One aspect of writing an art related blog, or any blog, is to find something original to contribute. Finding your voice as they say. Originality can be a daunting thought because the internet is so vast, we can expect someone has already written your very thought. But how to know you are not basically saying what everyone else is saying?

Well firstly if you have written a blog without researching, in other words straight off the top, it may be an original perspective for sure. No plagiarism can possibly apply here, as you have put the words together yourself.

Not a bad way to start, but what about the meat, the content you have provided, what if you are just babbling away with the same views many have expressed, even if it is in your own words?

Searching a specific subject can be a good way. There is the obvious way, searching in Google, for your planned blog topics key words. That will turn up a lot of info. But it will be internet wide, not necessarily related to your field. This is where a Web Reader can come in handy.

First - About Setting up Readers

Readers abound on the web, here is a list and comparison of the top 10

I use the Google Reader, and have found it very useful.

Once you select a reader, and set it up, you need to subscribe to some RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication) available from almost all sites.

When you subscribe to a site RSS, the site will update your reader. This is a great way to consolidate the places on the internet you find interesting. One trip to your reader, and you have an update from all the sites you have subscribed to.

Readers help you keep track of all the sites and blogs you have come across that relate to your interests.

Yes, I hear you say, but who has time to read all this?

Make Readers work for you

Here is where it gets interesting. When I am writing a blog, say like this one, I identify the key words, in this case: using search engines, using readers and originality of blogs. You can see just by looking at these keywords, that in Google, the returned leads will be quite widely varied, to the extent that much would be irrelevant.

But do the same search list within the various art marketing, social media sites I subscribe to, and it narrows down the search dramatically. The results are very relevant, and show me some of the current thoughts on the topic.

Narrow your search using the readers filters

When you set up your reader, you can group the RSS feeds by subject area. I mentioned art marketing, and social media for example. So if it helps narrow my search, I can select just one group of RSS feeds to find if the subjects I am writing about, are there or not. In my case, todays subject was not covered, so I can conclude with at least the confidence that many widely followed sites are not already talking about this. Yea!

Sites to follow via your Reader

Would you like to know some of the art marketing related sites I subscribe to? Email me and I will send you a list! [email protected]