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)
