Optimize it all!

The secret to a successful Internet presence with a high visibility, lies in an SEO strategy that is applied consistently throughout your Internet activities. We tend to think of long tail keywords, and LSI when we are constructing a webpage or writing a blog post. Now, I’ll be the first to agree that those situations cry out for the careful choosing of words … both to express your message to the humans that read it, and to positively register with those wonderful little bots that crawl the site’s content. Remember, the bots are our friends. Their job is to attempt to accurately categorize and rank both the site and its individual components. If we are doing our jobs correctly we will be producing quality content that more than deserves high rankings. Think of SEO as helping the technology to find and recognize what your happy readers already know!



In the last year or two, we have seen a major increase in the use and importance of Social Media. Services like twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn have gained users at historic rates. No other communications system has grown in popularity with anything like the speed that these have. This popularity and importance has gone un-noticed by the folks at Google, Bing, Yahoo, and others. Search Engines are making major investments in time and treasure to tap into the information – the buzz – created by these social organizations or should we think of them as organisms?). If they are paying attention, shouldn’t we?



What to do right now…



As we’ve noted before, the Internet can read but it can’t see. Consequently, words are the currency of the web when dealing with its technology. Choose words purposefully.

Become intimately familiar with common keywords in your field. Practice using them in all your writing. The more second nature they become the better and more transparently you will be able to use them.
Revisit all your profiles. Rewrite them with you Keyword goals and strategies in mind.
Use keywords in your more important Facebook, twitter, and LinkedIn posts. If you continually hammer a message at people, they will quickly turn away. If you save the power words for those posts you want to elicit a specific response, like visit a blog post, check out a sale, or the like, your message will be far more effective, and your other posts will seem much more sincere and indicative of the real you.
If write articles, make sure you optimize them for keywords, too.
Finally, don’t forget to use keywords when commenting on other people’s blogs too!


The central concept here is to get very familiar with the most productive keywords associated with the field you want to rank for. I’d suggest you become close friends with the Google AdWords Tool. It can provide a plethora of information in a very short time!

Above All…

have fun. Virtually any endeavor can be enjoyable if you are committed to make it so. Writing with an SEO strategy in mind is no exception. Good luck!

They’re Everywhere, They’re Everywhere!

It seems like wherever you look, there is someone claiming to be a Giclee printer. How do you separate the experienced providers of high quality Fine Art prints from the bus driver who works part time out in his garage? And does it make a difference? Well, naturally, I think it makes a huge difference- and every digital atelier worth his salt, does too! Let’s take an honest look at what it takes to be a top notch digital printmaker and uncover some of the questions you should be asking.

Experience

What experience does the printer have? Of course the longer the better, but what constitutes experience? Is it the experience of actually working with ink on paper? Often an artist or photographer will take up printmaking as a sideline; the idea being, because he or she has worked with paint or a camera, it makes them an expert on printing. This is nonsense. Here’s an analogy: we all drive at least one vehicle with tires. We certainly know whether the tire is flat or adequately inflated, we can tell if there is enough tread, we can change a tire if need be, we may even be able to tell the fellow at the tire store what brand and specifications we need. But I dare say, none of us could actually make a tire! Fine Art Giclee printing is akin to making the tire. Now certainly, given the quality of the equipment available today, even the most incompetent printer can produce a pleasing picture at least some of the time, but to capture the finesse and true beauty of a piece, to present it’s spirit, to really achieve the greatness that a work of art calls out for, requires a team of skilled craftspeople experienced in the nuances of Fine Art Reproduction. After all, you want your Giclee to be a work of art, too!

Equipment

What equipment do they use? Is it top quality? Are the results Archival and fade resistant for a lifetime? Can they print large enough to fill even your most sizable orders? Do they have the ability to do the sundry services such as coating and stretching canvases, provide reasonably priced promotional pieces like postcards, business cards, flyers, and greeting cards, or even do mailing and fulfillment for you?

Dedication

Is this a full time job for them? Will they be there the next time you need something printed? Or in tough times do they concentrate on their “Day Jobs” and leave you swinging in the wind? If something goes wrong, do they know how to fix it and are they willing to do what it takes to get it right? Or do they send you on your way, vaguely implying it was somehow your fault?

Knowledge

What do they actually know about color and matching your art? Do they know about profiles and color Gamuts? Can they achieve a great result even when some color in your painting presents a challenge? Can they suggest a paper or canvas that might do a better job? Do they even have a choice of media? Do they know what part different lighting plays in the perception of color? Can they explain why certain colors look very different under one set of lights than under another?

Ongoing Service and Continuity

Are they able to assist you beyond the actual print job? Can they help you market your work? Will they keep you informed of upcoming shows and open calls for artists? Do they use their Social Media platforms to promote their clients work and shows? Do they blog about you and things that interest you? Do they keep up on the best places to find materials, where to find interesting classes, even who’s got studio space to share?

Commitment

And finally, will they spend the time to get to know you and your work? Do they see their success as being dependent on yours? A truly great Giclee printer, whether located in Portland, Oregon or New York City, understands that success is not a one sided thing. Both parties to the transaction must thrive in order to achieve their individual goals.



Truthfully, we think we fit these criteria pretty well, and we are constantly working on improving the clients experience with us. We also know, that for some who read this, it may be impractical to use us for one or another reason. We hope this post will help you find a Giclee printer that you can rely on and who will work hard to help you be a success at bringing your art to the world!

More on our Giclee printing services

What is Copyright Really Worth?

There is a lot of misunderstanding surrounding content, copyright, and legal uses of your hard work. It’s a very complex subject and if you have a serious issue, please, please, please talk to a professional familiar with the laws!! I’m not a lawyer, don’t play one on TV, and am not giving any kind of legal opinion. Everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt as it is merely my opinion. Oh, and one more thing, What I’m talking about is based on U.S. law. Foreign regulations can be very different, so if that applies to you, check the statutes in your country.
James left me a very nice comment and asked about the process of creating content for the Web.

With having so much content and articles do you ever run into any problems of plagiarism or copyright infringement? My site has a lot of completely unique content I’ve either created myself or outsourced but it looks like a lot of it is popping it up all over the internet without my authorization. Do you know any techniques to help stop content from being ripped off? I’d genuinely appreciate it.
What is Copyright?

Everyone who owns a Copyright raise your hand. Did yours go up? If you are an active blogger, if you’ve ever taken and uploaded a picture, painted a painting, written an original story, written a song, or created something new via creative means, the chances are your hand should be up in the air. Just about all of us have a copyright on something. Copyright is automatic upon the creation of, as the law states, “original works of authorship”. There are good reasons to register your work with the Copyright Office, but it is no longer necessary to be protected by the law.

Copyright simply means that the owner has the right to determine who can use their work and for what purpose. If you take a picture of your dog and put it up on your website, that picture belongs to you. No one can legally download it for their twitter avatar, or their computer desktop, to pass around to friends via email, or use for any commercial purpose without your permission. Doing so is potentially a violation of the Copyright Law. There are some exceptions allowed – reviewers can quote small passages from a work- that sort of thing (Fair Use). The law says you are in charge…

Infringement

First let’s ask the question, “Is it really being lifted?” Often things that we believe are original are in reality ideas that others have thought of and published previously. That doesn’t make us thieves, just unaware of the previous publication. We may technically be infringing, but without “intent” we would probably be held harmless for most instances, provided we ceased infringement upon notification or otherwise learning of the infringement.

Ideas are not copyrighted. If you write a blog post expressing a new idea, and I read it and write my own article expressing the same idea but in my own way, with original content, I am probably not guilty of either plagiarism or copyright infringement. If I substantially copy your words, that’s a different story.

Where’s the Beef? | The Value Proposition

Now that we’ve talked about what your rights are, the question is, is it worth it to exercise them? You should know that getting actual and punitive damages requires that your copyright be registered a certain length of time before the infringement. If you have very valuable intellectual property (you’re a world famous photographer, for example) this may be worth the expense, but for most of us, the cost simply doesn’t warrant the effort. That is not to say that, if you discover someone directly plagiarizing your work (not the ideas, you recall!), you shouldn’t notify them that you own the copyright for it and they should cease using your work. I’d suggest, however that instead of having them pull your work from their site, rather ask them to provide credit and a link to your website or blog. This will probably be far more valuable than any damages they might have incurred. Remember, on the internet, inbound links are the currency. More = better. I encourage people to quote my work, share it on their Social Media sites, use it in their blogs, etc. if they will simply give author’s credit and link to the source.

Denoument

Flourishing on the Internet requires a change of mindset. It necessitates a shift from an individual centered worldview to community centered one. As most Capitalists understand, the way to succeed in business is to focus on serving the customer. The same is true with the Internet. If you focus on bringing value to the community, it will repay you with the success you desire.



For more see:

JDA’s article on Copyright

US Copyright Office

Color Accuracy and the Digital Camera

One of the drawbacks to using a traditional digital camera- one that takes the picture all at once- is that data for each color (Red Green and Blue) isn’t recorded at each location on the image!
The part that actually takes the picture is called a sensor array. The 2 most common are called Complementary Metal–Oxide–Semiconductor and Charged-Coupled Device. Well, actually few people actually call them that, they are referred to as CMOS and CCD devices. Each has a fixed array of tiny light sensors that can turn light that falls on them into a very tiny amount of electricity. But remember each of these little micro sensors just sense light they cant see color. In order to do that, they need to have a tiny filter placed over them. Those filters are mated to a sensor and permanently attached. They are arranged in what is known as a …



Bayer Filter Pattern

Both the CMOS and the CCD chips are basically 2 dimensional and fixed so each pixel records either Red, Green, or Blue data for that position in the image. The Data is then interpolated using a mathematical technique called demosaicing. As you might imagine, this works pretty well, but anytime interpolation takes place, information is being created by assumption. It is, by it’s nature and necessity, not as accurate as it could be.

When you use a scanning camera, like our Betterlight, to make your art scans, it takes a different approach. It consists of three rows of micro sensors. Each row is dedicated to capturing a single color’s data in every image position. One row of Red, one of Green, and one of Blue. As it scans across your art, it picks up data for each color in every position on the image. No interpolation is necessary. Would you notice a huge difference? Perhaps not, but the distinction between a good reproduction and a fabulous one is a matter of subtlety and nuance, and we believe the Betterlight provides you that distinction!

I’m Jim Dittmer, and it gives me real pleasure to launch this new site. Expert Art Scans is the website for the Fine Art Scanning department of JDA Creative Services in Portland, Oregon. We believe that getting scans of your Art – so that you may take full advantage of it in the future – is a critical step every artist should take before it disappears forever into the hands of a collector. We have a number of options to make this affordable for just about everyone, so make sure you give us a call!

This blog will talk about all kinds of issues facing the fine artist, including: finding new venues, promoting your shows, finding the best deals on your supplies, building and maintaining websites, using social media to build communities and a fanbase, as well as answering your questions. Get connected and get in touch!