The down side to these gallery-sites is that there is no flexibility to show your work they way you would like to and their selling fees are normally very high.

Remember the times you’ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home under your arm? That is how a good website should showcase your work too. Choices of background color, layout, image size and quality, fonts, logos and text all combine to represent your work in the most beautiful way. That is what you can have with your own website – as well as complete control. Another advantage is that if you want to sell your work online it is much less expensive to do it from your own site.

For our art we use both website options and we find they compliment each other very nicely!

Not everyone! If you are currently exhibiting in multiple high-end galleries and making a handsome income, a website may not be for you. In fact, it might actually work against you – some galleries may not like the perceived threat of you showing your work independently on the internet. Better to make use of your gallery’s websites.

On the other hand, any artist who can classify themselves as either “emerging” or “mid-career” will probably benefit from having their own website to promote their work. At this stage of your career it is important to be able to have a place where anyone in the world can easily access and view your work. It is also important that your work looks as wonderful as you know it is!

2. Who are you trying to impress?

Are you trying to engage a Soho gallery to sell your $20,000 paintings or sell $5 prints to children in Korea? “Art” encompasses a huge variety of media, audiences, and budgets, and you need to be very clear about who you are targeting with your site. That Soho gallery might not be impressed when they see your online-store selling prints and art cards – but on the other hand, you could make a very handsome living if you really knew how to market those art cards. If you want to have multiple marketing strategies, you might even need to think about more than one website and maybe using a non-de-plume.

3. How should your website fit in with your overall art marketing strategy?

This is maybe the most important question you will need to consider in developing a website presence. A website is not an end in itself – it is only really effective when it is part of a larger overall marketing strategy for your art. This would include old- style hard-copy portfolios, lots of in-person gallery visits and presentations, regular (physical) showings of your work, and developing relationships with the art world. An effectively planned website can greatly compliment and simplify your other marketing efforts.

4. Is there a real market for art on the internet?

There is art business transacting on the internet, although we have not been able to find reliable statistics on the level of sales or the segmentation of the market into sales of originals and reproductions. It is probably fair to say that well-known work from established artists will sell because this art has a known market-value. For emerging artists, the picture is more complex – there is something to the experience of an original work of art that can never be seen or felt on a computer screen.

The sale of reproductions is another issue – their lower cost makes them a less risky gamble for the customer especially if your website provides a satisfactory return policy.

One thing is for sure – it will be increasingly important to have a website presence as an artist as more buyers become comfortable with the internet.

5. Should I have my own website or should I simply use one of the many artist website portfolio services?

This is an excellent question. There are many great artists website portfolio services available online today. As an example, check out Absolute Arts (www.absolutearts.com) and Artspan (www.artspan.com). These services are really online galleries where for a variable fee you can upload images of your work together with bios, artist statements, resumes, etc. The advantage of this type of approach is that it is a “connector” site – meaning that a lot of people visit there including dealers, galleries, etc. That doesn’t mean that they will actually see your work as there are thousands of artists represented by these services – but there is a chance.

A great example of the value of this type of website was the jurying process for the 2005 Florence Biennale. Hundred of artists were selected simply because their work looked great and they had it available to see on these large connector sites. We think that this type of jury process will become more prevalent in the future as galleries and show curators become moresavvy with the internet.

The down side to these gallery-sites is that there is no flexibility to show your work they way you would like to and their selling fees are normally very high.

Remember the times you’ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home under your arm? That is how a good website should showcase your work too. Choices of background color, layout, image size and quality, fonts, logos and text all combine to represent your work in the most beautiful way. That is what you can have with your own website – as well as complete control. Another advantage is that if you want to sell your work online it is much less expensive to do it from your own site.

For our art we use both website options and we find they compliment each other very nicely!

6

3. How should your website fit in with your overall art marketing strategy?

This is maybe the most important question you will need to consider in developing a website presence. A website is not an end in itself – it is only really effective when it is part of a larger overall marketing strategy for your art. This would include old- style hard-copy portfolios, lots of in-person gallery visits and presentations, regular (physical) showings of your work, and developing relationships with the art world. An effectively planned website can greatly compliment and simplify your other marketing efforts.

4. Is there a real market for art on the internet?

There is art business transacting on the internet, although we have not been able to find reliable statistics on the level of sales or the segmentation of the market into sales of originals and reproductions. It is probably fair to say that well-known work from established artists will sell because this art has a known market-value. For emerging artists, the picture is more complex – there is something to the experience of an original work of art that can never be seen or felt on a computer screen.

The sale of reproductions is another issue – their lower cost makes them a less risky gamble for the customer especially if your website provides a satisfactory return policy.

One thing is for sure – it will be increasingly important to have a website presence as an artist as more buyers become comfortable with the internet.

5. Should I have my own website or should I simply use one of the many artist website portfolio services?

This is an excellent question. There are many great artists website portfolio services available online today. As an example, check out Absolute Arts (www.absolutearts.com) and Artspan (www.artspan.com). These services are really online galleries where for a variable fee you can upload images of your work together with bios, artist statements, resumes, etc. The advantage of this type of approach is that it is a “connector” site – meaning that a lot of people visit there including dealers, galleries, etc. That doesn’t mean that they will actually see your work as there are thousands of artists represented by these services – but there is a chance.

A great example of the value of this type of website was the jurying process for the 2005 Florence Biennale. Hundred of artists were selected simply because their work looked great and they had it available to see on these large connector sites. We think that this type of jury process will become more prevalent in the future as galleries and show curators become moresavvy with the internet.

The down side to these gallery-sites is that there is no flexibility to show your work they way you would like to and their selling fees are normally very high.

Remember the times you’ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home under your arm? That is how a good website should showcase your work too. Choices of background color, layout, image size and quality, fonts, logos and text all combine to represent your work in the most beautiful way. That is what you can have with your own website – as well as complete control. Another advantage is that if you want to sell your work online it is much less expensive to do it from your own site.

For our art we use both website options and we find they compliment each other very nicely!

4. Is there a real market for art on the internet?

There is art business transacting on the internet, although we have not been able to find reliable statistics on the level of sales or the segmentation of the market into sales of originals and reproductions. It is probably fair to say that well-known work from established artists will sell because this art has a known market-value. For emerging artists, the picture is more complex – there is something to the experience of an original work of art that can never be seen or felt on a computer screen.

The sale of reproductions is another issue – their lower cost makes them a less risky gamble for the customer especially if your website provides a satisfactory return policy.

One thing is for sure – it will be increasingly important to have a website presence as an artist as more buyers become comfortable with the internet.

5. Should I have my own website or should I simply use one of the many artist website portfolio services?

This is an excellent question. There are many great artists website portfolio services available online today. As an example, check out Absolute Arts (www.absolutearts.com) and Artspan (www.artspan.com). These services are really online galleries where for a variable fee you can upload images of your work together with bios, artist statements, resumes, etc. The advantage of this type of approach is that it is a “connector” site – meaning that a lot of people visit there including dealers, galleries, etc. That doesn’t mean that they will actually see your work as there are thousands of artists represented by these services – but there is a chance.

A great example of the value of this type of website was the jurying process for the 2005 Florence Biennale. Hundred of artists were selected simply because their work looked great and they had it available to see on these large connector sites. We think that this type of jury process will become more prevalent in the future as galleries and show curators become moresavvy with the internet.

The down side to these gallery-sites is that there is no flexibility to show your work they way you would like to and their selling fees are normally very high.

Remember the times you’ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home under your arm? That is how a good website should showcase your work too. Choices of background color, layout, image size and quality, fonts, logos and text all combine to represent your work in the most beautiful way. That is what you can have with your own website – as well as complete control. Another advantage is that if you want to sell your work online it is much less expensive to do it from your own site.

For our art we use both website options and we find they compliment each other very nicely!

This is an excellent question. There are many great artists website portfolio services available online today. As an example, check out Absolute Arts (www.absolutearts.com) and Artspan (www.artspan.com). These services are really online galleries where for a variable fee you can upload images of your work together with bios, artist statements, resumes, etc. The advantage of this type of approach is that it is a “connector” site – meaning that a lot of people visit there including dealers, galleries, etc. That doesn’t mean that they will actually see your work as there are thousands of artists represented by these services – but there is a chance.

A great example of the value of this type of website was the jurying process for the 2005 Florence Biennale. Hundred of artists were selected simply because their work looked great and they had it available to see on these large connector sites. We think that this type of jury process will become more prevalent in the future as galleries and show curators become moresavvy with the internet.

The down side to these gallery-sites is that there is no flexibility to show your work they way you would like to and their selling fees are normally very high.

Remember the times you’ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home under your arm? That is how a good website should showcase your work too. Choices of background color, layout, image size and quality, fonts, logos and text all combine to represent your work in the most beautiful way. That is what you can have with your own website – as well as complete control. Another advantage is that if you want to sell your work online it is much less expensive to do it from your own site.

For our art we use both website options and we find they compliment each other very nicely!

The down side to these gallery-sites is that there is no flexibility to show your work they way you would like to and their selling fees are normally very high.

Remember the times you’ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home under your arm? That is how a good website should showcase your work too. Choices of background color, layout, image size and quality, fonts, logos and text all combine to represent your work in the most beautiful way. That is what you can have with your own website – as well as complete control. Another advantage is that if you want to sell your work online it is much less expensive to do it from your own site.

For our art we use both website options and we find they compliment each other very nicely!

6. What do galleries and art dealers like to see when they look at an artist website?

Galleries have about as many views of how work should be showcased as there are stars in the sky. But the wonderful thing is that these skills and preferences have been developed through the process of really selling art. Don’t ever under-estimate the experience and skill required to do this consistently – at Beautiful Websites For Artists we take out hats off to good art salespeople.

There are, however, some common elements which most dealers and galleries would agree on which could be summarized as follows:

• Keep it simple and elegant • Keep the focus on the art itself • Don’t overpower the look of the art with a site that looks too busy • Be VERY careful of “Designerish” effects like flash movies. In the time it takes to play your exotic flash-based entry page, the gallery will have already moved on to look at the next artists website. • Everything you would have in a hard-copy portfolio should be there – bios, artist statements, resumes, etc as well as clear information on how to contact you by phone, email, fax, and snail-mail. • Be aware of the potential positive or negative reaction you might experience from selling reproductions of your work online. Some galleries will be impressed that you are obviously business-savvy enough to be able to sell your work in this way. Others might consider it a threat to any potential sales relationship they might have with you.

7. How can I showcase my work in the most beautiful way?

There is really no getting away from the fact that you need to have visual design skills to create a beautiful artist website. One of the main reasons we started Beautiful Websites For Artists was because we were tired of seeing so much beautiful art showcased so poorly on some of the ugliest websites you could hope to find!

That said, here are some basic thoughts:

• Keep the website simple and elegant • Keep the focus on the art itself • Structure the site into different galleries and sections to compliment the work – don’t put everything on a few pages. Think of a gallery with different exhibition and information spaces. • Choose a background color that compliments and does not overpower the work. Think of the colors you would use in a physical gallery to showcase your work – neutral colors like cr?mes, whites and grays are normally safe. Black can also look surprisingly good – it has the effect of totally focusing the attention on the art itself • Lean towards a minimalist layout – a “busy” site design will normally detract from the work. • Choose fonts, logos to harmonize with the work • Copy should create the underlying feeling or environment for the site – it can create a sense of mystery or openness to compliment the feeling of the art. • Use high quality images from professionally photographed work – the “Garbage in – garbage out” principle applies here too!

8. How will customers and galleries find my website?

There are really three primary ways that someone would find your website. They could find you through a search engine like Google. Typically after your site has been up for a couple of months, search engines will find you easily if someone was to perform a search on your name.

Lets say however that your work is classified as “Southwestern Art” and someone did a search on that term. It is very unlikely that your site would be listed in the first few results pages because there are so many other sites in competition. Getting your work to show up in the top results of such a search will require optimization of the website for search engines during the design process AND a lot of work from you afterwards to link your site to as many possible relevant sites on the internet. This is a lot of effort – no matter what anyone tells you!

The next way that people will find your site is very simple – you will tell them! Example Phone Conversation wit