Well, y'all are just too easy on me! I was expecting a SYW-like thrashing. It's far less bloodthirsty in here.
If you want to work together on this, we could both work to improve each other's email list, especially in the area of the welcoming sequence. I could give you my outline of what I currently have--my welcome sequence is currently nine emails long, spaced 2 wks apart. : )
Ooh, I think I'll take you up on that! Might be a while, though. I have to finish two paintings, one novel, and revise a few shorts first. But I'm hoping 2021 will be more productive than 2020, which was pretty much a write-off. Thanks, Cathleen!
The site looks great Pasty! I definitely didn't think it was strange to include your visual arts, and like Cathleen I found the fish stuff interesting. I'm on Chrome and yeah, your siggy icons don't show up.
Thanks, SSM!
I'm happy the combination didn't come across as strange. Actually I was a bit worried the entire site was strange, so I'm glad you liked it! And thanks for the intel on the sig images. I can't for the life of me figure out why they're loading in some browsers and not others. BTW, I hope you wrote more during NaNo than I did. *feels shame*
Also, it occurred to me that you're probably going to want two lists--one for art and the other for SFF. They're different groups, and you don't want unsubscribers because half your emails don't appeal to them. And folks who are interested in both can sign up for both lists.
It doesn't matter that much what particular content you put in your newsletter except for one thing: never bore them. Always be relevant and interesting. No pressure. But at least you can avoid shooting yourself in the foot by combining lists. : )
Yep, no pressure AT ALL.
Yeah, it makes total sense to have separate newsletters. I read somewhere that if you want to be successful on a platform like insta you have to find a niche and focus. Frex, there's this dude I follow who paints the most amazing clouds, and I think of him as Cloud Guy. Would be weird if he starting including bowling or something in his newsletter.
Thanks again!
I think your website is very well done. I don’t see a problem with the art and writing in one site. It is all creative work and one feeds the other. For me, it makes me more interested in you as a creative person so I’m more likely to pay attention and spend more time on your site. The astronomical number of websites and blogs in the world makes catching someone’s attention a tall order.
My own website now has both art and writing also. It is doubly confusing as I have a pen name for the writing and the website goes under that name. Add in a little homeopathy, muscle testing and bead making and it’s quite a mash up. At this point, I’m throwing it all together and I don’t have he energy, time or finances to worry about it too much.
Cathleen - I see I somehow lost my mailing list signup when I chose a new theme for my website. Thanks for the reminder. I need to fix that.
Thanks, sandree, I'm glad the site worked for you! I visited your site and your paintings are beautiful. I love the one with the butterfly flowers. And the so-called mash up didn't bother me at all. It's fascinating to me how many writers here on AW have more than one creative outlet. Thanks for your feedback.
The website looks great to me. The connection between painting and writing is immediately apparent through the art you choose to highlight--unrealism, surrealism--and you articulate the common ground between your writing endeavors and visual ones very well. I'm convinced by the claim that your work presents compelling visions of current/future realities. Your signature icon shows up in Safari, so you have the Mac crowd covered. I like the inclusion of fish stuff (and I also like the Species Imperative series by Czerneda) because I think fiction has a way of drawing on all aspects of an artist's experience in the creation of plots and characters. Sidenote: military me has used enough ESRI products to create GIS decision tools that got a good laugh from the line about being able to make a map even if using one was a challenge. You could make a bigger statement about how day job is yet another way of visualizing data and seeing the world in new ways, if you want to.
Thanks, Dawg! I'm chuffed that the common ground of alternative/future realities came through for you. I must admit, I kinda sorta made up the term "Unrealism," not because I'm trying to start a new art movement, but because I'm lazy. I did a quick google and couldn't figure out what genre some of my art fell into, so I made one up (as one does).
Thanks for the data point on my siggy images. Good to know my images load for team Mac. Also good to know I'm not the only spatially-challenged critter here. I can't find my way out of a granary. Also, I checked out your site too and it's great! It showcases your work really well. And I love the moving background image. Mesmerizing. *stares*
I don't see any image with your signature. Sorry! I'm using Firefox, up-to-date version, on a Windows 10 OS. If it will be helpful, I can open up Chrome or Avast, the other two browsers I have, and see if that's different.
Maryn, sometimes helpful, sometimes not
Well that's just baffling. The problem is I changed ISPs, registrars, and switched from an old HTML/php site to WordPress, so I have no idea what's causing this. Too many variables!
Thanks for the intel on your browser and OS; that's really helpful. And thanks for the offer to test it with Chrome and Avast. Much appreciated! I'll poke around on my site and see if I can figure out what's going on, and then take you up on that. The really weird thing is that the site itself loads only intermittently on Chrome for me. So I guess the bright side is that at least the site seems to be loading consistently for everybody here. I hope? Thanks, Maryn! BTW, I checked out your blog and your self-isolation tips. You've inspired me to put on some sweatpants.
Hey there Pasty.
The site looks amazing. I work in digital marketing, battle Wordpress daily, and feel I know a good site when I see one. This one is awesome!! I vaguely remember the old site, and from a UX perspective, this is a giant leap forward IMO.
Yay, thanks, George! Yeah, the old site was a bit of a dinosaur. I'm really blown away by what you can do in WordPress, and for free! I can haz good UX now.
I see no reason not to put writing and art on the same site. The "brand," in this case, is you.
Me, a brand? Does that mean I have to quit schlepping around in my PJs and slippers?
I think in this age, a lot of us are pursuing multiple talents. I have music and writing on my site (more music than writing, heh), and I'm hoping they'll cross-pollinate some day.
Well, after reading your query and novel opening, I think they've not only cross-pollinated, they've had a love child.
Now, have you measured the change in conversion rate between old site and new?
That's the real question.
Yep. Still zero! Sadly, my visitors seem to be mostly either Russian bots or searching for p*rn. They must be terribly disappointed when they land on my fish reproduction blog post.
Thanks so much, George! Good to know the site gets the nod from a pro. And your site is very cool. Love the banner and your scribble at the top. And the sticky menu. I gotta get me one of those.
It looks good to me. It's much nicer than my clonky old self-coded site. I think you're integrating your arts well.
(Take my word with a grain of salt because my site is just an online portfolio, basically and I'm just a visual artist, not a writer (except I've been writing some little bit lately and welp ...).)
Thanks, Alessandra! I checked out your site and I love your work! Smack dab in mah wheelhouse. And your site isn't clonky
at all; I could navigate around no problem and look at all the lovely art. And one advantage hand-coded sites have over WordPress is they're not bloated and load lightning fast. Thanks for your feedback!
