Utilize Free Artist, Social Media, or Image Websites

So you have thought it through and you are still not sure what you want to do because you are not clear about your options.  Fortunately you have many, especially keeping in mind that we have determined that best practices suggest that you not attempt to turn your website into an e-commerce website.  Even though your goal is to sell your artwork and increase your recognition in the art community, you don’t have to sell directly from your website to accomplish this.  Let’s start with the most basic and move up from there.

Leveraging existing solutions can be sufficient and a fun way to get started marketing yourself online for most beginning artists.  In this section, I am still not talking about e-commerce websites.  Remember, we are simply talking about places that you can send people to view your artwork and to learn about you as an artist.  Getting found and selling artwork online is something completely different. 

The websites I’m talking about are websites like BlueCanvas and DeviantArt that have created online communities for artists.  While I’m not in the business of promoting other businesses, you can set up an account on these websites for free.  With an account you are allowed to post your artwork and interact with other artists, in fact you can expect all kinds of feedback on the artwork you post from your fellow artists. 

I’ve seen many new and some experienced artists using social media websites like Facebook as an easy way to share their latest artwork with their friends.  Facebook is an excellent option for artists as your tagged images and text are completely “crawlable” by the Google spiders.  Please make sure you properly label your images and use alt tags so that your image and the owner are clearly described.  In Facebook, I believe their equivalent is the “tag this photo” feature.   I’ll explain that later when we talk about SEO (search engine optimization), but let’s just say that people will be able to find you and your Facebook page when they Google your name.  Outside of being found on a specific search of your name, as is the case with these types of websites, your artwork is only visible to your friends and the people you invite in.  Some artists have even used websites like Flickr, which was originally designed for photographic images.

The shortfall of social media is that you have to invite others to join before they can view the artwork you have posted.  While it is easier to share your artwork “with the world” on Flickr, you still need to tell people how they can find you.  Finally, since BlueCanvas and DeviantArt’s business models have them generating corporate revenue via advertising, attracting large numbers of artists to their “communities” is extremely important to them.  The attraction for most artists is the social interaction with other artists which can be fun and a great source of inspiration.  The downside of course is your ability to be found.  There is very little you can do to stand out on these types of websites.  Additionally, there is no way for you to “optimize” your presence on these websites so that you and your artwork are apparent in Google searches.  In our next post we’ll discuss another option that may be a better one for you.

Summary

Advantages

• These websites are open to everyone to join.
• There is no cost to display/promote your artwork and yourself.

Disadvantages

• With the exception of the Artist Community websites, their original design was not created for displaying artwork.
• You are one in thousands, so finding you might be a little difficult.