Often when reviewing artist websites I start out in a jubilant mood – the art looks good and the website showcases it well – but then I realize that I am – in a word – LOST! Don’t lose high-value visitors to your website – follow these simple guidelines.

You might have romantic notions that your art will speak for itself – but it won’t. You need all your marketing guns blazing – including a well crafted bio so we can understand the artist behind the great art!

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 mistakes that could keep collectors from your door!

Many artist websites now offer online purchase and payment capabilities with shopping carts and credit card payment processing systems. But how many artists actually have customers clicking on their “Add to Cart” buttons and completing the sale?

There is a huge proliferation of flash-based art and photography websites today and while many of them look sleek and sexy I have some doubts about their effectiveness as marketing tools. Here are my biggest concerns:

They are what they say they are – fully customized websites designed around you and your art. It is very important to do your research well and choose the right website designer so be sure to ask the right questions: Do you have any idea what the designer is going to create for you or how long it will take? … By itself it is unlikely to create overnight success for an artist’s career, but when woven together with other elements into a marketing strategy, it can be very effective in promoting the artist’s work.

Part 2 of our series on website options for artists – Template Art Portfolio Services. These services allow you to create an online portfolio of your work by choosing a website design based on an existing template library. … Just be aware of the cost and ask yourself if the site is really showcasing you the way you would like – If you’re primarily focused on Galleries and Collectors you might want to consider a more customized solution.

For a variable fee (typically $50 to $300 per year) these sites allow you to create your own portfolio by uploading images of your work together with bios, artist statements, resumes, etc. … The down side to these gallery-sites is that there is no flexibility to show your work they way you would like to and their selling fees can be quite high.

Artists seeking to develop a website to showcase their work have many options. Website designers offer a range of solutions ranging from simple template-based sites to fully customized designs built entirely around the persona of the artist and their work. Understanding the benefits of each option is important, as the art marketplace is highly competitive.

The latest issue of Art Calendar (newsstand edition) has a series of great articles on building and maintaining your online art presence. Gay Jervey gives some excellent tips on achieving successful results with high-quality art websites.