In the world of blogging, content is king.

Creating a Blog is easy, maintaining a Blog is hard.

As an artist you might want to blog about:

• The development/ evolution of your artistic practice.
• Your residencies, exhibitions, productions, events and activities.
• New projects you are working on i.e. recording an album, working with youth groups
• Building your venue, studio, exhibition space etc.
• Touring your productions.
• Preparing for publication.

Kickstart your blogging ideas:

1. Respond to something you have read on the web – a good way to start blogging is to link to and comment upon something you feel is interesting or that you disagree with. Think about constructively responding to something someone else has posted or has been published online, and use links to provide the context for your opinion.
2. Suggest an idea – perhaps for a story or a way of doing things. But it is important that you then invite people to respond on the comments. Ideas can travel very far so can be effective in attracting readers.
3. Interview someone – this is a particularly straightforward and simple way of generating blog posts. An email interview can work well, but if you can add in audio or video this will add so much more value and interest for your visitors.
4. Blog an event – if you are attending a relevant event – a conference, meeting, public talk, demonstration, workshop, seminar, exhibition, performance etc – write about it. You could, if you have the technology, photograph the event, record mini-interviews with other attenders, or film elements of the event itself, to continue to add something new and dynamic to your blog.
5. Ask a question – this tends to work best once you have established a readership who already contribute to your blog through comments and their own blog posts, or if it is for a worthy cause. This approach can be really effective in generating useful insight and knowledge into a particular area.
6. Reflect on something – it might be something that happened to you recently, a decision or choice, a change in perspective or direction, a new story, anything which has made you think and feels is worthy of sharing with your blog visitors.
7. Do something visual – take photographs and video where ever you can. Make sure you explain what they are, include links and ask questions.
8. Let someone else post – if you know of someone with a particular expertise or experience, invite them to write a ‘guest post’ on their specialised area. Even if they have their own blog this will give both of you the opportunity to reach new audiences, or to write in a different context, and it will improve your own knowledge.

Things to consider when posting a blog

• They are meant to provide fresh content and provide an answer for blog visitors.
• There are no specifications on the length, type, format or style of a blog.
• Keep it simple.
• Always assume people know nothing about you.
• Your writing style can be entirely casual.
• You can write about personal experiences.
• It is helpful to link to related articles, blogs and websites.
• Make sure you involve your blog visitors with an open comment feature.

Popular Types of Blog Posts

1. Lists. People really love lists, they are easy to read and fun to write. Lists are often linked to by other sites and can help promote your blog.
2. Reviews. People like to read about other people’s opinions, and basically that is what blogging is all about. Thoughtful reviews attract visitors and provide insight and value for both your blog and your readers.
3. How To. These types of posts really provide value for your readers and can have a much longer lifespan then the average blog post. This are regularly linked to by other sites and allow readers to benefit from your own knowledge and expertise.

Consistency is one of the hardest elements to achieve when first starting out. Set yourself a target of posts to be reached each week (i.e. one post per week, 3 posts per week, once a day) as well as an idea of the themes you can blog about. If you are blogging about a specific project then you can easily blog about the progress of that project each week. If you are blogging more generally about your venue, organisation or business then consider writing a list of all the different elements you could potentially write about, something to provide you with inspiration.