Lisa Call

Structures #84    ©2007    7"x23"

 
Over at Laketrees, Kim Barker has compiled a top 101 artist blog list, based on technorati rating.

A blog’s rating/ranking is calculated as follows (or was when I last saw a note about how this was done): For each in bound link source, 90 days old or less, a blog gets 1 point – total up the points and that’s the blogs "authority rating". The "technorati ranking" is where a blog falls in the big list of all blogs. These numbers go up and down daily as the inbound links age and new ones are added.

I check technorati every so often to see what the inbound links are around in case I miss an important tag (I still owe a 5 random things about me list for stacers). But I never paid much attention to how I ranked in the specific world of art blogs. According to Kim’s list my blog clocks in at #9 of the blogs she identified as being by an artist.

Did I need to know this information? Did I want to know?

 
If I drop down in the list does it mean I’ve become boring? If my rating goes up does it mean you like my new haircut? Do I write and link to others just so they write about me and link back to me? The pressure.

Should I jump on the art link cloud viral tagging started by Casey over on the colorist to get even more links even if it’s not about content and just a link farm?

Okay – I admit – I’m clearly bad at the marketing game – maybe this is what we are supposed to do.

 
Instead I’m going to try to ignore this and just write what is authentic for me to write and not worry about who might or might not link to me as a result. This is the advice I give others – don’t waste time worrying about all that linking and concentrate on content. I believe it is content that keeps people around – not marketing hype or popularity. I read blogs that I find interesting, not ones that other people find interesting. Content is king (or make that queen).

I write my blog for me – because it helps keep me focused and on task, because I learn about myself and my art by writing about it, and because I’m basically a geek and this is the socially acceptable way for geeks to communicate.

If all my inbound links disappeared tomorrow I’d still blog. If noone read what I wrote ever again, I’d still blog (although I’d probably spend less time fixing typos and poor grammar).

This blog, while I suppose a potentially great marketing tool with my popularity, will never be thought of as such by me. I know Alyson, I just don’t get it.

 
The above piece was made a few weeks back when I was making small work for the holiday art market at the arvada center. I hadn’t yet hit upon the idea to make 9 similar pieces and was playing around just having fun.

In my dreams all 9 pieces will sell opening weekend (it opens thursday) and they will call me up and ask for more work, and I’m all ready with new pieces. Maybe if I did more marketing (like sending out the flyers that feature my work to my mailing list) I’d succeed in my goal. Sometimes I am my own worst enemy.