Art Marketing Secrets » Marketing Art

The World’s Wealthy Artists Are Business People

Daniel — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:06:48 +0000

I have been thinking much lately on the topic of what it takes to be numbered in the ranks of wealthy artists. With that in mind, this morning I followed a tweet from Miranda Aschenbrenner over at Learn To Art to an interesting article over at ARTINFO titled, “The Worlds Wealthiest Artists?“.

As they say, “A mere handful of artists have made considerably amounts of money during their lifetimes. But those who have succeeded have done quite well indeed.”

The article goes on to chronicle the successes of art icons, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, Brice Marden, Julian Schnabel, Anish Kapoor, and Jasper Johns – all very wealthy artists. I’m not sure if that is an actual ranking with Damien Hirst being the most successful and Jasper Johns the least – in any case, John’s sale of False Start for $80 million in 2006 is not too shabby!

My first thought was the article I wrote a few days ago about Picasso, “Pablo Picasso: 12 Interesting Facts“. One of those facts was that “No artist has ever been as famous in his own lifetime”. I wondered if that was actually still true or if some of the current crop of art superstars had overtaken Picasso’s fame. My guess is that Pablo still owns that one but it makes you think.

My second thought about this list was that I couldn’t see too many women in the line up – which I guess is a confirmation of that old adage, “The more things change, the more they stay the same”! It’s a shame – where are all the great female art moguls? Where are the women who rank in the wealthy artists?

My third thought: What does it really mean to be one of the world’s wealthiest artists anyway? It’s not necessarily suggesting that you create the greatest art. I personally really dislike a lot of Damien Hirst’s work. But then again, financial success is really important – anyone who thinks otherwise hasn’t experienced a lack of it. I think being a wealthy artist means simply that you get to have your cake and eat it too!

My last thought – and this is an important one – was that most of these guys are all superb business people. ARTINFO’s article describes Hirst as, “a consummate financier who runs nearly a dozen sundry businesses on the side” and mentions that Jeff Koons is “a former commodities trader on Wall Street who knows how to leverage his value”.

The article goes on to describe the business empire of Murakami: “Murakami.. went the way of Hirst and Koons when he established an art factory of his own, Hiropon, in 1996. Now called Kaikai Kiki Co. Ltd., with spaces in Tokyo and Long Island City, Queens, his company has more than 100 employees working on his paintings, sculptures, Louis Vuitton bags, inflatable balloons, videos, T-shirts, key chains, and plush toys.”

This fourth quality of being consummate business people is the big take away for me – and something I’ve been trying to hammer home in a number of recent articles on Art Marketing Secrets. The starving artist is a myth! It is entirely possible to be a great artist and a great business person and to enjoy success in both rooms – if you are willing to learn what it takes.

I’m not meaning to disparage the path of the artist who truly wishes to pursue his or her artistic dream without the thought of commercial success. Art can be so incredibly pure that it becomes a spiritual path of it’s own – and that is a beautiful thing.

But – if like most artists you dream of commercial success (meaning being numbered among the wealthy artists), one thing is clear: You have to think like a business person and learn how to speak that language and make decisions in a way that a business does. Starving artists typically make very poor business decisions and that is why they are still starving – even though they would really prefer to be dining in a superb 3-star Michelin restaurant!

And for women? Well – just like in most things – you have to be even better. And I am cheering you on all the way!

Artist Websites: A Conversation With A Successful Artist

Daniel — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 19:00:02 +0000

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:

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.
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!

12 Tips To Create An Artist Website: Part 2

Daniel — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:33:25 +0000

Les Demoiselles d'Avignon - Pablo Picasso (1907)

It seems like forever since we published the first part of this 12-Tips article! We’ve been in technology-land moving all our sites (including AMS) over to a great new webhost who will be helping us manage some of our traffic spikes. Its such a relief to be back to the business we love – art marketing!

Here then is part 2 of our famous 12-tips article. Just to recap, in part 1 we covered:

1. Decide if you need an artist website

2. Know who are you trying to impress

3. Your website must fit with your overall art marketing strategy

4. Know that there IS a real market for art on the internet

5. Have your own website AND use online-portfolio services

6. Know what collectors and art professionals look for in an artist website

Now for part 2….

7. Showcase your work beautifully
You need to have visual design skills to create a beautiful artist website. Here are some points to get you started:

Most Important: Use high-quality, professionally-photographed images. Excellence in, excellence out! (trust us – you don’t want the opposite)
Keep the website simple and elegant with the focus on the art.
Create multiple galleries to compliment the work – just as a good physical gallery would do.
Choose colors that compliment (not overpower) the work. Think of the colors you would use in a physical gallery to showcase your work – neutral colors like crème, white, gray, and good safe choices.
Think “minimalist” not “busy” for the layout.
Keep your copy (text) brief. Let the art speak for itself! The exception is on the bio page where you want to lavish a little text-attention on a great story

8. Bring collectors and galleries to your website
Its no use having that stunning website sitting in hyperspace. Make it work for you! Here are some ways to bring quality visitors:

Search Engines: If your website has been well optimized for search engines, a search on your name or your style of art should bring up your website in the first few pages of results.
Letters of Introduction: A letter of introduction sent to a gallery or dealer is a very effective way to bring a qualified visitor to your website. Better still is to include a brochure or postcard of your work with the letter.
Advertising online or in magazines: For example, if your art is minimalist and modern in style, a banner add on an interior design website focused on the same minimalist ethic could draw a lot of traffic to your site.

For a really comprehensive list of ideas check out our, 18 Tips To Bring Visitors To Your Artist Website article.

9. You need to be able to sell your work on the internet.
But there are many ways to do it! More important than anything is that you have clear and up-to-date contact information on your website. If a buyer likes your work enough to bring out their checkbook, they will normally be happy to call you to close the sale.

It’s also handy to be able to sell directly from your website, especially if you sell lower-cost reproductions. There are simple and cost-effective ways to do this.

10. Think again before designing your own website.
Have you really added up the total cost? Here are some questions to consider before you start designing:

Do you have visual design skills/training?
Can you wait several months for the site to be ready?
Can you afford to give up a month or more of your valuable artist time?
Do you have all the software and equipment needed to build a high-quality website?
Are you fully trained in your design software?

Can you answer “Yes” to all of the above? If so, you might think about doing it yourself. Otherwise, think seriously about hiring a professional designer. Artists love to do everything themselves, but you have to be careful of becoming a “jack of all trades, master of none” – seriously.

11. Choose your website-designer thoughtfully.
The most important thing here is to remember what you are trying to create – a beautiful online gallery space to elegantly show your beautiful work – this is very different from building a high-volume website selling printer ink cartridges and paper rolls!

Look for the ability to design a space to present your work. One way to do this is to find artist websites that you like and then contact the artist to get the name of their designer.

12. Know what you should pay.
Artist’s website development prices range from a few hundred to tens of thousands of dollars. Typically, bigger design firms have larger overheads and will be significantly more expensive. On the other hand, Joe down the street can probably build you a website for $200 – but you probably don’t want that website!

At the end of the day, most professional artists will find a great website solution in the $800 – $5,000 range. Follow the steps we’ve outlined above and you’ll have a much better chance of ending the process with a smile on your face!

Featured Artist: Myra Rodriguez

Daniel — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:55:34 +0000

Self Portrait - Myra Rodriguez

In my small universe, being an artist is, first and foremost, a way of seeing life. The results can be expressed in diverse ways – while some artists paint, sculpt, or photograph, others share their artistry through teaching, business, or physical movement. In my experience, there are many people with technical mastery of a craft, but relatively few who have this “way of seeing the world”.

This weeks featured artist, Myra Rodriguez, is a photographer. But aside from her technical skill in working with a camera, she has the gift of artistic vision. I was first captivated by an image she posted on our Facebook page which depicted two chairs in a back yard in Texas (Snowy Lubbock). I instantly saw a whole world – a story – and was fascinated to find out more.

Myra’s gift, in my mind, is this ability to capture a story in each image – as if each was embedded with gigabytes of information just waiting to be told. She is a very interesting person who, while not embracing traditional religion herself, shows us a uniquely spiritual outlook on life through her work. “My art”, she told me, “is like a religion to me”.

For all of these inspiring reasons we chose Myra Rodriguez as this weeks featured artist. Please enjoy her work and share your thoughts in the comments below.

Featured Work

Note: Use the slide-show controls to pause or go to a specific image. Mouse over the images to see details about the artwork.

Bio

Professional Photographer, Myra Rodriguez, has been shooting professionally for more than 15 years. Starting very young,Â Myra’s Images have been seen at Texas Tech University, both the Fine Arts, and the South West Collection, The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Buddy Holly Center, Toronado Gallery, and the Garden and Arts Fine ArtsÂ Center.Â MyraÂ hasÂ also won numerous scholastic awards and magazine covers plus several T-Shirt designs. Myra attended the prestigious Brooks Institute of Photography class of ‘05. Myra has since dedicated her life to imagery, generously filling albums with love and passion.

The Art Marketing Secrets Signature 6 Questions

BUFU - The very first image 14-year old Myra processed, developed and presented to her father 18 years ago

1. What led you to become an artist?

My father is terminally ill and picked up photography as a way to deal with it.Â He went from being a roughneck in the oilfields to becoming a fine artist. I witnessed aÂ pendingÂ death and a sudden rebirth at the same time.Â I was only ten years old. Death has become a mainstay in my life.Â I neither fear it nor run from it, I only accept it and understand it is as basic as it is certain.Â However, the life that presented itself was completely new and exciting.Â I watched my father begin demonstratingÂ photographyÂ to my brother, and was told that it was for boys only, all the chemicals were really dangerous and stinky.Â I never stopped watching and eventually did it all by myself. Reading and hiding out in corners paid off because at 14, I processed my own filmÂ &Â developed my own images. And when I presented them to my dad,Â he said, “I’ve been teaching the wrong kid.” That was 18 years ago.Â I was able to shoot, and present myself as a professional photographer, while other girls were having quinceneras, I was shooting them.Â Art saved my Dad’sÂ life,Â even though he will still die, he started a whole new afterlife for me.Â Along with the comingÂ of a mourned life,Â I have a great life, thanks to my fathers disguised blessing. Becoming an artist was the fun part,Â I shunned religion, excelled in academics, and wasÂ highly encouraged inÂ Art. When I say shunned, I mean it in the nicest way possible. I just simply couldn’t accept blind faith, when death was anything but blind.Â Death and religion are opposites in my opinion.Â As I stated before, Death is absolute, although inanimate, it will present itself in front of you at some point or another. I highly revere religion, and its romantic notion of the afterlife.Â IÂ incorporate that longing in my work.Â It’s pretty heavy Jesus & Family, it’s a beautiful way to believe and live, but when the dust settles, it is still unlikely.Â Not wrong, just not my answer.

2. What happens for you and what do you feel when you are in the creative process?

I find the light, judge the light, then manipulate it for my vision. I can shoot anywhere and turn it into a dream-scape or nightmare. I don’t do it on purpose, maybe subconscious, but I try to evoke emotion. Sadness, anger, humiliation, humor, happiness, confusion, anything.Â I do so because that’s what people remember, its what I remember.Â Like a memory you can’t shake.Â Or a past life that was only a few years ago.Â I overcompensate when I create and Love, my two constants in life. I put a lot of pressure, like my life depends on it.Â I love to see an image that hurts to look at it.Â Underlying symbolism, religious icons, children, windows, doors, light or lack thereof, an empty chair, or a triggered pain. Things that hurt, even when we don’t really know why it hurts so much. Everyone always remembers what hurts them.Â All packaged in a beautiful image.

Neon Mary - Myra Rodriguez

3. What is your favorite piece of your own art and why?

Hands down, “Neon Mary”.Â It isÂ La Virgen DeÂ Guadalupe, lit with red Christmas lights.Â Unable to see the face or body she is a silhouette of her body seen through her “Jesus” rays.Â A building in shadow is the background in front of a painfully blue sky.Â The only colors seen are blue, red and black. The fact that her face is hidden in plain sight is so frightening and calming at the same time.Â The black building is a buffer between the bright blue sky.Â The one piece of symbolism that I find humorous is the Antenna on the building.Â It symbolizes to me what antennas are supposed to do, put things in focus.Â But we cant see her face!!!Â Yet she’s there, and is quite powerful.Â Also the color red, usually held forÂ less than stellar,Â in religious terms, so it is a farce to see her draped in red.Â Only symbolically.Â Otherwise, it makes no difference.Â Also its not photo-shopped – hardly anything I do is. I have my moments, but mainly all in camera.

4. What would your perfect artist-life look like?

My husband is a muralist, painter,Â & full timeÂ tattoo artist.Â He makes good, stable money, even in economic woes, people still need their ink. I am lucky enough to not have to clock in and get to stay and raise the boy.Â I do however, run my own business.Â Myra’s Images is a complete and total dedication in my life.Â Along with my husbands business, we are self-sustainable.Â I love my job, I love the people I photograph, and I love the new people I meet. The only thing I would change as of yet, is the ability to gain trust to break the mold that is “studio” photography.Â EvenÂ ”on Location” shoots are starting to lookÂ like the others. I offer Fine Art, and would love to change what you expect out of a portrait session.Â Lets look at your child in a different light, ha, every pun intended.Â Because, after all, the light is going to change the mood, therefore creating a portrait with Fine Art credibility. I am an artist first and a commercial photographer second. You get the two for one special every time.

5. How are you marketing your art?

Marketing Fine Art is harder because people assume it is too expensive.Â So I began marketing my prices instead. While I believe that the Fine Art portion of the deal is priceless, I will not charge high prices.Â A lot of my photographer friends believe that I am just giving it away, and I kinda am, but I am lucky and feel that the least I can to is offer affordable images. In a town where studio sessions are cheap, and higher,Â more expensive photographers are well, high and expensive, there needs to be a happy medium whereÂ ”excellence meets affordable”. Not everything amazing in life needs to be expensive.Â I am self taught with a later educationÂ at Brooks Institute of Photography. I know expensive, but where I come from, and I am extremely proud of my little barrio.Â Fine Art should be available to the masses – not toÂ only those who canÂ afford it.Â Word of mouth,Â is helpful, soÂ is volunteering. Not normal charity work, but your own thing.Â For example,Â every year I shootÂ HubCity Tattoo & BikeFest for free,Â only if they wantÂ aÂ CD I chargeÂ for theÂ CD only, like wholesale, not art prices.Â AfterÂ four years of doing that, I am their go-to photographer and graphic artist.Â My name is plastered on posters andÂ T-shirts, all because I wanted to shoot for free.Â I also do my own photo shoots andÂ production is crazy – models, lights, the works, so now when part of the crew wants photos of their family theyÂ knowÂ where to go.

6. What else are you busting to tell the world?

Support your local artists!Â I believe creative genius is going to save our economy.Â Think outside that studio box and trust me when I say this is going to be amazing.Â Let me find the light, no flash needed, maybe just a reflector or two.Â TRUST ME.

Contact Myra

Website: www.myrasimages.webs.com

We invite you to share your thoughts on Myra and her work in the comments below.

12 Tips To Create An Artist Website: Part 1

Daniel — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:29:54 +0000

Still Life With Drapery - Paul Cezanne

Here’s the scoop on what you need to know when designing a website to showcase your art, impress galleries, and win over collectors. Learn how to avoid the mistakes most emerging artists make when creating their online portfolio.

1. Decide if you need an artist website

Any artist who is wanting to expand their market and sales will definitely benefit from having their own website to promote their work. It is important to be able to have a place where anyone in the world can easily access and view your work.

2. Know who are you trying to impress

Are you trying to engage a Soho gallery to sell your $20,000 paintings or sell $5 prints to children? That Soho gallery might not be impressed when they see your online-store selling prints and art cards â€“ but on the other hand, you could make a very handsome living if you really knew how to market those art cards.

3. Your website must fit with your overall art marketing strategy

A website is most effective when it is part of a larger overall marketing strategy for your art. This includes mailings, lots of in-person gallery visits and presentations, regular (physical) showings of your work, and developing relationships with the art world. An effectively planned website can greatly compliment and simplify your other marketing efforts.

4. Know that there IS a real market for art on the internet

The internet is quickly becoming an accepted place to showcase your art to collectors and arts professionals. They might still want to see your work in person before they buy, but the fact remains: they saw it first on your website! Having an online art presence is very important at this time.

5. Have your own website AND use online-portfolio services

A website portfolio service (e.g. www.absolutearts.com or www.art-exchange.com is like an online slide registry. For a fee you can upload images of your work together with bios, artist statements, resumes, etc. They have many visitors and are a convenient way to make your work accessible to potential clients. The down side is that they generally donâ€™t display your work very well, and there is little flexibility in how the art is showcased.

Your own website, on the other hand will require more work to promote, but youâ€™ll be able to present the work in the most beautiful way. Remember the times youâ€™ve been taken into the dimmer room in a commercial gallery? How that art which looked fairly good on the main gallery wall suddenly became something you had to take home? Thatâ€™s how a good artistâ€™s website should showcase your work.

We recommend both options â€“ they are a perfect compliment.

6. Know what collectors and art professionals look for in an artist website

Here are some common elements which most dealers and galleries would agree on for your website design:

Keep the site simple and elegant with the focus on the art itself and donâ€™t overpower the art with a site that looks too busy
Avoid advertising such as banner adds or sidebar adds. If you must have them, put them in a separate â€œresourceâ€ section
Avoid complex effects like flash movies. In the time it takes to play your exotic entry page, your visitor may have moved on.
Include your bio, artist statement, resume, contact information, gallery(s) of your work, contact information, and a pricelist.

Check back soon for Part 2!

A Little Art Email Etiquette S’il Vous Plait!

Daniel — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 20:59:58 +0000

Vincent Van Gogh - Self Portrait, 1886

Sometimes, when I read some of the emails we receive, I wonder if I am from a different century. That would be a century where people introduced themselves before speaking, asking questions, or demanding information. A century where people don’t barge into your manor-house without an invitation!

Now – in fairness, I have to say that most emails I receive are polite and generally well written. Artists on the whole have a good sense of community and most also have a good grasp of language and communication.

That said, there are an alarming few emails which really surprise me and leave me wondering what the sender was thinking. The greatest volume of these are one-liners from people I have never met. A few examples:

Need prices.

Send information.

Need Information about artist websites.

How to order a website?

Where is my article?

I saw your add. Link doesn’t work.

A little rule of thumb: One liners without a “Dear yyy” or “Hi yyy” and a simple introduction are fine and dandy once you have established a relationship with the person you are emailing to. But NEVER send a one-line email as an introduction! Don’t do it with galleries, buyers, customers, or even people or businesses you buy from.

Now – I know that when some artists send us first-time emails at Beautiful Artist Websites, they are thinking of us as a vendor of services -Â a business they might eventually pay money to. Because of that they think it’s OK to not bother with the regular formalities.

That’s a big mistake because as a good business we also choose who we do business with – we want good long-term relationships and we don’t work with people simply because they wave money in our face. More and more modern businesses are similarly values-based because it’s more enjoyable and more profitable.

My other major problem with some of the emails we receive is the number of artists who place us on their email lists without asking permission. It’s a basic and well understood rule of email marketing that you must get permission to do this. Honestly – we LOVE to be included on artists email lists – we want to know about your upcoming shows and exhibitions – but you need to be polite and ask first.

Personally, I could probably live with this, but what concerns me is that artists who add us to their email lists without permission are probably also adding galleries, collectors, decorators, and other artists without their permission. That won’t help you do build relationships because it isn’t polite. It’s also a violation of SPAM regulations.

This is such a simple and obvious topic that this post shouldn’t really be necessary. Avoiding one-liner introductory emails and asking permission before adding someone to your list are simple formalities which will help you build better relationships and better sales.

The Perils Of The Poverty Conscious Artist

Daniel — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 07:34:25 +0000

Vincent Van Gogh - "The Potato Eaters" - 1885

I’m in Australia this week attending a memorial service for a very close family member. My attention has been with my family and I haven’t really wanted to write – until today when I saw something that really got my attention.

We recently sent out an email promotion for our new Artist SEO system product. It’s something that we’ve worked on for 9 months and it really offers a tremendous opportunity for artists to increase the qualified visitors they attract to their websites. The business value is significant and the price tag of $97 really doesn’t scratch the surface of it’s real worth.

That’s the background. What got my attention was a response to our email promotion from an artist who said:

Sorry – Way to expensive for an unemployed, cant find work, starving artist…

I thought about that for a while and wasn’t happy. Why? Because I’ve heard variations of this phrase so many times. I’m really tired of the popular myth of the poor starving artist. It’s a form of poverty consciousness that doesn’t serve anyone. It sure as heck is not going to make you successful.

Before you jump on me, let me tell you that I have had times when my life has been really really hard. I’ve been unemployed, without money, and wondering how I was possibly going to make it – not once but several times. So, while I may not have walked in the shoes of a starving artist, I do know and understand some of the pain.

I understand that $97 might be more money than someone has – and in that case it probably wouldn’t be a great idea to spend it on an SEO guide. But to me the quoted message from the artist above suggests that maybe I should feel sorry for their predicament and lower the price.

Well sorry – but that’s just not how life works. If you are an artist and you want to be commercially successful, you have to think like a business. Businesses don’t make money by asking customers or partners to feel sorry for them. They get successful by having a vision, a clear achievable plan, investing in it and executing it. That doesn’t mean that they are always flush with cash – often the challenge with a business is understanding how to grow with what appears to be insufficient capital.

Businesses sometimes take incredible risks to be successful. And their owners at times put everything on the line, including their personal property, to grow something meaningful. Many people really don’t realize or understand this.

There was an Australian Prime Minister in the late 70’s called Malcolm Fraser. I was too young to have voted for him and I probably wouldn’t have anyway. But he said something very insightful. He said:

Life wasn’t meant to be easy

It was an extremely unpopular thing to say at the time, because no one wanted to hear it. But in more recent times I have realized that what he said was actually a great insight into life.

Life here is like lifting heavy weights. It’s supposed to be challenging because that is how we grow and learn. If it’s hard it’s often because we need to exercise a bit of serious creativity and find a solution.

The problem with the whole “starving artist” thing is that once you start down that path you start to think of yourself as a victim of life. And really – nothing could be farther from the truth. We all have tremendous reserves of creativity and strength to cope with most of what life throws at us – the trick is to see your life as a great experiment, to realize that there is always a solution, and to keep your heart open and look for it.

I hope this doesn’t sound too harsh – that wasn’t my intent. I’m a bit sensitive to this topic because here in Australia this week we’re commemorating the life of a person who many times in her life did not have much of material value. But her spirit and enthusiasm for life always found a way to succeed and in the process she touched and inspired many people around her.

I welcome your thoughts on this topic..

The Emerging Artist In My Dreams

Daniel — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 18:00:31 +0000

The Dream - Pablo Picasso 1932

Once in a while I get to share some more personal insights with you. Normally we like to keep the attention on you, the great artists of our times, but today it’s my turn!

The revealing information you didn’t know about me before is that I have been an avid student of my dreams for about 25 years. I have learned many things from this and I can honestly say that my life has been richer and more rewarding as a result. I have sometimes avoided problems, had insights into future directions, studied in dream-universities, and hung out with very real dream-friends (most of whom I have never seen in my waking life).

Dreams cut across all philosophies and religious teachings – everyone has them, at least once in a while. Some people believe that dreams are simple re-runs of recent events twisted into strange patterns. Others think that they are purely the result of chemical and electrical processes in the brain. To me, they are simply another layer of reality.

The reason I bring this up today is that while I was writing another article I remembered a dream from a few nights ago. It went like this:

I was having a conversation with an artist about her art career. She was describing how she had been in discussions with a major gallery to have her work represented by them and that the whole process had been going really really well. Until…. she referred to herself as an EMERGING artist. After that, the gallery director completely lost interest and the whole representation deal fell through.

That’s it. So, I was wondering what this dream meant. It’s possible that this is some yet-to-be deciphered message just for moi. But here is what I think it means:

Maybe the whole “emerging” title doesn’t really serve anyone.

Do we refer to engineers or attorneys or car dealers as “emerging”. No. Would you go have a treatment from an “emerging” acupuncturist? Not me .

So what is the whole “emerging artist” thing all about really? The more I think about it it sounds like one of those B-grade horror flicks where creatures emerge from the swamp! Now, would a gallery director want to hang out with those folks? Probably not!

Maybe an artist is simply an “artist”. And maybe the tag of “emerging” keeps us in a box where we don’t belong or need to be. As we said in a previous article, there’s that old saying, “Wherever you put your attention, there you go…”, and once you think of yourself as emerging, maybe you’ll always be struggling to fully emerge and be successful.

Or maybe it really was a couple of mis-firing neurons in my brain that night…

Sleep Soundly: Backup Your Artist Website Data

Daniel — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:38:56 +0000

Pablo Picasso - Sleeping Woman

Tanya Mikaela’s post earlier this week about an international art scam was one of our most popular recent articles and it got me thinking about some of the other perils that artists face in their careers.

Thinking that through I realized that with the current growth and importance in online marketing, one of the biggest heartbreaks would be losing data. That could be the data on your Mac or PC – or the content of your website. Don’t assume that its somehow magically taken care of – ASK!

10 years ago we had a major robbery in the office of an earlier business we ran – in video production. Thieves broke in during the night, disabled a very sophisticated alarm and security system, and made off with about $35,000 worth of Macs, Monitors, video and audio equipment. It was a real hassle and waiting for the insurance to process and then rebuilding all our systems took us off the market for about 6 weeks. But that was the easy part.

What absolutely killed us was the loss of 10 Gigabytes of custom motion graphics on one or our computers. We had insurance on our hardware, but we had never given the value of our data a second thought. Now 10 GB of data sounds like nothing today – but in 2000 that was one huge amount of work.

So, the first thing we did after replacing all the computers was to invest in a tape backup system. Back then a 400 GB tape library cost us $8,000 which was a big chunk of change for a small business, but we swallowed the cost because we knew we couldn’t risk losing that much work again. (Note for the curious: I tried selling that tape library on ebay last year and couldn’t even get a bid at $400!)

Today you have absolutely no financial excuse for not backing up the data on your home or office computers. I just bought another Mac 1TB Time Capsule – a combination wifi router and backup drive for $299, and that’s at the high end of the price range for backup systems.

You can control that – but what about your website? Is it backed up and how often? We recommend automated backups as a preference because they will happen come rain or shine. Here are some suggested guidelines:

If you have a static website that is rarely updated with new work or content (not good!) a monthly backup or each time you make a change (whichever is sooner) is a good idea.

If you update content regularly, you should consider an automated backup as often as you update your site. In the case of an active blog or article site you should probably consider nightly backups of the website files and the database.

Ask your webhost or webmaster where there servers are located and what sort of disaster recovery policies they have in place. For example, if your webhost has only one datacenter in a single location then a disaster in that location could take you off the internet for quite some time. Ideally they should have load-balanced mirrored data centers in geographically remote locations. If they don’t you should consider having your website backups automatically stored in a remote location using a service like Amazon’s S3.

You may think this is overkill but I guarantee you’ll be thanking me if your website data is ever corrupted or taken out by a natural or man-made disaster. It was this kind of careful data preparedness that allowed many New York financial firms to be back in business and trading within hours of the WTC attacks in 2001.

There’s an old saying – “I can sleep when the wind blows”. You can if you are prepared!

Is Your Artist Website Helping Buyers To Find You?

Daniel — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 02:03:24 +0000

Art Buyers want to find you – but your website probably isn’t helping!

If youâ€™re like most artists with a website, you started out with a dream that collectors would actually find you through search engines. But the reality for most artists is:

Your website floats alone in cyberspace with almost no visitors.

Thatâ€™s not good enough! Artist websites are not just great showcases – they should and can also attract a steady stream of potential art buyers for you to build relationships with and sell your art to. While search engines are just one method of attracting new visitors to your website, they are incredibly important because they:

Are a very low-cost form of promotion
Market your work 24/7
Market your art to a truly global audience

So, as much as we recommend that you also do all the other attraction marketing techniques like mailouts, personal networking, and social networking, ranking highly in search engine results on your style of work must be a serious part of your marketing strategy.

You can learn how to bring search engines, the most powerful economic force on the Internet*, to your artist website with the complete do-it-yourself SEO system, â€œ21 Days To Bring Search Engine Traffic To Your Artist Websiteâ€

Created exclusively for artists by our sister business Beautiful Artist Websites, “21 Days” is based on 5 years of experience building premium artist websites, together with BAW’s own success in consistently ranking #1 in organic Google search results. It solves the big problems that confront artists with SEO and delivers powerful results.

It’s very well done, informative, and easy to understand. I’m determined to be successful with it. â€¦. Donna Rossi, New York

I have spent a small fortune learning SEO from various experts. I wish I had found you first – it would have saved me thousands. Awesome value. â€¦ Tim O’Neill, Nebraska

Make a commitment to a new level of seriousness and success in your art career by optimizing your artist website for search engines. Learn more about the SEO System.

Note: We very rarely post commercial offers on Art Marketing Secrets however we believe that poor website search engine results are a consistent and compelling problem for nearly all artists and that the problem requires a serious commercial solution. That’s why we took the time to spend 9 months of our lives creating this new product! For FTC compliance, please note that Art Marketing Secrets and Beautiful Artist Websites are sister businesses that will jointly benefit from any sales of the product discussed in this article.

* Quote from Qi Lu, President of Microsoft Online Services Division