Peter McDowell and Ari Salomon will offer the free workshop “WordPress Web sites for Performing and Visual Artists” at the 2011 Creative Chicago Expo held at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington.

Using dynamic discussion and visual examples, this workshop for Creative Chicago Expo 2011 will go through the basics of establishing a strong online presence for performing and visual artists with a focus on:

• Branding: Simple logo vs Complete visual identity (logotype, logomark, business card and other matching print collateral)
• Content Management System (CMS): How it can empower the delivery of constantly changing information to key audiences
• The differences between WordPress.org (requiring a web developer) and WordPress.com (free do-it-yourself) sites.
• Building a strong platform for online marketing: SEO (Search Engine Optimization), SEM (search Engine Marketing) and social networking efforts to drive traffic
• How a web site fits into a larger marketing effort
• Costs and timelines: getting your content together before you approach a designer
• Time management: “Don’t be a programmer, be the best artist you can be.”

Peter McDowell and Ari Salomon believe in the necessity of access to effective, attractive, functional web sites for performing and visual artists. McDowell (a veteran of 20 years experience in arts management) and Salomon (a web designer and developer for 15 years) have teamed up since 2009 seeking to provide a low-cost, high quality option in web marketing for artists by creating over a dozen web sites for artists and by training them how to update and maintain their new sites. Their upcoming venture, PerformSites, will launch in Spring 2011.