How to move your Idea, Art, or Enterprise to the World Wide Web!

Here you will find a list of things I discovered about creating a business on the web over almost 10 years of publishing the Art Deadlines List online.

Click here to SUBSCRIBE to the PAID/PREMIUM Edition of the ART DEADLINES LIST with your credit card, check, or money order...

Click here to SUBSCRIBE to the FREE monthly EMAIL edition of the Art Deadlines List.
Constant Contact, a mailing list service, is used to manage the free email list.

Art Deadlines List BLOG - announcements are now available via BLOG format. You can read new announcements every hour, every day, every week, as soon as they are available. Click here to learn more.

As you can see from the above, I NEVER stop plugging the Art Deadlines List!

That is the central issue in creating a successful enterprise on the web--REGARDLESS of what topic/idea/theme/subject you decide to pursue!

The BIG points...

Internet users judge Web sites in less than a blink!

Creating Something...
What do I want to create? How do I create it? You can start by reading this.

Using Your Computer
Do you know how to use your computer? The real test is if you can HELP SOMEONE USE A COMPUTER. Start here with How to help someone use a computer.

Domain Names
WHO ARE YOU? This is your brand name on the web. Your name - johnsmith.com (or any quirky name that uniquely identifies your focus: kidsbooks.com, snowshoes4u.com, etc...). Do you need your own domain name? Absolutely. click here to see if your choice is available... (also known as Whois)

Writing
You will have to write something about your art/product/yourself for your web site (readers). Here's some information about things to consider when Writing for the Web. And then there's Find Your Voice.

Mailing Lists
There is no substitute for a mailing list to tell people about what you are doing. Its a cheap (even free), simple, and fast way to deliver information about new products, services, newsletters, etc. If you are selling fuzzy toys on the web, then, somewhere, there are people who want to know that. They want to know about new fuzzy toys. They want to know about discontinued fuzzy toys. They want to know about the value of their antique fuzzy toys. They want to know EVERYTHING about fuzzy toys. You can keep them informed about everything fuzzy-toy via a mailing list. Every email address you get is like a piece of money. HOW to get them? DO NOT put your relatives and friends on your fuzzy toy email list. Here's how I do it... Every month, when I mail a list of artist opportunities to this list, some of them convert to the PAID/PREMIUM edition--which means they send me money. Your newsletter can do the same. Just make sure people decide to place themselves on your list using something like the Topica (free) OR Constant Contact, opt-in method.

Networking on the Network
Some advice on using the network for communicating.

Your Competition
What is your Competition doing? You can find them on ranking.com. Some Competition Tracking Facts can be found here. E-Commerce for Small Business is a course about the fundamentals of e-commerce. Use MY Blog Log to see WHO is visiting your pages, WHAT they are looking at, and WHERE they went.

Is your site enjoyable?
Is your site easy to use? Does your site load quickly? Pretty much everything you ever wanted to know about the customer experience on the web can be found at Good Experience.

How many clicks
before a viewer/browser/buyers finds your content interesting? That number shoud be one for an artist producing any kind of visual image, spoken word, or performance. Your subscribers/buyers/readers should be able to find useful information on your front page. If you are an artist with images to present, DON'T make somebody click 3 or 4 before they can see a sample of your work. The web is a Darwinian Puppy Pit (trademarked) for the attention deficit disordered. Which is to say that web winners are those who manage to keep a viewers eyeballs on their site the longest. Having to click disrupts viewing/reading. The rule is: something interesting after every click!

Search Engine Submission
Selfpromotion.com is the first web-based service that I ever paid for. SP has a free and paid version. The paid is well worth the money. Read it, use the free or paid version, and thank your lucky stars you found it! Please NOTE: if you subscribe to the paid version of this service, then I get a 10% commision on whatever you pay. More about this below in "How I Make Money With the Art Deadlines List".

How I Make Money With the Art Deadlines List

How I Get People to Visit the Art Deadlines List

Talking to your readers/users/customers
Once you establish a web page and have an email list, you are going to get... EMAIL! Perhaps LOTS of email. I do. Many of those emails can be answered with standard responses. I have a list of standard response email messages.

Other Accessibility & Usability issues
are covered by www.usablenet.com.

Money
(That's What I Want) How do people send me money? Check or money order are the most obvious. PayPal is the online payment system I use. Most people now pay for subscriptions and advertising with PayPal. You can start learning about PayPal by clicking the icon:

Sign up for PayPal and start accepting credit card payments 
instantly.

Once you've set up an account, consider making your first use a contribution to the Art Deadlines List for all this useful advice. $2, for example, is not an unreasonable amount.

Here's a list of individuals and organizations that have advertised on the Art Deadlines List. If you are considering advertising on the ADL, then look at some of these ads as a guide to writing your ad.

Blogging
EVERYBODY must get Blogged Here's some places to start:

Selling "real" things





Click to

Contact

Here's a book about How to Make Money as an Artist.

Good Experience

Choosing Colors for Web Pages

Text Readability

This Is Broken

Is This Site Safe?

Markup/HTML Validation Service

Below the Scroll Myth

Audience Building

Who links to me?

Selfpromotion.com

Ranking.com

PayPal

Amazon

Constant Contact

Topica

FREE Content from Art Network

Introduction to RSS

RSS Tutorial

How to Create an RSS Feed With Notepad, a Web Server, and a Beer

Copyright Guide

firewalls, SPAM, viruses

Is your site really yours?

You Send It (for sending files larger than your email can handle)

SUBSCRIBE Free Art Deadlines List

UNsubscribe FREE Art Deadlines List

Advertise your event on this list

Resources for Artists

Books for Artists

How to put your art or idea on the web

How To Photograph Your Art

Artist of the day

The Gates Photos

Useful Books/Stuff/Web sites

Films/videos about artists from around the world

Essays on art, etc

The Portrait Project

Art & Cultural Events List (Boston area only)

State Of The Nation Spreadsheet

Dog picture of the day





Cat picture of the day