When you’re first setting up your Twitter account or any other social networking account, one of the things that you need to figure out pretty early on is what picture you’re going to use for your profile or avatar. If you’re using the account strictly for personal reasons what photo you choose just a matter of personal choice. But if you’re using the account for business, you need to be a bit more thoughtful the photo you choose.

Your profile or avatar picture is one of the first things that potential customers see when they visit your Facebook page or Twitter account, so it needs to be something that give them a good impression. So therein lies the dilemma…what should that image be? A picture of your artwork? A picture of yourself? A picture of your company logo? All of these choices have their own benefits:

• a picture of yourself- shows that you’re a real person and allows people to connect with you on a personal level
• a picture of your artwork- gives people a taste of what you create and can stir interest in your artwork
• a picture of your logo- can make you look more professional and can make your account consistent with your brand

What you choose for your photo depends on what kind of impression you want to give to the customers. For example, I have separate Twitter accounts for this blog, my freelance business, and my jewelry business and I use all three methods. The Twitter avatar for this blog is a picture of myself because I want my followers to see me as a real person, while the Twitter avatar for my freelance business is my company logo because I wanted potential clients to see me as a professional business. Finally, I use a photo of my jewelry for the Twitter account I have for my jewelry because I want people to be interested in my jewelry.

So what do you think? What photos do you use for your social networking avatars? And why did you choose it? Leave a comment and let me know!

If you’re a subscriber to my weekly newsletter, you’ll know that I’ve done a series on building your website and some of the various methods on how to get your website online. A lot of questions I get from subscribers is specifically about how to build a website. Some of the most common questions include:

• How do I get started?
• Do I need someone to help me?
• What kind of equipment and software do I need?
• Do I need to learn web design?
• Do I need to learn HTML?
• Do I have to know how to program?
• How long is it going to take me?

I’ve been designing websites since 1996. I’ve made more websites that I can remember and made more mistakes that I would like to remember. And one of the best methods that I’ve run across to create your own website that’s low cost, easy to maintain, and is flexible enough to handle any kind of website you can think of is by using Wordpress.

Now if you have a blog, you’re probably familiar with Wordpress. It’s the free open source blogging software that allows you to host and maintain your own blog. Millions of bloggers use Wordpress…in fact this blog uses Wordpress. But, you can use it for more than just blogging. You can use Wordpress to build a website, an ecommerce store, and online portfolio, or just about any kind of site you can think of.

So to illustrate how easy it is to use Wordpress to set up and maintain a website, I’ve decided to do my first ever webinar called, “Easy Website Building with Wordpress” on Tuesday, June 22nd at 8:00 p.m. (EST). On this webinar you can watch me show you:

• how you can easily install Wordpress on your website…even if you don’t have any technical skills
• how you can transform Wordpress from a blog to a fully functioning website…you can easily run your blog and your website at the same time
• some of the killer plug-ins and resources you’ll need in order to make the most out of Wordpress
• how you can easily make changes to your website, add pages, and even change the entire look of your website with just a few clicks!

By the way, did I mention that this webinar is free?

So if you’re interested in learning more about Wordpress and how it’s a great website building tool, please join me at 8 p.m. EST on Tuesday, June 22nd. You can find out more information about the webinar by clicking here.

The webinar should last for about 60 to 70 minutes…plus it will be recorded so if you have the leave the event early or if you can’t make the event at all, you can watch the replay later. The seat are limited, and since this is a free webinar the seats tend to fill up fast, so you should reserve your spot soon.

I read a wonderful post by marketing genius, Seth Godin called “Hope and the Magic Lottery” that addresses the hope that all business owners, entrepreneurial types, and creatives have. The hope that someone, the big publishing house, the big venture capitalist, or Oprah even, will discover them and take them out of obscurity into success and riches. The big dream of the overnight success.

As artists, we all have that dream as well and we’re always hoping that perhaps the next media mention, the next open studio, the next art show, or the next sale on our website will be the one that catapults us into recognition and success. The same kind of thinking applies to your website and/or blog. People are always looking for the next new technique, the next great tool, or the next magic “thing” that they can do to their websites to bring a ton of traffic and sales.

But things don’t often work that way. Very few people tweet their way to fame and riches. Success doesn’t usually come to those with the most Facebook friends and the money doesn’t come rolling in because you have the coolest website. The successful website or blog is built one visitor, one sale, one customer at a time. Even those that are “overnight” successes are usually the result of years of hard, steady work. And while the cool techniques and tools like advertising, social media, and SEO does help, often it’s the hard stuff like always answering emails and phone calls, responding to customer feedback, consistent and systematic followup, a steady stream of new products that customers want, and plain old fashioned hard work that leads to success.

Be sure to check out Seth’s post here. Bookmark it…and the next time you feel the need to find that “one thing” that’s going to make you a success, read it.

Throughout the week, I like to share interesting links for artists on my Twitter profile. Here is a list of the links I tweeted about last week:

• Reading: Ship Shape: How to Handle 5 Common Shipping Problems- http://ow.ly/1UZUF

• Reading: How To Get 8379 New Twitter Followers By Christmas- http://ow.ly/1UPAD http://bit.ly/cMUbQx

• Reading: 31 Tips to Win the Heart of a Retailer- http://ow.ly/1UYp7

• RT: @LynnJordan New blog post: Are Your Domain Registration and Hosting With The Same Company? http://bit.ly/ci9zgz http://bit.ly/bZBKbl

• RT: @Miss_Makery Why Blogging is the Perfect Small Business Marketing Tool – http://b2l.me/ycecg (via @remarkablogger)

• For fellow procrastinators: Do It Anyway- http://ow.ly/1RvQX (via @DebraMarrs)

• RT: @lorimcneeartist 20 #Facebook Tips/Tricks You Might Not Know http://bit.ly/cad18j RT @zaibatsu:

• Reading: Etiquette for Shopping at and Browsing Craft Fairs and Dealers’ Halls- http://ow.ly/1QxWK

• Reading: The Fastest Way to Increase Your Google Ranking- http://ow.ly/1Pcwb http://bit.ly/bIwMg5

• A must read for artists: creating a culture of profit- http://ow.ly/1VyBf

• Reading: 10 Laws of Productivity – http://ow.ly/1VyDu

• Reading: how well should you do at craft shows?- http://ow.ly/1UPHw

• Reading: 7 Ways to Increase and Retain Newsletter Subscribers- http://ow.ly/1V0Bz

• Reading: How Well Do You Protect Your Customers’ Privacy?- http://ow.ly/1UZAS

• Excellent advice here: RT: @craftMBA what a fantastic post about understanding business fundamentals! – http://bit.ly/cdKMfb

• @karenleland: RT @daytimerpage – Get a Grip on Procrastination- http://ow.ly/17CCVp

• RT: @InterviewAngel RT @MMidas: “5 Types Of ‘Facebook Updates To Avoid” by @JeffBullas http://bit.ly/bM4jBM

• RT: @wtek The No. 1 Habit of Highly Creative People http://zenhabits.net/creative-habit/ via @zen_habits

• Reading: How to Attract Local Art Buyers to Your Art Website or Blog- http://ow.ly/1UHrW

• Reading: How to Use Twitter Events to Grow Your Network- http://ow.ly/1LUoF http://bit.ly/b1xJcd

• Reading: why your craft business gets stuck- http://ow.ly/1WNiZ

• RT: @copyblogger How to Build a Successful Business With a Small Audience – http://bit.ly/aKaqvG http://bit.ly/dbkFKv

• RT: @HelenRappy @Jeanettecates #blog30 2010 Half Way Point – How Will You Finish The Year? http://bit.ly/9eitbu

• Reading: How do I “move” people over from our Facebook Group to our Facebook Page?- http://ow.ly/1WE2D

• Reading: Etsy Self-Service Critique: Tips for Improving your Sales- http://ow.ly/1VyCr

• RT @CraftsReport: How to use upsell techniques in your craft business. http://tcr.bz/bp

• Reading: Top 5 Social Media Myths Debunked- http://ow.ly/1WP2D

• Reading: 11 ways to promote your Facebook Page outside Facebook- http://ow.ly/1WDZl

Like this link list? Visit my Twitter profile and follow me to get these links daily!

Last week, I went over some of the things to consider before you start building a website:

1. cost- how much will it cost you to build and maintain?
2. maintenance- who and how are you going to keep your website running?
3. control- who has the ultimate control over your website?

Now there are a number of different ways you can build a website, but you need to make your decision with those three points in mind. So let’s go down some of the most common site building options and the pros and cons of each.

DIY- build from scratch- you’re building your website by creating individual web pages using some type of web page building tool like Expression Web, iWeb, or Dreamweaver and HTML.

• Pros- if you’re doing the work yourself, then the cost of building and maintaining the website is fairly low. You’re mainly paying for the cost of the software, the domain name, and hosting. If you know what you’re doing, you have complete control over how your website looks. Plus you can do the maintenance yourself.
• Cons- You have to know what you’re doing. This method has a pretty steep learning curve and can be time consuming if you’re a beginner. You’ll need to know how to use the tools, learn at least some basic HTML, and web design. Plus, if your design skills are limited, then your website may not look as professional as it could be.

You can read the rest of the article by signing up for the Crafted Webmaster Newsletter for free here: http://www.craftedweb.com/subscribe.html. If you subscribe now, you can get my free audio download, “10 Steps to Getting More Traffic on Your Website” and get 10 powerful tips on how to increase traffic to your art website.