How to Write The Perfect Blog For Artists And Galleries
10 January 2022
Over 400 million people view or read more than 20 billion pages every month according to the latest blogging stats by Optinmonster. This proves the efficacy of blogs and the necessity to include them in your marketing strategy going forward. Whether you’re a seasoned blogger or just getting started, here are 4 key points to consider when writing a blog to cut through the clutter and get your blog read and shared.
The Right Content
Blogs are a major source of information for consumers and 77% of internet users read blogs. We all know it is important to identify what you want to communicate. But how do you actually go about this?
Review who you wish to attract through your blog. Examples of the who is a collector, an art buyer, an institution, etc.
Draw up a list of key characteristics of your audience and identify 6 possible ideas or concepts you know they would find useful and want to read about. This may take some time but it is important not to miss this step.
Use a mix of content forms in your blog strategy.‘How to articles’ are considered to be the most popular form of content followed by lists and news and trends.
BE RELEVANT ie. stay within the realm of the art industry as this is where you know the interest of your target audience lies.
Always directly relate the blog back to your business and your main business objective which is to sell more art.
Create evergreen content which is content that does not have a shelf life but is relevant for the foreseeable future.
Connect with your reader by using language and images that resonate with them.
The Ultimate headline
Creating a catchy headline is just not enough anymore. With millions and millions of blogs being written every day, it is important to have a headline that stands out and captivates and intrigues your audience.
Here are 7 easy steps to create the perfect headline:
Be concise: the reader should be able to deduce at a glance exactly what the blog is about and what they can achieve by reading it.
Grab their attention: think of how people and particularly your target market will search a particular topic and use those words in your headline eg: How to, tips, best practice, tips, sources, etc.
Use words and terminology that will resonate with your audience.
Use 6-13 words as these attract the most amount of website traffic and rank highest on google.
Include active and descriptive words such as How-to, Best practice, 5 Tips to, etc. Headlines with the word ‘best’ in them were found to have the highest ranking and SEO.
Use numbers by including stats, a delivery, or a time frame in your headline which can also increase readership ie. 65% of all art, 5 easy steps to, 5 minutes, etc. Uneven numbers have been found to be more effective at catching readers’ attention than even numbers.
Ensure your headline lives up to your article. Reading a blog takes time which very few people have in abundance. The reader may get frustrated if they get to the end of an article and you have not produced content that relates to the headline. This could ultimately affect their trust and whether they will consider doing business with you in the future.
Art is a sensory experience where the visual component plays a vital role. It is, therefore, more important than any other industry to include images and video. Here are a couple of pointers:
According to a study conducted by Buzzsumo, they found articles with an image once every 75-100 words got double the amount of shares of articles with fewer images, and a minimum of 30 more shares than articles with more. Once you have written your blog, ensure your image to word ratio is correct.
Images help readers better understand the topic and content. Use infographics when explaining something difficult or graphs when showing statistics and numbers.
Use high-quality, optimised images or videos that are relevant to your topic as this will draw your reader in.
Visual searches like Google Lens are becoming increasingly popular and good quality images are ranked higher than low-quality images.
The perfect length
Every writer has their own way of writing a blog. Planning is an important part of the process. Roughly plan the length of your blog and use a word count to give you an indication while you are writing. The length of a blog is key to how it will be read and here are a few interesting points to note:
According to the study mentioned earlier by Optinmonster, longer-form content generates 8x more page views, 3x more social media shares, and 9x more leads than short-form content however 75% of readers prefer reading articles under 1,000 words. The reason for this is that the lengthier blogs increase your SEO, ranking, and website traffic as they are more detailed and comprehensive. Consider writing a selection of longer-form and shorter content so that you get the best of both worlds.
In closing, the average blog takes between 3 and 6 hours to write, so decide how many blogs you would like to publish a month upfront and plan your writing accordingly. It is better to post regularly than on an Adhoc basis. One blog a week is the absolute minimum you should consider in order for you to gain momentum. If you are short of blogs, relook and refresh older blogs to make them relevant. Become a thought leader in the artworld and amongst your target market by publishing well-written, useful articles that everyone wants to share. Happy blogging!
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