Hi!

‘Art Bitch’ started as a small personal group on Facebook.

It has now maxed out at 5000 on the personal page, and has grown to a broader social media platform incorporating a Facebook fan page with over 1000 followers, a Tumblr blog and Twitter account.

I am receiving all kinds of feedback from all over the world where people ask me if I could create a blog or a website so I can share even more.

I would like to take Art Bitch to the next level and create a website which, all of my social media channels are tied back into and possibly something I can launch which will attract advertising in order to monetize projects for artists.

I have already done the ground work, their is a 6000 following which I hope gives the website impetus and a strategy.

But when is right? When should I launch and should I do this step by step and first create a Wordpress blog and experiment, and then move towards a fully operational website?

I want to take care of my fans and supporters best I can, make sure there is provision for this, and do this in the best possible way.

Questions…

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AB

Hi @arty!

Great questions! WordPress is a powerful website builder in and of itself. You can create fully functional websites within WordPress, with dynamic pages that don’t look anything like a blog.  So you can build it there, if you wish, in pieces–depending on your business objectives.

First ask yourself–what ARE my objectives? What do I want to accomplish with a website? What end result do I want to achieve?

Think of your website/blog as your information hub, and all your social channels are spokes that are fed information from your blog–and point visitors back to it. Everything should connect.

People usually want to look up your website (if they find you on social channels) to dig deeper… find more content, learn what you have to offer and how they can benefit from it.

The nice thing about using WordPress is that it allows you to assign admins, and you can give them full access to post or limit them for more control–as well as plugins that can enhance the interactivity. And you can create static pages that do not allow comments–or allow commenting on every page. It’s your oyster.

I would take a full approach. I own a web design / development company and use Concrete 5. Of course, you can’t go wrong with Wordpress either.

Concrete5 is extremely user-friendly and can theme any design you like, and it includes the blog. However, it is a preference.

I personally feel that both a website and blog go hand-in-hand. However, depending on your goals and target market, you may only need a blog. There are a lot of variables. I recommend you find a reliable and trustworthy company in your area that will give you a free consultation and will take the time to work through your goals.

Then, you can move forward confidently.

Hope that helps?
Don

You’re Welcome!

I agree with both @aprilparcher and @ranashahbaz.  Wordpress on your own domain is the recommended way to go.and once you have downloaded Wordpress to your domain address you can start with just the blog if you wish and then add pages to that with the usual Home – About Us – Blog and did you know that Wordpress has applications/plug-ins free and paid for you to create a Forum or membership site right on your website, exactly as Social Media Examiner has done here with this networking site we are beta testing.  That is where they could share and join just like we have just done.  It would meet all the needs and goals you have described above.  With 5000+ active users you already have all you have to do is invite them to join on your website.  There they will be able to click on any/all of your pages for more information.

P.S.  Now that I know what you do, I am going to direct my daughter to your Art Bitch because she is “all about art” and is very disillusioned about Deviant Art!

I agree with @alanstratton. Start with a Wordpress blog. What you are doing sounds very social with a lot of interaction, so a blog makes a lot of sense for this. You can then slowly build out more static pages if you need them.

If you want to avoid generic, try a theme builder. I use Headway Themes, and it has been well worth the investment. You can pretty much built your blog/site to look however you want it too. It is helpful to have some graphic/web design skills, so if you don’t having someone build you a site makes sense, but have them do it on Wordpress so you can edit it and have members and contributors down the road.

Thanks Apryl!

Phew, will have to get on top of all these things, argh Facebooking and Twitter and Tumblr and, and all the rest takes so much time!

I need to get onto Wordpress and start experimenting and teaching myself, so I can come up with some more relevant questions for all you experienced types!

Perhaps in the new year will look to launch.

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AB

As Jason Fried from 37Signals says and as I saw Mike Stelzner RT this week. “There is never a perfect time to start something.”
You have a huge advantage in that you have an audience. That combined with great content is really all you need. Certainly the look of the site you build is key but I would say you are more than ready.
I was in a similar situation where I had a Facebook Page only and no site. Once we hit 2,000 fans I launched a blog, it sucked design wise. A year later and a custom designer later we were over 100,000 page views a month every month with 65% of that coming from the Facebook page we had continued to grow. 
Hope that helps you feel better I know a ton of awesome designers as well if you need referrals. 

ArtBitch, If I had waited for 5000 users to begin my blog I wouldn’t have the 1200 posts I’ve done in the last 4 years and Google wouldn’t love me so! 

I began in the simplest way – on Google Blogger and only recently transferred to Wordpress  hosted on my own domain. I’m up to here with technology mental upload so I found a blog I liked (layout-wise) pulled a screenshot, opened it in Photoshop and played until I had what i felt was right for me. I posted it on O-Desk and had a lovely man from BanglaDesh called Shahabuddin Shiplu implement it at $10 an hour. A little tweaking to do, but he is fact efficient and careful.

As you can see from the posts, WordPress is the hands-down favourite but I would really recommend sub’ing the setup. Too much technomind kills creativity.

Just concentrate on what you do best and you can’t fail!

@arty Congradulations on all your success! I cants believe you don’t have a website! I would say its a good investment with a following that big. I know forums are a great way to make people inteigued and engaged with your website, maybe look into an art forum for your website?

@arty Congrats on your success so far! Agree with all the others. Get your own domain with WP (includes site and blog) on it. There are many web developers who can set up the framework – just find one who clicks for you. In terms of what is in the website, you have the text content and images covered! You deserve to start thinking about how you can monetize it. Can you sell items or membership or consulting or…? The web developer can do the mechanics, the direction will come from you.

@arty your following on FB shows that you have already figured out something that many of us here are still wrestling with: your CONTENT that is your writing and images and message are already ‘amazing and perfect and better’ or you would not have the following. Think of the website like the frame or the gallery around the art. You have nailed the art. Do not put too much time and energy into waiting fir the perfect frame. Just build one, already. It is the content that your following are there for. You can open up a part of the website to run ads that google putts on there from day 1. Google reads the content of the page and puts in ads that go with the content. I am not recommending this as your only strategy, but think about what else you can do. Unless you just want to do the whole thing for love, for ever, which is not fair on you personally to give give give.