Thinking about a new artist website? Two weeks ago 1stwebdesigner featured a great article titled, “Six Solid Reasons Why You Should Use WordPress”. We think that’s a great message and its just as true (if not more so) for artist websites as it is for the Joe Schmo small business.

Lets start with 1stwebdesigners 6 Reason Titles and we’ll add our 2c worth on why WordPress makes SO MUCH sense for artists! Oh – and just to be clear we’re talking here about the version of WordPress you host yourself (wordpress.org), not the hosted version (wordpress.com).

Here goes…

Flexible Open Source

In a nutshell this means that it uses a flexible open platform and that there are literally thousands of developers all over the world constantly making improvements and extensions which benefit you. It’s happening while you sleep! The framework is also free – you can put up a WordPress website with a number of different themes all by yourself at no cost. A designer can also develop a fully customized site with unique design aesthetic for you too – but still based on the WordPress engine for ease of updating and simplicity. Many of the customized sites we build at Beautiful Artist Websites are just so.

Great Content Management System

To understand this think simply as follows – you can change your own content – images, text, create new pages, create blog posts, add YouTube videos etc, all by yourself. This is really important because you need to update your website content regularly to keep visitors interested and coming back. And in our experience designing artist websites – if its not easy to make the changes it ain’t going to happen! (Not so often anyway)

Search Engine Optimization Friendly

This is really BIG. We wrote a whole book about search engine optimization for artist websites – and we just released a rewrite for WordPress. WordPress is great for SEO because it comes out of the box with a structure and page naming (permalink) methodology that is very simply understood and indexed by search engines. The ease of updating and adding new content is also important because search engines like sites that are active and adding new content regularly. Finally, there are some excellent plugins (extensions) that push the SEO envelope further – such as the Google XML Sitemaps Plugin and The All In One SEO Pack. That gets you at least a third of the way to great search engine results and that’s priceless.

Media Support

WordPress makes it very easy to add images, videos (e.g. a video artist statement), audio, maps, slideshows, google docs, google maps, etc. Adding appropriate media content can make your site really interesting and engaging – and a superior art marketing magnet. Not only that but it actually makes it fun for you the artist and website owner to experiment with new ways of promoting.

Extended Plugins

This is another big one and comes back to the Open Source pint above. There really are literally thousands of plugins (extensions) available for the WordPress Platform. You can check them out on the Plugin Directory. Most times you can find a plugin to do almost anything. Examples: Want to add a Facebook “Like” button to your pages and posts? There’s several plugins for that. Want to check how your Mailchimp email campaigns are affecting your Google Analytics results? There’s a really nice plugin for that. Want to automatically ping Facebook and Twitter every time you add a new blog post? There’s a plugin for that. There are plugins for almost everything and nearly all of them are free, gratis, – a gift for you from some unknown developer somewhere in the Cyberverse!

Easy To Use

The back-end user interface is extremely simple and requires no programming skills at all. You can setup an administrator level account for yourself for use when you need to make design or extension changes, AND you can also setup an editor-level account if you are just wanting to add or change content. The editor level account is really simple to use. You can also setup editor or author level accounts for other artists so that they can post in your blog.  The WordPress Forums also provide fairly good support – in our experience you will get a response within a few hours in most cases. And in several years of developing sites we can count the number of times we’ve needed support on one hand!

Conclusion

That’s the scoop. Think about WordPress seriously when contemplating a new artist website. We’ve tried a bunch of platforms over the years and WordPress gets our thumbs up for artist websites.

Also, this week we are having our annual “SEO For A Song” 30%-off sale which we’re extending to both the General and WordPress editions of our Artist SEO Success System. Enter Coupon Code SUCCESSFULARTIST in your shopping cart and click “Update” to grab the discount. It goes away for another year after Saturday October 15 so grab it while you can!

Zachary Sosa from Boerne Texas posed a great question to Ask Art Marketing Secrets this week – one that troubles artists in every country on the planet and in every stage of their careers. Zachary writes:

How can I increase traffic to my website? Everyone I have asked have said that they think my art is really good. I just need someone to give me a chance.

You’re in great company Zachary – most artists start marketing online with a dream of a great website that will attract many visitors who buy buy buy! The reality mostly ends up a little differently – their beautiful website typically sits online with only a handful of visits from people – many of whom are not even particularly interested in art. Family and friends visit for a while to offer support – but they aren’t buying and after a while even they lose interest. Yikes!

What to do? Here are 6 proven tips which will help you bring quality visitors to your artist website…

Focus On Attracting Quality Visitors: After being in the online art and art marketing business for several years now I can tell you something really important! I would rather have 5 visits a month to my artist website from seriously interested potential buyers than 50,000 visits from any old “traffic”. Now to be fair this advice also depends on whether you are wanting to build relationships and sell higher-value artworks – or whether you want to sell low cost reproductions to the gift market. If you focus on low-price work you might actually like those 50,000 visitors because that could translate into a consistent revenue stream.

Integrate Your Artist Website With Your Art Career Strategy: Don’t underestimate the importance of physical shows in your local community. Host an open studio, group show, or solo show in your community regularly – at least 6 times per year. Have show visitors sign up for your mailing list and email them regularly about new work, upcoming shows, etc. Be sure to regularly update your website with the same information – upcoming shows, latest work, etc and include links in your emails so that people can click through to the pages which tell them about the new work or events. This way, you are training your art community to visit your website regularly to see what’s new. We have a great article series called “How To Stage A Successful Artist Open Studio” which will help you with setting up for regular local shows.

Optimize Your Website For Search Engines: Search Engines, like Google and Bing can help a lot to bring new potential buyers to your artist website. This is especially true if you sell lower cost small artworks or reproductions in the $50 – $200 range which can attract gift and tourist-market buyers. Example: Mary and her husband just came back from a great vacation in the Caribbean. After a week or so, Mary is pining for the Caribbean and decides to buy a piece of art as a reminder. How might she find such art? An obvious way would be to google “Caribbean Art” or “Caribbean Paintings”. If you paint Caribbean scenes and your site shows up on page 1 of the Google results you may have a potential customer. You can read more about Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in our article series, “SEO For Artists: Share Google’s Love For Art”. If you’re really inspired you can also check out our “Artist SEO Success System”.

Use Social Networking To Increase Visits: There are a myriad of social networking sites online today. In our experience focus first on building a presence on facebook. Setup a Facebook page for your art business – this needs to be in addition to your personal Facebook page. Post your latest artworks and updates there regularly. Invite others to visit your website. Twitter is also very useful however in our experience a much larger number of potential buyers are using Facebook. Lori McNee and Tara Reed are great resources for using Social Networking to build your online art presence.

Join Free Or Low Cost Online Galleries: Your own artist website should always be the place where you bring people to see your work. This is because it is here that you have the most control over the presentation and information flow. That said, online galleries can be a great way to get your flag out in places that people can find you. The most important point is to ALWAYS include links back to your own artist website so that visitors have the option to visit your artist website. This strategy has the added benefit that it can help you with search engine rankings by building incoming links to your artist website. Moshe Mikanovsky has a great article listing some of these gallery and resource sites.

Personal Networking: This is the most powerful way to do anything but it’s also the one many of us seem to avoid the most. Here is a simple start: Go to a local art event – a gallery opening or show, or talk at least once every month (preferably every week). Make a point of talking with 5 new people each time and “be the artist”. Share your business card (which must have your website URL on it). Nurture the relationships and friendships that develop with artists and arts professionals.

These simple tips will take some effort! But everything good in life requires us to exercise and grow – that’s the point really. One final point:

Consistency Is King

It is much better to do a little consistently every week that to do a handful of mad-dash all-inclusive efforts each year. Rome wasn’t built in a day – it was build brick by brick. So it is with your art career!

Happy New Year from Art Marketing Secrets, Beautiful Artist Websites, and Espresso Artist Websites! We hope that 2011 is a big year for you, your loved ones, and your art career.

To give you a GIANT boost we’re offering $287 in extras FREE when you order one of our Espresso Artist Websites this week. That’s right – Order an Espresso Artist Website by January 7 and you’ll bag these great presentation and marketing features completely GRATIS!

- Home Page Slide Show (Normally $95)
- Email Management System (Normally $95 Setup Charge)
- The Artist SEO Success System (Normally $97)

That’s $287 in free bonuses not to be repeated after January 7. Simply place your order and we’ll include these bonus features.

Why Espresso Artist Websites?

Selling Art is a system and many artists don’t succeed because they only stab at isolated parts of the process instead of consistently working the full system. If you want to understand what we’re talking about, grab our free report, “7 Steps To Sell Your Art Online”

We created Espresso Artist Websites to actively support you through the three critical aspects of selling art:

• Attracting New Buyers
• Impressing them with your beautifully showcased art
• Building relationships with them that lead to sales

We do this with powerful search engine features, fully integrated blogging and email marketing, Social Media Marketing, and, of course, our trademark beautiful showcasing. All of these wrap together into a solution that we call our “21st Century Art Marketing Machines”!

So – here is your one-time chance to grab one of these fully featured websites with $287 in bonus features at no additional charge. Order by January 7th to receive this special offer. Simply place your order and we’ll include the bonus features for you.

Happy 2011 from all of us here at AMS, BAW, and Espresso. Now go get those art collectors!

One possible and highly likely reason for your lack of success is that you’re using isolated marketing methods that don’t generate enough momentum to lead to results that sell art online. Success in any modern business requires a comprehensive multi-faceted marketing approach and art is no exception to this rule.

To learn how to apply a marketing system to your website you could go study small business marketing for a year in Grad School. Interesting, expensive, and time consuming! You could also get started with 7 Steps To Sell Art Online, a free 20-page primer from Espresso Artist Websites.

In just 20 minutes you’ll understand the framework you need to put in place and follow to be successful with your artist website.

Chapter titles from 7 Steps To Sell Art Online

• The 4-Stage Online Art Marketing Model
• How To Attract NEW Visitors To Your Artist Website
• How To Help Google Sell Your Art
• Social Networking Your Way To Art Career Success
• The Importance Of WOW!
• Repetition Rules Art Relationship Building
• Build Community With A Beautiful Blog

We know that most artists love to work on their own marketing so here is your opportunity to grab some success with this great free report from Espresso Artist Websites.

Kristen Hoard is a metal sculptor from Sacramento California. She creates really fabulous metal sculptures and metal wall art, most with a very strong fire element running through them. You can see a selection of her work on her new website.

Kristen’s sculptures are very marketable for a number of reasons.

Firstly, they have a lot of visual impact with the elements of fire and light coming through very powerfully.

Second, her work is consistent – even though she creates a variety of different pieces, almost all her work is recognizable in her signature style and themes.

Third, Kristen’s sculptures can appeal to a wide variety of art segments from art collectors through interior decorators to new homeowners. That opens up a lot of commercial possibility.

Finally she has a wide range of price-points – starting at around $500 through to pieces that can fetch $5,000 or more. That broadens her potential market further.

An artist like Kristen needs a website that doesn’t just showcase well but also supports the consistent marketing effort she has to put in to get the word out and make sales. That’s why she came to us at our sister business, Espresso Artist Websites.

“I chose Espresso Artist Websites because I wanted a site that would help me market my work more powerfully,” said Kristen. “I’ve had 3 years of experience with an earlier website so I knew what I was looking for. Presentation is very important but so is the ability to find new customers and build relationships with search engine optimization, blogging, social networking, and email marketing. When I came across the Espresso websites I knew that was exactly what I was looking for.”

Lets talk about how Kristen’s new artist website supports her.

Attracting New Customers

To build relationships that lead to sales, you first have to attract new visitors to your website. One very powerful way to do that is search engines. Kristen’s new Espresso website has an extremely search engine friendly design. Kristen also purchased the optional SEO training system and is currently working through researching her most powerful keywords and placing them in her site. The Espresso websites concept makes this extremely simple.

Another great way to attract new visitors is through social networking. Within a few hours of launching her site 40 visitors had clicked the “Facebook Like Button” on her home page. What that means if you don’t know Facebook is that in each of those 40 visitors Facebook news streams, a message showed up that they had “liked” Kristen’s website – and that was then visible to ALL the friends in their facebook networks. That’s powerful!

Impressing and WOWing Visitors

Kristen Hoard ~ Metal Sculptor

Many artists make a big effort to attract visitors to their websites but don’t deliver on presentation and content. That means those visitors will probably never return and that’s not good marketing!

Kristen’s site on the other had is compelling. All the images, whether on the homepage slideshow or in the portfolio sections really stand out. That’s a result of 3 processes – great quality work, excellent professional photography, and finally professional design. With a very rare exception, artists just don’t have the graphic and web design skills to showcase art like that.

The other part of wowing visitors is with the text content. Kristen’s “About” section is really interesting. I especially recommend that you visit her “Process” page where you can see descriptions and photos of how she creates her work. Also, check out her “Shows” page. Don’t you get the feeling that there is a lot happening in this artist’s career? That is an important perception to deliver because buyers like to associate with success!

At the end of the day this all means impressed visitors who will return for more – visitors who you can build relationships with and sell to.

Building Relationships & Selling

It is an established fact that repetition builds brand-awareness and relationships. The best way to do this is on the phone and with your feet on the street! We are great advocates of traditional marketing, however there is a whole world of relationship building that your website can do for you too. Like a giant marketing iceberg, the large part of the effort required to be successful is largely unseen and this is what your website can help you with. How?

Email Marketing: Those impressed visitors can sign up for Kristen’s email list. With an Espresso Email management system can easily send personalized mass-updates to everyone on your list. What do you write about? Mainly your latest work, and upcoming shows and events. It is about creating a perception of activity and success in your art career.

Blogging and Social Networking: I put these two together because they work in a very integrated way. An Espresso Website is built with a fully integrated WordPress blog backend. We chose WordPress because of it’s unprecedented support for social networking and search engine optimization and we made it fully integrated with the website because that way you get the most marketing power. Here’s how it can work: Kristen writes a blog post or updates her shows page with an upcoming show. A number of things now happen.

- First: An update goes out on her RSS feed – this means that her post can be found by newsreaders looking for content with her keywords.

- Second: The website automatically send updates to Kristen’s Facebook pages and Twitter account. All the people in her Facebook and Twitter networks will see the update and can choose to click through and read the post or show update.

- Finally: Kristen’s email management system can be setup to automatically send out daily or weekly summaries of her updated blog posts and shows updates.

THAT is automated, heavy-duty relationship building working for Kristen’s art career!

The final sales close phase of an expensive work of art will nearly always involve a phone call or studio visit. There are things that humans simply do the best – and don’t we all want to enjoy that feeling of being personally involved in an art sale anyway? I sure do! (Note: we do offer online payment systems if desired)

The point is that a good website – like Kristen’s can take care of a lot of the heavy-lifting marketing tasks, leaving you more time to create art, market with word-of-mouth, and close sales.

“I looked at a whole range of artist website options,” said Kristen, “from monthly fee portfolio services to artist websites with substantial up-front prices. Espresso was not the least expensive but they really stood out as incredible value for what they deliver – I think my new site is a great investment.”

Please enjoy Kristen’s website and the beautiful work that it showcases!

Learn more about Espresso Artist Websites and sign up for our free 20 page PDF report, “7-Steps To Sell Art Online” at http://www.espressoartistwebsites.com

Note: We are in the final stage of our launch phase and we’re still offering introductory pricing. This however will end on September 30 and the prices go up up up! So if you are serious about claiming a great website for your art career – don’t delay.

Vincent Van Gogh ~ Vase With Twelve Sunflowers ~ 1889

#1: International Art Scammers Want You

By Tanya Mikaela

I was approached this past week with something that looked great at first but turned out to be a major scam with the potential to take advantage of many artists. Thankfully my brother who is a photographer knew all about this and warned me before things progressed too far – but other artists need to be aware. This great article by Los Angeles area artist Tanya Mikaela has been widely read and has helped a number of artists avoid this now well known scam – don’t miss it!

#2: 18 Tips To Bring Visitors To Your Artist Website

By Daniel

Suffering from low-traffic blues on your artist website? Your number of visitors is only limited by you! If you have a big enough imagination, are willing to think outside the box, and don’t mind applying some serious old-fashioned elbow-grease to your art marketing, you can bring in a nice consistent stream of art-hungry visitors.

#3: 5 Big Artist Website Mistakes That Don’t Sell Art

By Daniel

You might think you have an awesome artist website – but there’s a good chance it suffers from at least one major problem that could seriously limit your career success. Avoid these 5 major art marketing mistakes that could keep collectors from your door!

#4: A Sample Letter To A Gallery Director

By Daniel

This is a sample of a fairly standard letter to a gallery director inviting them to review your work. You will note that it is low-key and respectful in its approach – this is a good safe strategy especially if you don’t know much about the director.

#5: 5 Essential Twitter Tips To Sell Art Online

By Daniel

As we prepared the copy for our featured artist column it came as a blinding flash that in finding and choosing Kazuki Takizawi a classic social marketing sales process for art had been revealed to us. Common sense important art marketing advice!

Note: Full disclosure! Our real #1 most popular article is actually, “Would We Recognize Jasper Johns At A Sidewalk Art Sale”. So why didn’t we include that? Because the reason for its popularity is that the Jasper Johns painting image in the article ranks very highly in Google Image searches for Jasper Johns. So, while the traffic is real, we don’t believe that it is a true measure of the popularity of the article. How about that for editorial discretion! Good tip for SEO by the way – be sure to optimize your image names for search engines.

These are great weekend reading so please enjoy!

Latifah Shay Website Homepage

Many of you may know that we started our sister Business, Beautiful Artist Websites, back in 2005 because we were tired of seeing so many really badly designed artist websites.

Times have changed and there are more good-looking artist websites online than there were back then, but the reality is that many are still poorly presented and don’t do their job well at all. One of the reasons for this is that artists often believe that because they are an artist that also qualifies them as a designer too. Not so!

However sometimes the artist IS also a designer and when that happens the results can be amazing. We came across such a site recently and wanted to use it as an example of what really works. Welcome then to the world and website of Latifah Shay!

First impressions are extremely important and when you visit Latifah’s website you will feel how that works. I can only describe my feelings so here we go with my subjective assessment…

First Impressions

As soon as I arrive at Latifah’s home page I realize that something special has happened – I’ve stumbled across a whole world of experience and I feel excited. I want to explore and find out more.

A number of things contributed to that – first is the fact that Latifah is a true artist. When I look at her art I feel so much more than the media or the colors or the technical skill – I feel life experience and beauty and purpose and a story. There is a whole holographic world with each one of her artworks.

The next thing is that the design of the website is so harmonious with the art – and this contributes to the feeling that I am traveling through a whole world of experience. The art births this feeling, but the website magnifies it. Having large images of the art on the homepage has impact and allows the work to have the greatest influence on the visitor.

Finally, the picture of Latifah on the right hand side of the website is always with me on every page – so I feel as though she is actually escorting me through the site just as if I was at an open studio. It creates a very personal experience which deepens my appreciation of the work.

A few practical but important observations too:

• The website loads quickly in my browser so I don’t get impatient
• The nav-bar (menu) is consistent on every page so I never feel lost
• The naming of the pages and the URL structure are very search-engine-friendly

The Gallery

Latifah Shay Website Gallery Page

When I click through to the gallery sections of the site I’m presented with a visually compelling array of thumbnails. I feel like I’m in an expensive candy store and I’m not sure which image to pick!

But I do click through to each one and the lightbox enlargements present the work well. Personally I’m not a huge fan of the white-borders that lightbox displays typically add – but it is not a show stopper for me.

Again, having the image of Latifah with me on the gallery pages makes this more than just my own journey. The artist is with me and is guiding me along. We often say that an artist website with the right presentation and design can help you build relationships with buyers and this site is a great example of how this principle can work.

The About The Artist Sections

Latifah’s Bio and Artist Statement are crafted in a format we expect – which is good. The thing that stands out as I read them is that her experience and artistic consciousness are very much aligned with her art. Listen to her Artist Statement:

I feel such joy and freedom when I create. When I paint I am present with the
truth of who I am. I move through life enjoying, exploring and expressing this
exciting part of my being.

I listen to my heart as I create, moving with what feels right. My artwork
captures but a moment of my experience of the Divine.

My current work is bold and expressive, tender inside and very real. Marriage
and motherhood have fostered strength and conviction in my art.

This is actually what I feel when I look at the art. This “alignment” is a very powerful thing for any human and suggests a person who has matured into a full sense of self. You can read more on this theme in our article, “Sell Art With Authenticity”.

So again, part of what makes this website great is that the artist is ready for it!

Some practical points:

• I do like the signature on the artist statement page. It adds to the experience.
• Working with a professional writer is a great idea for these sections. A pro who understands you can often create something more authentic than you could.

The Shows Page

This page is straightforward but I want to comment on it for one reason. Latifah did a very simple but very neat thing on this page – can you see it??

Here it is: At the end of each show description she has a link to “photos”. Clicking on that link takes you through to a blog post describing that show and showing photos of the works on display. This makes the one-line show description SO MUCH MORE REAL!!

The Blog Section

I like Latifah’s blog because it is interesting, but I like it more because it shows me that she is successful! Many of her posts are about shows and commissions with nice visual imagery of the work on display. Check out Retreat Center Commission: Installation Photos and New Art: The DaSilva Commission Installed.

Why is this important? Because as a prospective buyer I get really interested when (1) I like your work, and (2) I see that other people also like it and buy it.

There is an old saying that “Much gathers more…. and loss leads to greater loss”, so sharing successful moments is important to build your career and Latifah’s blog does this well.

Conclusion

The things that make Latifah’s website work so well for me are great art, good design and presentation, a positive upbeat successful vibe, and authenticity. As a visitor, after spending a few minutes on her website I am thinking:

• I really want to go to a showing of her work
• I’d love to talk with Latifah and find out more about her work and artistic vision
• I’m really thinking I will want to buy something – maybe I could commission a piece for my home?

I can tell you from experience – if your artist website can do that for you, it just doesn’t get any better!

Latifah is a designer and an artist – and it shines through in her website. Not every artist is a designer though – so if you’re ready for a new site please check out our new Art Marketing Machines at Espresso Artist Websites. Payment plans are available!

In our experience Galleries, Art Dealers, and Art Buyers have as many views of how work should be showcased online as there are stars in the sky. The wonderful thing is that these skills and preferences have been developed through the process of actually buying and selling art. Don’t ever under-estimate the experience and skill required to do this consistently – at Art Marketing Secrets we take our hats off to good art salespeople – and you can learn a lot from them.

In the last five years we’ve talked to a lot of galleries and dealers and we’ve found there are common elements which most agree on regarding what they like to see when they visit artist websites. Here is a snapshot for you to focus on:

1. You might only have a few seconds to make an impression! Art dealers are business people who need to sell to survive and prosper. While they may love art, their primary focus is the business of art. If the first impression from your website doesn’t get their attention you’ve lost them.
2. A simple, minimalist, and elegant style. Not busy!
3. Complete focus on the art itself with neutral complimentary website background colors.
4. Beautifully lit and photographed images. This is probably the single most important visual factor in an artist website. Where possible we recommend using a professional photographer experienced in shooting fine art.
5. Don’t overpower the look of the art with a site that looks too busy
6. No “Designer-ish” 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 artist website.
7. Clear Navigation – Don’t let visitors get lost in your website because when they get lost they will LEAVE! Clear, consistent navigation on every page is vital.
8. Include everything you would have in a hard-copy portfolio – bios, artist statements, resumes, etc.
9. Consistency in style and quality is extremely important to art business people. There are two ways you can help this: (i) Only put your very best work on the artist website – you have to be 125% proud of it. (ii) Structure the gallery sections of your artist website into separate sub-gallery sections each of which should show consistency in style and theme. Think of how commercial galleries and museums use separate spaces to focus attention and realize that is what they want to see in your website.
10. The about the artist section needs to be designed to engage and interest – too often it’s thrown in as an afterthought. This is very important because buyers and galleries are interested in (1) your art and (2) You the artist and (3) You the business person. Your “about” section is a subtle sales pitch so do it well and if you don’t like to write consider hiring a professional.
11. It should be very easy to contact you. A very clearly-labeled contact page should include an email address or contact form AND a phone number. I am amazed at how many artist websites I visit that don’t list a phone number on the contact page. Big Mistake! In my experience, the most serious business people often prefer to call you – so don’t make it difficult for them. A studio address or PO box is also good to include because it gives a sense of physical reality to your business. As a side note, its best to avoid using your home phone as your business phone. It can be off-putting to a buyer to see your stunning work beautifully showcased on your website gallery only to call you and hear a voicemail message like: “Hello. This is the Adams family. Please leave a message for Amy, Jeff, and Twinky after the tone!” Get a second line and put a professional message on the voicemail. Keep your image and your message coherent.
12. Be aware of the potential positive or negative reaction you might experience from selling reproductions of your work online if your target sales channel strategy is galleries. 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. Just be aware of who you are dealing with and how they might see this.

Follow these steps and your website will be on its way to impressing galleries, art dealers, and collectors.

Speaking of impressing art buyers – we are just a few days away from the launch of our new artist showcase websites at Espresso Artist Websites To Go! If you’re serious about online art sales success please visit, sign up for our free report, and learn about our 21st Century Art Marketing machines.

Cincinnati Art Museum

No – that wasn’t meant in a complimentary tone! For a long time now we’ve been voicing our concerns about flash-based artist websites. You can check out our thoughts on this topic in our previous article, Are Flash Websites Good For Artists.

But guess what? – we aren’t the only online art marketing advisors voicing our concerns about Flash. In recent months, Robin at Artist Career Training, Dan at Empty Easel, and Clint over at Fine Art Views have all been very clear about their concerns with Flash as an artist website technology.

To top it all off, this week the very influential design site Smashing Magazine published “The Gradual Disappearance Of Flash Websites”.

So – what are you waiting for? And why are so many artists and photographers being seduced by flash artist websites offered by big commercial portfolio companies?

Here is my honest opinion – and I’ve decided not to pull any punches with future articles. I think that artists choose flash artist websites because they don’t have a clue about art marketing. They think flash sites look sexy and breathtaking, but what they don’t realize is that while that might be true for showing off to friends and family, it isn’t the case when you are trying to promote professionally. (I do make one exception to this – see below later). My honest opinion is that flash artist websites are for amateurs who want to think of themselves as professionals.

There are a bunch of problems with Flash which you can read about in my earlier article mentioned above, “Are Flash Websites Good For Artists“. But here the reasons why I believe that a true professional (meaning someone who has to generate business not just look sexy) wouldn’t touch this admittedly great-looking technology:

Slow Loading – A typical flash artist website takes a long time to load and most of us are developing shorter attention spans not longer. As a professional assessing work online, I want to see the art quickly because I don’t have much time and my eye can detect the style of art I want to select very quickly. I don’t want to be slowed down by your website with its % counters ticking away while the page loads. Honestly – when I see that these days I am GONE and that is lost business to a pro.

Distraction – Flash artist websites are typically incredibly distracting. Those page loads, swipes, flutters, and moving images might impress your friends but they will just alienate a serious art professional. Think I’m kidding? Make a list of 20 flash-based artist sites and go visit them all one by one. I’ll bet you anything that you feel really aggro by the time you are at #10! Professionals searching the web are doing that regularly so imagine how they feel – and how much more attention they would pay to your website when it doesn’t distract them!

Search Engine Optimization – Flash artist websites typically suck when it comes to SEO – because the text is embedded in the flash, making it difficult for search engines to read. Now, Google recently announced that its crawlers can now read flash sites – and we believe them – but we haven’t seen the results yet. And a couple of other thoughts on this topic: What about Bing and Yahoo? Are they now flash-friendly as well? And the BIG question – If Flash is so SEO friendly then how come none of the big Flash Website Portfolio Companies rank highly in organic search engine results? Think we’re kidding? Try googling “Artist Websites” and see what you find. You will see the Flash portfolio sites there – but in the paid results. That means one of two things, neither of which is good omen for you the artist – either they know nothing about SEO, or Flash is still a less-than-perfect technology for search engine recognition.

So – what is the one exception I mentioned above where Flash might be a good idea? Confession – I LOVE flash-based Wedding Photographer websites! I imagine that a couple looking for a wedding photographer could get very swept-up in the sumptuous visual images and the romantic feelings that they evoke. That is my one exception to my opinion – so don’t say I’m not flexible.

When you choose an artist website you have to first put yourself in the shoes of a typical client and ask yourself what they are looking for in a good website. If you’re not sure, ask some professionals in your industry. You can also ask other artists – but only those who are making a serious income from their art – that is the ultimate proof of the pudding.

Beware Flash – seriously!

Frederic Church - "Cotopaxi" 1862

If you’ve been listening to pretty much anything lately you would realize that a big bunch of people think the world is going to end on December 21, 2012. That is what the Mayan calendar predicts (at least my understanding) and there are a big group of Christians who believe that the Rapture prophesized in the Bible is imminent as well.

What the heck does this have to do with my artist website you may ask? Has Art Marketing Secrets become a theology site? Well – no – just wanted to inject a little Hollywood drama into this article and couldn’t resist the 2012 opener! We are, after all, located just a few miles west of Hollywood. But it is relevant..

If 2012 really is true then it won’t matter how you built your artist website. It, like everything else will be gone. But lets say that instead of the end of the world we have a few upheavals and we all survive and have to get back to business as usual (or something similar) – where will you be then and will you be ready to sell your art and pay the gas bill? Come to think of it, that could happen any time right?

Well, as an artist in the current age, you will already fully appreciate that your artist website is the foundation of ALL your art marketing – online and offline. Everyone goes to look at your website to review your work. So, what happens if a natural or man-made event wrecks the data center in which your website is hosted? That’s just one of many things that could happen. Here are a few others:

• Your web host or web designer elopes to Patagonia never to be seen again, or they go out of business and hide in Iceland! (Businesses do fail you know)
• Your hosted website portfolio provider decides that business sucks and they are closing their doors (this definitely HAS happened)
• You or your web-designer has an “accident” during editing and messes up your website in a major way. (this also has happened on numerous occasions)

How long will it take you to recover? How many days, weeks, or months will the core of your art marketing be out of service? Remember that an effective website is not just the content, but also all the incoming links and site structure – all of that has to be recovered.

The simplest thing would be never to have to worry, and here are a few thoughts on how to make that so…

• Be sure to own and control your own domain name. This is the single most important thing above all else. If anyone else controls it your art career can be swept away in the twinkle of an eye.
• Ask your web host about their disaster-recovery strategy. Many will have have either real-time mirrored data sites or daily backups but you need to ask to make sure. Also, ideally, the alternate site should be in a geographically diverse location. That way, a natural disaster affecting one site will not affect the other.
• Have a regular site backup of your individual artist website including site files and any databases. This is because a webhost will typically only perform a recovery when a whole location goes down – and this won’t help you if you messed up your own website. How often you do this depends on how often you update your site. If you are adding new content every day or every few days you should have a daily backup. Weekly or monthly backups are also fine if you update your site less frequently. Having a current backup of your artist website means that you can easily re-establish your site, even if you have to move it to a new webhost. In most cases you can simply upload the files and install the databases and you will be back in business pronto – literally in a few hours if necessary.
• Be sure you feel confident about the business if you use a hosted portfolio service  because if they fail you may not be able to recover easily. This is because most portfolio services use proprietary technology that won’t allow you to simply move your site to a new service. I’m not saying not to use portfolio services, but you should think through a plan for how you would handle a loss of your site.

Follow these few simple strategies and you will keep your art marketing out of harms way in the event of a physical or business disaster – you want to be able to sleep when the wind blows!