bitly.com (or log in). 2) Copy and paste the link to shorten/track:

Let's do a sample one...

3) Customize and/or group the link as necessary:

What can you do with your Bitly Links?

● Share them on Twitter (because they are short.)

● Share them on Facebook (to see who clicks since Facebook stats stink.)

● Use them in print ads, press releases, and other places that won't tolerate HTML links. The less someone has to type in, the less they are likely to mess it up.

● See trends in what people like/don't like. Because they will never tell you.

But what about those fancy QR codes? Can I make those?

Yes!

How To Create and Measure QR Codes:

Option 1 - the free one: ● Make a free QR code (Google 'free QR code

generator' - there are tons.)● Send scanners to a specific page on your

site and measure that with Google Analytics.Option 2 - the cheap but easier one:● Use a service that will let you create and

track one. (These seem to be around $10-$20/month.)

Here's what I mean about Option 2:

Using Social Media To...

1) Help more people find me/my business2) Make more money in my online store.3) Be known as a 'leader' in the industry4) Get good word of mouth5) Do better customer service


Overly Simplified SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Search engines like three things. Put them on your website and Google will be happy:

1) Keywords- terms people are searching for2) Links- other websites saying 'hey, this stuff is good'3) Frequently updated content- the more often you update your site and the more pages are on it, the more Google comes back to visit

Keywords

Try Google.com/Trends or, if you can handle more data, try Google Keyword Research Tool.

Google Trends In Action

How would you use keywords?

● Write on social media using them● Rewrite web pages using them Nicole Ouellette's landscape paintings are for sale at several galleries in the northeast United States and in her online store...● Write blog entries with them● Write on another website using those

keywords (guest post, leave a comment, etc.)

http://www.breakingeveninc.com

Links

Links coming into your site say to the search 'Hey other people think this is good.'

Site A: 2 links coming into itSite B: 200 links coming into it

Which one will Google show you?

Links: A NoteNot all links are created equal.

Google Page Rank determines how awesome links are for you. Pages are ranked 1-10 which gives you an idea of how important they are (based on traffic and more). Google is a 10, Amazon is a 9, Breaking Even is a 3.

A link off NewYorkTimes.com is worth more than a link off BreakingEvenInc.com... but all links help!

How Do I Get More Links?

1) Ask for them. (Check to make sure the Chamber, the galleries you sell in, etc. are linking to you. If they are not, ask if they would mind doing so!)2) Write a blog with cool/useful stuff in it. People will want to link to that.3) Use social media and link back to your site with it.

There are all kinds of places to put links in social media...

Frequently Updated Content

Frequently updated content tells Google someone cares about this site.

Website A: Updated 1 week agoWebsite B: Updated 6 months ago

Which one does Google see as more relevant?

What do you need to add to your site?

Blog!Other Stuff Besides A Blog:● FAQ- Make your life easier by answering

people's (possibly ridiculous) questions● Product Galleries- Show textures, your

products 'in the wild' ect. ● Stuff you are sharing on social media● Customers loving you● Map of where you are selling your stuff in the

world (aren't you popular?)

For All The SEO Stuff.. .

A blog is the easiest thing to do it all...

Since about 40-90% of website traffic is driven by search*, do better in search engines and more people will come to your site.

Most people's online goals

1) Drive more traffic to my website. 2) Make more money in my online store.3) Be known as a 'leader' in the industry4) Get good word of mouth5) Do better customer service


Three Ways To Think About Small Business Online

● Ecommerce On Your Own Website● Ecommerce Not On Your Website (Social

media, third party services, etc.)● Instead of Ecommerce...

Option A: Ecommerce On Your Website

● Think 'open source software'○ Free and Frequently updated

● WooCommerce, Virtuemart, Zencart, etc.● Setup Costs ($1000+ for a web developer)● Ongoing costs (accepting credit cards)*

○ Secure certificate- $10-$100+/year (The more security you want the customer to feel, the more expensive they are)

○ Payment gateway: $30/month possibly plus percentage/set amount per transaction (Paypal Pro)

*Alternative: https://www.braintreepayments.com/ and https://stripe.com/

https://www.braintreepayments.com/

https://stripe.com/

Option A: Ecommerce On Your Website

Pros: Can accept credit cards, can control entire user experience

○ Integrations so they buy more (Ex: social sharing, featured products)

○ Integrations so they buy again (Ex: subscribe to our email list, 'wish list')

Cons: Ongoing fees (monthly charges to accept credit cards*), takes time, and initial setup costs

Option B: Third Party Website

Third party websites = lots of options Big Cartel, Shopify, hundreds of others

○ Eventbrite (events/ticket sales)○ BigCartel ('artists')○ BookBaby (ebooks)○ Etsy (homemade)

Pros: Low commitment/cost, easy to startCons: Not so customizable, can't control user experience, can only accept Paypal (unless you pay extra), can be expensive over time

Etsyhttp://www.etsy.com/shop/beadjenny

BigCartel- http://atlanticartglass.bigcartel.com/

Option C: 'Instead Of' Ecommerce

● Custom forms (specialized products)● Availability calendar (rooms/appointments)● Book/use online to get something offline

○ Ex. OpenTable (online reservations for restaurants)● And more...

Doing something is always better than doing nothing.

Option C: 'Instead Of' Ecommerce

Instead of Ecommerce

Someone who is nailing the custom form...

IWantToDrawACatForYou.com

In short...

● Show you are at least open to the option of selling online

● People aren't buying on social media... yet.● Services like BrainTree Payments are going

to keep driving costs lower to do this for yourself.

Selling More In Your Online Store (Besides Getting More People There)

● Optimize your online store.- You know all that keyword research you did in part one? Use it here in your store description and product descriptions! Remember no robots!

● Offer free shipping- People love it. Why? http://bit.ly/freeshippingbuymore

● Cross sell and upsell products.- If your software doesn't allow this, put it as linked text in your description. "These plates also have matching bowls and matching cups to complete the set."

http://bit.ly/freeshippingbuymore

http://bit.ly/freeshippingbuymore



Selling More In Your Online Store (Besides Getting More People There)

● Make online friends and crosspromote.

● Test design with A/B testing.- Test one version along with another and see which one gets you more sales. More sales from same amount of traffic. Win-win. http://bit.ly/abtestingguide


1) Drive more traffic to my website. 2) Make more money in my online store.3) Be known as a 'leader' in the industry4) Get good word of mouth5) Do better customer service


Get People To Know Your Face

● Your face and 'about' info on your site● LinkedIn and Google+● Microdata/rich snippets● Gravatar.com● Guest post

You want people to think, "That So-And-So is everywhere! They must be awesome!"

Your Face On Your Site

When I got started blogging, a fellow Maine blogger Meg Wolff somehow saw my picture. "You should put your face online! You're cute!" She said so I stuck it in the sidebar of my site. A month later I was recognized at John Edwards as 'the girl who blogs'. True story.

Put your face on your website! Human faces mean 50% higher conversion.

Make A LinkedIn and Google+ Profile

● Put professional (and other) accomplishments.

● Link back to your own website. ● Both in cahoots with Google so if someone

looks up your name, those are the things (besides Facebook) that are likely to come up. Only these profiles are open.

What's the other cool thing with Google+?Your face can be in search results! (Microdata and Google Authorship)

Gravatar.com

Why is my face not next to the comment I just left? I've been leaving comments on blogs to get links back to my site...

Gravatar.com

Go to Gravatar.com and create a free account. Then people can start seeing your face (and linking back to your website) when you leave a comment.

Guest Posting

An easy way to get famous? Guest post on a complimentary website or blog. 1) Look for blogs you read and want to be associated with. Read their 'About' or 'FAQ' to make sure they are open to guest blog posts. 2) Leave periodic comments for 2-3 months. 3) Email them (use their name) with an idea for a blog post you'd like to write. 4) Send them the blog (preformatted HTML if you really want them to like you) with links built in, pictures to run with the post, etc.

Guest Posting Benefits

● New audience to see your work● Free link coming into your site● Makes you seem more legit if someone is

letting you post on your website● Present your art in a different way/voice then

you are used to ● Blog readers tend to be more affluent and

likely to buy online than non-blog readers i.e. your target audience

● There are blogs for everything so be as nichey as you want.

Guest Post


1) Drive more traffic to my website.2) Make more money in my online store.3) Be known as a 'leader' in the industry4) Get good word of mouth5) Do better customer service


Getting Better Word Of Mouth

● Email after transaction (1 week later), asking for a product review (send them links to where to post the review!)

● Do something good. Donate $100 to a charity every month, etc. and talk about it.

● Post to social media more. Exposure research shows the more people are exposed to you, the more they like you.

● Set up a Google Alert to address concerns right away.

Facebook Updates vs. Engagement

What are the people saying?Google.com/alerts

Refine Over Time

● You may have to include or exclude certain words/phrases:

Ex: 'nicole ouellette -lacrosse'

● If you can, leave a comment. If you can't, message the person directly.

Your Abbreviated Guide To Social Media

● Facebook● Twitter● LinkedIn● Google+● Pinterest● Youtube

User profiles for each site and how/when to post on each site. (Data from Quantcast)

FacebookWho: Everyone (largest growing demographic is 55+), women's profiles more viewedWhat: VisualsPhoto shares are the 'liked' on Facebook. Asking to share also helps

Profiles Versus Pages Versus GroupsProfiles: Nicole Ouellette● Set up by an individual person ('Friend'-

mutually agreed upon)● Can be public, private or a blend● Stats not availablePages: Breaking Even Communications● Connected to a profile, not necessarily

publicly ('Like')● Stats available and are publicGroups: Cheese Eating Club● Hybrid, usually informal/network-y ('Join')

Creating A Facebook Business Page

www.facebook.com/pages

1. Click 'Create' (upper right)2. Follow the instructions (most of you are a local business if you have a location or a brand if you don't really). 3. You can add this stuff...

Facebook Business Page

Facebook Insights

Anatomy Of A Really Good Facebook Post

● Certain days are better than others but Wednesdays stink.

● Posts during off peak hours (between 7 pm and 8 am, on weekends)- 14% more interaction

● This stuff is a moving target so test for yourself.

Twitter

Who: Everyone (largest growing demographic is 18-24 year old minorities)What: LinksUse Twitter to find and share links. Since their 'breakup' with Instagram, photos not so popular.Using hashtags can also allow you to be part of conversations. Ex #photography Find more and how they are trending here: http://www.hashtags.org/

Anatomy Of A Really Good Tweet● Tweriod.com will let you know when the best

time to tweet for you is.● 'new blog' and 'please retweet' are perennial

well performers.● This stuff is a moving target so test for yourself.

http://tweriod.com

LinkedIn

Who: Everyone (More affluent males 25-65 who have a grad school level education)What: Personal directory for business connections, can follow companies, can collect recommendations. (I mean I can say how non sketchy I am all over my own website but if 22 people on LinkedIn say how cool I am, I must actually be ok.)

Anatomy Of A Really Good LinkedIn Post

● Think of it as a combo between Facebook and Twitter. You are sharing a link but there is a visual too.

● This stuff is a moving target so test for yourself.

Google+Who: 50 million+ active users, tend to be more male (63%), and skew towards 18-34 year olds and incomes over $100KWhat: Place for people to find you, being famous in Google searches with your face

Pinterest

Who: Females 25-34 What: How-Tos, Arty Stuff

Anatomy of a Great Pin

● Pin something that lives on your own website.

● If it doesn't make sure to link back to your site in the caption. Add a price and the info will go in the upper left (but stuff without prices gets more clicks)

YoutubeWho: 18-24 year old minoritiesWhat: Videos

Anatomy of a good video upload:

Paying For Attention

● Yes paying for attention will get it for you.

When Should You Pay?

● You are reaching a specific group of people. (Ex: People who make over $100,000 who have just moved to San Antonio)

● When you want to get bigger on that network (i.e. more fans on Facebook).

● When you want to test your messages (Ex: run simultaneous ads about soft baby blankets, unisex baby blankets, and under $20 baby blankets and see what has the most return)

Is This Every Social Network?

No.● Flickr/Instagram (Photos)● Yelp/Foursquare (Location based)● Spotify/Last.fm (Music)● ustream (Broadcast)● Digg/Delicious/Reddit (Bookmarking)● Lots more....

Think of something people will share and there is a social network built around it online... probably.

But how do I manage it all?

1) Figure out what you are going to do. (Hint: Not 'all of it')2) Create a posting schedule. 3) Automate what you can. 4) Respond to comments/questions. 5) Track data.

Create A Posting Schedule: Editorial Calendar

Hootsuite: Schedule What You Can● Free for up to 5 accounts● Schedule ahead of time, shrink URLS, add

attachments● Works less well with Facebook post

scheduling (in terms of prettiness)

Hootsuite: Manage (and Respond) At A Glance

Do More Customer Service

● Use FAQ/blog to head off easy questions and help people narrow down what they want. (Can I pay with check? Click buying FAQ here: www.somethingofyours.com)

● Social media put out and respond to specific information. (Yes, Jean we have that in red.)

● Use personal form to collect what you may need from someone interested in buying... or let them buy right on your site!

How Could You Save Yourself (And Customers) Time?

● Think of your 3-5 most common questions. ● Address them via blog, social media, and

solutions on your own website.

Our three:● Why do websites cost at least $3000? (blog

post, case studies about each)● When is your next workshop? (..com/events,

Facebook event, and bottom of email newsletter)

● What do you do? (portfolio, testimonials)

Putting It All Together

You may have...● an online store● a website (may be same as store)● blog (may be same as website/online store)● social media profiles● an email newsletter● email signature

Make sure it is linked together... here are a few of our favorite ways how...

Integrations● Automatically tweet/Facebook blog posts

and other site updates.● Put links to social media in your email

signature, in your newsletter and, at least on the home and blog pages of your site.

● Let people subscribe to your newsletter via contact form, order form, and page on your website. (Tweet/Facebook out the page before you send your newsletter.)

● Use Facebook apps to display stuff, like your Twitter feed or blog posts.

My Brain May Explode. What Now?

1) Set goals.2) Try stuff.3) Do more of what works, less of what doesn't. 4) Evaluate and reset goals.

You guys have time to do this stuff all day...

Um, if we don't want to ever get paid!We: ● blog 2-3 times a week● Tweet once a day● Facebook five days a week● Pinterest when we want to● Google+ and LinkedIn once a week● Email newsletter once a month● Youtube quarterlyIn total, we spend between 8-10 hours a month on our stuff.

That's not bad. What saves you time?

● Schedule 'push'es ahead.● Hop in and interact once a day. (pulls)● Write a batch of blog posts when inspired

and schedule ahead. ● Keep a document of ideas for tweets, etc. to

write in while out and about... or at a boring meeting.

● 'Perfection is the enemy of getting anything done.'

What's the one thing no one is doing much about but people should be starting to think about?

The mobile web.

Mobile Facts

● Over 50% of Americans own a smartphone.

● One iPad is sold every 3 seconds.

● 2/3 Americans who bought a mobile phone in the last 3 months got a smartphone.

Yeah but do they buy anything?

● 32% smartphone users made purchases with their phones. (23% pick their laptop)

● 39% of iPad users use them to buy physical goods.

● Average order value from tablet $123, computer $102, smartphone $80

● 55% shoppers share their shopping experience on a social networking website

Mobile Customers

● 50%+ of website visitors are expected to be mobile (reality in Downeast Maine is around 10-20% typically right now- but it's going up)

● Foursquare, Yelp, and Facebook deals● Easy links (QR codes or bit.ly links)● Offer text offers/notifications (not everyone is

on a smartphone)● Your site: Mobile friendly

App Vs Mobile Site Vs. ResponsiveMobile Site ($)- Visit in browser (but not teeny writing)- Good for viewing info- Have less control over interfaceApp ($$)- Download from the app store- Good for function (play a game, etc.)- Can control interface entirelyResponsive ($$$) - Adjusts to any screen size- New and hot way to design... you'll hear lots more about this

Mobile Site Example

BreakingEvenInc.com● simplified homepage

content● selective menu● buttons to most useful

information

App Example

yelp.com● see what business

are near me● make reservations● find deals

Responsive Example

bostonglobe.com● Optimized for any

screen size● Content then design-

a whole new way to think about a website

OK, my brain might actually explode. Don't worry, here's your list!● Set a SMART goal (or three).● Decide what to do *consistently* over the

next 6 months. (You can't do it all, we don't!)○ Who are your people and where are they?○ What do *you* like to do?○ We recommend: blog (for the SEO), email

newsletter (for the current customers/'luddites'), and a social media site like Facebook (for prospective customers)

● Look at your stats... did it work?○ Do what works.○ Stop doing what doesn't work.○ Think about trying something else.

● Delegate, automate, rejuvenate.

Internet Marketing For Artists

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