The tips that really work...
It's been a while since I wrote one of these guides and, since V1.0 and V1.5 proved to be so popular, I feel it is about time I update my guide to getting noticed on deviantART.
So, you want to get noticed on deviantART but you're not sure where to start? You've come to the right place; pull out your note pad and pen, you'll need them.WHY?
Before beginning to read this article, ask yourself why you want to get noticed on deviantART. Do you want to play more of an active role in the community or do you want to raise attention to your commissions and make a living? Do you want to get noticed to meet more deviants, or do you want to be able to say you are "popular"? It is vital to know what you are searching for before you embark on your journey to reach your goal. This article will show you how to get involved within the community and how you can attract supporters.
Self Promotion
Idea from seapuppy, adapted from V1.5Self promotion (or "plugging") is commonly frowned upon in general, particularly on social networking sites. However, many people think of self promotion as a shallow way to talk about yourself but, in reality, it is a technique that is used in all forms of media and a very valuable marketing technique.
Self promotion does not just refer to spamming people's profile pages with "check out my page plz, i will luv u 4ever - ty bby" (spamming is a big no and, the chances are, you might get reported and even banned for it
) but instead casually referencing your work, projects or things you would like to gain exposure for. For example, if someone adds one of your artworks to their favourite collection, thank them! Your message of thanks does not have to be a page long comment; a short and sweet comment on their profile page will work wonders. There are things to remember when constructing this comment, however: use emoticons from the Emoticon Legend (it shows personality and character); include the name of the deviation and even a link directly to it (How to link: <a href="LINK URL">Link Text</a>); a comment with good grammar is much nicer to read than one without it.
Example of a good Thank you Message
Thank you for the favourite on How To Get Noticed on deviantART V2.0! Your support is really appreciated.
Have a wonderful day! 
Another example of shameless self promotion is exactly what I did at the top of this guide: I provided links to the other two guides in the series. This is a great way to gain exposure for your other artworks. You can also add a menu/header like I did to reference other projects. In this case, my menu links include my Gift Challenge and my commission information (oh look - more self promotion
).username and avatar
Adapted from V2.0Your devUsername should say a lot about you. In a single word (or a couple of words), your personality or things that you like ought to shine through.
For example, my username is pixiepot. This relates to two aspects of my personality: pixies and pixels. When I chose my username, I was young and very into fairies and fantasy. Despite the fact that I have grown up since then, adoring the world of fairies is always something that will be a part of who I am. I am an artist. Visual and written. Pixels relates to my visual art: for a period of time, I was pixel artist and despite the fact that that is not my main art form currently, I still dabble in it. Thankfully, all digital visual art (which is what I work with most often), is created with pixels and so my username still rings true.
When choosing your username, be careful not to make it too long or add lots of numbers that people are likely to easily forget!
Thankfully, deviantART has now added the option for Premium Members to change their username. This means you can wave goodbye to the username you made as a careless thirteen year old and strengthen it. Beware that once you have changed your username, you cannot change it back to what it once was.
Your devAvatar is just as important as your devUsername but can thankfully be changed when you please. Remember that avatars are 50px by 50px and, although you can resize images on deviantART to use as your avatar, to optimise the quality of your avatar it can be useful to create your avatar on a canvas of 50px by 50px.
HINT: People with animated avatars seem to get more views as they are more eye catching.
A collection of free avatars for your use:
Constructive Criticism
Idea from seapuppy, adapted from V1.5Let's open this up as a forum of honesty: raise your hand if you are guilty of leaving short and sweet comments that mean next to nothing.
We all know the type: "Great job 
", "I like it! 
" or "Cute!". 
Now these comments are great to receive; they are nice little boosts of energy for your day, granted, but would you rather receive a short comment such as this or a longer comment explaining exactly what was "cute" or what the comment-er liked. Even better, it would be nice to know how that deviant feels you can improve: pros, cons and even better if's are all great elements of a comment. I am not suggesting that you replace every comment you want to post with a full length critique, but it would be nice of you to replace your "Cute!" comments with "This is adorable! I adore the way you coloured the feathers; did you use Paint Tool SAI for this?
Great job!" kind of comments.Quality Work
Adapted from V1.5Perhaps the most important key to success is to improve the quality of your work.
To get noticed, it is not necessary to be at the best of your trade (although it helps
) but it is necessary to work hard, follow tutorials, ask for help, learn and develop. People love to see an improvement in your work and it is likely that your watchers will take you more seriously if they can see an improvement. This way, you have them excited for what's left to come in the future! 
APPRECIATING watchers
Adapted from V1.5Watchers are key. They are their to offer you support when you need it and are your own collection of groupies who fly the support flag for you. Both you and I know that if you neglect to appreciate these fans, they will grow tired of flying the flag.
Watchers are there to help, appreciate and support you. They will be there to offer you feedback when you need it and spread the word when you ask them to, don't neglect them. Every now and then it is very important to let your watchers know how much they mean to you. Whether you let them know by personally dropping them a comment, post a journal about it, dedicate some of your work to your watchers, or feature some of your watchers work, let them know you appreciate them.
Appreciation = respect =
Key words
Adapted from V1.5Key words are very important and is a tool people often forget to use and, those who do use it, fail to use it correctly. It is, of course, important to list many key words on your deviations but it is even more important to ensure that they are all relevant and relate to your deviations.
Give and get
Like anything in life, deviantART works on a give to get basis. You have to give feedback if you want to get it.- Add artworks to your favourites. If you see a photograph or read a story that you like, don't hesitate to add it to your favourites. The chances are, the artist will return the favour!
- Comment. No one likes a deviant who faves and runs, and there's a lot of this going on around here. Feedback is valuable to deviants and so it is vital to share it if you ever want to receive it.
- Support others. By supporting and watching other artists, the chances are they will check out your gallery and support you in return. This is also a really wonderful way to build friendships and get involved in the community.
Collaborations
If you have a friend on deviantART, a collaboration is a great way to take advantage of your friends watchers as well as returning the favour and allowing them to take advantage of yours. By collaborating with a fellow deviant, you are exposing your work (and your name) to an entirely new audience. You are introducing your art to their watchers.It always surprises me how little people collaborate with fellow artists; especially if they work in the same genre (although, for the record, when two different art mediums collide, beauty is born
).Pretty Profiles
That aren't just for Premium Members...
Your dA profile is your landing page. It is usually the first thing a deviant sees when they are introduced to you; make sure it screams all about you!You might feel that pretty profiles can only be achieved by those with Premium Memberships but, whilst PM holders are exposed to a number of beautiful benefits, this statement is entirely false.
With a little bit of HTML and the use of thumbnails and images, you can make your profile pretty no matter what your membership status is!
HINT: SimplySilent makes some pretty awesome resources for Premium Members to use! Go and check her out!
Resources for Non-Premium Members
<da:thumb id="261238511"/>
PLZ AccountsPLZ Accounts
:iconPimp-Out:
:iconpixiepot::icondapou-bank::iconLadyRhianwriter::iconhappy-gurl::iconshiny-duck::iconhallo-guv::iconotohime0394::icontimthestrangemonster::iconmyky-mihaela::iconspaghettiarm-deidara::iconuae4u::iconencrebleue:
Hey guys! If you have joined our group, thanks so much!
This is a short and basic guide to PLZ Accounts.
Of course, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me or any of our Pimpers.
Also, you can sign up to be a:
Pimper (someone who helps you get 'pimped' or does it for you)
Click Here To See The List Of Pimpers/ Volunteer
Pimpee (someone who needs some help getting 'pimped' or wants someone to do it for them!)
Click Here See The List Of Pimpees/ Get Listed
Here is a list of PLZ Accounts:
Thanks fro
HTMLHTML
:iconPimp-Out:
:iconpixiepot::icondAPOu-Bank::iconi-is-smart::iconspaghettiarm-deidara::iconkannon::iconladyrhianwriter::iconShiny-Duck::iconweirdnwild91::icontimthestrangemonster::iconhappy-gurl::iconuae4u::iconmyky-mihaela:
Hey guys! If you have joined our group, thanks so much!
This is a short and basic guide to HTML.
Of course, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me or any of our Pimpers.
Also, you can sign up to be a:
Pimper (someone who helps you get 'pimped' or does it for you)
Click Here To See The List Of Pimpers/ Volunteer
Pimpee (someone who needs some help getting 'pimped' or wants someone to do it for them!)
Click Here See The List Of Pimpees/ Get Listed
Okay, before we start, here is a few links that might help you out:
Emoticon LegendEmoticon Legend
:iconPimp-Out:
:iconpixiepot::icondapou-bank::iconLadyRhianwriter::iconhappy-gurl::iconshiny-duck::iconhallo-guv::iconotohime0394::icontimthestrangemonster::iconmyky-mihaela::iconspaghettiarm-deidara::iconuae4u::iconencrebleue:
Hey guys! If you have joined our group, thanks so much!
This is a short and basic guide to the Emoticon Legend.
Of course, if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me or any of our Pimpers.
Also, you can sign up to be a:
Pimper (someone who helps you get 'pimped' or does it for you)
Click Here To See The List Of Pimpers/ Volunteer
Pimpee (someone who needs some help getting 'pimped' or wants someone to do it for them!)
Click Here See The List Of Pimpees/ Get Listed
List of Emoticons
Thanks for you
Resources for Premium Members
PE: Profile Designing with CSS[deviantART related]<da:thumb id="474776672"/><da:thumb id="386314942"/>
Want to learn how to make your page not just nice or pretty, but spectacular, unique, and all-around awesome?
Please keep in mind that this article is only for Premium Members who are not beginners to profile design. If this is your first time trying your hand at customizing your profile page, you'll probably find the following articles more helpful than this one.
Why use CSS?
Although setting up and learning to code CSS for your profile can be a hassle, there are a great deal of benefits to using CSS instead of only HTML:
Fonts: CSS allows for almost complete control over font styles, colors, and sizes (only limitation is that fonts must be Web Safe fonts or Google Fonts). HTML on DA is limited to only a certain n
GROUPS
Adapted from V1.0Groups are an amazing resource that deviantART offers. Whether you are using groups to interact with others who share the same interests as you, or you are submitting your work to a group in order to take advantage of it's watchers and expose your artwork, they are a tool that you should not neglect.
deviantART is a large community. As I write this entry, it has over 32 million members. That is a lot of competition. Think of groups as smaller communities. Once you have made your way into groups and you are getting noticed within them, it makes it a lot easier to break into the larger community.
Featured Groups
JOURNALS
Because we all like a read...
Adapted from V1.5Journals are one of the biggest sources of page views and popularity. Relevant journals, that is.
Here's a tip: updates are good. Naturally, people are nosy. People have a thirst for information. They want to know what's going on in your life. Started a new job? Pregnant? Got married? The chances are, your watchers will be interested. They will not, however, be interested in the fact that your maths class was particularly boring this morning or that the tuna sandwich you ate for lunch is repeating on you.
People also want to know about your art. They want to know if you've started any new projects and that you have a slot in a London gallery. This is an art site. People want to know about that.
People want to discover art, they also want to be featured. Featuring deviants is a great way to get your foot in the door (metaphor!
) and get involved in the community. People love to discover art just as much as they love it when other people share their art.You need to post interesting journals: ones that involve your watchers; ones that will get people talking. If people don't watch you for your work (because, perhaps they don't like your style or are interested in a different genre of art), they are likely to come knocking at your door (another metaphor!
) to read your journals. You never know, they might slow down and check out your artwork whilst they are hanging about.Contests
It often surprises me how many deviants refuse to get involved in contests because "they aren't very good prizes" or "I'll never win". Contests are an excellent source of attention and a great way to get involved in the community, regardless of whether or not you place.Contests are an awesome way to discover new art, meet new people and gain exposure for your artwork. Hosting contests is an even better way to get noticed. People search for contests and will latch onto any that they find. In the world of media, marketing is often based around the AIDA technique.
Attention
Interest
Desire
Action
You must first gain the audience's attention, then their interest. You must then offer them something that they desire; that they need. The fourth step is a call to action.
A contest is something people desire, so you've already skipped A and I and headed straight towards the second A (which can easily be achieved by writing something similar to this: "Submit your entry").
Until next time
Next time I hope to be back with even more ways you can get noticed on deviantART but, in the meantime, let you know what you thought of this article and maybe even consider sharing it.Look out for V2.5! Ideas are welcome, credit shall be given also!
Any questions? Don't be hesitant to ask. 
Thanks for listening!
Thanks for listening!
