Start Sharing Your Creative Works Online!

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A lot of people in my life find my website/blog and say to me “I wish I could make a website and put my creative works out there like you do”. The people who tell me this are extremely talented artists, writers or crafters. I just want to smack them upside the head (with love) and say “Well then get started already!!” If you draw, craft or write, then start sharing your creative works online!

There’s a few thing that stop talented creators from putting their work out there for all to see:

• They don’t know where to begin.
• They’re afraid no one will be interested at all.
• They’re afraid of criticism.
• Don’t know how to make a website, how to set up a PayPal account, how to make graphics (especially if they only write).

Just the thought of one of these can make one discouraged, uncomfortable or overwhelmed then just say forget it. You can’t let the thought of negative feedback hold you back, because what if you get really good feedback? Setting up and maintaining a website/blog is a lot of work and research, but there is so much out there to show you how just about anything can be done. Google, Pinterest and Youtube will become your best friends.

Start Small 

If you are completely new to posting your work on the internet, and are afraid of what people think, start small. First thing you can do is set up an account with any social media account, with one or more platforms. Here are some of the main ones I know mostly about:

• Twitter
• Tumblr
• Facebook
• Instagram
• Pinterest

I have an account with each one, but Instagram works best for me in reaching people outside of my circle of friends and family. A lot of people say Pinterest works best for them. I mean, I do find a lot of blog posts on Pinterest so I am trying it too. It’s worth a shot trying each one to see which site fits you best. On Tumblr and Instagram, use hashtags for every post so people can find your works. Be active on any of the sites you choose and post a couple times a week or daily. I don’t recommend posting several times throughout the day, every day. Personally when I follow someone and I find that they post promotions every hour, they get annoying so I either mute or unfollow.

Promote Yourself

Once you are set up at one or more of these accounts, start posting, hashtag everything and get some followers and feedback. Keep in mind though, people are silent browsers (I am!). You may not receive comments, but you may get some likes from these people. That’s okay! Here are some images you can post on your profile to get people interested and get more likes and followers.

• Your art/crafts/writing or whatever else you want to show off.
• Your home office, studio, work space (I honestly love seeing where others get their work done).
• The tools you use: pencils, pens, your favorite notebook, rulers, glue gun, sewing stuff, and anything else you use to make your stuff.
• Your works in progress, step by step. For instance, I will show a pencil sketch, then I’ll show it inked, then show it colored and finished.

Once you have enough people liking your stuff and got some followers, it’s time to take the next big step: Getting yourself your own website.

Coming up with your own Brand

Think of a name for your brand. Will you use your own name? Will you think of another name that suits you and how you describe yourself and the work you do? What I did is use part of my last name and combined it with the word Print since I am a Print Graphic Designer. That’s how Moscaprint was born! If you need any tips on this, here’s my Basic Guide to Branding blog post. 

Get Your Own Website

I have always wanted my own website for my artwork, but always had
trouble finding a place to host. In order to have a website with
your own domain name, you need a web host. The problem is, web
hosting is not cheap. I did not want to spend $10 or $15 (or more) a
month to have a website when I am not even sure if I would make any
money selling my products or services.

When I jumped into the blogging world, I have heard everyone talk about WordPress on Bluehost. I looked into it and saw it was $3.95 a month for the first year, and you get your own domain name for free (which usually costs extra). They had a money back guarantee so I thought… hey, why not! If I decide this was a mistake, I’ll just cancel and get my money back. I am very glad that I went with it. It’s a low start-up cost, they have nice clean website templates and a ton of widgets and plugins. I highly recommend anyone looking to start a website to get started here with Bluehost. Install WordPress and go!

Set up your website with some high-quality images and/or your artwork. Add a bio page for yourself and your brand (people do like to read about the person behind the scenes!) Start coming up with some blog post content.
Here’s a more detailed tutorial to Start a Creative Blog.

If you want to finally show off your work to the world, I say go for it! You got this!