Kreativ Blogger Award – The Power & Paying It Forward Nature of Blogging
A Kreative Blogger award has recently been passed to me by artist Debra Cortese.
I believe we first connected on Twitter… ah yes, another connection thanks to my favorite social media platform!
Since I’ve decided to stop trying to recreate the wheel – I decided to reprint the background information that Debra found – this is from her blog post:
I’ve become a bit of an information addict, I couldn’t do this without a little background research. I quickly found reference to the original ‘Kreativ Blogger’ post and requirements for nominated Kreativ Bloggers. I believe they have been edited and abbreviated over time and cyberspace.
Kreativ Blogger originated in May 2008 in a post by Huldas Verden as noted by Clay Garden author in this April 2009 post:
“Finally I found that it was started in Norway by a blogger named Huldas Verden.”
When the Clay Garden post was written in April 2009, the author’s Google search came up with 712 entries for Kreativ Blogger.
When I searched today, Feb 28, 2010 for ‘Kreative Blogger’ awards, Google comes up with 23,200,000 entries! Hence, the power of blogging!
Here are the requirements that I found, and am passing on to 7 fellow Kreativ Bloggers (names and links to blogs at the end of this post):
The Kreativ Blogger award comes with the following requirements:
1. You must thank the person who has given you the award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link the person who has nominated you for the award.
4. Name 7 things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate 7 other Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs to let them know they have been nominated.
Seven things about me that may be of interest:
1. Jobs I’ve had: serving up ice cream at Dairy Queen, orthodontist assistant, college textbooks sales rep, temporary help company sales rep, cake decorator, ARTIST!
2. I was an exchange student in Tours, France my junior year of high school and can still muddle through with French. I’m open to any business opportunities that would take me to France so keep your eyes and ears open!
3. I’m a middle child and when I say that, I’m often told, “Oh! That explains some things!” What? What does it explain? 
4. I love what I do and wish that everyone could say the same. Follow your dreams, make tough choices when necessary and keep the passion for what you do!
5. Growing up I wanted to be a teacher. I guess I am but not in the way I expected – this is even better – no chalk dust! (or dry erase marker fumes)
6. Sometimes these things feel like chain letters (which I never do) but I’m told they are good for SEO so I’ll admit – that’s why I did it!
7. I believe there is a silver lining in EVERYTHING that happens… you just have to be willing to look for it. This has really irritated some people in my life – guess they didn’t share my belief.
MY KREATIV BLOGGER NOMINATIONS ARE:
Daniel Tardent www.artmarketingsecrets.com
Jen Goode www.jgoode.com
Deb Trotter www.debtrotter.com
Jill Seale www.momscouts.blogspot.com
Libby Unwin www.lugraphics.com/index.php/blog/
Brenda Baker www.artandillumination.com
David Billings www.sparkyfirepants.com
TAG, you’re it!
Thanks Debra for nominating me and encouraging me to get this done!
– Tara Reed
P.S. Hopefully I’ll be ok even though I bent rule #7 – 6 of my 7 nominees are on Twitter so I let them know there – the 7th got an email.
Ask About SEO for Artists Call was a Huge Success in Spite of Some Technical Challenges!
“Please be patient – we are experiencing technical difficulties…” that was one theme last night but it didn’t stop the wonderful and understanding artists that were on the line for the Ask About SEO for Artists call! We got through the call but decided to re-record today for clarity.
Of course the technical difficulties persisted as the follow-up email went out before I wanted it to (don’t ask!) so I apologize if you get 2 of those as well. Hopefully all the technical issues will be done in this 24 hours and it will be smooth sailing for a while!
Here is what we covered -
- What is SEO?
- Can I optimize SEO if I didn’t create my own website?
- 3 key aspects to help your website rank well in search engines
- Are the “Buzz Words” (keywords) the most important part of optimizing your website?
- How to choose keywords.
- How do you optimize for more than 1 or 2 keywords?
- How are blogs searched and what part of the blog (title, text, etc) is most important for SEO?
- How to get links to your blog and why all links aren’t created equal.
- Can you optimize for store sites like Zazzle and CaféPress?
- How do I stand out from others using the same keywords or terms?
- If I’m revamping my art and website, what steps should I take to optimize the site for search engines?
If you have ever signed up for any Art Licensing Info Monthly Ask Call in the past, check your inbox and you will have a link to get the free replay.
If you have never listened before, click here to SIGN UP FOR THE FREE mp3 AUDIO REPLAY.
The system that was the basis for the free call is “The Artist SEO System” by Daniel Tardent.
If you’re like many, you might still be thinking about buying this guide in 12 months – and think of all the website traffic you will have missed. Grab the opportunity now and make your website do it’s job and help your career!
This product is never discounted because it is high-value & very targeted towards the unique needs of artists. If it was focused on regular small business it would cost $500 or more.
The Artist SEO System is $97, a great investment if you want to maximize the value of your website. I have a lot of SEO knowledge and still found things to help me improve my site SEO even more. I highly recommend you consider this…
CLICK HERE for all the details.* (This is an affiliate link and if you make a purchase I will receive a commission. This helps offset the time and money costs of putting together all the free monthly calls.)
Here’s to your creative success and high rankings in search engines!
– Tara Reed
P.S. During the call, we promised to give you two things: my “5 Tips to get Links to Your Website ” and the link to the GOOGLE KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOL.
How SEO for Artists is like kicking a "Google Field Goal"
I’m not a big sports person and I can tell you I was THRILLED to discover that my birthday does not coincide with the SuperBowl – would have really bummed me out! (Condolences to my friend Sue, whose does.) However, while wandering through a local Party Depot a few weeks ago, I was inspired by some Football Field Goal head gear. It got my brain going into full analogy mode and I realized the field goal posts were the perfect way to explain SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.
According to a study in October 2008 by Netcraft, there are more than 182 million websites on the internet. Sit with that a minute… a little overwhelming isn’t it? So how on earth will anyone find you, even if they are looking?
Well how do you find websites? You go to a search engine like Google or Yahoo or Bing… Many are also now turning to YouTube as a search engine – especially if you want to learn how to do something. A quick search of the topic will often find you free video content to help you out. Cool!
Still thinking about your own search habits, when you search a term, you might notice that Google comes up with pages and pages and pages of answers for you – how many pages do you look through before heading off to find the info? Which websites do you assume will be the most likely to give you what you need? Google found 5,250,000 results in .2 seconds for a pretty narrow search term “SEO for Artists”…
That is a bit overwhelming! Who has time to look at all those choices? If you are like the average searcher, you will look at 1-3 pages of results and choose a few of those website suggestions. That is why learning how to optimize your website so you are on those pages when someone searches a relevant term in so important. (That’s also why it’s called Search Engine Optimization or SEO.)
“But wait!” you say. “I don’t want to become a high-tech web designer, I want a website and then to focus on my art!”
Well you can have your SEO and painting time too! With some basic tips and techniques, you can learn how to move your website towards the goal of first page Google page rank without paying anyone thousands of dollars.
When you make your site, you put text and descriptions and keywords (I hope). Those are some of the things Google and other search engines use to evaluate your website and decide if you are inside or outside of the field goal posts when giving results on a search.
Daniel Tardent, an art marketer and artist website designer has created an eBook called, “SEO for Artists”. I bought a copy and have tweaked my websites to improve my SEO results – and I was doing pretty well already! He boils the technical topic down into understandable pieces and action items – explaining how to get the best results using art and artists as examples. Awesome! In fact, using these techniques I managed to get the February Ask Call website, www.AskAboutSEOforArtists.com on the first page of Google already.
This, in a nutshell (well, a large nutshell!) is why I think you should submit your questions and tune in to the February 17, 2010 Art Licensing Monthly Ask Call. Daniel has graciously agreed to give us an hour of his expertise so you can learn more about the process and decide if the eBook is something you want to invest in. (I’m glad I did!) If you can’t make the live call, the audio replay will be available for free after the call as well. But these calls are made great by questions from you – you create the content.
So I ask you – what do you want to know? Go to www.AskAboutSEOforArtists.com and submit your question today. We’ll talk to you soon! In the meantime, here’s a video telling you more about it…
– Tara
P.S. Don’t forget about the Art Licensing Story video contest – enter by 2/14 and the winner will be announced on the call. There is a $100 coupon or free hour of coaching to be won if you create a video to post at www.ArtLicensingInfo.com/stories.html – not to mention the sharing and inspiring so start recording!
Connect
Business Resources*
