If you ever needed reassurance that starting a commercial blog was worth your while, a quick search on the Internet would afford you peace of mind. This vast resource is home to innumerable blogging statistics, each of which reaffirms the positive impact that this practice can have on your brand.
Take the fact that 81% of online consumers in the U.S trust the information that is provided by blogs, for example, or the assertion that companies boasting a blog have an average of 97% more inbound links than those that do not. These stats combine to make a compelling argument for blogging, while also providing an incentive to start your journey.
3 Lessons that Bloggers can learn from Artists
While these snippets of data underline the value of blogging, however, they do not often offer an insight into best practice. Instead, you need to learn these lessons elsewhere, drawing inspiration from a vast array of resources.
Interestingly, artists can be a huge source of inspiration to personal and commercial bloggers in the modern age. Not only do some of the world’s most innovative artists use blogging channels to market and sell their artwork, for example, but they also offer other lessons that brands can leverage to improve the quality and presentation of their content.
Aside from an appreciation of blogging platforms as powerful selling tools, however, what other examples do artists set to the current generation of blogger? Consider the following: –
Open your Mind to embrace new Ideas and Opportunities
If there is one characteristic that defines artists, it is their ability to think creative and with an open, uninhibited mind. This enables them to draw inspiration in real-time and from a diverse selection of sources, while also encouraging them to develop more complex themes using analogies and the parallels that exist between alternative mediums.
This is a lesson that it is increasingly important for the current generation of bloggers to heed, as this demographic must produce high quality and original content that has the capacity to engage readers. Despite this, the copy that is produced must also have relevance to a specific niche or marketplace, forcing bloggers to strike a delicate balance between the quality, quantity and originality of their content.
By adopting an open and creative mind-set, however, it is possible to constantly source inspiration for your blog while crafting innovative titles that deliver unique insights. Without this, there is a risk that your content will either dry up completely or become stale over time.
Constantly look to experiment with and Integrate Diverse Media into your Content
Over the course of the last two decades, numerous artists have been heavily influenced by technological advancement and the age of innovation. Take the example of Tiff McGinnis, who utilises both traditional and contemporary mediums to create unique (and occasionally discombobulating) multimedia artwork.
This example is telling, as it underlines the fact that artists have always strived to experiment with alternative media in a bid to create truly seminal pieces. Instead of being constrained by habit or theory, they fearlessly combine a diverse range of visual elements to drive their unique value proposition.
Bloggers can learn a direct lesson from this, as readers are increasingly more likely to be engaged by blog posts that include high-resolution imagery, infographics and audio visual content. Multimedia content is also proven to increase the amount of time that visitors spend on your website, as the greater levels of stimulation provided by contrasting visual elements leads to higher levels of engagement.
So, by becoming more familiar with alternative media elements and integrating these into relevant blog posts you can begin to build a store of genuinely engaging content.
Building a successful Blog and an Audience takes time
This is arguably the most important lesson, and one that may change the way in which you perceive your blog. As the technical processes of establishing a blog and adding content are relatively simple, for example, there is a tendency for webmasters to expect results immediately and become frustrated if they do not achieve these.
The fact remains that building a successful blog takes a considerable period of time, as this is more about cultivating a loyal and engaged audience rather than establishing a simple, technological platform.
Patience is therefore an important trait for business bloggers to possess, and one that many artists are forced to develop over time. A huge number of talented (and now world famous) artists failed to successfully promote or sell their artwork during their lifetime, for example, while others only began to achieve viable sales after years of hard work, refinements and generational changes.
With this type of patience and mental strength, it is almost impossible to scale your blog and gradually build an engaged audience. This subsequently prevents you from selling a higher volume of stock or increasing sales conversion rates, or any other goal that you aim to realise through blogging.
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