Promote Your Art Using Webrings and Directories

Jun 16, 200911 min read

Deviation Actions

Debi62

Published: Jun 16, 2009

959 Views

Hi y'all!!!!

I keep hearing people say that they want more traffic to their website. Some even look at their DA pageviews religiously each day to see how much it's climbed. Now, I like DA. I like talking to people, looking at other people's work and sharing my own. However I'm not someone who might be referred to as a "serious" artist. Therefore, I don't personally consider pageviews important; but for those who do I have one question: Have you ever considered using webrings or directories? These might be viable options, depending on the individual webring/directory chosen.

Webrings and directories will bring your site

traffic from all over the net, not just from people on DA. There are all kinds of webrings and directories for just about anything you can think of, including fractals and the other various forms of art. There are plenty to choose from too. These can get you started if you're interested though:

FRACTAL WEBRINGS

Fractal Art Network
Join       Ring Hub      Visit a random site
The Infinite Fractal Loop
Join       Ring Hub      Visit a random site
Fractals
Join       Ring Hub      Visit a random site
The Fractal Artists' Community
Join       Ring Hub

FRACTAL DIRECTORIES

Google Directory - Fractal Art
Yahoo Directory - Fractal Art
Best of the Web (BOTW)
eiNet Fractal Art Directory
Linkism's Fractal Artists Directory
Artsender.com
Galaxy Fractal Artists Directory

ART/ARTIST WEBRINGS

The Hidden Forest
The Art Cove Ring of Artists

GENERAL WEBRINGS

Webring.com
Ringsurf

There's even open source code (free editable software) to help you start your *own* webring!

RingLink.org

There's even ***WEBRINGS*** to **PROMOTE** your webring!!!

Ringlink

World of Webrings

Best Rings Webring

There are even webrings **ABOUT HAVING** a webring!!!

Rinklink Webring Resources

So what's the difference between a *directory* and a *webring*? Not much! The webring just uses a bit more technology and usually requires you to place a banner on your page connecting you to the ring and other webring sites. It usually has buttons to move forward and backward along the ring or maybe even one to choose a random site. (I personally like random the best, as I think it gives everyone on the list a fair shot at being seen.) It also usually links to the "mothership" or the main hub of the webring which lists all the members and directs you where to join up if you so desire. A directory does not usually require you to put any HTML coding on your page to display any form of banner advertising it or the listings. Some might ask for a linkback but even that's unusual. A directory is simply a place to flat out list your site link. You're not connected to anyone else. You're just on a list. So if your site name/description doesn't turn people on to your site, then your dead in the water. There's nobody going to click on something that doesn't sound interesting to them. So look for places that let you give a description of your site and choose your words wisely. Also try to look for those that are somewhat organized and not just a willy nilly listing of links. If you're too far down an extreeeeeeeeeeeeemely long list of sites then people will probably get discouraged looking and give up before they reach your link.

You may run into some difficulties in using webrings because most (if not all) webrings require you to use their specific personal banner code on your pages. Some of them require it on **all** the pages of your site while others require it only on your home page. Since DA

doesn't allow the use of **all** HTML coding (darn you DA!!! :shakefish:

) we can't currently use the "img" code to properly display banners. You would therefore need to start a "portal" website to display the webring banner code and from there redirect your visitors to your DA pages. Some webrings might frown on this while others may ban it altogether. So be careful in choosing your webring. Read the site's rules before joining to see how they require their banner to be displayed.

When starting a portal site if you use a host that allows commercial gain then you might as well try to make some money

with it, right? So here's an art-related affiliate program I just found tonight that you might be interested in:

Art.com Affiliates

I hope this helps those who are actively seeking new viewers for their artwork!

Some of you it may not have helped a bit!! You may already know this stuff. Well... thanks for reading anyway! (If you're reading this far, I just assume you read the first part.

) You might have some knowledge to share with the rest of us though on the subject! If you have a great link to a webring or directory, drop me a line below and I'll add it to the main list above. We could all use a little help

now and then so please play nice and share!

Have a fantastic day and..... happy webringing!!! (Is that a word?

)

Member of:

$:iconfractal-resources:$ $:iconfractaldreams:$ $:iconfracult:$ $:iconfractal-faces:$ $:iconfractalmentorproject:$

$:iconfractalmanipulations:$

OTHER COOL RESOURCES

Mediafire - free file hosting

Firefox browser

OpenOffice.org

Webmonkey HTML cheatsheet

DeviantArt ID Maker This was a very crude and simple tool but it was a hoot to play with! Then again maybe I'm just easily amused!

Plz (and/or general) icon "storage" sites/artists:

Be sure to check out:

DA-Orphanage - Adopt or donate an abandoned DA ID

Deviant-Clubs - DA Clubs Directory (promises to weed out clubs inactive for over 6 weeks but may itself be inactive - still a good source of help for club search)

TheList - listing of clubs and groups (no apparent promises for weeding out inactive clubs; also looks inactive but still possibly a good source for club search as the last count was at about 1500 listings I believe)

Project Angels without Wings

The H.A.N.D. Project (Hug a New Deviant)

Random Acts of Kindness
(This group is currently inactive but I'm hoping to help get them some exposure for when they get going again, which will hopefully be soon. The owner told me that he's kind of waiting for the new DA club/group platform to be put into play before he makes a concerted effort to reorganize/publicize the group officially.)

DA Hug Buddies

Spread the love!!!!