Branding

The moment you press a pencil against a paper you have already begun to create a brand. A style that truly is all about you. Begin to think about how you present your work so that it is framed properly to communicate your brand, your look, your stories. You.

If you post your work on a Comics Network (e.g., Webcomics Nation, ComicsSpace,) how does their brand affect your work? Think of a website as a frame. Are you framing your work properly? If you want to take advanage of the audience and community benefits of posting within a Comics Network, are there ways to design your work so that is doesn't get lost in the crowd?

Do some research. See how other artists are displaying their work online. What can you learn? What can you borrow?

Usability

Think about how you want visitors to view your work? Will it be presented as a long scrolling vertical or horizontal page? Will it have straightforward "next" and "back" buttons or links? How much of the art is visible when you enter the site? Is the navigation easy enough to figure out?

Basically, you want to minimize the trouble a person has to go through in order to enjoy your comics. Navigation should not interefere with storytelling.

Audience & Marketing

Who will read your comics? Why? Be proactive about selecting your audience. What free services or networks make sense for your comics. Does the Comics Network you post to have an easy way to tag/keyword, search or categorize comics so that people can find you?

What other comics will you be associated with if you post to a web comics portal or social network. Do they help or hurt your brand?

If you decide to create your own private label site, how will you get people to visit it?

Deployment Strategy

Where will you post your comics? These are exciting times and you have many choices for sharing your work online. A good deployment strategy takes branding, usability, and audince goals into consideration as well as developing a good mix of solutions to achive those goals. Cross promoting your work with multiple solutions is a good way to expand your viewership. See the Deployment section of the site for a list of options.