Do you have a website of your own?

zimscat July 11, 2010 at 10:27am

I have to chime in here about etsy.

I have used etsy for a while, and while the sales aspect of it have been so-so, the exposure has been GREAT!
I am now in the rods.com western wear catalog both in print & online < Peace Sign >, & have an exclusive with author L.L.King. for a Celtic Anael's Triskell which will be appearing in her forthcoming “White Rose” book series.
ALL because of etsy exposure.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/zimscat

Tom W.

Larry Berman July 10, 2010 at 10:43pm

Actually most noticeable distortion is barrel distortion which is rounding of the edges of the image, especially shot with the zoom towards the wider end and too close to the subject. Photoshop (I'm using CS5) has a really neat way to correct it under Filter>Lens Correction and it shows you a real time preview of what's happening as you adjust the sliders in the "custom" menu.

I have a lot of tips on photographing your own art, including an extensive article on how to set your camera:
http://bermangraphics.com/digital-jury-resources/photographing-art.htm

Larry Berman
Digital Jury Services
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

Pat Sarotte July 8, 2010 at 2:08pm

Hi Colin - regarding pix quality, a camera lens will tend to distort the edges, called "keystoning" that will round out the corners. The closer you are, the more distorted they will be. Imaging software, Photoshop among others, offers a way to correct. Try edit > transform > skew to pull out the corners & square off the photo, then crop off frame & surroundings.

Shade may reduce light flare and reflections, it can also dull colors or create a "color cast" if the camera settings (ISO or White Balance) are off. Understanding your camera is best but options available in imaging software can help. A light touch on any computer correction is usually best.

Colin Murray said:

I have a web site: www.DifferentToday.com. I hate it. Its not so much the maintaining of the site, as it is the pix on the site. Getting good quality pix for the site, is a problem. I have to hire a photographer. Just one more thing to deal with, instead of creating art.

Latta C Kussmann April 29, 2009 at 10:42am

Hi Scott,
Your art web site inspiration is a positive forward for many artist, who simply do not have the quality tools to create and maintain their own web sites; photography, grammar, layout design, maintenance, marketing tools are all problems to most proactive artists. Owning, operating, and marketing a web site can be an expensive ploy for many, especially an e-commerce site for art which is far too much. I have my own web site, www.lattasartgallery-alley.com., not through any third party, it is reasonable in cost and avoids high third party rates. I created and maintain the entire web site myself. It does consume time, which dimenishes art time, but I'm well organized, so I approach my site in like fashion. I naturelly handle my own photography without problems, even though I have studied photography, which all artist should have done at some time in their lives. Artists should automatically understand photography working with light and dark values as it is in fine art. These two disciplines are highly interrelated. I have studied the difference between the "standard business" as opposed to the "e-commerce" sites many years before I decided to have my web site. Any e-commerce format is for high volume retail sales, far more than what is needed for any art web site (this is not just my opinion) and very expensive to maintain through the marketing processes. I choose the "standard" format to project artwork and not hide the artwork with all the advertising, internet gadgetries and worthless verbige`, et cetera. Many of the cyberspace art web sites are so convoluted with every thing but art, itself, where is the art ? Images are scarce plus hard to find. I taught myself the home computer and later how to create my own site so I did my thing. Scott, I'll check out your site per your e-commerce venue, or maybe you should convince me why I should have an e-commerce. I have my own online free advertising venues so I avoid high e-commerce fees. I do appreciate your efforts.
Latta at www.lattasartgallery-alley.com

Pam Corwin April 28, 2009 at 10:53pm

I honestly can't imagine how any working artist could not have a website these days. It's so important, so people can find you again after a show, to list your show schedule, for ordering, posting new work, it's a critical tool. I've had mine for about 8 years. My wholesale accounts use it every day to see what's new and order, and my retail customers are from all over the US so it's critical that I have a good working site so they can reorder. Good images are always the key. If people can't see your work well, they leave. I don't have the time or expertise to do my own, so it's one of the things I hire someone for. I believe in delegating if you can't do it right. It's been a great investment.

http://www.psrock.com

stephanie swift April 23, 2009 at 11:10pm

I do have a website, www.prettylittlepixel.com. I set mine up through www.otherpeoplespixels.com
Inexpensive, easy to maintain. I have gotten enough sales through it to pay for the site. For the most part it's an online brochure and makes me look more professional.

Christine Hauber April 22, 2009 at 3:28pm

My site is http://www.workingintheusa.com

I created it using a Mac and Freeway Pro. Almost as easy as Photoshop.

Out Of The Blue Seaglass Jewelry April 7, 2009 at 2:59pm

Hi Scott,

I created my own website and it is a lot of work. I really enjoy it though. I am in the process of creating another website at the moment as well.

Out Of The Blue Seaglass Jewelry

Thanks,

Lisl

Kelly G. McCarthy April 7, 2009 at 11:06am

Yes, my site has been live since the beginning of December 08. I have a tiny bit of experience working with web pages so I created the site myself and incorporated PayPal for orders. The website was a considerable amount of work (for me anyway) to get it going but maintenance isn't too much trouble. My hosting company offered a small amount of advertising on Google with the purchase of my hosting plan. Their reports show that most of the site hits come when I send out a newsletter, which I do when I update the site with something new. I've done three so far and they go to family and friends. I also had an explosion of hits when someone copied my photograph of a Kodiak bear and placed it in a discussion forum about them. All of my photos have a copyright symbol and my name watermarked on them, so I am guessing people in the forum just did an ordinary search of my name to find the source of the original photo.

I do feel there is much more I can learn about marketing my site online but that it also costs considerably in both time and money to do so. I have had about four sales directly as a result of the site.

My site is at www.kellygmccarthy.com.

Laura Timmins April 6, 2009 at 8:11pm

My website has been mostly a portfolio site, with my current schedule listed. This year I decided I wanted to start trying to sell online. I looked at a lot of different ideas. I decided to link my site to another site on Etsy. I'm hoping this solution will make it easier for me to keep the purchase page updated with the tools the etsy site has to do that. It also helps with keeping track of past sales, etc. Also I think I'm getting interest through the Etsy site that would not have found me off on a site by myself.

I'm also considering using 1000Markets or Artfire the same way (instead of the Etsy) and I'm jus starting to look carefully at those.

My website is
www.LauraTimmins.com --- Clicking on the "purchase" page there actually takes you to the Etsy site

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Do you have a website of your own?

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