I migrated to Wix built site (very easy), and so far all I have done is moved artwork onto it. I need to "build it out"... but I want to do it right the first time.
I know I need to:
1) write full descriptions for each piece, but should I include thoughts about the creation, price, and should I include extra photos (like side and close-up shots)?
2) should I have a dedicated page for new artwork or is that a waste of time?
3) I have about 90 more pieces (smaller watercolor/pen and inks) that I could also include, but they are older works (14 months ago when I first started drawing/painting)... I hate even showing early pieces. I still take them to art festivals and they are slowly selling, but I'd hate to post images that I dont think represent my current work. Silly?
4) is a "SOLD" page a dumb idea? I could potential put about 120 pieces there (we sell about 25 pieces per show, 5 shows a year).
gallerywallace.com
Replies
Thanks for your advise.
Try to get some advise. I am artist lives in New Jersey, USA. I have done paintings on convas, metal, and murals using oil, and acrylics.
Try to find best web site design builders, if you advise me with ur past experience, which will be great web site builders.
Thanks have a great holidays
Kind regards
Sayeed.
Sayeed, there are lots of platforms you can use. Every one of them has quirks and flaws, but some of them make it really easy to build a good site. My personal favorite so far is Weebly, if you don't mind having large gaps between sections. Squarespace and Shopify are excellent. Wix also is very good, but it gives you more opportunities to screw up. I saw one Wix site where the navigation bar exceeded the width of the screen, preventing you from reaching some of the pages.
If you would like some support in building the site, feel free to contact me directly. My email address is fpiuck@cyberhenge.com
Rick, I am a web site developer, and I have been working with artists for over 15 years. Most of your questions do not have "right" answers, and the answer that serves you best today may not serve you as well in one year, much less five. I have a former client who swears by her "Sold" page because it generates commissions. But most of my clients who do one of a kind work either leave sold items in their original galleries, or remove them entirely.
Having looked at your site, in my opinion you do not need to say a lot about any of your pieces. Title, size and medium is all that is necessary. If you enjoy describing your pieces it may be helpful. I doubt if side shots and close up shots will make the site more useful to all but a few visitors, so I would save the labor. It could make sense to have a page about your process that shows side views.
If you are prolific, a dedicated page for new work is a waste of time, unless there are built in tools that would allow the server to remove them from the page at a designated interval.
I wouldn't bother putting any work on the site that is not representative of your current standards and aesthetic. If it were an e-commerce site it might be worth the effort.
That said, I have some additional suggestions. I do not think your home page should be a gallery. It should be an introduction to you and give guidance to a visitor on how to find things on the site they are looking for. I think each gallery page deserves a paragraph or two about its content. i would suggest smaller thumbnails, so a visitor can see all of the work relatively quickly with less scrolling. After all, they can see a full screen view when they click on a piece.
I would have separate pages for contact and about you. And the about you page should have as a minimum a paragraph of biography and a paragraph or more about your aesthetic and how it has evolved. Use larger text and higher contrast. My aging eyes found your text hard to read.
Finally, if you are on the show circuit, you need a show schedule. I usually have a grid with the show date on the left, the show title in the center, hot-linked to the show web site, and the city and state on the right. To be more precise, that is how I lay it out for computer and tablet screens. For phones I have the date on top, the show name and link on the next line, and the location below that, then a gap between it and the next show.
gallerywallace.com
excellent feedback! And darn I forgot to add gallerywallace.com. Working on revising the front page now to a studio shot (also known as the space between my living room and my nook, a 7' x 8' space). I'll also see what i can do about the thumbnail sizes, WIX can be a bit challenging about those. Writing about myself and/or the process is always stressful. My artist statement makes me sound like an anarchist-lay-about that destroys as much as I create (written by a friend)... might have to tone it down )
I have only worked on one Wix site, and it was a brief effort for a teenage cousin who had built it himself, and I came away marveling at how easy it was to do complicated things and how difficult it was to do basic things that should have been easy. That siad, I would hope they have alternate themes you can move to easily that would have smaller default thumbnails. If not, I suggest you have more galleries with fewer images on each.
If writing about yourself is hard, write about your inspiration, your mentors, your subject matter and your technique.
Rick,
We're a lazy bunch sometimes. Why don't you provide a clickable link to your website so we won't have to find it on our own?