Students sound recording at the International School of Film and Television of San Antonio de los Baños,
Art is all around us and is very easy to relate to. Despite that, art remains a niche for many reasons. It’s simply too difficult to “pick up” up art as a theory and follow the trends that go with it. This is where creative bloggers come into play and talk about art in a digestible fashion.
However, bloggers are often limited to their native languages. You will rarely see a blog with two or more languages on offer – and this is a grave mistake.
Content translation is one of the easiest and most effective ways to approach as many people as possible with your writing. However, it is in no way the only method to approach a new audience. Let’s take a look at how the localization of your content and other useful techniques can help attract a larger audience to your art blog.
Blog internationalization basics
Before we get into the DIY part of our discussion, let’s talk about SEO for a moment. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) represents a very important optimization system for digital content. Any blog piece you create should be SEO-optimized to show up more often on search engines such as Google and Yahoo.
This is easier than it sounds and all you really need are some basic tools to get you started. SEO tools such as Google Adwords and SEM Rush will allow you to find trending topics, keywords and content formatting tips which are best suited for art as a niche.
When it comes to content localization, some translation services reviews should help you find a suitable writer for your specific needs. Lastly, platforms such as Grammarly and Hemingway will allow you to proofread and edit any blog pieces which are ready for publishing.
These tools are pivotal to your success in approaching a global audience. Without them, you will be hard-pressed to pick up even local search traffic due to a lack of SEO. Now that we have the basic principles and tools down, let’s take a look at what you can do for your blog to make it more appealing.
Create a content plan
Most art blogs come in two types: some writers tackle trending topics in the art industry while others talk about their own practice. It’s important to make that distinction early on and figure out what your content will focus on.
This is crucial because it will be far more difficult to shift your plans in the other direction once an international audience starts pouring in. You can talk about popular topics, discuss famous pieces AND talk about your own pieces if you choose to do so. However, it is important to “choose” early on and start creating a content plan with that in mind.
A content plan represents different blog topics, articles and opinion pieces which you will present in the next several weeks. Space them out so that you have time to write, create and tend to your community at the same time. Once you have the content plan scheduled and set in stone, you can go to the writing phase of your blog.
Make use of keywords
Once you open Google Adwords or Keyword Planner for the first time as an art blogger, you might feel overwhelmed – don’t be. These tools were designed specifically to cater to the widest range of users and writers, not just SEO specialists.
Search for popular keywords within the art niche which you will write about. For example, if you focus on painting or classic art, try looking up those words. Any phrases and wording that is popular on the global scale will show up and be ready for you to use.
Most tend to believe that you need to write your content in numerous languages for it to be recognized around the world. However, the English language is perfectly suitable (next to your native language) for internationalization.
Don’t trouble yourself with choices such as Chinese, Russian, German or Greek. The English language is the lingua franca of our age and pretty much everyone with access to internet will be able to make ends meet with it.
Make sure to use these keywords in your content in various places throughout the blog. Use them in the titles of your articles, subheadings of your pieces and the body content itself. These will be a tremendous help for your international visibility through SEO (as we’ve mentioned before).
Engage with the audience
Once your traffic becomes higher, people will start to interact with your blog a lot more. This is what is usually referred to as “conversion rate”. Your conversion rates should be as high as possible to ensure even better ranking through search engines and their algorithms.
To do this, you will have to interact with your audience in several ways. Answer any and all comments, messages and emails you might get over time. Ask your readers for their opinions, thoughts or even an interview or testimonial in regards to art or a specific movement.
Integrate your audience into your blog as much as possible to be seen as “positive” by SEO standards. However, your blogging and publishing activities still take precedent as you will have to create new blog posts on a regular basis.
Mix content types
A “blog” doesn’t necessarily have to rely on written pieces in order to succeed. Multimedia content such as videos, images and audio interviews also add levity to your appeal abroad. Not only that, but your SEO ranking will improve considerably if you choose to mix content types on a constant.
If you are an artist you can include your own pieces in the blog’s content. For example, you can film your artistic process, comment on it, discuss your methods with other people or simply post your own creations alongside written articles.
This mixture of content is bound to attract an international eye due to the nature of visual content. Even if someone doesn’t speak English or your native language, they will be able to “read” the images you post and gauge their interest in your website accordingly.
Don’t give up early (Conclusion)
Blogging about art is the perfect extension of practice for artists and aficionados alike. As with art itself, your blog will need some time to grow organically. Don’t expect heavy traffic on your website in the first several weeks or months until the content shapes up completely.
Once you do get a global response, don’t stop creating interesting and appealing content as before. The process will become second nature to you and you will enjoy publishing new pieces for your international audience as the ideas pour in.