Artists: Stop Building Other People’s Business

Cory, Thanks for all your information. I have designed my own artist's website on faso.com (fineartstudioonline) over a year ago. Feeling like a dinosaur with everything technical from websites, the internet, online stuff, it gave me moments of both satisfaction and frustration! I have been able to work on my site for a fairly cheap monthly cost as opposed to selling out alot of money to someone else, plus I can add/delte change things whenever, and I learned alot! I think about changing, but for now it works. Your info on WordPress has me intrigued.

I have had major problems getting people to sign up for my mailing list. I recently just opened an etsy shop, thinking I might have some sales, especially my giclees. I researched the other artists, mainly acrylic painters and what was selling at what price point. I feel I am after a different market, as my originals do sell in my galleries for a bit higher price point, thus the giclee sales is what I'm hoping to sell. Do you think being on etsy can actually hurt me?

I Cory. First of all, thanks for all the useful info you post. I designed my website with Dreamweaver and now I am trying to switch to Wordpress due to its flexibility. My main concern to sale online and to promote my work is how to deal with shipment cost. I live in Chile, South America and I recently sent a painting to an exhibition in London and had to afford an airfreight of US$ 150 and it was a medium sized image that weighted only 3 kgs.

It's much better to sell your own work from your own site and, as a web designer in training; I am presently running on my own site in Wordpress.

Cory, Admittedly I am biased since I run a business, www.artfulhome.com, which markets the work of artists, but it seems to be that there is one important component that you are missing, and that is the marketing side. No matter how beautiful and terrific a site is, what is necessary is to attract potential buyers to it. We invest millions in marketing, and thus are able to reach a much wider audience than many artists can reach on their own. While we might not work for everyone, we do make it possible for many artists to make their living from their art - and expose their work nationally to thousands and thousands of potential buyers.

Thanks for this useful article. I have not had much success selling my screenprints on Etsy (http://www.etsy.com/shop/VisionsInPrint). Although it's a fun place to be, it generally caters to a lower-end, more craft-oriented market and it's difficult to stand out there as a fine artist. I have had a few sales on a site which makes products from my artwork, but the commission is 90% (!) because they handle the production, sales and shipping. Sites like those are obviously not favorable to the artist but they do provide additional exposure as well as connections to other creative people.

I agree that it's much better to sell your work from your own site and, as a web designer in training, I am currently working on my own site in Wordpress. For those of you thinking about creating a WP site for your art, I would encourage you, but I would like to dispel the myth that you can make one in ten minutes. Realistically, I would allow one full day, which would cover getting a host, registering a domain name, uploading your images (assuming you have a digital copies already) as well as inserting content into your site. If that's too much of a time investment, I would recommend hiring a designer to help. I'd also like to add that Lisa F. is correct about the appropriate cost of web design.

Thanks so much for this article, as I've always avoided using sites like etsy to promote my work for the very reason that I am looking for higher end buyers and collectors and don't want them to think that they could buy my work on etsy or ebay.

I'm a younger artist and have only "launched" my career in the last 2 years, or been painting and selling my work full-time without doing anything else.

I would like to ask you if you would be willing to write a follow up article about ideas and ways to attract higher end clients and collectors. I have a few higher end clients, but right now I'm encoutnering a lot of middle to lower end buyers that do not want to spend more than say $300-$400 on a painting. I have sold several smaller paintings in group gallery shows this year, but have been rejected from all the galleries I've applied to this year, so no opportunity for a more important show (yet). Any input would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again!

Good points Cory, it's definitely important to have your own website, but I think the 'Art Malls' can work well alongside your own website, for selling prints etc. without the hassle of taking payments and organizing shipping.

PS: I think the range you quote for professional web design is on the low side. Yes, you can find those prices, but you'll get better work if you think of it as more like $2500-$7500. Which, I know, sounds enormous. It's difficult for designers to serve the artist's-site niche, since these are people who deserve and should have topflight design, but rarely have the budget. I've made it my business to serve artists and writers, but I'm discounting my work heavily to do so (even at the higher range quoted above).

What can come in the $500 to $2000 range is custom graphic elements and style sheet advice on how to make that WordPress site look like a pro hand touched it.

You've made this point before, Cory, and I do find it compelling. I have both my own website at lisafirke.com and an etsy shop at LisaFirke.etsy.com. The Etsy shop has only been live since mid-September, and I've made 18 sales in that time. I have no idea idea how that would stack up against having sold directly from my own site.

My reason for choosing Etsy was that it would attract more like-minded shoppers. If they like so-and-so's work, they might also like mine, etc.

What I'm finding is that this is somewhat true, but it's also true that I've had to train my buyers to find me twice--once at my own site and again at Etsy.

Since I'm also a web designer and producer, the technical side of putting up my own shop isn't an issue, so perhaps some split testing should take place! I'd be interested in your thoughts on this...

I added your article to my blog review. I hope you get new French readers.

This post hit the nail on the head. I think the problem is that most people think building their own website is beyond their skill-set so they go with the "easy" (but not always best) option. I admit, I was way scared to figure it all out but knowing what I know now, you just need a host such as Bluehost, then you need to search for a domain preferably with valuable keywords in them Godaddy Bulk Domain Lookup, then you can install a simple Wordpress site where you literally fill in basic info, wait a few minutes, and it's installed. I wrote a post about it here on Artists.me. The reason Artists should probably go with Wordpress is that it's easy, and speaks to your point of "Search Engine Friendliness." Artists can download the "All in one SEO pack" and make their site fully optimized with page titles, descriptions, keywords and everything else search engines need to find and rank their site. Good stuff The Abundant Artist!