As an artist, you want people to see your work. After all, the more people get to appreciate your art, the more you can advance your career as an artist and ideally sell more art. One way to do this is by marketing yourself online, either on your own or with someone’s help. Read on to find out the top 10 marketing tips and trends you can use to increase your art website traffic.
#1 Master SEO Basics
Start by learning all the SEO basics. You need to know how to perform keyword research and how to use these keywords in your content. Learn about on-site optimization to further improve your website (e.g. proper navigation, creating a sitemap, etc.)
#2 Optimize Visual Content
Pay special attention to all the visual content you publish because it is crucial for you as an artist. Your images and videos need to be of high quality, but you should also add all the right details to them for SEO (e.g. alt tags for images, descriptions and keywords for videos). Don’t forget to add social sharing buttons to let your audience share your artwork elsewhere.
#3 Start Guest Blogging
Guest blogging is one of the best ways to get more backlinks to your website. If you don’t have time to do it yourself, there are professional writing services you can reach out to for assistance. When you publish your content on someone else’s website or blog, you can include a link to your own site which will guide their audience to you.
#4 Develop Your Link Profile
In addition to getting more backlinks, you should also develop your link profile by using both external and internal links in your website content. Internal links will help you keep users on your website longer while external links (especially to the sources of the facts or statistics you used) will help you look more reputable in the eyes of your audience.
#5 Utilize Social Media
Social media is essential for marketing you and your art. Create your profiles on different social media platforms and regularly remind your followers about your website. Don’t forget to use social media marketing techniques to successfully promote your content on those platforms (e.g. hashtags, tagging, locations, commenting, live streaming).
#6 Promote Word-of-Mouth
Word-of-mouth can easily spread the word about you, but instead of waiting for someone to start talking about you, you can promote word-of-mouth yourself. Reach out to your fans, followers and collectors of your work and ask them to provide a review or testimonial of your work. Then, you can post these on your website and share on your social platforms to get people interested in your art.
#7 Connect with Other Artists
Instead of relying solely on your own efforts and being a lone wolf, it’s a good idea to reach out to other artists like yourself and promote each other. You can partner with other artists to create unique art, host giveaways, and promote each other in different ways. Having these connections will also play a role in helping you advance your career.
#8 Engage with Your Audience
Engagement is important not just for your metrics but also for connecting with your fans. Encourage discussions in the comment section on your website and social media profiles, reply to comments, and so on. All of this shows that you are a friendly person who is happy to engage and connect with their audience.
#9 Make A Posting Schedule
To stay consistent, you will need to create a posting schedule for all the content you publish on your website or social media profiles. This way, you will always have a steady stream of content for your audience to discover and consume.
#10 Measure Performance and Improve
Last but not least, don’t forget to measure the performance of your web content and your website itself to improve your future digital marketing activities. Your updated strategy needs to have the necessary changes that will improve your metrics. Take into account everything – traffic, average session time, conversion rate, comments, social shares, and so on.
Wrapping Up
There are quite a few ways you can successfully reach a wider audience, but the most important thing is to be consistent with your marketing activities. Use the tactics in this article to help you generate more traffic on your website and find new fans and, ideally, buyers of your art.
Anna Medina is a specialist in different types of writing. She graduated from the Interpreters Department, but creative writing became her favorite type of work. Now she improves her skills while working for the writing services review websites like Best Writers Online with content of any type, but, mainly, assisting students all over the world.
As an artist, you probably cringe a little when someone says the word "marketing." It just sounds so sales-y. But even if you think of yourself exclusively as an artist and not a marketer, there's no denying that marketing and selling are interconnected. Thus, if you're desperate for a marketing approach that is not sleazy or shouty, you should consider delving into video marketing. In this article, we'll share some tips to get you started with this strategy and help you get over your fear of marketing. Let's dive in!
What is video marketing, and why do artists need it?
Video marketing is utilizing videos to promote or market a product or service. In the case of artists, you can leverage videos to display your work, connect with fans, and, most importantly, convert them into regular clientele.
People love watching videos on the internet - whether it's for entertainment or educational purposes (or both). Not only does it allow you to share your work with the world, but it also builds a connection with potential fans and customers. So if your goal is to promote your art online in hopes that more people will see it and buy it, then video marketing should be part of your strategy.
Popular video content types of marketing your art
If your opinion about video marketing is complex because it’s challenging to develop content ideas, worry no more! Here are some video content types that you can use:
1. Meet the Artist
Introduce yourself and explain why you love creating art. Let your viewers know you as an artist and learn about your process. You can also share some exciting facts about your life that aren't directly related to art, such as where you grew up and why you started painting in general terms.
2. How-to Create Art
If you have a knack for teaching, this video content fits you. You can create a tutorial on specific art mediums (watercolor, acrylic, oil) or different styles (abstract, realism, etc.) and provide tips on creating a masterpiece.
3. Art Demo video
This video is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate your artistic techniques. Film yourself in action and post a time-lapse video for your audience to get a glimpse of how much hard work you put into your pieces.
4. Art history/theory lectures
If you are an art history/theory enthusiast, do a famous artist/movement course. You can introduce your favorite artist and how impactful their influence is to you.
5. Behind the Scenes
Filming behind-the-scenes will give viewers an inside look into your creative process - from inspiration, sketching ideas all through production time until finished work is displayed at galleries/exhibitions, etc.
6. Q&A Session
Allow viewers into a more personal side of you by doing a question and answer session where you talk about anything and everything. You can answer questions about your artwork, hobbies, or anything else that comes to mind.
7. Tools/Art Supplies review
Introducing the art supplies or tools you use can be valuable for artists looking to purchase new materials. Showing how you work with different mediums and tools can influence people in deciding what might work best for them.
8. Documenting exhibitions or events you are participating in
Attending gallery openings and exhibitions is a regular occurrence for many artists, so why not film it and turn it into a video? Doing so gives viewers a virtual experience of what it's like being at one of these events while indulging them with the inside story of the featured art collection.
9. Artist talks/interviews
Get insights from other artists about their creative processes and inspirations. You could talk about how they got started in the industry. If two people are working together (like a collaborative piece), interview each other, and discuss how they combine efforts for the project.
Video creation tips for effective marketing content
1. Choose a topic relevant to your artwork and create content that adds value to your target audience.
2. Make videos that are short and sweet. The attention span of internet users is shorter than ever, so you want to capture their attention within the first few seconds.
3. Include interesting visuals. Don't just rely on talking head videos. Display your artwork, studio, tools, etc., to keep viewers engaged.
4. Include a CTA (call to action). Ask your viewers to do something after watching your video. It can be anything from visiting your website or social media page, subscribing to your channel, or leaving a comment.
5. Be yourself! The way to connect with viewers is to be genuine and authentic in your content. Let them see the real you, and they'll be more likely to stick around for more.
6. Make sure your videos are high quality. It means editing your footage to get smooth and free of glitch videos.
7. Use keywords in your description box when uploading videos to YouTube so that they'll have a better chance of being found by the search engines and people who are looking for content related to those topics.
How to share your videos online?
Once you've made your video, it's time to share it with the world! Here are some tips for promoting your art through social media and other platforms:
1. Facebook
There are a few methods to share your videos on Facebook. You can post a link to the video on your timeline, post it as a status update, or share it in a group or page.
2. Twitter
You can post a link to the video, embed it in a tweet, or post a video tweet. Use relevant hashtags so that your video will show up in searches.
3. YouTube
Uploading your videos on YouTube can get more views since it's the second-largest search engine in the world. Plus, including links to your videos in blog posts and other online content contributes to driving traffic your way.
4. Instagram
To share a video on Instagram, you can post a link to the video, embed the video in a post, or post the video as a story. You can also use relevant hashtags to help people find your videos.
In conclusion, you can use video marketing to share what you're selling online and encourage individuals to appreciate your art (and ultimately buy them). An artwork is an end-product of hard work and talent; thus, it deserves a formidable marketing strategy. And video marketing can be your passage to growth in sales over time instead of just getting some one-time customers.
Roxanne Panibio is a PR Outreach Specialist at VEED.IO. She's an avid reader, mostly found with a book in her hand. When not reading, she enjoys watching crime mystery movies to satisfy her inner detective.
Every January here at the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery we post an article with ideas and suggestions for artists to kick start their New Year’s art marketing goals. Our mission as a gallery is to help artists advance their career goals and market their art.
Many of these ideas have been presented in previous “kick start” posts but they are basic, however, consistently implementing them is not. They are essential for artists as a means to market themselves and their art successfully.
1. Evaluate & Update Your Website
For artists who are looking to advance their art careers and increase sales, it is important for them to have a modern, professional, up-to-date website to display their art.
For those of you who already have a website, if you haven’t reviewed it in a while, now is the time. When was the last time that you went page by page and link by link through it? We all need to do this to find broken links, pages that do not load quickly, graphics, images and other items that have moved or been deleted, along with pages with misspelled words and similar issues.
The presentation of your art is as important as creating it. Take some time to review your site and make any necessary changes and corrections. Make sure all of the images on your website are sized properly and have a low resolution (a resolution of 72 helps your site load more quickly and protects your art from being copied by unscrupulous people). The images should also be color corrected if necessary, as some cameras and lighting do no always capture an artwork’s true colors. There are many free programs on the internet for this.
Also, do you have better images or graphics to replace what now exists on your website? Do you have new artwork that you just have not had time to photograph and add to your website? Do it.
While checking your images, make sure that they are labeled and tagged properly with good image descriptions. Search engines will only index your images if they have descriptions. By doing this, your images will show up in the image search results and when the images are viewed, viewers will be directed to your art website.
For those artists that don’t have a website, now is the time to take the next step and get one. The annual cost to purchase or renew a website domain is typically less than $20. The cost of basic website hosting can be as low as $3-$4 per month. A website is an investment artists need to make a priority.
2. Rewrite/ Update your Artists Bio and Statement
A well-written biography and/or artist statement is also essential for artists and now is the time to review and update them. An artist does not have to be an accomplished writer to create a well-written biography and artist statement, but it is necessary for an artist to have at least one. It is also important to know the difference between a biography and artist statement as many artists mistake one for the other. Please read our article “Comparing an Artist’s Biography to an Artist’s Statement” for clarification.
Also, update your CV by adding any new exhibitions, new awards and/or new publications or other pertinent information that has taken place since the last time it was updated.
3. Use Social Media
Social media is a part of our everyday lives and is an important platform for all artists to employ in order to help market themselves and their art. Why is this? In our opinion, it is easy to identify and connect with the art community when using social media.
It is also an effective medium because it is a visual and simple way in which to present your art. Particularly now, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Instagram and even Twitter provide artists with opportunities (if targeted properly) to reach viewers who were previously unreachable.
Read our articles “Top 10 Reasons Why Artists Fail with Social Media”, “Using the 70-20-10 Rule to Succeed at Social Media Marketing” by guest blogger James Baxter, and “How to Write Social Media Posts That Sell Art” by guest blogger Frank Hamilton, along with various other social media articles on the LST website, for further advice and instruction on how best to use social media to grow your audience reach.
4. Press Release Marketing
Press release marketing is a low-cost way artists can market their artwork to a wider range of potential viewers, particularly when they have an award or exhibition to announce. There are many “Free” press release websites, which take, publish and market an artist’s press release copy. One such site is PRLog.org. PRLog’s free press release submission includes a PDF version to send to your mailing list, a search engine optimized page, hyperlinks in the content, and the option to select location/industry and tag listings. In addition, companies like Star One Public Relations offers press release distribution services for as low as $10.00 for distribution to 70+ press outlets. Read our article “Successful Press Release Marketing for Artists” and 6 Benefits for Press Releases for Artists to help guide you in these efforts. Also check out our article “5 Ways Artists Can Promote Their Art Online” for more ideas.
5. Start a Blog
Artists should seriously consider starting an art blog as a way to attract and direct additional interested viewers to their art websites. An art blog is a great way to expand an artist’s target audience. It is also an effective platform to help artists market their art.
Read our articles “Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Have an Art Blog” and “How Artists Can Attract Readers to an Art Blog” in order to fully understand the power of a well-executed art blog.
6. Have Your Art Portfolio Reviewed Professionally
A professional Portfolio Review provides an artist with an evaluation of their art and a critique of how their art is being presented to others. Usually, during a portfolio review, the reviewers provide artists with additional ideas on how they can effectively market their art.
Much like art competitions, a portfolio review is an additional way in which artists can have their artwork evaluated and measured against other artists. While some artists don’t see this as valuable and can sometimes find it discouraging, it is a way to help artists improve their presentations and their craft.
In 2022, we hope you will make at least some, if not all, of these suggestions part of your art marketing efforts. By implementing these recommendations, artists can experience increased traffic to their websites, find more people interested in their art and ultimately, sell more of their work.
However, as with any marketing program, it is important to focus your efforts. All artists should view the marketing of their art to be as important as the creation of it and an art-marketing plan needs to be well planned and performed consistently in order to be successful. Check out our article “5 Tips for Creating an Effective Art Marketing Strategy” by guest blogger Wendy Dessler, for more suggestions.
A new year can be a fresh start for artists with their planning and executing an effective art marketing strategy. Even if you haven’t previously implemented any of the above suggestions, it is never too late to start.
Good luck and have a creative, successful and prosperous 2022!
We’re thrilled to announce that the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery (LST) and its parent gallery, Fusion Art, are moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico on January 1, 2022.
After over 8 years based in Jupiter, Florida and then 3 years based in Palm Springs, California, LST is relocating to the Santa Fe area. Considered one of the largest art markets in the United States, Santa Fe is recognized worldwide for its rich culture and diverse art community.
The city is home to over 250 art galleries as well as an assortment of museums and performing arts. Art collectors from all around the world visit the city looking to buy fine art of all media and subject matter including all forms of contemporary, Native American, and western art.
In addition to the galleries and museums, throughout the year Santa Fe hosts a collection of art markets and festivals and boasts the largest proportion of artists, performers and writers of any U.S. city.
As 2022 dawns, LST reconfirms its commitment of helping artists, worldwide, to market and sell their art. Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery conducts monthly themed online art competitions and art exhibitions for new and emerging artists on a worldwide basis. It is the gallery's mission to identify talented artists and help them to successfully market their works to the art world.
You can read the entire announcement on the Fusion Art website.
Thank you to all of our artists for being part of our LST and Fusion Art families. We wish all of you a very happy and prosperous new year!
By Cassandra Rosas, Guest Blogger - The British writer Graham Greene once wrote, “Sometimes I wonder how all those who do not write, compose, or paint can manage to escape the madness, melancholia, the panic and fear which is inherent in a human situation.” For many, art is a form of therapy, but it can also be a source of income or simply an enjoyable hobby. Having a place of one’s own to create art is a convenience that can enhance the creation process. By setting up a home art studio or art room, you can carve out space for working on your art projects and for safely storing your art supplies while ensuring they’re accessible when you need them. Here, we’ll explore how to create an art room at home so you can more easily channel your creativity into completed art projects.
Depending on the size of your home, you may or may not find it challenging to assign space for your home art room. In fact, you may not have a spare room you’re able to devote to the creation of your art studio. That’s okay, as many artists have improvised and created unique art studios in even relatively small spaces by sectioning off part of a room or transforming a niche into a place for making art. Here are some key considerations to keep in mind as you plan your art studios and avoid design mistakes:
How much are you willing to spend to create your home art room? Establishing a budget will enable you to make a working plan for building your home art studio. Designing a functional space for your work may require some investment. Consider your studio’s needs and whether or not you can fulfill them with existing or new resources. Typically, your studio will need:
You may already have some of these elements on hand or can repurpose items inexpensively to suit your project. However, creating a budget will help you plan for each aspect of your studio and its needs.
Good lighting is typically a critical element of any art studio. Whether you work with oil paint, watercolors, clay, or some other medium, you need to have the best lighting possible to see what you’re doing. If you can site your studio near a sunny window that will allow for good natural light during the day, but your space may not have window access. According to the Artists Network, art studio lighting should have a balance of cool and warm light. Try to install bulbs that have a color-rendering index (CRI) of 80-100, as these bulbs will provide vibrant lighting that is ideal for mimicking natural light.
Additionally, you may also require spotlights for working in detail. Overhead lighting and table-top fixtures will allow you to light up your art room brightly. You may also want to invest in good photography lighting if you want to photograph your work to showcase or sell online.
If you work with paints and associated art supplies like paint thinners and cleaners, you’ll need to be mindful of ventilation. If you wood carve or grind materials, you should also keep your space well ventilated. Depending on the chemicals and materials you are involved with, a ceiling fan and open window may simply not be enough to create a healthy environment for creating art.
One method that artists often use at home is to purchase an industrial fan from a home improvement center. According to Professional Artist Magazine, “the fan pumping in fresh air will be behind the artist, blowing fumes away from the artist’s face and toward the fan exhausting the air outside in order to create a continuous stream of clean air for the artist to breathe in.”
Another ventilation method is to invest in installing local exhaust ventilation, which is a superior option, particularly for controlling semi-toxic or highly toxic fumes. This type of exhaust system, placed above your workspace, will remove fumes and tiny particles through ducts, blowing it through filters before it’s released outdoors.
If you grind materials or work with dust-producing mediums, an exhaust system is more conducive to health safety. A professional exhaust ventilation system is recommended for many types of art, including photograph development, woodworking, silkscreen painting, welding, spray painting, and acid etching.
Although you can transport your paintbrushes or other supplies to a utility sink in your home, having a sink and faucet in your art studio is a decided convenience. You might even consider siting your art studio near a utility sink that you share with your laundry space. If you’re designing your art space outside of your home in your garage or shed, you can purchase a portable sink that you can attach to an outdoor spigot.
Privacy may or may not be a priority for you as you design your home art studio. However, you should consider some type of barrier simply to protect your projects in the event you have company. If your studio is in an open space rather than enclosed by its own four walls and door, you can create privacy by installing draperies, floor-to-ceiling shelving units, or half walls to protect your workspace.
Regardless of the medium you use, you are likely to need floor protection. If you work with paint, you might choose inexpensive paint tarps. On the other hand, you can also protect your permanent flooring by installing vinyl sheets (without adhesive) atop your existing floor. Vinyl is easy to clean, and because it’s relatively cheap ($25 for a roll of 9’ x 15’ vinyl flooring), you can replace it easily every few years if you choose to.
Designing your workspace is of paramount importance. Consider the type of workbench or other apparatus you’ll need to do your creating. If you paint and work on an easel, you’ll probably want to have a cart or table nearby to accommodate your supplies. Your space should be comfortable, well-lit, and stable to reduce the risk for spills.
As you view your home, you may have more than one option for creating your art studio. Which is best? Keep in mind some of the considerations we discussed above, such as lighting, ventilation, and access to a sink. These may help you choose the ideal site for your art space. Some spaces you can consider for installing your home art studio include:
If you paint or draw, you’ll need a wide range of materials for creating art along with appropriate space to store them. Oil painting at home or sculpting at home involves many types of supplies. If you make art using different mediums, be sure to consider how to best store your supplies, so they’re well protected. Generally, if you paint or draw, you should plan to supply your studio with:
Depending on the type of art you create, you may need many items to supply your studio. If your studio is a family space for art, you can use this link to help you supply it. It includes the most commonly needed supplies for elementary students, middle school students, high school students, and adults.
Keeping your art room tidy requires some specialized knowledge about how to clean paintbrushes or other items that you work with. Having access to a sink and faucet will help. You may need to handle many of your supplies with special care to clean up after projects. Be sure that you know which items require specialized discarding. You may, for instance, have to drop off old paint somewhere in town or your city to dispose of it properly, and check if any of the disposed materials can be recycled, if that is the case, take them to your nearest recycling center, this will help reduce your carbon footprint. Try to set aside an area of your studio where you can stow your cleaning supplies and materials to be discarded.
A home art studio can afford you the ideal space for painting, drawing, sculpting, or creating other art types. Creating art or crafting is a great way to de-stress, so you don’t have to be a professional artist to design a home art room—you just have to enjoy making art. Use these tips to create a home art studio that’s ideal for you.
Cassandra Rosas is a content writer at Porch.com. She is passionate about art, painting, sculpting, health and wellbeing, reading, writing, and music.
This article is written by Guest Blogger, Y. Hope Osborn – reprinted with permission from Fusion Art.
"Blessed are the weird people: poets, misfits, writers, mystics, painters, troubadours for they teach us to see the world through different eyes." - Jacob Nordby
If you are like me and your art education consists of a lifetime of hobby photography and expression through a multitude of avenues not typically connected to art as it is to artisan, you may balk at the idea of writing an artist statement or biography. You either avoid those competitions or grants where they are required, or you throw something together afraid of your own writing because you remember all those red ink pen marks in English class.
Artist Lisa Golightly wrote, “There is no ‘right’ way to make art. The only wrong is in not trying, not doing. Don’t put barriers [such as a red pen] that aren’t there—just get to work and make something.” There are a lot of good guidelines Fusion Art and Light Space & Time provides in their blogs and newsletters, and I could get into those, but this is about the importance of writing the artist statement and bio. Get to work and make something.
Think like artists’ Georgia O’Keeffe, “… Making your unknown known is the important thing” and Jacob Nordby, “Teach us to see the world through different eyes.” Think of your artist statement and biography as an extension of you and your art. How you write about you and your art is important because they show the juror or curator that you are an intentional artist. This is not a whim. The juror or curator wants to see what true artists like yourself can do, making your unknown known—who you are in your life in your bio and teaching us to see through different eyes—how you see the art in your artist statement.
“Every artist was first an amateur.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson
I am not a ‘typical’ artist with a degree or a lifetime of experience to introduce myself in a bio. However, I have all my life been interested in photography and crafting things. I also had the tenacity to get a masters’ degree though it is in writing nonfiction. Make what you have been doing as a person and as an emerging artist work for you, because if you are truly an artist, you have done something all your life to prove it, even if in a different medium. Show your audience of art lovers, curators, and jurors who you are as a person, including your quirks, your loves, and the latest, and you connect with them personally. Introduce us as if someone else is introducing you before you go on stage.
"Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light, and shadows." - Jim Jarmusch
Art lovers, jurors, and curators want to converse with you over your art in your artist statement. Georgia O’Keeffe “found [she] could say things with color and shapes that [she] couldn’t say any other way—things [she] had no words for,” so it can be difficult to write an artist statement. Did the sun glint off a stained-glass piece hanging in your window? Did the wind stir windchimes making you feel alive or sad? Find those keywords about yourself that represent you and your art. We want to know the essence that comes from you both in general artistry and specific art. What do you feel? What do you know that we don’t know? Leave room, though, for the art enthusiast’s imagination. Welcome them into yours as a pitstop on the way to their own.
Your bio and statement are important for opening doors. It introduces you to the general art lover, juror, or curator, and other artists. Think of it as something that influences beyond this art competition or this experience. This is what they might discover of you in our web-fueled world, and it may just be your ticket in for you to get a call about another opportunity.
Think of the artist statement and bio as the third leg in a three-legged stool of your art. Your art falls flat if we don’t know who you are and what you are about as an artist. Forget the red marks, make your own art education, tell us who you are, and you will stand tall among fellow artists.
Y. Hope Osborn is a photographer, digital artist and writer. She helps artists and other creatives with writing, editing and revising their artist statements and bios. Hope can be contacted through her email or her website, where you can also see her photography and digital art.
By Rodney Laws, Guest Blogger - Every industry was affected heavily by the outbreak of COVID-19, and art is certainly no exception. So much of the art world has typically revolved around in-person demonstrations and sales. Museums and galleries have always worked through bringing in foot traffic, with money made through selling entrance tickets, refreshments, and gift-shop items. Then there are street performers (caricaturists, for instance) who have always made money through tips.
At the moment, the continued need for social distancing (along with the lingering fears concerning travel) means that even those places that can afford to open are finding it hard to attract interest. The artists, though, do have options, and they have drawn upon them (no pun intended) to keep afloat during the past year. By operating online, they can still make money doing what they love.
Trying to succeed exclusively online as an artist presents a very different challenge, though. The tactics required for reaching the right people (and ultimately prospective clients) are largely distinct. In this post, we’re going to look at four solid strategies an artist can use to grow their brand and attract some interest online. Let’s get started.
Use a combination portfolio and store
Taking client work is often the typical way of making a living as an artist, since you have clear creative direction and set terms. It is simply a matter of receiving and fulfilling a brief: you don’t need to worry about the commercial viability of what you are producing. But that doesn’t mean that should be the only way in which you make money. The more routes you have to profit, the more stable your financial situation can become.
Due to this, it is a great idea to build an ecommerce store that’s also your portfolio. You don’t even need web-design skills to create such a store these days. If you already have an art blog in WordPress (the platform that dominates blogging), you can install a free plugin called WooCommerce (take a look at this WooCommerce review) and start selling products.
Whenever you make a sale, promote it through the blog side of the store: this will reinforce your value as an artist in the eyes of prospective clients. In addition, whenever you pick up a notable client, add their testimonial to your store homepage: this will reassure potential buyers that you’re truly as good as they think you are. It’s a win-win situation.
Get into the habit of asking for referrals
You can’t add testimonials to your store if you don’t have any testimonials, and they don’t tend to appear spontaneously. If you don’t ask for them, you won’t get them — so get into the habit of asking for them. Do this carefully, of course: don’t bug people, come across as desperate, or push them to shower you with more praise than they think you deserve. Just ask politely.
It is a good idea to fold the feedback-collection process into your general client-handling sequence. When you’re wrapping up a project and ensuring that all the details have been handled, you can have an automated email go out to provide a survey (HubSpot has some good tips on this process). You can even throw in some kind of basic incentive to prompt a reply: 10% off their next commission and/or purchase, for instance.
Share your process on social media
People who don’t understand what goes into art can easily end up undervaluing it. You are likely familiar with the common effort to “pay” artists in “exposure”. It is commonplace to joke about at times, but it is a sad indication of how little people understand the difficulty of producing high-quality art. They assume (for some reason) that most artists live frivolous lives of luxury — and those who don’t, well, they should just be grateful to get some attention, right?
To help people accept the complexities of what you do, and show just how good you are, you should combine your blogging efforts with social media comments concerning your process. You don’t need to engage with social media in general, just offer some commentary on how long certain pieces of art take you, sharing progress on art you are currently working on, the decisions you need to make along the way, the obstacles you need to overcome, etc.
In addition, when you have a piece you are particularly proud of, you should enter it into some online competitions, both through social media and other sites. It won’t cost much, and the risk is minimal: if you don’t win, it won’t matter, but it will give you something you can talk about it through social media and get even more attention.
Join a forum of like-minded artists
The best artists tend to support one another because they know that great art should be appreciated and supported and the internet is full of fantastic communities that can help you promote your services. This is something that can go unnoticed due to the assumption that artists will all be hyper-competitive, eager to undermine one another. Not so.
In truth, there is plenty of demand for art, and those who produce it often end up spending some of their money on commissioning it as well. Artists can collaborate on pieces through which they can all profit, and expand their audiences through building professional associations. You also need to remember that great artists never stop learning. However much you’ll learn from your new community, the existing members will learn just as much from you.
And when someone out there expresses interest for art in the exact style that you’ve mastered, you’ll find that other artists will often point them in the right direction, knowing that you’ll do the same for them in return. Put your trust in community spirit. You won’t regret it.
Rodney Laws is an ecommerce expert with over a decade of experience in building online businesses. Check out his reviews on EcommercePlatforms.io and you’ll find practical tips that you can use to build the best online store for your business. Connect with him on Twitter @EcomPlatformsio.
By Veronica Baxter, Guest Blogger - Visual artists must be prepared when negotiating a contract with an art gallery. This article will discuss how to prepare for the contract negotiation. Whether you are a new artist looking to get your work noticed, or an established artist trying to break into a new space, you will find valuable tips to secure a lucrative contract in an art gallery.
Have a List of Requirements and Questions Well Ahead of the Negotiation
Regardless of the industry, you should always know what you want during a negotiation. You need to confidently articulate what you want out of the business relationship to be taken seriously from a business perspective.
This means you’ll need to ask many questions.
Questions to Ask During a Contract Negotiation With an Art Gallery
The goal of asking questions is to get a concrete understanding of the business relationship from start to finish. Your questions should be designed so that the answers clearly define your responsibilities and those of the art gallery. Your questions should range across a wide variety of topics -- from marketing to logistics and beyond.
Marketing questions to consider:
Logistical Questions to consider:
Display Questions to Consider:
Arm Yourself With Knowledge of the Contract Negotiation Process
The artist with their head in the clouds is a frustrating yet persistent stereotype. Yet, there are plenty of successful artists who possess strong business acumen. The artist who can advocate on their own behalf during negotiations will be able to dodge this negative stereotype more easily and secure a better contract as a result.
Here are some must-know contractual tips:
Try To Get an Escape Clause
Escape clauses are essential in contracts with an art gallery. They allow either party to nullify the contract when a clearly defined term or condition is not met. Escape clauses are not to be confused with breach-of-contract clauses.
The difference is that both parties can agree to nullify a yearlong contract if, say, there are no sales after six months. In this example, neither party breached the contract; however, a specific condition was not met. Therefore, it is in the interest of both parties to nullify the agreement.
Push For an Arbitration/Mediation Clause
This clause stipulates that before either party resorts to a lawsuit, a mediator must be brought in to settle any contractual disputes. Both parties must hire a mediator. These clauses are important to bring up in negotiations because they are intended to prevent a costly lawsuit.
Make Sure the Indemnification Clause Works Both Ways
Indemnification clauses are designed so that if one party misrepresents themselves, their work, or if one party breaches part of the contract, then the offending party is responsible for the legal fees associated with any ensuing litigation. Sometimes these are one-sided and apply only when the artist breaches the contract. Negotiate so that the indemnification clause applies to both sides.
Come to the Negotiation Table Prepared
This article is far from exhaustive, but it is intended to get you thinking about the negotiation process in the way a lawyer would. You must ask questions to lay out the responsibilities of both parties clearly. The more detail, the better the deal. You also need to familiarize yourself with specific clauses and legalese that will lead to a fair and lucrative contract.
Veronica Baxter is a writer, blogger, and legal assistant operating out of the greater Philadelphia area. She writes for Yao Law, an entertainment and immigration lawyer in New Jersey.
In recent years, artists have been seeking alternative means and low-cost ways in which to present and showcase their artwork. One of the most effective ways to do this is through the internet and one of the most successful ways of doing this is by entering online art competitions/contests.
What is an online art contest and what are the benefits for an artist when entering online art contests? Online art competitions may be organized and operated by “bricks and mortar” art galleries, online art galleries and by other art organizations. These groups have chosen to promote their art contest, accept entries in to and present the winning artist’s work all online.
The more traditional way has been to handle entries with paper forms, snail mail and the traditional opening, exhibition and closing at a physical location or art gallery. However, in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the world has seen an exponential rise of online art galleries as artists and arts organizations look for new ways to exhibit art.
Launched in 2010, the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery (LST) was already far ahead of the curve. Having previously hosted over 120 online art competitions and exhibitions by the time the pandemic started, LST and its parent art gallery, Fusion Art, are industry leaders in the hosting of art competitions and contests.
What are the advantages and benefits for artists to enter and compete in an online art competition? The following are the top benefits for an artist when entering online art contests:
1. Ease of Entering
Online art competitions make it very easy for an artist to enter and compete. Art organizations and art galleries that conduct online art competitions and art contests have easy online forms and online upload portals that in many cases an artist can fill out, upload and complete within 5 minutes.
The more traditional way is for “regular” art galleries to conduct an art contest where they administer and accept entries that are loaded onto a CD, with a paper entry form filled out, a return postage paid envelope included and then the package is mailed to the organizer of the art competition. Other organizations and art galleries often use a combination of email entries (attach images) and paper entry forms. Any of these methods can be time-consuming for an artist to complete and may discourage an Artist from competing.
2. Results are Published Online
Online art competitions post the results online and are presented to the competing artists, the public, and general Internet traffic. Many regular art galleries which conduct art competitions have been slow to embrace technology and are still mailing the results to the artists and many cases, they still do not even post the results online. As a competing artist, whether I got in or not, I was always curious to see what art and which artists won or placed in a competition. There are still art organizations that are unable to show the results of their art contest unless they have a printed exhibition program (many do not even have this available to competing artists).
3. Exposure for the Artist
Online art galleries, due to their inherent structures, operating goals and their use of technology, use the Internet to the artist’s advantage in that their exposure for the artist is far superior to that of a regular art gallery. Online art galleries, through the use of keywords, PPC, other online marketing and online promotions, winning artists are exposed to a much larger audience then a regular art gallery can ever provide.
Depending on the online art gallery’s exposure and the traffic to their website, an artist’s artwork can be exposed and presented to thousands of visitors each month. Other than an opening of an art exhibition, traffic and visits to a regular art gallery is usually minimal, thus the overall exposure for the artist is too.
4. Low Cost of Entering
The cost of entering an online art contest with an online art gallery is a fixed and known cost to the artist. When competing in a regular art gallery competition there are the entry fees (which are generally higher), any costs for reproduction of the art and finally, any mailing costs will need to be absorbed by the artist. After that, if the artist is chosen, they will need to pay for the printing, framing, insurance, and packing/shipping to the art gallery. If the art is not sold at the exhibition, then the cost of returning the art back to the artist will be paid for the by the artist as well.
With expenses and shipping costs going higher each day, entering art competitions (unless they are local to the artist), can be a very expensive proposition for the normal artist. I believe that an artist should also consider their own time involved with this process as a cost when they determine their overall expense for entering a regular art competition too.
5. Conclusion
Overall, online art galleries are becoming a viable alternative for artists to compete and to expose their artwork to a larger audience. More than ever, today, online art galleries are providing low-cost competition and exhibition opportunities for artists that were not available in the past. Regular art galleries, with their built-in overhead and expenses, just cannot compete with online art galleries when it comes to lower artist entry fees, lower artist exhibition costs and providing more exposure to artists who compete, win and exhibit their artwork.
Artists that regularly compete and exhibit their art should consider the benefits of entering online art competitions. By competing and exhibiting in this manner, artists have a greater opportunity for exposure, particularly during this unprecedented time.
To see the current competitions accepting entries by the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery, please click HERE. To see the current competitions accepting entries by LST's parent company, Fusion Art, visit the website HERE.
This article was originally posted in 2011 but has been updated as of February 2021.
The New Year is a time for artists to look ahead to how they can grow and advance their art careers. Although 2020 is technically behind us, there are still some challenges to overcome as the world continues to work its way out of a terrible pandemic. This has been enormously difficult for everyone but artists and the arts community has been hit particularly hard. However, with the release of vaccines, there seems to be some light at the end of the tunnel and it is time for artists to look forward.
At the beginning of every New Year, we post an article with ideas and suggestions for how artists can to make plans for how to kick-start and best to tackle your art career goals in 2020.
Have you set up your art marketing goals for the New Year? If not, the following are 5 things you can do to kick start 2021 and improve your chances of success.
Many of these ideas have been offered up in previous “kick-start” posts but they are elementary and consistently implementing them is not. They are critical for artists if they are to market themselves and their art successfully.
Evaluate & Update Your Website
While the past year has given some artists the time and opportunity to either create or update their websites, for many it has been difficult to concentrate amid the worry of the ongoing pandemic. However, in today’s art world, particularly with all its changes, in order to be taken seriously, it is essential for artists to have a modern, professional, up-to-date website to display their art.
The annual cost to purchase or renew a website domain is typically less than $20. The cost of basic website hosting can be as low as $3-$4 per month. A website is an investment artists need to make a priority in order to be taken seriously.
For those of you who already have websites, if you haven’t reviewed it in a while, now is the time. When was the last time that you went page by page and link by link through it? We all need to do this to find broken links, pages that do not load quickly, graphics, images and other items that have moved, along with pages with misspelled words and similar issues.
The presentation of your art is as important as creating it. Take some time to review your site and make any necessary changes and corrections. Make sure all of the images on your website are sized properly and have a low resolution (a resolution of 72 helps your site load more quickly and protects your art from being copied by unscrupulous people). The images should also be color corrected if necessary, as some cameras and lighting do no always capture an artwork’s true colors. There are many free programs on the internet for this.
Also, do you have better images or graphics to replace what now exists on your website? Do you have new artwork that you just have not had time to photograph and add to your website? Do it.
While checking your images, make sure that they are labeled and tagged properly with good image descriptions. Search engines will only index your images if they have descriptions. By doing this, your images will show up in the image search results and when the images are viewed, viewers will be directed to your art website.
Rewrite/ Update your Artists Bio and Statement
A well-written biography and/or artist statement is also essential for artists and now is the time to review and update them. An artist does not have to be an accomplished writer to create a well-written biography and artist statement, but it is necessary for an artist to have at least one. It is also important to know the difference between a biography and artist statement as many artists mistake one for the other. Please read our article “Comparing an Artist’s Biography to an Artist’s Statement” for clarification.
Also, update your CV by adding any exhibitions, new publications or other pertinent information that has taken place since the last time it was updated.
Use Social Media
Social media has become a part of our everyday lives and is an important platform for all artists to employ in order to help market themselves and their art. Why is this? In our opinion, it is easy to identify and connect with the art community when using social media.
It is also an effective medium because it is a visual and simple way in which to present your art. Particularly now, Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Instagram and even Twitter provide artists with opportunities (if targeted properly) to reach viewers who were previously unreachable.
Read our articles “Top 10 Reasons Why Artists Fail with Social Media”, “Using the 70-20-10 Rule to Succeed at Social Media Marketing” by guest blogger James Baxter, and “How to Write Social Media Posts That Sell Art” by guest blogger Frank Hamilton, along with various other social media articles on the LST website, for further advice and instruction on how best to use social media to grow your audience reach.
Press Release Marketing
Press release marketing is a low-cost way artists can market their artwork to a wider range of potential viewers. There are many “Free” press release websites, which take, publish and market an artist’s press release copy. One such site is PRLog.org. PRLog’s free press release submission includes a PDF version to send to your mailing list, a search engine optimized page, hyperlinks in the content, and the option to select location/industry and tag listings. In addition, companies like Star One Public Relations offers press release distribution services for as low as $10.00 for distribution to 70+ press outlets. Read our article “Successful Press Release Marketing for Artists” and 6 Benefits for Press Releases for Artists to help guide you in these efforts. Also check out our article “5 Ways Artists Can Promote Their Art Online” for more ideas.
Start a Blog
Artists should seriously consider starting an art blog as a way to attract and direct additional interested viewers to their art websites. An art blog is a great way to expand an artist’s target audience. It is also an effective platform to help artists market their art.
Read our articles “Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Have an Art Blog” and “How Artists Can Attract Readers to an Art Blog” in order to fully understand the power of a well-executed art blog.
In 2021, we hope you will make at least some, if not all, of these suggestions part of your art marketing efforts. By implementing these recommendations, artists can experience increased traffic to their websites, find more people interested in their art and ultimately, sell more of their work.
However, as with any marketing program, it is important to focus your efforts. All artists should view the marketing of their art to be as important as the creation of it and an art-marketing plan needs to be well planned and performed consistently in order to be successful. Check out our article “5 Tips for Creating an Effective Art Marketing Strategy” by guest blogger Wendy Dessler, for more suggestions.
Good luck and have a creative, successful and prosperous 2021!
By James Baxter, Guest Blogger - Social media marketing for artists includes a specific set of online actions, which provides their fans and followers with the necessary information about the artists, as well as promoting their creativity using the same resources. Such actions can significantly enlarge the target audience due to the popularity and convenience of social networks.
Art and social media can be combined. Thanks to the current development of the Internet and computer technology, an artist can be promoted using Social Media Marketing (SMM) on various social networks. SMM makes it possible to determine which social networks are the most effective for this promotion. However, you should use these online platforms wisely to achieve the desired result.
Today, a sufficient number of different marketing tools are used on social media. The most popular among them are branding, reputation strengthening, and label creation. Obviously, the more widespread a social network is, the easier it is to promote an artist and his or her work. Every artist knows that creativity can be further shared. So, posting of relevant material is one of the most useful formats of communication with the target audience.
Some painters, photographers, and sculptors are trying to sell their works of art by simply advertising themselves using social networks. However, it is not the only way to attract the attention of their admirers and potential collectors. The opposite situation can happen when artists are reluctant to promote their creativity and only the most curious fans can find out something about their recently created masterpieces.
In the both cases, the artist’s profit and potential can be dramatically affected. Earning money is essential for art development, and this is the main task of promotion in social networks. So, how to market your art? It is necessary to find a balance between sales, self-promotion, and honest communication with the target audience. Let’s consider the 70-20-10 SMM rule that can help you become a successful artist.
70% of Content Should Build and Maintain Your Brand
The vast majority of your posts should tell your story and build your recognizable brand. In this way, you can show your personality from another angle. Imagine what you would like to know about your favorite artist: this can give you some useful ideas. Perhaps you have a great sense of humor in addition to your artistic talent. For instance, you can upload an amazing video about what has inspired you to create a perfect artwork.
You can also post photos as you paint a picture or create a sculpture. If you travel from time to time, you can create an album of journey sketches. Likewise, an experienced writer can share an informative article about their amazing life experience. In short, tell people what you feel before, during and after finishing your creation. The main point is that sharing this information can create a special relationship between you and your followers and fans.
Share Information about Others in 20% of Content
This part of the content is not that voluminous, but it means a lot for building your social network and forming valuable relations. You sometimes may want to collaborate with other artists. Use that 20 percent to establish new connections with relevant people and promising artists in related fields.
If a painter or sculptor you know has organized an exhibition, tell people about it. You can also familiarize fans with a side project of your agent or promoter. If you visited a significant art event in your city, tell your followers what you think about it from your personal and professional point of view.
Everything you share with your audience should not be random and accidental. You have to sincerely believe in what you are talking about with your audience. Remember that this is not an advertisement, but a real desire to share something good and needful for your fans and to help your fellow artists gain exposure for their work. Pay it forward by helping others, and goodness will surely return to you.
10% of Content Is For Self-Advertisement
Ads on your social media pages should not take more than ten percent of your total content. Some artists start to shout out about a new work of art seven days a week using social networks. But it is hardly imaginable that somebody will pay attention to it since social media is primarily a communication place, not an advertising platform.
Of course, if you managed to create something special, be sure to announce it. But instead of asking your audience to buy a piece of your artwork, inquire of your fans and followers what they liked the most about it and why. Use this feedback to grow as an artist and to target potential collectors and buyers. Also, use social media to direct fans to your website to see more of your art and hopefully buy a piece of your artwork.
Conclusion
You should try to use social media for promoting your art in a meticulous way to reach your target audience. More so, if you want to use such online opportunities effectively, you need to be a sincere, engaging, and understanding professional in your field. Your target audience will see your personality and feel a much greater connection with you. Finally, do not forget to thank your fans for all their support of you and your art career.
James Baxter is professional ghostwriter and editor at write my essay, who loves sharing his experience and knowledge with readers. He has been working as a SMM specialist at the art gallery for a year. He is especially interested in marketing, blogging and IT. James is always happy to visit different places and meet new people there.
This article was originally posted in 2010 but has been updated and revised as of June 2020.
Steven Covey’s early 1990’s, best-selling book entitled “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” provided a holistic and principled approach to problem-solving, living and adapting to change by seeing opportunities rather than problems.
The book became a huge bestseller and still sells well today, even almost 30 years later. This is because the advice offered in the book still resonates. In that helpful spirit, below we have highlighted seven habits which we believe artists should follow to become highly effective and successful. Although we are detailing only seven habits, the readers of this article may have ideas on other successful “habits” as well.
The seven habits of highly effective and successful artists are:
There are certainly other habits and traits of successful artists beyond what we have outlined above. However, if artists are talented and apply these 7 habits to their craft, they will be more likely to be successful.
After reading this article, please feel free to share with us any of your habits that you feel have made you more effective and successful in your art and career.
By Isabella Goode, Guest Blogger - Whether you’re on the way to commercial success or simply making art, it’s easy to feel like there’s no time for creating and maintaining a portfolio as a busy photographer. However, take a moment to think about how someone would search for your services, be it for their wedding or a company event.
Perhaps they would talk to a friend, or just ask Google. In any case, they will ultimately want to see a website with information about the photographer that was recommended to them. This namely includes examples of past work, coupled with a list of services and prices.
Not only is your portfolio a showcase of what you offer, but it’s also a foundation for all of your marketing activities. That is to say, you’ll be using it to sell products, book appointments or just as something to bring people back to from other places such as social media.
Put simply, an online portfolio is an absolute essential for career success as a photographer. Not convinced? Here are some more compelling reasons to invest in a website.
It is no secret that the majority of people prefer to shop online, which remains true for the photography industry. While there are several online platforms dedicated to selling your work, they are severely limited in their functionality. In addition, you probably don’t want to be sitting side-by-side with the competition.
This is one of many cases where a portfolio comes in, which can easily be set up to serve as your own online store.
Every project comes with a unique creative direction that has a lasting impact on your vision and style. It shapes the way you work and with it, the culmination of your efforts moving forward. Your portfolio is a showcase of that evolution. It helps potential clients get an idea of how you do things when you have your vision alone to be accountable for.
Done right, your website shows visitors that you have confidence in your work and are willing to present it for all to see. It also shows that you uphold a certain level of commitment that speaks for your independence and level of effort you put in. Without a portfolio, there is no way to really prove this to potential clients.
The same rings true for your individuality. You can tell someone what you do and how you do it, but your unique style is more tangible when seen rather than heard. A portfolio is a perfect way to show the world through your eyes.
Thanks to the extensive range of tools available on the internet today, you don’t need any web design or programming experience to build an excellent portfolio. Once you have set yourself up on a website builder like WordPress, it is as simple as choosing a theme and adding your content.
From there, you can obtain additional information on making a well-rounded and unique portfolio through one of the many resources dedicated to the topic. This post with photography portfolio ideas offers an extensive look into how you can build an amazing showcase.
Moreover, Format provides countless templates and tools to help you get your mobile-optimized site off the ground. You can even get an online store set up, as well as a professional domain and email among other benefits. All of this on a single website, which goes to show how well facilitated this process is today.
As your clientele grows, managing your schedule and staying up-to-date with your calendar can become increasingly challenging. Online scheduling software exists to solve this problem and make life easier by seamlessly scheduling appointments. These kinds of tools can be integrated with your website.
Why would you do this? By connecting scheduling software to your portfolio, clients can book appointments whenever they are ready. This is far more convenient for them, as they don’t have to wait until business hours or your availability for a response. Not only does this save you time, but it also serves as a key advantage to your customer service.
As part of its marketing benefits, your photography portfolio can serve as an effective way to collect information about customers. For instance, you can request prospect email addresses, which can be used to send promotional content. This helps to increase your engagement, keeping potential clients interested and existing clients coming back.
If you are interested in making an investment in any form of paid online advertising, such as that which takes place on social media, then a website is an absolute must. It serves as the centerpiece for your campaign, driving a select target audience to your website where they can learn more about your services and ultimately become a customer.
When people are looking for a photographer, they are going to want someone that offers a professional service. Chances are that most amateurs in the industry have poorly made portfolios if they even have one to begin with. By putting together a professional-looking portfolio that is well made and informative, you immediately stand out.
Even if you take beautiful pictures, a clunky and outdated website will put people off. However, if both components are in-line with your potential clients’ expectations, they will be far more likely to give you a call. It is important to remember that your portfolio should look just as good as your photos.
To this day, client testimonials remain an effective way to prove your credibility and make a more compelling offer. Your portfolio is, of course, the perfect place to showcase all the positive feedback you have received. This will improve the trust that potential clients have in your services, thus increasing their likelihood of becoming a customer.
However, customer feedback isn’t just useful as a marketing tool; it is also highly valuable to you. Regardless of your skills or experience as a photographer, there is always room for improvement and feedback can help reveal where you can do better. Remember that you can also link back to your website on other platforms such as Google My Business and Yelp.
No matter where you are in your career, your portfolio will always serve as a valuable tool to meet your needs. Beginners will benefit from the way it signals credibility and increases reach to potential clients. From there, it can take on the role of demonstrating your specialties and the relevance of your work to those who are interested.
Even for globally recognized photographers, their portfolio is still a useful tool. It serves as a powerful calling card for potential business partners as well as being a curated virtual showcase to give other photographers valuable guidance and inspiration. A portfolio is a good way to prepare yourself for future growth and stay on track as you move forward.
The above points make it clear that having a portfolio is key to your success as a photographer, or in any creative industry for that matter. Be sure to invest some time into building a professional website that looks and performs up-to-standard. It may take some effort, but rest assured it’s a worthwhile endeavor that will quickly pay off.
Isabella Goode has written and researched articles for a wide variety of websites, blogs and magazines and has a strong understanding of art, design and a passion for photography.
by Frank Hamilton, Guest Blogger - Over the years, the popularity of social media has skyrocketed, and the influence it has on shaping perceptions and habits can no longer be denied.
Social media marketing for artists has become an essential aspect of their online marketing strategy, which they use to reach a wider audience and generate more sales.
In this article, we will be showing you how to write social media posts that will help sell your art.
1. Use The 3 W’s In Drafting Your Post
You have probably heard that content is king, but content without a substantial purpose is just a waste of time. To create excellent content, you must first ask the following questions:
These questions are called the three W’s. Your social posts should have a clear objective, and that objective should be clearly stated. This is because when your intended audience sees the content, it has to be something they will find beneficial.
2. Apply the KISS Principle
Another tip on how to use social media to sell art is to use the KISS principle. KISS stands for Keep It Simple Stupid. Keeping it simple is not all about the post being short. While you may hear people say that the shorter the content, the better, a recent BBC Study debunked this claim as a myth. Instead, we advise that you keep your social post simple to understand.
3. Tell A Story With Your Post
Storytelling is a very effective social media marketing tool for promoting artists and their work. Creating social posts that tell stories is a fun and engaging way to sell artwork. Studies show that storytelling as a marketing tool can boost your post-conversion rate.
Here are some tips in using storytelling in social media marketing for artists:
4. Use Words that Evoke Emotions in Your Potential Buyers
The best salesmen know that making sales is not only about selling a product; it is about selling a feeling/emotion. This knowledge is even more critical in sales of art. Therefore, when creating social posts to sell your art, infuse strong emotional words in your copy that will resonate with your target buyer.
5. Understand The Difference Between "Active" and "Passive" Voice
In thinking of how to use social media to sell art, you need to think of engagement and nothing is more engaging than using active voice in your social posts. For example, use “Tom painted the entire portrait …” as opposed to “The entire portrait was painted by Tom”.
There are several advantages of using an active voice over a passive voice, and they include:
6. Always Use CTA
If you are new to social media marketing, CTA, which stands for Call To Action is an action trigger that you infuse into your post, which will ask, tell, and remind your readers to take a specific action. For example, for a post with the main focus of selling one of your artworks, your CTA could be “click the link in our bio to purchase this piece.’
7. Make Use Of Hashtags
Using hashtags ensures that your post gets a broader reach. This is vital because when you spend a lot of time creating a post, you want to ensure it reaches a broader audience. Therefore, using hashtags will help give you this result. Think of hashtags as keywords for social media. They help people searching for what you are offering to find you easily.
A few tips on using hashtags:
Conclusion
Implementing these few tips in your next social post should give you your desired result of reach, engagement, and sales conversion on your artwork. However, if you need assistance there are several websites such as Online Writers Rating, which provide custom writing services. These types of sites are perfect for finding professionals who have experience in writing social media posts that sell.
Frank Hamilton is a blogger and translator from Manchester. He is a professional writing expert in such topics as blogging, digital marketing and self-education. He also loves traveling and speaks Spanish, French, German and English.
The Coronavirus pandemic is affecting all of us. For artists, like everyone, it has led to the loss of income and cancellation of events and opportunities. No one’s lives have gone untouched by this pandemic but there are many things that we, as artists, can do while we are self-isolating. Below are 10 things artists can do to remain creative, positive and inspired during this time:
1. Continue Creating Art
This is the most important thing an artist can do. Although being stuck at home can be challenging, all that extra time can be an opportunity. Use it to jump-start your creativity. Start a new piece of art or try to finish one that has been giving you trouble. Just continue to create!
2. Evaluate and Update Your Website
At the beginning of every year, we always recommend that artists evaluate and update their websites. For those that have not had the time to do so, this is the perfect opportunity. Keeping your website current, with your current work highlighted, is essential for artists, now more than ever as people will have more time on their hands to surf the internet looking for positive things to view.
3. Evaluate and Update Your Portfolio
Similarly, like evaluating and updating your website, we also recommend artists evaluate and update their portfolios.
4. Review and Update Your Biography & Artist Statements
Life is ever changing and it is important for artists to keep their biographies and artist statements up to date. Also, update your CV by adding any exhibitions, new publications or other pertinent information that has taken place since the last time they were updated.
5. Maintain and/or Grow Your Social Media Presence
Just because you are confined to the house doesn’t mean you can’t show your art to others. Keeping active on social media is a good way to connect with other artists as well as collectors. Keep your art in the forefront of their minds so that when this is over, or even before, you might be able to generate some sales.
6. Take a Virtual Museum Tour
It is important to remain inspired and active during this time of self-imposed (and for some forced) isolation. Museums from around the world are now offering online virtual tours. Visit these museums and be inspired to create more art.
7. Reach out to Friends and Family for Support & Ideas
Physical isolation does not need to also be social isolation. Keeping in touch with others is what is going to get us through this. We need to stay positive and we need the support of friends and family to do so. Reach out and run idea for a new painting by a friend or family member. Get feedback on a piece you’re currently working on and share it once it is completed. This will not only keep you inspired to keep working but will give your family and friends something to look forward to.
8. Take an Online Art Class
Many universities, art teachers and websites are offering free online art classes right now. From Art History to painting, drawing and photography classes, there is something for everyone to get inspired, continue creating and maybe even learn something new.
9. Reach out to Your Collectors
If for no other reason, just to touch base and wish them well. Perhaps send an email and invite them to see your new work on your newly updated website (see point #2 above). They are already fans of your work and perhaps it might inspire them to purchase a new piece, particularly if you decide to offer a discount or limited-time sale.
10. Research & Apply for Art’s Grants & Small Business Relief Programs
Many organizations are now offering grants for artists and small business relief programs. There are many that are geared specifically for artists and the arts community. Apply for any and all that you think you might qualify for. The worst that can happen is they can say no.
We at the Light Space & Time Online Art Gallery are also affected by this pandemic. Like so many others, our lives and livelihoods are being drastically affected by this global crisis. Our income is dependent on entry fees and during a time of financial crisis, disposable income is reduced. Thus, the gallery’s income is exponentially reduced. Nevertheless, we are committed to continuing our work of helping artists to continue to market their art to a worldwide audience.
How are we doing this? We are continuing to host our online art competitions and exhibitions. We are continuing our marketing and promotion efforts for artists. We are continuing to support and encourage our artists to keep positive and keep creating. And we will continue to be here for all of you as an outlet to share your talent with each other and the world because we must all stick together and support each other in this time of crisis.
In that spirit, although LST was scheduled to increase entry fees by $1 starting with the 10th Annual “Landscapes” Art Competition (opening for entries on April 10th), due to the Coronavirus pandemic - we have postponed the increase in entry fees until June 2020.
While LST continues to have one of the lowest entry fees around, we still recognize that artists have a choice of art competitions and exhibitions to enter and that money is tight for all of us right now. We value and are humbled by the loyalty of our artists and we are committed to maintaining our loyalty and support of them.
Thank you again to all of our artists for being such an important part of our gallery! Stay safe and healthy!
At the beginning of every New Year, we post an article with ideas and suggestions for how artists can to kick start the new year. Now that the year 2020 has begun, it is time to review the past 12 months and make plans for how best to tackle your art career goals in 2020.
Have you set up your art marketing goals for the New Year? If not, the following are 5 things you can do to kick start 2020 and improve your chances of success.
Many of these ideas are elementary, but consistently implementing them is not. They are critical for artists if they are to market themselves and their art successfully.
1. Evaluate & Update Your Website
In today’s art world, in order to be taken seriously, it is essential for artists to have a modern, professional, up-to-date website to display their art. The annual cost of a domain is typically less than $20. The cost of basic website hosting can be as low as $3 per month. A website is an investment artists should make a priority in order to be taken seriously.
For those of you who already have websites, when was the last time that you went page by page and link by link through it? If you are like most people it has probably been a very long time! I think that if you were to do this with your website you would find broken links, pages that do not load quickly, graphics, images and other items that have moved, along with pages with misspelled words and similar issues.
Is this how you want your website visitors to see your art? Take some time to make these corrections. Also, if you have pages that do not load quickly due to large image files or due to flash and music features, these items should be corrected or removed as people do not have the time to wait on your pages to load. Otherwise, if not corrected you will be losing these valuable visitors to your site.
Make sure all of the images on your website are sized properly and have a low resolution (a resolution of 72 helps your site load more quickly and protects your art from being copied by unscrupulous people). The images should also be color corrected. (There are many free programs on the internet for this.)
Do you have better images or graphics to replace what now exists on your website? Do you have new artwork that you just have not had time to photograph and add to your website? Do it.
Also, while checking your images, make sure that they are labeled and tagged properly with good image descriptions. Search engines will only index your images if they have descriptions. By doing this, your images will show up in the image search results. When the images are viewed, viewers will be directed to your art website.
2. Rewrite/ Update your Artists Bio and Statement
Review and update your Artist Statement and Artist Biography. An artist does not have to be an accomplished writer to create a well-written Biography and Artist’s Statement, but it is essential for an artist to have at least one. It is important to know the difference between a biography and artist statement. Please read our article “Comparing an Artist’s Biography to an Artist’s Statement” for clarification.
Also, update your CV by adding any exhibitions, new publications or other pertinent information that has taken place since the last time they were updated.
3. Use Social Media
Social media is the perfect platform for artists to employ in order to help market themselves and their art. Why is this? In our opinion, it is easy to identify and connect with the art community when using social media.
We also think it is an effective medium because it is a visual and simple way in which to present your art. Facebook, Pinterest, Linkedin, Instagram and even Twitter provide an artist with opportunities (if targeted properly) to reach viewers who were previously unreachable.
Read our article “Top 10 Reasons Why Artists Fail with Social Media” along with various other social media articles on the LST website.
4. Press Release Marketing
Press release marketing is a low-cost way artists can market their artwork to a wide range of potential viewers. There are many “Free” press release websites, which take, publish and market an artist’s press release copy. One such site is PRLog.org. PRLog’s free press release submission includes a PDF version to send to your mailing list, a search engine optimized page, hyperlinks in the content, and the option to select location/industry and tag listings. In addition, companies like Star One Public Relations offers press release distribution services for as low as $10.00 for distribution to 70+ press outlets. Read our article “Successful Press Release Marketing for Artists” and 6 Benefits for Press Releases for Artists to help guide you in these efforts.
5. Have Your Art Portfolio Reviewed Professionally
A professional Portfolio Review provides an artist with an evaluation of their art and a critique of how the art is being presented to others. Usually, during a portfolio review, the reviewers provide artists with additional ideas on how they can effectively market their art.
Much like art competitions, a Portfolio Review is an additional way in which artists can have their artwork evaluated and measured against other artists.
6. Start a Blog
Artists should consider starting an art blog as a way to attract and direct additional interested viewers to their art websites. An art blog is a great way to expand an artist’s target audience. It is also an effective platform to help artists market their art.
Read our articles “Top 3 Reasons Why You Should Have an Art Blog” and “How Artists Can Attract Readers to an Art Blog” in order to fully understand the power of a well-executed art blog.
In 2020 we hope you will make these suggestions part of your art marketing efforts. By implementing these recommendations, we believe artists will increase traffic to their websites, find more people interested in their art and ultimately, sell more of their work.
However, as with any marketing program, it is important to focus your efforts and they need to be well executed and performed consistently in order to be successful.
Good luck and have a creative and successful 2020!
