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LIVE PODCAST: THURS., MAY 21, 1 PM EASTERN TIME

Can a website bring you sales of your fine art or craft? Five artists join in a roundtable talk about their experiences. Their work ranges from small items (hand made soaps and associated products to $5000+ oil paintings.) Your work undoubtedly will fit into this continuum. Some of our guests: 

• Kathleen Eaton, www.eatonart.com
• Cat Tesla, www.artbycat.com
• Stephanie Wheat, www.rebellionbags.com
• Barbara Bloom, https://imagesinbloom.com
• Lucy Kelly, www.belmonili.com

We invite your comments below AND we'll open our phones to your questions also. (805) 243-1338

Harry is finally ready to sell his well-equiped studio. Contact us at mackie-designs@comcast.net. He also has casting materials. 

Available in Palatine, IL.

So, whether or not we may be ready, different places are loosening the shelter in place restrictions.  Not sure when art fairs will be happening for sure or not,  but I'm starting to think about how it will work when customers are actually looking for jewelry again at art fairs.  Has anyone had any thoughts about how to protect ourselves and customers?  Do you think it's going to be possible?  I'm still having a hard time accepting that I'm "elderly" and "high risk!  LOL  Seriously, how will we handle it? I live in Indianapolis where we have a bunch of Covid cases.  How do we handle it when we go to another area where their Covid cases are either many more, or many fewer.  I'm apprehensive, no lying, and feel some responsibility to try to keep from exposing others as well as protecting myself. Anyone else having these thoughts? 

Online Seminar: Tuesday, May 19 at 1 pm ET

Mark Loeb of metro Detroit's Integrity Shows continues to develop helpful tools for artists.

Thurs., May 14, 1 pm ET - Part IV of our website building help

Scott Fox, a financial and self-help author, specializing in entrepreneurship and startup company advice joins us to answer questions about SEO (search engine optimization) and why it makes a difference to you and your website. He is the author of 3 best-selling books, including Click Millionaires: Work Less, Live More with an Internet Lifestyle Business You Love, full of easy to follow direction on how you can use the Internet to build a sustainable business. 

Scott has been my mentor in building my art fair websites. His step by step, no nonsense, non-techie style is meant for you.

**This is a question and answer podcast. If you have a specific question, we can help you right away. If we don't receive your questions, we can't help you.

We want to hear from you. You will be able to call in, but to insure your question is answered please add it in the comments below. 

Website Checkup - 2 pm ET

Web designer Franklin Piuck and ArtFairInsiders.com will be hosting a ZOOM webinar on Tues., May 5 at 2 pm ET. The topic of discussion will be critiquing websites and answering artists questions about web design, SEO and all the attendant options. 

If you haven't participated in a ZOOM meeting yet, it is a visual meeting, like Facetime or Skype, where you click into the site and appear on screen. We can see one another and chat about the topic. You must contact Frank ahead of time with your interest in participating so he can add you to the invitation list. 

1. Contact Frank: fpiuck@cyberhenge.com

2. If you are interested in adding your site to the critique also alert him to that and send him the link. 

There is a limit to the number of participants. We have room for 25 more at this time.

Should you bother creating/updating/promoting your art online? 

Look what I just found:

• The Louvre in Paris says its web traffic has gone from 40,000 visitors a day to 400,000 a day since the museum closed to visitors due to the Coronavirus. The website offers videos and virtual reality experiences here. 

Okay, that's the Louvre ... but what about all the shows that are offering virtual art shows? Artists are also. Will they come? Will they buy?

Crossing our fingers here. 

This is some promo we've done to encourage virtual shopping for art: https://conta.cc/3c1mwm9

What do you think? What are you doing?

LIVE - THURSDAY, APRIL 30, 2 PM ET

A well functioning website can change your life. It is the art fair that never closes. It can reconnect you with a former collector of your art and expose it to a worldwide audience. It opens the door very wide to new opportunities and has the potential to change your life.

Did you hire a designer to create your site and now it is complete? Or maybe you did it yourself and it is nagging at you for attention again. Facing the fact that a website is never finished is one of the less pleasant facts of life. If you want your site to do its job (market/sell your art) then that requires regular refinements and updates, and sometimes a drastic overhaul.

This podcast focuses on examining your existing website. Some of the topics:

• Is your site up to date?  
  • What are the standards you need to meet?
  • Should you modify it to match the current design style?
• Does your site fit your marketing plan?
  • Is it geared to your target customers?
  • How big should it be?
  • Should it be a store?
  • How often should you update?
  • How often should you revise it?
  • Are you collecting email addresses?
• Getting Traffic
  • What you need to know about Google 
  • Using Social Media
• Q & A

Our guest is veteran web designer Franklin Piuck, Cyberhenge.com, Web Design for the Arts and Small Business. Frank's own interests and contacts have caused him to develop a customer base largely involved in fine arts, designer crafts, and specialized antiques and collectibles. (Reach Frank directly: fpiuck@cyberhenge.com, 973-616-6162)

Please note: on Tuesday, May 5 at 2 pm, Franklin Piuck is going to host a webinar where we will further explore your questions about your website. If you wish to be a participant in the webinar, we need to have your email address ahead of time so you can receive an invitation to participate. Please send to me: info@artfaircalendar.com

We really want your input on this podcast. Please put comments and questions in the box below.

60968236059__3B75065A-278D-40FA-B88E-A9D3839365F1.MOVthis is a test real one coming as soon as I master video.

A potential way to start art shows on a limited basis. A drive by art show. Artists set their tents up either in the street facing the center of the street (if the street is wide enough) or on the sidewalk facing the street. Then potential customers slowly drive by stopping to ask questions or purchasing what they see.

Lots of issues and need of discussions.

Larry Berman
http://BermanGraphics.com
412-401-8100

Shows have been reaching out to us and refunding booth fees.  Thank you, but that's our money.  If you're anything like me, your main concern is about future shows when things begin to get back to normal, say in August or September and beyond.

My biggest artist expense right now is jury fees!  Some shows are deferring deadlines and/or jury fees, but still want their "cash cows" ponying up!  Why not roll the clock back and lower or get rid of them?

When I started doing shows in 1981, there was no such thing as a jury fee.  Then as time went by, I remember a $5 jury fee.  Then the flood gate opened and it has never stopped.  Can anyone really justify a $50 fee just to see if you can beat-out two or three hundred other artists in your category?  And then, often finding out you failed?  At that point, it is just lost money and no longer "seed money".

Having just filed my 2019 tax return, I can report that I did 40 shows and spent $2,200 just on jury fees.

If the shows really want to help us, what do you think the first step could be?

THURS., APRIL 23, 3 PM ET

Part 1 of 2 episodes:

Time is up. Get online or get out. We find ourselves comfortable right where we are. We’d rather suffer a little than try new things. 

(4/21/20) - there is an artist's work that I've always loved and decided to go shopping today to check it out and perhaps buy a piece. Yes, there was a website, but not updated since 2018, and no way to make that purchase. 

Is this you? Is it time to finally get this done? 

If you have never built a site before today is the day. This podcast will get you started with the basics and will sort out the options that have been holding you back. 

Our guest is veteran web designer Franklin Piuck, Cyberhenge.com, Web Design for the Arts and Small Business. His own interests and contacts have caused him to develop a customer base largely involved in fine arts, designer crafts, and specialized antiques and collectibles.

We'll start with the basics:

• Social Media, Websites or both?
• Where to start
  • Weebly, Squarespace, Wix, Wordpress
• Minimum adequate content to start with
• Should you try to do it yourself, or get help?
• Managing a website
• Getting Traffic
  • What you need to know about Google
  • Social Media
• Q & A

We suggest you print out that outline and make notes as we talk. As always, these podcasts are recorded and always available to listen or download at ArtFairRadio.com. 

LISTEN HERE

We've also scheduled extra time so that we really can take your phone calls. Call in to the show: (805) 243-1338

If you can't join us live, please put your questions in the box below so we can get you the answers you need.

I know, we're all paddling as fast as we can right now and it truly is amazing how our community has come together to help one another. Great job, folks.

Here are two surveys from art festival organizations focused on working to make things better for you in the upcoming days. Can you help these folks out?

• Fast and easy survey from ArtFest Fort Myers to determine how best they can help:
  http://survey.constantcontact.com/survey/
  
  
• Survey from FestivalNet.com. They are seeking information to evolve their services to help the Festival Community survive and learn about the Covid-19 impact on your business: https://festivalnet.com/blog/COVID-19-Business-Impact-Survey-4174

FRIDAY - APRIL 17, 1 PM ET