June 19, 2013

Creative Ways to Sell Your Paintings Online

Now that you have decided that you want to expand your horizons when it comes to promoting and selling your artwork through the internet, the next challenge for you is on how you’ll be able to attract people to visit your page or website and check your paintings out. Here are some creative ideas that you can use when selling your paintings online.

Image source: www.designcontest.com

Create a name and a logo for your website
I suggest that you should take this one seriously. Think of a domain that will carry your name and your work and which will also serve as your trademark. It has to be unique and interesting and very much related to your style and kind of work. Make it as personal as possible to create a character and personality to your website.

Write something about your website and what you can offer
Writing a short history and description about your site will make it more interesting. Say something about how you started and why you decided to put it up. Elaborate on your art and your love for your craft. Show how passionate you are in what you do and that it reflects in your work. This way, you’ll be able to imbibe to your readers that they are not just looking at a piece of decoration but an art worth buying.

Post well-photographed and high definition photos of your art
Remember that your website is your portfolio online. You can show your artwork to anyone and anywhere in the world. They will not be able to see the actual painting so a nice photograph of it will allow them to appreciate the details. You can hire a professional photographer or you can do it yourself provided that you are able to capture the most important details and that it will come out like you are looking at the original painting.

Use videos to advertise and to tell something about you and your artwork
Create fun videos of yourself making your paintings. A time lapsed video is a great idea wherein you video yourself creating a masterpiece from start to finish. Videos tend to create more traffic in websites because watching is more fun than reading alone. You can also share your videos on YouTube or Vimeo and create links to other social networks like Facebook and Twitter to your page to draw visitors to your website.

Write interesting blogs
You can attract a variety of possible clients by writing interesting reads about art in your website. You can write about history of art, about your favourite artists or teach art techniques through your blog. This will make you website more fun and worth visiting again.

June 10, 2013

Tips for Building a Successful Online Artist Profile

When it comes to building an online business, artists should include in their priorities writing a quality profile. It may seem not as important as creating your canvas art, but if you want to increase your success rate selling your pieces online, then you have to spend some time drafting your profile.

Here are some tips on how to build an impressive online profile:

Tip 1 – Create an engaging profile. Write about some interesting details about your life, focusing on how you were led to the painting business. Tell why you paint, how do you use your paintings as an expression, and write in the first person narrative (I, we, my). If your site visitors can connect with you on a personal level, they are more likely to purchase your art than those who don’t have that kind of connection.

Tip 2 – Edit your profile. Don’t write a long, complicated profile. Read it to a friend first and if he loses interests after awhile, then you’ll know you’ve written a lengthy one. Ask for your close family and friends what they think about your profile and consider their comments.

Tip 3 – Use correct grammar, spelling, and punctuation. There are websites such as SpellCheck.net which you can use to check these things. Don’t post your profile until you’re sure it’s free from errors. It shows that you care about the littlest details and are serious about your business.

Tip 4 – Use effective keywords in your content. Keywords are important in getting high rankings in search engines such as Google and Yahoo! Using the right keywords will help people find you across the web. Include top keywords which attract people who you want to buy your art works. These will drive qualified traffic to your website. The more popular the keyword, the more traffic it will bring you.

marshall_kerry_james — International renown artist, Kerry James Marshall

Tip 5 – Include your best photo as your profile image. Use a good photo of yourself. People are visual creatures, especially in the online world. We want to see the person behind a blog or website. Seeing your profile picture lets other people know that you really exist and they will be more comfortable communicating with you if they have a picture in their mind of how you look like. It’s difficult to connect with someone whom you don’t know how he/she looks like. Eventually, you will have the occasion to meet your clients, so they should connect your profile photo with you in person.

Image source: http://mileswmathis.com/ and http://newsgrist.typepad.com/