Wednesday, April 13, 2016

My Creative Life/Blog Update/Reader Feedback!

Hello Everyone,
Welcome back to Impulsive Artistry!


How’s the Blog Going?


First Blossom of Spring. Photo by Charles Wolf. 
Impulsive Artistry © 2016.

This blog has been going now for the past six months—I can’t believe it’s already been that long—time flies when you are having fun! Overall, I would say that it is going pretty well. We crossed the 5,000 total blog views last month, and my followings on Google+, Twitter and Instagram have all reached over 100 people since I started. We are fast approaching 100 blog posts and should reach that number soon!

Last year, I began a private piano studio that has filled out well. I have been asked to be a guest speaker at a conference in California in July to give a painting demonstration, which is very exciting for me! My YouTube channel is slowly growing, takes time for people to find me in all the content that is on that site. Overall, things are going pretty well.    


How has this Blog Impacted My Life?


Spring Sunrise. Photo by Charles Wolf. 
Impulsive Artistry © 2016.

This blog has been a tremendous help to me by focusing my creative energies in a meaningful direction. I was feeling rather low, last summer, just graduating with my Master’s degree in Music with no idea of what I was going to do next. I thought, “what now?” My initial plan of becoming a Professor of Music, as I have written about before, didn’t appear to be a wise financial objective to pursue, the actual job also did not entail what I had envisioned, and I was disappointed by the overwhelming emphasis on research—just not something I was that interested in doing as a career.

Starting this blog has changed all of that, and now I am excited to embrace who I am as a creative person and live the life that I know is right for me! Living a purely creative lifestyle has been wonderful for me these past six months; I look forward to creating new blog content each week, being creative in all aspects of my life, and enjoy doing what I love each day.


Some Changes: Marketing (Important Blog Info Please Read!)

 
One important aspect to running a successful blog is marketing. Yep, not that creative, potentially a little boring, but very important to gaining a readership each week. To be honest with you all, I have been struggling with balancing marketing, writing new article content, editing blog articles, painting, creating painting videos, audio recording, video editing, running my private piano studio/teaching lessons, sharing blog posts on social media, producing new content (a little bit) each day on my social media sites, coordinating guest artists to appear on this blog, plus my personal life... Yikes, I am busy! :  )


A key component to marketing is collaboration with other blogs and participation in their blog culture through commenting on their articles, being a guest blogger and writing articles, etc… This is the area that I really need to work on if I am going to make this blog a success, something that I cannot really pursue while maintaining a three-new-blog-articles-a-week schedule.

With a little reluctance, I am going to change both when I post and the frequency of the new content on this blog. Currently, I am using a Monday, Wednesday, and Friday post schedule, and I will be switching NEXT WEEK to a Tuesday and Thursday schedule—only posting new content twice a week so that I can focus on the marketing strategies I outlined above.

I will be maintaining a similar level on my social media sites: Facebook, Twitter and Instagram and Google+. Be sure to follow me on these sites to get daily updates on my progress (links are at the very bottom of this article), and see what I working on each week!  

I will also be taking a short vacation the rest of this week, traveling with my wife to the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Accordingly, there will be NO BLOG POST ON FRIDAY!

I thank you for your understanding and patience regarding this matter, and welcome your constructive feedback in the comment section below! If you would like to help me to increase the following of this blog, please share the articles you see here on Impulsive Artistry on you social media pages!
 

What Do You the Readers Want to See Next?



I want to say thank you for everyone who has supported this blog with your views and blog post shares each week, and for your continued support as we move forward!

In the comment section below, please let me know what types of posts that you have enjoyed the most and would like me to prioritize in the future. Here is a list of the different types of posts that I have created:
  • Essays about a Creative Lifestyle
  • Painting Posts (showcasing my latest artwork + videos)
  • Videos and Articles Dedicated to Teaching You How to Paint or Draw
  • Articles about Art Supplies (Links to Where You can Buy Them)
  • Guest Artist Features
  • Photo Essays and Sets
  • List Posts (like the one on Monday)
  • Blog Updates
  • Informational Posts (Learning about “How Music Works/Music Fundamentals”)
  • Other?





Are there any topics or types of posts that you would like to see in the future that I have not mentioned above? Any creative topic is welcome—do let me know in the comments below!

Thank you all once again, I will see you all on Tuesday with a new blog post, and may you have a fantastic creative day today!!! 

—Charles 

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