One of the keys to a successful blog is consistency. If you’re anything like me you produce a number of articles in one sitting (or two). Well you can’t publish them all at once but you can schedule WordPress posts to auto publish.
Reasons why you may want to schedule your posts to publish automatically on the dates and times you choose.
1. You’re going on vacation. 2. You much rather be in your studio knowing your blog is taken care of (to a point, see below). 3. An unforeseen event happens and you forgot to publish your post but your email was scheduled and now your link to the post is broken.
Here is how to schedule WordPress posts to auto publish in 3 easy steps.
1. While your post is in “draft” stage and before you actually click the big blue publish button, click the edit link next to the “publish immediately” text. The schedule form will appear.
2. Select a month from the drop down menu and then enter your date and time, even the year. The time is in the 24 hour military clock. For example, if you want to publish at 7:00 in the evening you enter 19:00.
3. Click the Schedule button and you’re done.
Now that you have scheduled your WordPress posts to auto publish don’t forget that you still have to check in and reply to comments.
Tweet this automatically:
Scheduling WordPress Posts to Auto Publish Click to Tweet Save time by scheduling WordPress auto publish posts Click to Tweet Go on vacation knowing your WordPress posts will auto publish Click to Tweet
My clients questions are a constant source of blog post inspiration. Frances Vettergreen inspired this tutorial when she asked;
“I’d like to group the menu selections for the art and the info (statement, cv etc); is there a way to insert a space in there?
In other words what Frances wants to do is this:
Featured Current Work Small Fruit Plein Air By Series Bio/CV Statement Contact Blog
With a space to separate her texts and portfolios. In essence insert a space between By Series and Bio/CV.
Here are 3 tricks and tips for using WordPress Menus to accomplish what Frances what’s to do.
OPTION 1
With WordPress Menus you can create as many menus as you like. Using WordPress Widgets you can add menus to your sidebar or any widget area using the Custom Menu widget.
There’s only one draw back to using the menu widget to split your main navigation. Often the widgets style (font sizes and colours) could be different from the styling of the main navigation. They are in Artbiz themes in order to apply importance to elements. Your menu could look like the image below, not ideal.
OPTION 2
This option keeps the menu styling the same for all items.
To do this create a custom menu item and change the label to an underscore or another symbol to break the line. Once it is added to the menu open it and remove the link.
On the live site it looks like this…better. The styling of all the menu items remains consistent.
OPTION 3
Simulate nesting by indenting with a keyboard symbol. For example… This is so simple, you’re going to wonder why you never thought of this.
Inside your WordPress admin go to Appearance > Menus and select your main menu.
Each menu item expands down by clicking the downward arrow in the top right corner.
Under “Navigation Label” type in a keyboard symbol. Ideas could be… : Featured :: Current Work ~ Small Fruit – Plein Air | By Series
Portfolio and Texts can be dummy parents, meaning they are menu items with the links removed. To do this add a custom menu item to the menu and then once it’s in there open it and remove the link. To further differentiate PORTFOLIOS and TEXTS could be all capitals.
The label does not have to be the exact page title that you entered in the editor. As the example below shows, I shortened the label and added a title attribute which is a tool tip that appears when a visitor hovers over the menu item.
There you have 3 tricks & tips for using WordPress Menus. Which option do you like the best?
In this post I provide step by step instructions on how to use your blog for Exhibition History. By using your blog posts for listing your exhibition history you will not only have something to blog about but also have a way to share more about your work.
Go to Posts > Categories and create a new category named “Exhibitions”. Don’t forget to click the big blue button the says “Add New Category” (I know goes without saying).
STEP 2 Create a new blog post
Go to Posts > Add New and create a blog post with the name of your exhibition.
Add the invitation as the featured image or any other good quality image that represents the show. I set the invite from my last solo show at Dade Art & Design Lab as the feature image of this post.
You’ll find the “Set Feature Image” to the right of the editor near the bottom
If you use one of the David themes this image will appear full width across the top of the page as long as the image is at least 640 pixels wide. If it is a smaller image then will still appear above the post title only smaller. For other themes insert the image on the page. If your theme will show a thumbnail with excerpts then make sure you set a featured image as well as inserting on the page.
Now for the content. Add the exhibition details, date, opening reception, etc; just like a regular invite. If you have an exhibition statement you can use it here or write something about the show and the work. Other content to consider would be reviews, links to reviews, interviews, anything to do with the show.
You can generate a Gallery specifically for the exhibit. Also, include installation shots, pictures from the opening and images of people interacting with your work.
STEP 3 Select a publish date
Produce a number of posts to include in the new exhibition category by selecting from your past exhibitions and making a new post for each. In WordPress you can back date your publish day to be any time in the past, so back date to a week or more before the scheduled opening. If you prefer not to create a bunch of new posts and do all the backdating just start from your most recent exhibition and go forward from there.
Don’t forget to select the new category and add some tags before publishing, otherwise your post is going to be filed as “uncategorized” and won’t show up in the “Exhibitions” category.
STEP 4 Add the category as a menu item
The Last step is to put the new category into your menu. You can add a category as a menu item by selecting it under Appearance > Menus. Once it is in the menu it looks like a regular menu item only it goes to your blog category archive.
Below is a screenshot snippet of the “Exhibitions” category in my menu at KimBruce.ca. See the entire screen at my fine art site.
That’s it, you now know how to use your blog for exhibition history and there by have content to blog about and an exhibitions archive.
If you create an exhibitionhistory using a blog category please come back here and post us a link in the comment area so we can all come and visit your exhibition history.
The images that are presented on any artist website portfolio page have to be organized, curated and re-sized for the web. The most overlooked item that also belongs on every artist website portfolio page is descriptive TEXT. Tell us in words what we are looking at.
Most artists have more than one group of images to include on their portfolio page. With a WordPress site and the Nextgen Gallery plugin you can organize your work into separate galleries and create an album that acts as a container for your galleries.
When you include text with these images, you are not only informing people, you’re influencing them to click-through to see the entire body of work. You can easily add this text in NextGen Gallery or directly on the portfolio page.
The NextGen Album
There are two types of albums; the extended version that shows a feature thumbnail and a gallery description. The other is the compact version that only shows the thumb.
Your main portfolio page could have an album that contains your all your galleries. If you use the extended version you can write a gallery description that will show next to the thumb. This text is inserted inside the gallery. If you use the compact version that displays only the featured thumbnail, then you need to add some text to the page instead.
The description is added inside the gallery not on the actual portfolio page. This text is a short artist statement about this body of work and tells people what to expect if they click-through. It’s your job to get them to click-through.
The Compact Version
Compact version of NextGen Gallery Album
Here is an example of the compact version.
Rather than use the extended version of the album which stacks the galleries vertically, Liz Sullivan uses the compact album.
The compact album shows only a row of horizontal thumbs and title, without the descriptive text, so Liz wrote about each series of work in paragraphs below. This text, written directly on the page, adds context and frames your work with meaning.
Including text is extremely important! It helps site visitors understand your work and approach to your work. Often it affects their decision on whether or not the click-through and look at the full body of work.
The Galleries
Once a visitor clicks through to view a full body of work they typically see multiple rows of thumbnails that enlarge to full size image. It is important to curate your work and place your strongest work first, starting in the top left corner (that’s the typical starting point for most people).
Remember the descriptive text that I talked about above; include it on the gallery page as well. You may have a longer artist statement about each of your series. In this case you can select or craft one or two sentences to use on the portfolio page with the album and then use the full statement on the gallery image page.
If you craft one or two sentences you can also use it as a meta description for search engines.
Whether you use an artist website portfolio page with an album with all your galleries OR individual gallery pages without an album, it is imperative that you include descriptive text with images. It is our job as artists to inform and educate people about our work, using words.
A picture may be worth a 1000 words but words are worth 1000’s of understandings.
For an artist, the about page is typically where you place your biography. A biography provides visitors with an in-depth account of your art career. Since an artist’s bio is written in the third person your artist about page content should be as well.
An example of why you should write this page in the third person. Writing “I am an award-winning artist” can come across as bragging, While “Jane Doe is an award-winning artist” has more authority.
It should also include an image of you; the artist. Studies have shown that when visitors have a face to put with your name, you become much easier to remember.
Your image can be portrait style but it doesn’t have to be. A picture working in your studio, at one of your openings, or simply standing beside one of your pieces will do. Combined with some well-written text, your about page will help people feel like they know you.
Where to start…
By answering the 5 W’s you will find it easier to write your artist about page content.
Who are you?
What do you do?
When did you start doing what you’re doing?
Where are you?
Why do you choose to produce the work you do?
How are you accomplishing what you claim to do?
Video is also a great way to introduce yourself and chat a bit about your work. Remember if you use video on your About Page, keep it short and make it interesting. Not everyone will watch your video so it is important to include text.
Some artists like to combine their biography with their Curriculum Vitae (CV for short). If you do; rather than name it “About”, create a “Bio-CV” page. This is more in keeping with industry standards.
Looking at some client sites I found some interesting about page content…
I really like Isabel Forbes about page. Isabel used an excerpt from a review that captures the spirit of her work, providing instant credibility.
Andrea Wedell has two about pages. The one shown below is specifically about her as an artist which includes a friendly image and a nicely written third person bio. Then on her blog she has written more causally on what her blog is about. I really like the image a the top of this page that melds an image of your studio with an image of her in a casual setting.
The artist about page content is where can to enlighten people as to why you chose to produce the work you do. Remember your about page is not an artist statement. This a casual blurb about who you are, where as your artist statement is more formal and typical written in the first person. As your work evolves so will your biography, revisit this page to make sure it keeps current with your work.
Know of a good artist about page content, post us a link in the comments area so we can all have a look.
An artist website contact page lists ways people can contact you. It can and should be more than just a contact form or an email address. List more information on this page, such as…
Two forms of contact in case one fails. This is usually a phone number and the contact form. Some people publish their actual email to make it easy for visitors to content them. If you publish your actual email address you are leaving yourself open to be harvested by spammers. People are getting use to contact forms and they really do reduce spam.
A picture of you, your work or your store front.
Your full name, address and phone number. Some people don’t like to include their street address; the minimum would be your location – town or city.
Gallery representation including full name, address, phone number and a link to their website. You can create a separate page to list your representation should the list be long.
Artist Website Contact Page of Nicole LeBoutillier
If you welcome studio visits:
If you prefer appointment add your phone number. Use your cell phone number if you rather not use your home phone.
If you have an open studio list the hours that you are available and make sure you are available.
The artist website contact page is usually the easiest page to create content for.
Providing only a contact form without any further information is the biggest omission I see on artist websites contact pages. Suggest why people could contact you.
Some examples could be…Please contact me if you would like further information:
…on my work
…inquire on purchasing work
…join my email newsletter
…receive invitations for upcoming exhibitions
…just want to say HI!
It doesn’t take a lot of effort to make a contact page professional; an image, your info and a form, that’s it!
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