Cons and Pros of ING Discerning Eye Exhibition's tech makeover

I visited the ING Discerning Eye Exhibition 2021 at the Mall Galleries today (after my hip hiatus last week) and left rather sooner than I expected to because It made me feel VERY irritated.

I'm going to deal with the technological changes associated with this exhibition in this post and may write another one about the exhibition itself. These are:

• QR Codes as the ONLY wall labels
• new website - with some significant omissions

This is the toned down edited version - which will tell you a lot.

I'm also going to comment on the technological change associated with the website - which is much more of a good news story - but with a big sting in the tail....

But first the really bad news....

QR Codes only as labels - and absolutely nothing else!

The ONLY labels on the wall are QR codes i.e. 

• No artists name next to their work
• I'd hazard a well-informed guess that this is completely unacceptable to most artists.
• If the organisers knew they were going to do this then they should have stated their intentions in the Call for Entries
• No printed catalogue of which more below....

This is what I wrote on my Facebook Page after having made my way past maybe a dozen artworks in the East Gallery which I visited first

I think if I was an artist who had submitted my artwork to this exhibition - and had been selected by one of the Selectors - I would be very seriously dischuffed.

• no profile for me as an artist which is plain to see
• less chance of selling my work
• less chance of being noticed by art gallery owners who visit exhibitions like these looking for new talent.

Don't get me wrong. I am NOT against 

• EITHER the use of new technology
• OR the intelligent use of QR codes to enhance the viewing experience 

As an ex senior manager who has been responsible for and managed the large scale implementation of new technology solutions in the workplace in the past, what I am VERY averse to is:

• poor communication - to both artists and visitors
• no scope for feedback from those who experience the "experiment" e.g. "how did you find our use of QR codes?"
• poor project management e.g. a rollout without beta testing which fails to identify issues which need resolving (i.e. provide a good customer experience - based on what those using the system think not what those responsible for implementing it think!)

The Issues

Some of the technological issues are:

Broadband / Wifi

• Broadband is not good in the Galleries - patchy at best and totally absent from the North Gallery
• Hence visitors have to use the Gallery wifi system - which means opening up their phones to a public wifi system i.e. that thing you are warned against doing and I never ever do! Who is liable if somebody gets scammed as a result of using public wifi - because some scammer will find out it's available....

Good luck with finding out anything about these pieces in the North Gallery
- where there is no secure broadband - just public wifi

Smartphones

• Not everybody has a smartphone 
• Not everybody has a smartphone which can recognise QR codes

Communication on paper

• There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on the wall which tells you the name of the artwork; the name of the artist, media used and price
• Some extremely tatty, unlaminated - and hence not clean -  bunches of paper at the front desk for those with no phones is dire beyond belief and in absolutely no way a good substitute for proper labels! 
• Which bit of Covid Best Practice do the organisers of this competition think this complies with? Or didn't they think?

Bottom Line

I walked out because I wasn't enjoying the exhibition. 

Here's the reasons why:

How not to run an online art competition

This morning I experienced an emphatic learning lesson in how NOT to run an art competition online.

An online art competition which prevents you voting

If you run an online art competition there are usually two objectives:

• marketing your brand
• getting engagement with your brand and website/blog

However in relation to this competition:

• First votes are only valid via Facebook. This completely ignores the fact that there are still lots of artists who won't use Facebook. This means the host runs the risk of annoying all those clients or customers who are not Facebook fans. To my mind this runs completely counter to the notion that this might be a marketing exercise for the brand! Any online competition must have a method of voting which is open to all online!
• Next the organisers says it doesn't seem to work with Chrome on iOS or Android accounts. So the competition appears to eliminate: 
• the most popular browser in the world 
• all mobile devices - which are now very much the device of choice for browsing and the most likely method most people will come across this competition and want to vote!
• I've just discovered that not all entries will allow votes when using Firefox. After taking trouble of moving from Chrome to Firefox and logging into Facebook all over again on my Apple iMac! I got the error message "User opted out of platform: The action attempted is disallowed, because the user has opted out of Facebook platform."
• Either that or there's a distinct possibility that this competition doesn't work on Apple platforms at all. Which is just silly! That's when I started writing this post!

"What is the point if you can't use 3/4 of the device that people use?" - comment on Facebook

The competition in question is Jackson's Art Supplies The Art of Reflection Competition.

This is last Friday's blog post announcing the shortlist and inviting votes

I want to emphasise that I really like Jackson's Art Supplies Blog - it's usually excellent and I often share content on the blog. They generally have a very good online presence and this is very much an exception to general performance. However Jackson's really do need to find a better way of running online art competitions fast!

So do go and admire the artists who took the trouble to enter and were fortunate to get selected.

But I wouldn't bother trying to vote in this competition!

What works better for votes

If you ever think about running a competition it's essential that you have

• identified and checked out in advance a method which works for everybody on all platforms 
• eliminating popular platforms is not an option - you need to find one which works across all platforms
• working via the Chrome browser and Apple operating systems and all mobile devices is a basic!
• a way of preventing multiple votes from the same internet account - experience shows that artists and their families are not above voting for themselves multiple times!

For Polls and Votes I always use Polldaddy. I've found it very reliable and used it in different contexts.

There are other alternatives available. If you have one you favour please leave a comment below.

Reasons why I like Polldaddy for Polls

• The major advantage is that the Poll is based on their website. This means:
• you can embed the Poll on a wide range of platforms for example I've embedded Polldaddy polls on my Blogger blog and Weebly websites
• I can also link to it directly on my Facebook and Twitter account, in emails etc and people then vote via the website
• You get to choose the level of feedback you give to voters after they have voted. People can also see the votes or the percentages voting for different options if you choose - or the results to date can be hidden if you want to keep votes secret until you announce the results
• You can determine precisely when the vote closes
• It works on Apple mobile devices (using anything which does otherwise is limiting the votes cast!). Plus it now has an iPhone/iPad app.
• You can upload media to each voting option - which means it works for image-based competitions. (Obviously for an art competition this might mean hosting a larger image on another site - however for voting you only need a prompt that you're voting for the right image)
• You can also restrict access by blocking repeat voters by IP address or cookie or both.

I hasten to add that I have no relationship with Polldaddy - I just like their software. It works and causes me no hassle!

Brand new website raises design standard for art societies

Has your art society updated its website to cope with mobile devices and changes in the way Google ranks websites?

Is it thinking about the need to make a change?

If your art society has not changed the basic template and design for some time then it's almost certainly now out of date.

This post is about a brand new website - by the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolour (who have a brand new URL as well http://royalinstituteofpaintersinwatercolours.org ). In my opinion it raises the benchmark for the design of websites for art societies.

The new website as viewed on my 27" iMac screen

The need for a change

I spend a lot of time looking at the websites of artists and art societies. I'm afraid to say that a lot of art society websites could do with major improvements. (I wrote about the content aspects back in 2009 - see 10 questions for Art Society websites)

Technological Change - the rise and rise of the mobile device

The most important recent changes have been all technologically oriented. Hence we have:

• a huge increase in browsing via mobile devices and hence the need to ensure all websites can be seen and read easily using a tablet or smartphone as well as a desktop computer.
• the introduction and adoption of responsive templates which mean that templates can now automatically convert to suit the size of screen they are being viewed through
• the change in the Google algorithm for ranking websites viewed via mobile devices. Those which will do well in future include ONLY those which are wholly compliant with Google's standards for mobile devices - see my recent posts:
• Are your sites mobile friendly - or are you facing Mobilegeddon? 
• Artists websites: still a lot to do to update / upgrade for mobile devices

The new RI website:

• addresses the critical need to respond flexibly and appropriately to it being viewed on different sized screens.
• shows what can be done if you upgrade for new technology and the need to become compliant with mobile devices.

The Home Page on my iPhone 6+

This is the website's Workshops page on my Mini iPad.

The website is also well integrated with social media. It has:

• the news page includes blog posts, a Twitter feed and a Facebook Feed bringing current news about the activities of the society and its members
• widgets at the bottom of each blog post allows each post to be individually shared easily to Facebook, Twitter and Google+ 
• there are icons at the top of every page which allow people to link to the RI's Twitter account and Facebook Page. 

The members get a prominent page and a lot of territory on the website.  The list is nicely spaced and I much prefer the design chosen of putting current members at the top and retired and honorary members at the bottom. 

The members' profile pages look excellent and I like the links to social media as well as the artist's website. Each of the members is providing material so, in time, each will have an individual page with an excellent image, a short bio and links to their social media activities and their website.  

Here's three examples for you to look at:

• This is Lilias August who doesn't have a website or any social media activity. However this website now provides an example of her work (which expands), a photograph of her at work, a biographical statement and an artist statement. At last we get to find out more about her work and her background
• This is Shirley Trevena - well known to many around the world - it provides some background and a statement about her working processes plus an excellent image which opens up in a lightbox to be enjoyed to the full.
• This page is about David Poxon and shows how social media and email contact can be included. He chooses to provide a short bio and a list of recent awards as well as a thumbnail photo and a quotation about what's important to him

In terms of telling you what the society is about, there's a very clear and short statement on the home page which tells you what this society is about

The home of British Watercolour painting since 1831

Given its great age it's entirely appropriate for the RI website to have a major section devoted to Our Heritage.   I love the really ace images of their building on Piccadilly and other places the RI has been associated with. Plus always nice to see a list of Presidents

In addition, it's worth saying that the images on the website are universally excellent. There's obviously been some thought given to how to present the RI in a professional way.

The website includes a page which I don't often come across and that's a Donations Page. This highlights the charitable status of the RI and the opportunity to give money to the RI via donations, legacies and prizes and awards. It's also a page which provides the enduring recognition of those who sponsored prizes and awards at the annual exhibition. I thought this was a neat touch.

Finally, I'm finding the website loads very speedily on my iMac. Speed is so important - and hence quality and size of images will always need to be optimised for best performance on all devices.

More websites for Watercolour Societies

You can find a comprehensive listing for watercolour painters of the websites of watercolour societies around the world - and their blogs and Facebook Pages - in my website called Watercolour Societies - Resources for Artists

Blogging for art societies

You can also read about blogging for art societies in the following posts:

• Art Society Blogs #1 - Why blog?
• Art Society Blog #2 - Getting started
• Art Society Blog #3 - Recruit a Blog Editor

Are your sites mobile friendly - or are you facing Mobilegeddon?

Yesterday mobilegeddon was supposed to happen - here's why:

• Did you know that some 30% of all search queries now come from mobile devices (smartphones and tablets)?
• Google has said that it expects overall search queries on mobile devices to exceed PC volumes this year
• Did you know that Google made a change yesterday which now favours webpages which are mobile friendly for smartphones (i.e. you can read and navigate them easily)?
• Are you monitoring the traffic to your websites and blogs to see if the change has an impact on your sites?

Mobile is tomorrow

Well actually the big change was yesterday - but you know what I mean - we can't get away from mobile it's here to stay!

The importance of mobile devices has been growing year by year, quarter by quarter and month by month.  It's expected that by 2018 a third of the world's consumers will own a smartphone and buy/consume using it.

More importantly Google has been losing out to Facebook re its advertising income and needs to make websites more mobile friendly to get it back again!

So, bottom line, Google figures it's now essential that mobile friendliness is reflected in how it ranks websites in response to search queries. It wants its search queries to be satisfying its customers.

Yesterday Google rolled out a technical change to their search engine which means that - from now - all sites which are mobile compatible will get an uplift in search rankings.

You can read more about it  on the Official Google Webmaster Central Blog

• Finding more mobile-friendly search results (26 February 2015)
• Rolling out the mobile-friendly update (21 April 2015)
• FAQs about the April 21st mobile-friendly update (21 April 2015)

Google also offers some extra help

To get help with making a mobile-friendly site, check out our guide to mobile-friendly sites. If you’re a webmaster, you can get ready for this change by using the following tools to see how Googlebot views your pages:

• If you want to test a few pages, you can use the Mobile-Friendly Test.

• If you have a site, you can use your Webmaster Tools account to get a full list of mobile usability issues across your site using the Mobile Usability Report.

PLUS, yesterday it reiterated

To check if your site is mobile-friendly, you can examine individual pages with the Mobile-Friendly Test or check the status of your entire site through the Mobile Usability report in Webmaster Tools. If your site’s pages aren’t mobile-friendly, there may be a significant decrease in mobile traffic from Google Search. But have no fear, once your site becomes mobile-friendly, we will automatically re-process (i.e., crawl and index) your pages. You can also expedite the process by using Fetch as Google with Submit to Index, and then your pages can be treated as mobile-friendly in ranking.

As a result of this switch to favouring mobile friendly websites Google Says There Are 4.7% More Mobile-Friendly Websites Today Than Two Months Ago

It's important to note that this change will not affect the ranking of websites based on a desk-based search. However the ranking results from a mobile-based search are now likely to be completely different - and will become more and more important as ownership and use of mobile devices grows and grows.

If you think this doesn't affect you because your site hasn't got much mobile traffic.....

Has it occurred to you that your site hasn't got much mobile traffic BECAUSE if's not compatible with mobile devices?

Have you asked friends with sites which are mobile compatible what percentage of their traffic comes from mobile devices?

So how is it for you?

So if like me you've got a website which works fine on an iPad Mini. This is my portfolio site Pastels and Pencils

but that same website looks completely different on an iPhone - even my iPhone 6+

I might see the whole page but I can't read it easily

If I turn it into landscape Format on my iPhone 6+ it's better - but still not ideal.
The main text is still very small and more of the "above the fold" territory is lost to site

then, like me, you have a problem which needs to be solved.

Especially if your website does really weird things to the size of some of the images on my website when the space has been specified by pixel size rather than percentage!!

Essentially this change relates to smartphones rather than tablets - as the FAQs make clear. 

However my view is that if you are having to tackle mobile friendliness from scratch you need to tackle both the iPad/Tablet view as well as the Smartphone view.

How to become mobile friendly

The growth - and demise - of Etsy?

Etsy is up for sale. It wants to go 'public' - but it also wants to maintain its ethos and credibility. Some would say they lost it some time ago.

There are quite a few articles around at the moment about Etsy. They've been prompted by two things

• the filing by Etsy of an Initial Public Offering (IPO) of its common stock. In other words Etsy intends to market its stock on the financial markets. When it happens it will be the biggest technology initial public offering (IPO) in New York since 1999. (Guardian)
• comments about whether or not Etsy can hold on to its "indie" integrity - assuming it's not already lost that long ago
• lessons to be learned from Etsy's growth. After all if you start out as a small site you want to get bigger don't you? Or do you?

From a personal perspective I find Etsy interesting as its been online for just a bit longer than I've been blogging. I've highlighted it on a regular basis in the past - mainly in relation to how it grew as an independent outlet for art sales as eBay stumbled and then declined as an outlet for independent artists and artisans.

Etsy has grown from a startup built by crafters and for crafters to a juggernaut on the verge of an IPO Grace Dobush

Below you can read about the issues associated with flotation and why $2 BILLION may be realised - possibly at the expense of its credibility and relationship with crafters and artists.

Etsy Mission and Values - are they clear to everybody who matters?

Etsy: Key Stats

Etsy is a marketplace where millions of people around the world connect, both online and offline, to make, sell and buy unique goods. The Etsy ecosystem includes entrepreneurs who sell on our platform, consumers looking to buy unique goods in our marketplace, manufacturers who help Etsy sellers grow their businesses and Etsy employees who maintain our platform.

As an ex-accountant I know full well that it's key stats which get people to take you seriously - and down the bottom of Etsy's About Page we have the numbers.

Here are some key stats for Etsy - as of today's date

Fix mobile usability issues found on.....

Getting an email from Google Webmaster Tools is not something I look forward to.

One that tells me to do something - such as "Fix mobile usability issues found on....." on my portfolio website makes me apprehensive.

So naturally I write a blog post - because a problem shared is a problem halved right?

Plus, it turns out I won't be alone in getting this email.

A couple of blog posts by major search engine commenters indicate Google is initiating a major drive on mobile usability and a lot of people are getting these emails.  See

• Google Sending Mass Scale Warnings To Non-Mobile Friendly Web Sites (on Search Engine Round Table)  
• Google Sending Mobile Usability Warnings To Huge Number Of Webmasters (Search Engine Land - ) 

What we have here is Google reminding these webmasters their sites are not mobile-friendly and issuing a warning that the pages won’t rank well in mobile search.

I'm guessing this is because search queries are now tipping over in favour of ones from mobile devices (ie 50+) so they want everyone up to speed with websites and blogs with fully responsive templates. (I explain these below)

Tackling Mobile Usability

This long blog post looks at:

• what's happening right now re mobile usability - and why
• what you might find in your inbox or on your dashboard
• the advice provided by the Google Webmaster Tools Help Page and other guideline documents online
• what you now need to do

I recommend you go and get a hot drink - there's lots of things you might want to take a look at if you are concerned with keeping your website and blog accessible by people using mobile devices.

The Google Webmaster Tools email

So this is what the email looked like



Mobile Usability

Google explained back in 2012 why mobile sites were important in a blog post Mobile-friendly sites turn visitors into customers on their Google Mobile Ads blog.

Their focus is on advertisement conversions - however exactly the same principle applies to the sites of artists trying to promote or sell their art.

Marketing and communication - how best to use Facebook Pages in 2015

Are you concerned about the changes in the rules for Facebook Pages being introduced in January 2015?

From January, everybody using a Facebook Page will need to come up with new ways of communicating using Facebook and their Facebook Page in a way which

• engages an audience
• stimulates interest which leads to enduring 'likes' and an ongoing following
• avoids the Page being buried and disappearing from the newsfeed of followers due to any inadvertent breach of the new rules

Yesterday's post generated a few queries so I'll try and address these below before going on to review different ways of doing things.

What this means for artists

Will the new rules for Facebook Pages have a major impact on 
the livelihoods of artists, art teachers, gallery owners, workshop providers etc?

Every artist promoting their business or products on Facebook needs to have a long hard think about whether and what they need to change to conform with the new rules for Facebook Pages being introduced. (see yesterday's post Change in Facebook Pages Rules will affect artists marketing their art).

What the new rules cover

The scope of the NEW rules COULD cover:

• art for sale (originals or reproductions)
• commissions
• art exhibitions, 
• art workshops and 
• art books 
• new product/services you offer

Specifically what the new rules DEFINITELY INCLUDE are the following. Remember these were identified as practices which either people said they really didn't like and/or these were the type of posts which people hid or otherwise indicated they didn't want to see in their newsfeeds.

• posts which want people to buy a product e.g. a painting or a workshop. In effect, it seems to me that Facebook think "adverts" for products or services which will generate income ought to be paid if you are using Facebook which is a site which you pay nothing to access. My view right now is you should AVOID:
• language such as "Buy now" or "Go to wherever to buy my art" or "sign up for my workshop"
• posting of links e.g. to an eBay auction or anywhere else you are selling your art
• Posts that push people to enter promotions and sweepstakes with no real context. The clue here are the words "no real context". 
• Do not make your Page a "gaming" site with offers and promotions which are OTT.
• Always make any promotion 100% relevant to the stated purpose of the Page e.g. an art magazine running a competition for artists whose art was going to be featured in "Top paintings of 2014" who were then going to be featured in an article in the magazine would, in my opinion, be OK. 
• My advice would be to:
• avoid sharing offers made by others which are specific to their sites but not yours
• avoid sharing any third party content relating to competitions or sweepstakes
• whatever the content if it looks "pushy" and/or "in your face" avoid it and do NOT share
• Posts that reuse the exact same content from ads - if the content is in an advert then it can't be on a Facebook Page. 
• I think this is Facebook trying to "nab" people who start of advertising to get their follower numbers up - then they stop paying for their adverts and carry on using the content from their adverts. 
• However what's odd about this is it might work against Facebook. Who now is ever going to include any text or links in an advert if this means they will never ever be able to use them again on Facebook? Why would anybody ever use their studio or gallery name and/or a website link in an advert?

Marketing & Communication - 10 Tips for using Facebook Pages in the future

I've been thinking about what opportunities remain for people to continue to use a Facebook Page to market their art in 2015 and below I have 10 tips for how best to approach marketing and communication in 2015 - and how best to use your Facebook Page in the future.

An introduction to Google Open Gallery

I read a post on James Gurney's blog today about a new Google product called Google Open Gallery. So naturally I decided to find out more about it!

Screenshot from Google Open Gallery webpage

To  start with.....

• The technology is based on the work Google has been doing with the major museums to put their art collections online via the Google Cultural Institute and Google Art Project
• This is what you can do

Google Open Gallery helps you to create a beautiful experience for people to view your collection, at the click of a button. We’ll host your content and give you access to our technology at no cost to you or your organisation. It’s pretty simple—just upload images, add video, Street View imagery and text, interweaving your story among the images to create an exhibition that will truly engage your visitors.

• Plus it's FREE
• at the bottom of the Google Open Gallery Home Page you can see examples of how the technology has been used by smaller galleries and museums - for example
• the Fosse Gallery in the UK - provides an indication of what a typical small gallery might do for its artists. Images get the benefit of the giant zoom effect.
• the Atelier Cezanne in Provence, France uses it to show us the scenes which Cezanne painted
• Check out the Chalk Art of Julian Beever in a new online home
• PLUS this is James Gurney's site on Google Open Gallery . He has a couple of sections related to Studies in Casein and Studies in Watercolour
• You can request an invite to get started. You get an email when your account is ready. Don't do what I did and hit the send button inadvertently before I notified which websites I intended to link to the account!

Information about Google Open Gallery

I only found out about it today so I'm not providing any advice - only links to more information and some commentary

Interest Lists: How to make sure Facebook does not filter the content you want to read

Yesterday I posted about recent changes to the Facebook Newsfeed - see This week's changes on Facebook - and what to do next.  (PS I added new content and updated this after I published it - I thought of a more few things - like the need to NOT like and hide posts from your newsfeed)

Today I want to expand on the idea of how to create and/or share Interest Lists as a way of ensuring you see the content of Facebook Pages or Accounts you want to read.

So this post covers

• links to my Interest Lists which are now being shared on my Facebook Page 
• two guides I wrote a while back about why Interest Lists are a good idea and how to create them
• links to Facebook Help re Interest Lists

The Art Materials Interest List on my Facebook Account
Note the Interests Lists in the left hand column - they starts just below Photos

My Interest Lists

I've now made them all the ones I'm listing below "public" so you should be able to access these if you are logged into Facebook.  I'll be sharing these on my Facebook Page also - I've already shared the Art Materials and Supplies one.

• Art Galleries and Museums
• Art Materials and Supplies - shared this afternoon
• Art Competitions
• Art Societies

Do let me know if you think I've missed out any good ones! :)

A discussion about Interest Lists today.

Facebook Lists

Below you will find links to the two posts I wrote back in 2012 when lists started to emerge as a way of better managing the Facebook algorithm which decides what you see in your newsfeed (ie it filters out about 80%!)

• A Guide to Facebook Interest Lists (Part 1) - Part 1 of my Guide to Facebook Interest Lists - looks at how Interest Lists might provide a better way of accessing news
• How to make an effective Facebook Interest List - Part 2 of my Guide to Facebook Interest Lists - looks at how to make a Facebook Interest Page and how to share it

Do let me know if you're finding anything has changed.

Facebook Basics

You can use Lists for Interests or Friends

• What are lists?
• How do I use lists to organize my friends?
• What are interest lists?
• What's the difference between a list and a group? Which one should I create?
• Lists for Friends - all the details
• Interest Lists - all the details

This week's changes on Facebook - and what to do next

You know that happy habit Facebook has of changing things without telling you?

They did it again on Thursday - and I think all the changes we're now seeing are linked to two things

• their new newswire service see https://www.facebook.com/FBNewswire AND
• changes to newsfeeds to get rid of spam and junk content

On the face of it, the first change is nothing for to us to get excited about - it's just Facebook trying to muscle in on the regular News newsfeeds that people enjoy following. 

The second change is of more consequence. First of all it has had a major effect on the Pages Newsfeed when in the Facebook Pages mode.

We now need to understand how our behaviour affects:

• what we see in future and 
• the extent to which what we do affects what is seen by us and by others.

Let me explain. (For those who prefer art and are missing "who painted this?" - try and puzzle out the painting - I'll fill in the name and artist tomorrow).

Woman in Black reading a newspaper (1912) by Rik Wouters
Oil on canvas
Royal Museum of Antwerp

Complete the draft and then upload it.......

one of the images in the book
It's a 2 minute contour drawing,
done in a life class

Today is upload day - via Dropbox.  My book about drawing and sketching has started its journey to the Editor.........

Not quite sure when that journey is going to end as.....

It's going very slowly.........

1. Complete draft of book about drawing and sketching (done)
2. Get all your images in from contributors (done)
3. Get the copyright form from all the contributors of images (very nearly done - only people away from home to do)
4. Find all your own images (very nearly done - I thought I knew where they all were!!)
5. Realise that your own images need a new scan @300 dpi or a better photograph (expletives deleted!)
6. Create all the new drawings for the "how to" sections (virtually completed - placeholders in place)
7. Create new "Chapter / section / subsection folders" on Dropbox so 300+ images can be found easily by the designer
8. Upload or copy/move images to new folders (this takes a looooooooong time)
9. Maintain control sheet for number of words, number of pages, number of double page spreads, number of figures, what's been uploaded etc. etc. etc
10. Upload text to folders.

That's not forgetting that I also need to keep making cups of tea and giving my back and eyes a break!

Why social media matters in 2014

Ever wondered whether you ought to be doing more on social media - but didn't know where or how to apply your efforts?

Watching this video about the 10 social media facts and statistics in 2014 will help you decide. It's focused on the USA however the majority of the themes will travel - such as the very heavy gender bias on Pinterest.

You will find your jaw drops when you read some of the statistics!  You may also be surprised by the coverage of sites you've never heard of.

It is worth trying to keep up with how countries vary if you're focusing on targeting your artwork on a specific country

For example a recent report by Neilsen suggests that 80% of UK users access Twitter via their mobile

Read 
UK Twitter users are more mobile and 
80% of UK users access Twitter via their mobile

Art Marketing on social media

My take on all of this is that:

• if you are aiming to sell artwork to people under the age of 45 you have got to be social media savvy 
• PLUS your websites and blogs need to be accessible via mobile devices

If you're targeting the older art collector who likes visiting art galleries then it's probably less important to be conversant with social media - for now.

10 top tips for art blogs

I've just been providing advice to a rather prominent blog about something they hadn't implemented on Blogger which makes a great deal of difference to how Google ranks your blog posts.

Click links and this is what you see
If you want to change the suggested URL link
click "custom permalink"

So I thought I'd review what I'd written previously and that's how I ended up with this top ten list of things you can do to improve your art blog using Blogger.  They're in order of publication starting with the most recent

10 top tips for art blogs 

#1.  Techie: How to create a customised URL for your Blogger blog post 21 Jul 2012 - Have you ever been irritated by the URL that Blogger has assigned to your Blogger blog post with the clever title? Did you know it is now possible for YOU to determine and customise the URLs which act as permalinks for your blog post.

#2  How to create a 'search description' for your Blogger post 14 May 2012 - How to create individual summaries for a 'search description' for a Blogger blog post - and why this is worthwhile.< #3  Pinterest: How to prevent your Blogger images from being pinned 24 Feb 2012 - This post explains how to stop images on your Blogger blog from being pinned to a Pinterest site - by inserting a meta tag in your Blogger template.

#4  Techie: How NOT to lose all your Blogger Pics! 23 Jul 2011 - First, this is a salutary tale of how to avoid losing all your pics from your blog(s) when moving to Google +. Second, it highlights how to keep your images private in Picasa and how to avoid people downloading your images from Picasa web albums and making prints of your artwork.

You only see the "Search description"
box if you've added a meta description
to your Blogger blog

#5  Assess how your website or blog ranks for quality in Google 09 May 2011 - This includes the questions which Google suggests you should address if you want to protect or improve the way your website or blog ranks in Google.

#6  How to make Blogger pages work for you 08 Feb 2010 - This post explains what you need to do to create Blogger Pages and how to make the new Blogger Pages function relevant to artists.

#7  5 approaches to avoid on your art website or art blog - Making a Mark 21 May 2009 - It's very difficult to get everything right in terms of an art website or blog. However, it's a lot easier to avoid doing things which are going to have a bad impact on your art website or art blog.

#8  NEW - Automatic publication of future-dated Blogger posts 16 May 2008 - Includes some tips for people wanting to use this new function in Blogger to schedule posts for publication in the future.

#9  Why it's a good idea to use labels in Blogger 01 Sep 2007 - the aim of this post is to help people to understand better:

• why using labels is a good idea
• how to choose labels to use
• some things to think about before using Labels in Blogger

#10  How to improve your art blog 04 Sep 2007 - I stopped my first blog after six posts and started again. What does the name and description of your blog say about you, your purpose, your interests and your art?

The Royal Academy of Arts has a new website

The Royal Academy of Art has a BRAND NEW website - designed for the age of the mobile internet and the digital handheld device.

Check it out here http://www.royalacademy.org.uk.

The new site... is the first stage of an ambitious project to open up the Academy and provide new ways of engaging with art and artists online.

I have to say I'm very impressed as I scrolled down - very easy to see what's on offer in its online magazine format.

Mini iPad compatibility

It looks wonderful - big enough and small enough! I'm getting four columns across in landscape format and all are easy to read in terms of headings, sub-heads and text

"Need to know" information

The top menu takes care of the "need to know" visits to the website.

There are some issues here eg the artists page on my iPad shows images of the artists - but they now have no names.  It could be this is a bid to get people to explore, but I can see it would be very frustrating if you just wanted to find a specific artist.  Finding a specific artist now depends on knowing their name and spelling correctly.

On the other hand I put David into the search field and all the RAs called david came up immediately - complete with proper name and link to their page.

Facebook

The only problem I've spotted so far is they need to get their act together on creating Facebook compatible images ie the ones which get served up to Facebook via the feed for the site.  It's really not making the most of the way Facebook likes images.

What it looks like

The image on the right gives you a bit of a taster of what it looks like.  This is as much as I could fit in by reducing the website in size.

I think they need to be careful not to get too image happy and remember words are still quite critical for some people!

Feedback 

The RA are interested in your thoughts about their new directions in terms of digital strategy and want your feedback

You can read more of the thinking behind our new site and our future digital plans on our new blog, and if you’d like any more information about this please let us know.

Artists websites: still a lot to do to update / upgrade for mobile devices

Some 28% of you have updated your website so it integrates better with social media.  A third of you recognise that you need to do more to keep up with the technological change associated with the explosion on the use of mobile devices

This is based on the responses to the November Making A Mark POLL: When was the last time you updated your website?. Below you can see the art produced which ranks the most popular responses according to frequency.

Making A Mark Poll: When was the last time you updated your website?
46 votes (November 2013)

In order of being proactive

• 11% of artists have upgraded to sites offering much better technical support.  This is a euphemism these days for  finding a site which has the capacity to deliver a site which is compatible with all normal mobile devices.
• 28% of artists are on top of the need to integrate with social media.  You are the people recognise how a lot of traffic arrives at a website these days!
• A third of artists have made minor changes but recognise more needs to be done.  I suspect most of you are in the same boat as me - recognising that EVERYTHING now needs to be mobile compatible but have not yet managed to get the website sorted
• Nearly a third of artists (29%) have done nothing with their website of late except maybe (7%) think about whether it needs up dating.  Within the content of the current level of technological change, as described in the post introducing the poll, this is maybe not the smartest move.

Here's why - go to your website URL on a smartphone or a tablet and answer these questions:

Is your site compatible with mobile devices (smartphones and iPads/tablets)?

1. Can you see and read the text straight away?
2. Can you navigate around the site easily?
3. Can you see all the pictures quickly and without needing to do lots of adjustments to bring them up to the right size?

If you can't answer 'Yes' to all those questions it means your website or blog does not have a template and design which automatically resizes and reconfigures when a site is accessed via a mobile device.

Which basically means it's about the same as having no website at all.

My blogs are fine and compatible with mobile sites - and my website is not and needs sorting.  I'm waiting on Sitekreator at the moment who are proving to be very slow to get on top of getting the mobile compatibility dimension.

The message which is beginning to come through clearly is that few if anybody is doing a website the old fashioned way - crafting the html etc - because of the need to be mobile compatible.

Thinking of changing/upgrading your website?

Do have a read of the comments on the last post as these indicate the successes (or otherwise) that people have had with changing and upgrading their websites

Tell me what you want to know about re the technical development of websites and blogs

I'm making no promises about delivering results but I am interested to know what questions people want answered in relation to developing their presence online - and keeping up with the technological change relating to mobile devices and other changes.

So what's the question that you want to know the answer to?

POLL: When was the last time you updated your website?

This isn't about when you last updated the artwork on your website. It's about the major changes in digital communication using the Internet - and when you last updated your actual website to take account of this massive amount of technological and technical change.

Website technology is changing in leaps and bounds. The situation today is very different from 10 years ago and even five years ago.

I set up my website on 12 June 2005.  That's a very long time ago in terms of technical change! I've included new artwork.  I've changed the format of some of the pages to take account of site developments. However I've never really sat down and looked at whether it now meets my needs in terms of the changes in the technical and technological environment it now operates in.

The poll this month is going to look at how we've recognised technological and technical change in terms of updating our websites.

1. First it addresses what has happened to technological and technical support for digital communication in the last 10 years. I'm asking you to suggest what you think has been the major change.
2. Next it looks at the Poll - question and suggested responses. Vote for the one which best reflects your circumstances
3. Finally I'm asking "who hosts your website?"  In 2014 I want to do a poll to see which is the most popular host for artists' websites - and hence want to do some initial research as which suppliers you favour.

Changes to digital communication in the last 10 years

What was new and is now the norm? 

What has happened which will become the norm?

Here's a list of things I can think of off the top of my head.  What do you think I've left out which is important?

Internet for all

• More and more people can access the Internet.  More and more people are on broadband and increasing numbers are able to access fibre optic speeds.
• In general, prices for internet access are coming down - but still vary a lot from place to place

Operating systems and apps

• In general, 
• a major switch from Windows to Apple
• an explosion in availability and use of free software 
• desktop apps have given way to mobile webware apps. Huge demand and numerous suppliers keeps pricing very competitive
• Flash seems to have come and gone given the way Apple rejected it for iPads and iPhones (as an unstable memory hog). There is no flash for iOS or android any more and there never will be.
• Desktop computers are in effect becoming terminals for webware and cloud storage

This represents a marked switch from Windows to Apple / iOs over time
(Based on Google Analytics | Technology - Os)

This reflects a major switch from desktop to mobile for accessing the Internet
(Based on Google Analytics | Mobile - Overview)

What this blog looks like
on a mobile phone

Mobile devices

• Massive explosion in both functionality and numbers of mobile devices. Pace of change continues to be very fast 
• Explosion in the use of mobile devices - these are rapidly becoming the norm for accessing the Internet (if not already)
• BUT not all sites are accessible via mobile devices
• Flash outlawed by Apple due to being a memory hogger
• Unless websites resize automatically some are not easy to access via mobile devices (for me - at present - my blogs on Blogger are fine and my websites on Sitekreator are not)
• Design and size of screen image has changed. It's become vital that images are not a set size and can resize automatically to take advantage of different sized screens

Storage and bandwidth

• Server to Cloud: Most hosts now offer a lot more storage re. websites. 
• Cloud storage is now becoming the norm for websites constructed using webware. 
• In turn this seems to mean sites can host more and more images.
• ISPs now offer very fast broadband eg Fibre Optic Broadband - enabling watching video and TV without hiccups

Static vs dynamic

• Content has in general switched from static (eg websites) to dynamic sites (eg blogs and Facebook) e.g. people find artwork via social media rather than because a website exists.  
• Integration with social media: Stable/functional links between websites and social media are critical to getting content seen by lots of people
• Still images are crucial currency for the internet. People navigate on the basis of large thumbnail images of topics
• The short video of moving images has become ubiquitous. Lots of people have the cameras and the software to make them for themselves. It no longer costs megabucks and requires expert help.

Search

• Internet Explorer is no longer the dominant browser (my stats say it's now down a around 15% of all visitors). 
• Use of a variety of browsers is the norm - that means it's vital for all websites to become compatible with the latest versions of all important browsers.

The change in browsers reflects the change in operating systems
the increasing popularity of Apple and the increase in use of mobile devices
(Based on Google Analytics | Technology - Browser)

• Speed of response is critical.  It's an important factor within the Google search algorithm. It's become a top priority if you want to generate traffic. 
• Slow response loses traffic. Websites which haven't slimmed down their code and the number of apps which load will take a long to load. (I know this is something I need to address with both my websites and blogs!)
• Optimising websites for search became a "science". This has now been undermined ever since Google made keywords inaccessible!
• Semantic search - using verbal queries and normal language rather than keywords will become the norm in the future

Sharing media

• Methods used for storing and sharing media: These have gone from floppy discs to CDs to writeable DVDs to USB thumb drives to small portable hard discs

Ecommerce

• Online shopping is now absolutely normal and has changed retail forever
• Artist websites with ecommerce: More and more artists are incorporating ecommerce functionality into their websites to enable direct sales via the web

Design

• Clean contemporary unfussy design with excellent images has become associated with success (count how many websites now strive to look like Apple's). Minimalist is both functional and very effective.

Social media - sharing communication 

• The major change has been in social media. Social media sites have become a proxy for websites when it comes to display and a proxy for web2 forums when it comes to communication.

All the above have implications for:

• content - static vs dynamic
• format and design
• level of integration
• level on interactivity
• where a site is hosted eg on a server or in a cloud

When was the last time you updated your website technology?

Here's the poll question and the possible answers.

The poll will close at the end of 30 November 2013 (Greenwich Mean Time).

Please vote for the option which best reflects your circumstances. You find the poll in the side column (just above "For your Information").

Making A Mark Poll (November 2013)

When was the last time you updated your website?

• Never - not touched site since originally set up 5+ years ago
• Never - not touched it since originally set up 1+ years ago
• Thought about it - but done nothing
• Minor changes - but more to do
• Updated for better integration with social media
• Moved site to host offering much better tech. support

Who hosts your website?

In 2014 I intend to run a poll to find out which are the favoured suppliers. Consequently, I want to find out who are the main suppliers of website services for artists.

It would help enormously if I could get an initial idea about what your website set-up is.

For example, I've got my websites with Sitekreator - who tell me they that at present they don't have any website themes with responsive designs (ie automated change to a version which suits screen size) - but are proposing to introduce them in a few weeks time).

Any news as to how other website providers are changing their services to keep up with the constant technical and technological change elsewhere is almost most welcome.

Please leave a comment and tell me who hosts your website.

Google+ Customised URLs - the rollout starts

I have one recommendation.  Do NOT start the process of claiming Google+ custom URLs late at night!

I made that mistake.

I just hope I've got everything written down as I found the whole process totally confusing.

A custom URL is a short, easy-to-remember web address that links directly to your profile or page.

The story so far

• Google seems to be doing an awful lot of updates all at once.
• Late tonight (here in London) it started to send out emails about claiming your own customised URLs.  
• I ALWAYS make sure I claim 'names' associated with me (eg like "KatherineTyrrell" !) quickly so I wanted to make sure I got it done rather than forgetting about it in the morning
• it's a lot more confusing than they make out - so much so I didn't think I could even begin to explain it because it's late at night
• return to the first sentence of this blog post!  Leave yourself a big note of what needs doing tomorrow instead!

What I can remember!

I don't guarantee that all of this is accurate or complete - but this is what I can remember about the process

• If you're eligible for a customised Google+ URL you will be sent an email
• To be eligible you need to have the following:
• A Google+ account or Page which is 30+ days old
• a photo for the site (but note that my photo for my Making A Mark site is the avatar not a photo of me)
• have 10+ followers
• You have to agree to the Terms of Service relating to Google+ - which is very obviously targeted at weeding out spammers and unsavoury material/behaviour
• To claim the customised URL you have to supply your mobile number for a validation check. (It seems as if there is going to be some sort of limit introduced on the number of accounts which can be associated with one number)
• There seems to be some sort of suggestion that they might start charging for customised URLs in the future.  I'd say this would be commercial suicide if Facebook continues to be free.
• There's a complete mess associated with getting a non-gobbledygook email address associated with the Google+ PAGE.  That bit really needs to be made a lot simpler and more transparent.
• I'm still not sure why I was setting a password for my Page or setting up a new email account for it!

As always I'd recommend you record what you;re doing as you do it so you can make sense of it later. I've got a page of notes but I seemed to end up in a loop at one point with a huge number of tabs open trying to make sense of the Page bit.

At the end of this post are links to more information and advice about customised Google+ URLs

Where you can find me on Google+

Anyway - the nuts and bolts are that I now have a customised Google+ URL for:

Use Google PageSpeed Insights Tool to check how fast your website loads

Do you know how well your website or blog renders on a mobile device or a normal computer?

This is a link to the updated Google Developers PageSpeed Insights Tool. You can use this to identify:

• how fast your website or blog loads:
• on a mobile device (using mobile software)
• on a desktop (laptop or desktop machine using full versions of operating systems)
• what areas to tackle to improve the speed of your load.

This is all about making smartphones load fast.  Google has introduced a new benchmark - and some new guidelines setting out its expectations about how fast websites and blogs render their above the fold content so people can start reading / browsing before the whole page has loaded.

They want to see the above the fold content on a smartphone in under a second

Research shows that users’ flow is interrupted if pages take longer than one second to load. To deliver the best experience and keep the visitor engaged, our guidelines focus on rendering some content, known as the above-the-fold content, to users in one second (or less!) while the rest of the page continues to load and render in the background. The above-the-fold HTML, CSS, and JS is known as the critical rendering path.

The new tool is really very accessible

• it differentiates between mobile load and desktop (laptop or PC) load.  Essentially it's differentiating between full-on operating systems and their mobile versions.
• it has new "traffic light" icon system to alert you to what's OK and what needs attention
• It spells out precisely where the problems are - and then gives you the details to identify what to address.  

The good news is that Blogger's mobile version, if switched on, seems to respond pretty well.

This site which is huge and slow to load (7+ years old c. 2,500 posts etc) did rather better in the speed tests than I was expecting.

PageSpeed Insights result for Making A Mark
(rightclick pic and open in a new tab to see a larger version)

There are a couple of problems - which is Blogger script - which I'm assuming will be addressed by the Blogger people. If you click a line about a problem - it unfolds to, for example, identify the block scripts which are causing a problem for rendering.

Eliminate render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold contentYour page has 2 blocking CSS resources. This causes a delay in rendering your page.

You can also find out more about the precise techie details of "good practices" and benchmarks for future standards of rendering on mobile devices in Mobile Analysis in PageSpeed Insights.


NOTE:  Here's the Blogger Buzz Post A more dynamic mobile reading experience which tells you how to make sure your Blogger blog is set up with a mobile template.