Share is your friend!




The quickest and easiest, and maybe even one of the most effective ways to start promoting your work is to simply click the Share button. You could click the Share button on this page and share this aritcle on many of the social networking sites. Do it now and you will see a pop up list of social networking, social bookmarking, and even social shopping sites that you can submit this content to. When it comes to your Crreative Works,I'd highly recommend you use the Share button that you find on each of your Creative Work's "Buy Now" pages. You will have to go through a quick sign up process for each social site, but once you're signed up adding new items is a breeze. This will help you quickly get you content out there!

I'd like to have you discover these sites as invaluabe tools for bringing attention and popularity to your art, music, fashion, film or book. It is important to note, however, that how much you get noticed is completely determined by the amount of effort you put into the online web content these sites allow you to create.

Some of these sites are set up with specific themes in mind and should be used to promote your work in different ways depending on those themes. For each site I list I give a brief break-down of the site's main focus, and how to effectively use it to promote your work. Of course, the first thing you'll want to do is add a link to your Artopium profile page.

I highly recommend that you visit every single site on the list and create an account for each one. Each site that you skip or look over is a great missed-opportunity to really get your work "out there." T truely become popular you'll need to be recognized in at least these key "venues". Also be sure to read the article "Understanding the URL" for a complete explanation of how to use URLs to create HTML links directly to the work on your Artopium profile page.

You can also find more information in the Artopium Library article "How to Promote Your Creative Works Online" and be sure to check out Artopium's List of Search Engines and Directories for additional places to submit links to your Creative Works.

www.Myspace.com
has exploded as the place to promote your work through the use of online forums, bulletin boards, comment posts, blogs and personalized profile pages. You can upload pictures of your work and join Myspace's music category to upload mp3s. Not being on Myspace can actually be detrimental to effectively getting recognized by your "online peer group", essentailly those who would best "fit in" with the work you are creating. DO NOT BE SHY! Myspace is set up for you to "make friends" and you should, LOTS OF THEM. Each of your "friend's" profile pages are an opportunity for you to create another HTML link to your work. DON'T BE RUDE OR MECHANICAL THOUGH! If you decide to post a comment on a friends profile page with a link to your work, or put out a bulletin to all of your friends at once, be as personal yet professional as possible. Artopium's Myspace Page currently has thousands of friends.

www.Friendster.com
is the original "friend-making" site and works very similar to Myspace, so the same rules apply. Friendster has a slightly different atmosphere than Myspace, though, and seems to be more of a "friend linking" site (i.e. a place to "connect" all of your friends and see who they are connected to), rather than a friend finding site. Friendster has almost exactly the same features that Myspace has such as bulletins, comments, blogs, etc., and they all allow HTML links.

www.LiveJournal.com
has become one of the Net's largest blogging forums, an online personal journal for millions. The catch is: you must be completely personal (throw professionalism out the window, but not courtesy). The idea behind blogging and online journals is the concept of total openess and a sharing of personal ideas and opinions. This can be perfect for art and music, for the more personal it is the more valuable it becomes. It is a great idea to share your concepts and thoughts of how you created your works of art, then make HTML links directly to them!

www.Photobucket.com
is a great place to store images as they allow what is called "hot linking", or in other words, the ability to create HTML links from other sites to your images stored at Photobucket. This is perfect if you would like an image to appear on many web pages (using HTML) but do not want to have to upload many times.

groups.Yahoo.com
(don't type "www") is Yahoo's response to Myspace's success. It offers many of the same features and should be used in the same way.

Wikipedia's Complete List of Social Networking Sites

Once again, to effectively use these social networking sites it is important that you spend a great deal of time on each site, using as many features as possible, to promote your works through the use of HTML links. Take your time and make every page look as nice as possible. Doing this will not only greatly increase your popularity on the Internet, but ensure a professional appearance.