Create an online portfolio

Building an online portfolio is a must if you want to promote your art on social media or other online channels. It’s the first natural step to take. Here are the steps to get going:

• Choose the proper platform for you and your business. You can choose this by asking yourself, “what are my goals and needs?” or “what do I want to achieve in the long run?”
• Focus on the best work that you have and leave the other work aside. Also, focus on storytelling. It’s essential.
• Think about the number of reviews you have. Ask for offline reviews and note down collectors’ and critics’ reactions. Know where you need to improve—and where you receive accolades.
• Learn SEO and use it effectively to help promote your website and work.
• Switch perspectives from a “me, me, me” mentality to a “me and you” narrative.  Make your stories about people, for people.

Start a blog

Next thing to do is start a blog. This is highly recommended as the second step because a blog becomes the platform you can redirect customers to whenever needed. That means, when someone is interested in your art, you don’t have to direct them to wander around ten webpages and five other blogs to let them see your complete art package. You can send them a link to your website’s blog and you’re all set. They will learn your story, see your work, and hopefully become more interested in owning your work. Starting a blog is not even that complicated. You don’t have to be a great writer, a blog is really a place to communicate a personal perspective on things, so, like most bloggers, you can write in a very informal and conversational style.

Create your website

After you’ve created your blog, next step is to create a platform for selling your art pieces—a website is exactly what you need. To get started, you will need a domain name, a website platform such as WordPress, and a host. Then, you can customize and structure your website exactly as you need it. You might even add an online store to it to make things easier for your collectors. Make sure that your blog has a presence on your website and is linked to it. You want to give your collectors a one-stop place to learn about you and see your work.

Have a strong About Me

It’s important that you have a strong About Me section in order to connect and sell well. Collectors want to check you out, learn about you and your story, before they commit to making a purchase. They want to know who they are buying from, so it is really important to give them the right details. Fill the space with engaging content and interesting comments about your work. Keep it as original and compelling as you can.

Rely on social media for promotion

Some of the best platforms for marketing your art are Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Tumblr also works great but gives off a more hippy-ish vibe. Picking the main platform to market on is the next essential step to consider, as it will serve as a bridge between your art and artist qualities and, ultimately, income. Since the number of people using social media is continually expanding, it is an excellent means of connecting and convincing potential collectors about the quality of your work. Make sure you choose a platform that you are already familiar with or, if you need help figuring things out, watch online videos of how to use social media for marketing purposes. Get in a groove and get social!

Add video content

I’ve noticed that webpages with higher Google rankings usually offer video content to their customers. You don’t have to be a movie director to create a video–your iPhone camera works just fine. You and make a short video of your art and post it on YouTube. Then, connect your YouTube channel to your website and there you have it. You’re done.

Don’t forget–video content is relevant because people are very visual; they love to see something and learn about it before buying it. If they see it, the chances of turning it into a purchase automatically increases. Be smart and use this tool to your advantage.

Promote yourself on other blogs

Another way to attract customers to your art blog is by posting on other blogs. Find other professional artists online and see if they would like to cross-promote. Maybe you can write an article for their blog. Once you share your story on their page (and hopefully include a link to your website or blog or both), you have an opportunity to generate additional traffic to your site. This kind of promotion is a great way to share your work across multiple sites.

Win art competitions

Art competitions are another way you can receive promotion from an outside source. Entering various art shows and competitions will help you promote yourself, your story, your art, and eventually, your online business. They can draw attention to your work and can even result in engaging with various artists around the world. Even if you don’t win, submitting your work is a step forward and can give you additional exposure.

Participate in online debates and discussions

Adding valuable input to online discussions can also be a way to promote yourself. Becoming active in your artist community is important–the more you engage, the more attention you draw to yourself and your work. I know what you’re thinking. “I’m not an expert.” You don’t have to be one to participate in these discussions or have an opinion. People are often looking for answers to their questions online, so you could be the one attempting to answer. You never know where your next collector might come from, right?

Network offline

Besides the online activities that you are pursuing, you could also engage in offline networking, or what I like to call real networking. Attend various art fairs and exhibitions to engage with the artists there. Bring your business cards with you so you can promote yourself in a professional manner. Think about joining artists organizations and meeting up with different peers to discuss various art concepts. The workshops, conferences, and meetings offered by these organizations and the knowledge and experience—and contacts—you will receive can pay long-term benefits.

Apply for more money

Last but not least, if you need more funds to develop, you can consider applying for artist grants. Winning it will draw serious attention to your work and some cool benefits to you. Maybe you don’t get the grant, but you get the experience and you have nothing to lose.

Conclusion

Create your online portfolio, learn how to engage with your online community, network both online and offline, enter various art competitions to promote your work, apply for grants if needed, and start your blog to promote yourself! This is the basic summary of the above points. You’ve got this.  Go get ‘em.

Author Bio

Michael Gorman is a highly skilled freelance writer and essay writer from the UK who currently works at best essay writing services UK. Being interested in everyday development, he writes various blog posts at top essay writing services and discovers new aspects of human existence everyday, according to top resume reviews. If you ever need cheap assignment help, Michael is the best paper writing services coordinator to help you out. Feel free to reach him via Facebook or Twitter.

Photo credit via https://writix.co.uk/.

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Artists starting a business are often faced with a terrifying onslaught of information overload. Their to-do list grows and somehow, months after the launch of their business, they remain wary of inviting people to view their website, most likely because they haven’t spent the time learning how to make it effective and beautiful. Sound familiar? They call this “website shame.” But there is a cure. Here are some simple steps to getting the most from your website and absolving any hint of “website shame.”

1. Distinguish your brand.

One of the most important things when you first start your business is to decide how you will brand yourself. As an artist, this is often easier because you already have a lot of visual components in your work. But it’s still important to pick colors, fonts and buzzwords that will remind others of the “style” of your business. Are you reserved and professional, fun and sassy, or a tortured artist? You should determine this style with the feel of your work in mind because your art, your branding and your customer base all must work together.

2. Identify a target market.

Pinpoint whom you will be trying to reach with your marketing efforts. These people won’t be the only ones who will buy your art, but they will be those you’ll speak to about your business decisions and whom you’ll go to when you have a slow season. Let your branding and your art help inform this decision. If you have a very contemporary, urban style of painting, you should probably not try to market your art to women in their 80s living in rural areas—not because 80-year-olds will never purchase your work, but because your art won’t attract this demographic. Stereotyping is just part of this process, unfortunately. Also, consider psychographics in addition to demographics: when implementing a marketing campaign, you must know the personality of your market.

3. Take good photographs.

On the web, photography is among the most significant aspects of your business. If a potential customer can’t see your art at its best, then they won’t want to purchase it. You can’t fix lighting problems during the editing process, for example. Also, use your branding to help you take photographs that pack a punch.

4. Show your prices.

Although this subject receives a lot of debate in the art world, it is more effective to be upfront about your pricing on your website. It allows people to decide whether they can afford your art. Showing your prices means that you won’t waste time fielding phone calls from people who will never buy your work and gives you more time in the studio.

5. Make the purchasing process easy.

Although captivating websites are great, the most important part of your online presence is to enable customers to easily make a purchase, including selecting their favorite piece, paying for them and receiving the shipment. Artists often complicate this process by making their customers call them first, by not listing prices on their sites, or showing only one picture of the piece so that a potential customer is left questioning the details. The most effective artist websites have e-commerce capabilities, and therefore customers can purchase online by themselves in just a couple of clicks.

6. Maintain your website.

Many artists make a stunning website and then forget about it. A website should be a living, breathing business advertisement. At minimum, check your website quarterly to make sure that all the information is up to date and there are no major glitches. Resist being that artist who doesn’t check her website for several months, finds out that she hasn’t paid her hosting fee, and learns that the host had taken down her site and trashed the files. After such a scenario, you may have to start from scratch. Smaller glitches can also happen, making your site look unprofessional.

7. Focus on the experience.

Customers are savvy. They want to truly connect with the artist behind the art and to emotionally experience your work. Improve the customer experience by branding. Branding involves improving the feel of your website, improving the story in your copy and using compelling product photographs. Go as far as you can into a customer’s life. Some artists even provide art installation, hiring someone to hang the work on the wall in the customer’s house to ensure that the customer enjoys a luxury experience with the art. Your brand needn’t go that far, but it’s important to think about extending that experience into the packaging of your art and maybe even further.

8. Create a marketing plan.

Something about planning terrifies artists, but it’s absolutely crucial. Without a plan, you bump around from idea to idea, and nothing really works together, making for ineffective marketing. If you sketch out which social networks you’ll use, how much you’ll spend in paid advertising, whether you’ll have a blog, and which publications you want publicity in, then you have focused direction and can work toward these goals.

9. Take action.

We read many articles and have great instincts about our marketing and our businesses, but sometimes we fail to do any of it. We somehow ignore the mantras: “I know I should be more active on Facebook,” or “I know I should pitch West Elm because my work would be perfect there.” However, these mantras are often your brilliant instincts telling you to take action so you can reap the rewards.

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