All Of A Sudden My Website Visits Dropped to Zero.
And I've been questioning all of my business.
Sunday afternoon, I’m sitting on the balcony with my partner and we both just did a few cash transfers that had been due for a while. He closed his laptop, while I just sneaked to Pinterest checking the stats (no change; hm.) and to my website analytics. The site loaded and presented me: zero clicks for seven days. BOOM.
Sunday evening, I’m checking a friends and business-pal’s messages about a small business owner conference she has been to. She’s excited, loved it, gained a lot of energy and inspiration. She talks about a specific speaker who discussed Google core updates, that AI will soon create all content and therefore there is now the necessity for building a personal brand, and that the only way to succeed is to create monetized memberships from big communities. BOOM.
Several days before, I read a newsletter by a business and writing coach, whose mails I’ve been reading for years now. She writes about the changes that AI will have on organic search, blogging and visibility outside of social media. In some sentences, a small feeling of uncertainty leaks through the lines. BOOM.
On Monday then, I woke up early and my first thoughts went straight to my website. Why isn’t anyone finding it? Is it just a simple technical issue or is it even Googles AI Overviews? I have well working blog posts, but I don’t think they would suit AI’s condensed search answers. They are long form, discuss my experiences, and don’t provide easy to digest bites in short notes. What happens to my plans to grow a business without social media, when I can’t even rely on search engines anymore? Does having a creative business then make sense for me? Shouldn’t I just find a proper job and paint or write in the spare time? All that before breakfast.
By 10 am, I had sent an email to my tech support, shared the website-has-zero-clicks moment in a group chat with fellow artists, had shared a panicked post in the facebook group of a membership I had planned to cancel three months ago, and went down a rabbit hole about AI in search engines and SEO best practices. All in search for an answer to the ever-present question: will this all work out one day? Or is it true that I’m wasting my time and will never be able to live from my art and writings?
After 1,5 years of lots of work, back and forth, effort, energy, silent tears and progress that only I can see, but without traditional success, visible mainly through recurring sales, the pressure is big. I want my “studio biz” to grow faster, while at the same time I want things to slow down. I feel like I’m running out of time, while knowing there is still enough time. Are you failing as an artist, when you – at times – sell underpriced, hand-painted postcards and over Christmas a few ornaments, but that’s been it? When you want to build a loved writing space, a substack audience and finally find a community there, but all attempts seem to come to nothing, leaving you with a handful of subscribers (thank you! <3) after six months?
Furthermore, as the introvert that I am, I don’t want to build a personal brand (with lots of visibility, me-centredness, and things like big memberships). I want to have a sustainable business, an ethical business with art and writings accessible to anyone. I want a business that supports my life, but that shouldn’t grow beyond my capabilities.
So many questions, no answers and only time will tell, I guess. Anyway, I feel better today. My panic went away, when my tech support replied and said she’ll figure things out and that it’s likely due to a connectivity issue and some updates (which it was). Also, I remembered an important learning I just found recently in a book: That professionals – like the speaker – have to tell stories that fit their niche, otherwise they would ruin their business and seem less reliable. He just wanted to sell his idea, his version of the truth, he doesn’t speak the universal truth. Instead, I’ve read Googles developer blog, as knowledge keeps me calm and I feel like I have control. I found nothing spectacular.
These past days, as overwhelming and thought provoking they might have been, have helped me to get a clearer view on several topics. It’s not that I don’t use AI because I’m afraid of it, it’s because I think it lacks quality, focus and the need as someone who writes, paints, shares knowledge and markets all of it, to engage with what you want to say, to not turn it into a prompt and have something else do the work. I write, paint, gather sharable knowledge and market to grow as a human. How can I grow as a human when I ask an AI to do the work? And wouldn’t it mean to detach from each other even more?
Also, I realised I don’t want to put a price on everything. I want to keep creating free booklets without call to actions, I want my studio’s newsletter to stay for free, because I think having people pay for first access to your art is weird. And very clearly, I want to write and paint for the ordinary me and you. For the people who love their small art print as much as if it would be an original.
It's been tough two days and I realised how important my website is to me. If anything fails, I still want this space to be visible. Other than that, I’m hoping that there’s still some small, but dedicated community for me out there. Where I can be amongst them, mingling, observing like a true introvert, without a spotlight that’s always on me, though still contributing in a meaningful way.
About me: Hello, I’m Mareike, the writer of this newsletter hills to heart. I’m also the writer of my free Studio Journal newsletter, my Studio Blog and an artist, trying to capture the world around me with oils, watercolour or whatelse comes my way. Feel free to explore my art on my website and in my online shop. NEW: I’m also offering freelancing services for creatives, check them out here.