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website management, maintenance, and consulting

May 2, 2018

Working Artist Wednesday: Building a Better Website

Brian Wetjen speaking at the Omaha Creative Institute's Working Artist Wednesday session on Building a Better Website

photo by Susan Woodford – https://susanwoodford.com/

I had the great fortune to lead one of the Omaha Creative Institute‘s Working Artist Wednesday sessions with the topic of Building a Better Website. It was a whirlwind tour of the many things that are good to factor in when evaluating your site’s effectiveness – specifically geared towards artists.

While it’s really impossible to cover these things thoroughly in about an hour, we focused on these key concepts:

  • Choosing a platform
  • What a website is good for
  • Integrating your marketing efforts
  • Content and SEO
  • Measurement and analytics
  • Selling online

Then we stepped through some actual sites to review these key components in context. Questions and answers, lively discussion, and – most importantly – snacks – were enjoyed by all.

Here are some links to resources used and referenced in my presentation:

  • My presentation deck (PDF)
  • My quick site assessment worksheet (PDF)
  • A very thorough and complete site assessment checklist by Gill Andrews
  • Site pre- and post-launch checklist by Humaan.com
  • SquareSpace
  • Format
  • WordPress.com
  • WordPress.org
  • WordPress web hosting by FlyWheel
  • Web and email hosting at DreamHost
  • Google’s G Suite for email, docs, and collaboration

Finally – I know our time was brief and we couldn’t cover everything or answer all questions. If you want to talk more or follow up, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

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