The Lincoln Gallery At The Smithsonian Museum

Just yesterday I had a call from a very successful and established professional artist – a man who has two studios in different parts of the country and exhibits in multiple galleries and prestige locations including the Smithsonian Museum. This artist embodies what most artists dream of when we think of becoming a successful professional artist.

The reason for the call? He was looking to extend his gallery representation and needed a website – because galleries were not wanting or willing to look at his package of slides. Websites are now ubiquitous in the art world – and if an artist this successful needs one – you need one!

One of the things I love about working with serious professionals is that they recognize that their most important time is that which they spend in the studio. While the artist in question above clearly earned a significant income from his art he also had a corresponding level of financial responsibilities – meaning that he didn’t have money lying on the floor just waiting to throw at a website.

But – he was not thinking of doing something on the cheap or trying to do it himself or have his daughter or neighbor or friend do it for him. Why? – two reasons:

1. He realized that any time he might spend designing or trying to design a website was time not spent in the studio – and that is where he delivers his greatest value. He understood the opportunity cost involved.
2. He understood that when a gallery or museum (that’s his sales model) looks at his website they will make a very fast go or no-go decision based on what they see and read – so it better look and sound impressive. He was therefore not willing to risk that by having an untrained person design his site.

Similarly, we just finished developing a website for a successful up and coming Southern California artist who also works primarily within the gallery system. He made a significant financial investment in his website because he realized that in terms of his career success his website was just as important as his house or car or studio. It really is that important.

Every artist knows or should know the importance of having a great website. An artist’s website is the foundation for all online and offline marketing activity, be it search engines, email, postcard mailouts, or personal networking.

But artists who are relatively new to online marketing (and even some pro’s) often focus on the wrong design features & marketing tools when they create a website, leading to poor results. Some typical problems include:

•    Poor presentation and showcasing
•    Confusing navigation
•    Ineffective marketing tools
•    Too much focus on website technology
•    The websites just don’t WOW visitors enough to take further action

What that means for the artist, is simple: Less visitors, fewer calls from arts professionals & potential customers, and an art career that isn’t growing as quickly as it should be.

Now, we would love to remedy that by designing and building artist websites for all artists – but many artists don’t have the budget for a professionally designed online presence, while many simply prefer to do it themselves anyway. We understand that marketing $$ can be a scarce resource and we also understand that regardless of what we think you might still want to build your own site anyway. So – we created a starter-guide to help you.

“How To Plan Your Artist Website To Get Attention & Sell Your Art” is a website planning guide to help you avoid the pitfalls and pain of a lack-luster artist website. Whether you plan to build your own site, use a template or portfolio system, or pay a designer, the guide will help you understand the important features and structure required for excellent online showcasing and marketing of your work. Just as important, it shows you what not to do.

It is NOT a programming, coding, or development guide – it focuses instead on all the important planning questions that you should tackle before even thinking about building a website – the questions that are often considered and realized after the fact when it’s too late.

Our guide was created primarily for artists new to online marketing and is based on our five-plus years of building premium artist websites – it answers the important questions that artists ask about websites and delivers the information needed to achieve great results.

So – if you happen to be in the early phase of a new artist website or if you’re planning a remake of your existing one, please check out The Guide! At $47 and with a bunch of really useful bonuses it could save you a bunch of headaches and possibly work some wonders for your art career. Learn More…

Regardless of how you build your artist website, how much you spend, or what technology choices you make please treat it with the importance and respect that it deserves. It is, after all, the foundation for all your art marketing!