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  Connie Mettler February 17, 2012 at 8:34pm

  Hmmm... I've never had this problem, Janet. Try again? Did you look at the pixels width and height?
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  Janet Miller February 17, 2012 at 5:06pm

  Connie- I just tried webresizer and the image on the site looked great, but when I hit the download button and opened the file my square image had become a very skinny rectangle and everything was mashed together. Any suggestions?
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  sean McDougal December 11, 2011 at 11:18am

  Connie,I am maintaining the site myself.They will go over everything with me.And they will be there if I have a problem.And because they built it there won't be any guessing how to fix or change it.Now I am lucky they are in the same building as me.So I can just walk down the hall.But I do agree with you about controlling the site,and so did they.They felt the same way about changing things on time.Thats why I am going to maintain it.That was thier idea.So I wouldn't have to wait if they were busy.I guess what I am saying is if your not sure of what your doing,hire someone to at least consult with or build the site.Know your options,and make sure you have control.The yoga studio in my building is going through that now.The guy who built it was maintaining it,when she got rid of him he locked her out of her own site.He gave her a great price on building the site but was over charging to maintain it.So make sure you have control if you do hire someone.
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  Connie Mettler December 10, 2011 at 8:52pm

  Many good points here, Sean. I especially like the idea of doing it in trade. The reason I keep pushing artists to do it themselves and to use Typepad.com, Wordpress.com and some of the blogging platforms is because they are EASY. You can swap out an image yourself in a few minutes. You can type in your schedule when you have some time. One of the reasons that artists sites lag (old schedules, old work, broken links) is that when they want to change something they have to contact their "web person" and pay money to do the change so they put it off. Not that doing it yourself means you'll be right on it either, I realize. But when I get an email from something asking for a change, or correcting a date, or asking to add an event to the calendar I can just go there and type it in. You send me the info, it will be on the site in a few hours at most. Granted, my business depends on my sites -- but so could yours!

  Getting a site optimized for online business and good traffic will mean you have to sit down with someone and tell them everything you want and in the meantime you could just be doing it yourself. 
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  sean McDougal December 10, 2011 at 10:17am

  Connie,I want to respond to Richards comment.I tend to agree with him about spending some money on a good site.I think what every artist needs to consider is how much free time do you have,and what is your time worth.I myself don't have the time to build my own site.Or at least spend the time to learn how to do it.So if you have all day to spend on building a site,then I guess you can save some money.But if you don't have the time or know how you will be better off paying for it.I am using a company who develops web sites,branding and marketing for mostly bigger clients.And yes they are expensive.But I am also paying with most of it in trade.So if you think you can't afford it try to find someone who likes what you do.You might be supprised at what you can get in a trade.Also I decided to have my 2D work scanned instead of photographed.Right now the images going up will be photos.But I just had a few scanned.The difference is amazing.If your work has alot of detailed texture in it it is a good option.I work in metal and it is hard to photograph.If you are interested in scanning check out Lizzastudios.com.If thats not right I can get the right web address.They do large format work also.
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  Dawn Dodge December 10, 2011 at 9:10am

  Thank You for explaining that!! It was my first sale that didnt involve Ebay so I was not prepared. Thank You Again!!
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  Connie Mettler December 10, 2011 at 8:33am

  Yes, they are. Most of them are instant, maybe all of them. I'm sure there is help info at PayPal that can explain the differences. Of all the payments I have received only a couple have been echecks.
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  Dawn Dodge December 10, 2011 at 6:42am

  Connie.... Are credit card payments and debit card payments faster than Echecks? She had paid with an Echeck.
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  Connie Mettler December 9, 2011 at 8:43pm

  When you get a PayPal payment if you look at your account you can see if it is one where you will have to wait 3 days, so that could save you that problem. In my situation most of my payments are immediate so I haven't had a problem with this at all.
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  Dawn Dodge December 9, 2011 at 7:35pm

  All I can say to that is when Paypal tells you to WAIT 3 to 5 days until the purchasers money is in your Paypal account BEFORE you ship your work out....TAKE IT TO HEART!! I just gave myself a heart attack because the shipment of work was long gone to the buyer when three days later I get an email saying that the buyers bank denied payment. PANIC!! But...in the end we worked it out! WHEW!