The next time you are tempted to invest your time and money in a "filler" show, take that travel time and your $$$ and invest instead in building a website or updating your beginner site. Think of it as building your retirement.
- Buy a domain name. Choose a name that reflects your work, or identifies you. Try to think of a name that someone would use to search for your work. E.g., bigcypressswamp.com, bestrakuever.com, Amishphotography.com, bronzesculpturesbyjean.com, ShererSaddles.com, finestfeltedfiber.com -- or if you think you can get people to search for you, use your name: Bermanart.com, Herzogart.com, Schimmelart.com.
Learn more about choosing a name here: http://www.domainsuperstar.com/how-to-choose-a-domain-name
Godaddy.com is the definitive place to go to buy the name. - Choose a website building platform where you'll find a template to build your site. See this link for some of our members favorite sources for hosting artist websites: http://www.artfairinsiders.com/forum/topics/have-a-website-but-am-clueless-what-to-do-now
Think about what you want the website to do for you. Will it be:a. strictly a gallery where you showcase your work and bring people to find you at art fairs, (a WordPress site) or
Most specifically it should be easy for you to update.
b. a selling site where you sell directly from the site (think BigCommerce.com that has all the bells and whistles for handling ecommerce) - Install some way for people to leave their email addresses, an email sign-up box so you can start collecting addresses for marketing. Here are the top choices for email marketing programs: http://email-marketing-service-review.toptenreviews.com/. I have five websites. They all have an email sign-up box in the upper right hand corner. I have built an online business as a result of being able to collect emails. It works.
- Market your website. Put your URL on all of your marketing materials. Make it part of your signature file in your emails.
- Download and listen to these podcasts while you are working in your studio or driving to that next show:
- What Good is a Website for Artists? (strategic beginning info from an expert)
- Online Marketing for Artists 101
- Email Marketing Works! Top Tips for Success
- Happy 4th Birthday AFI - 10 Tips for Selling Art (includes 5 tips for selling online)
- Artists, Are You Homeless? (finding a home online to host your site)
Comments
Thanks for asking, Bill. For this website (that I "own" and moderate) you can see it right up there on the right hand side -- see where it says "Free Email Updates"?
On ArtFairCalendar.com, ArtShowReviews.com and Calls for Artists.com you'll see in the upper right hand corner this message: Subscribe for Free Art Fair Calendar Updates with a sign up box right there. The ArtFairCalendar box brings in an average of 30 new subscribers every day.
Connie, what is one of your five web sites. I would like to see how you handle sign ups
thanks bill
Good point, Curtis -- google notices it when you update your site and moves it near the top. Updating that show schedule is the most important thing.
Geez, caught me on that Marti. I did know that. Yes - there are other sites for registration. Here is the one I use: InternetMillionairedomains.com, run by my son who has helped me build my sites, where you can search, register and transfer domain names.
Having a website is a great idea, and we encourage all of our artists to set one up. If nothing else, just have your contact info and few pictures of recent work. I believe that wix.com is fairly easy to use, and is free if you don't mind a few ads. And it is correct that you need to keep it fairly current, but this can be as simple as just adding a few new pictures every so often. In this way, your site will show nearer the top when being searched for.
About half the artist sites I visit have outdated schedules. If you can't keep an updated schedule, don't even put it on the site. Doing your own website using a website service that has easy templates to format and that can be edited and updated in a flash is the way to go. Cut out the middle man. Get it done fast and for much less money.
I use Fine Art Studio Online. HERE'S A LINK TO THEIR HOMEPAGE.
Get your website game on, y'all. WOOHOO!
Good for you, Roxanne! It seems like a lot of work, but just a little tweaking now and then, updating a show schedule, new images, a blog post or two, builds it, makes it more interesting, attracts Google, builds your mailing list AND pays off. We all have more time than money. Why not invest the time instead of chasing around the state/country?
Good advice. I once did an art show (that shall remain nameless) that was part of a festival. I realized it was a festival crowd, not an art show crowd. I had paid $175 for the booth, plus a jury fee, I'm sure. I told myself I was going to spend that $175 on a website instead. It is a much better investment. I don't make a lot of money each year, but I'm up to about 2 sales a month now. In addition, recently I won a contest and got my monthly fees paid for the entire year of 2015!