Website Tips for Artists
How Do I Sell My Art Online?
One question I get asked a lot is “how do I sell my art online?”. One of the best places to sell your artwork is an e-commerce website.
There are loads of third-party e-commerce sites to choose from out there, such as Etsy, Not on the High Street, ArtFire, Amazon, SaatchiArt etc. But are these the best E-commerce websites for artists?
Whilst third party platforms are great, you should always consider having your own website to showcase your portfolio.
Here are some website tips for artists.
Personally, I always think that we should have more control over our businesses and access to customers. You should be able to put your own messaging out there, how you want and not have to fall in with a framework that fits with a third party website constraint. You get to work within your own scope, rather than someone else’s. Third party platforms can also be saturated and it can be hard to get sales traffic.
Having your own website is better by far, but there are good websites and there are bad websites (which you don’t want!). There are many websites that obviously convert well in terms of sales, which is what I wanted to share with you today.
What NOT to do…
Now, obviously the first thing we need to start with is a strong product. So start by making strong work that really connects with people on an emotional level. Once we have that, and we want to put it out there to the world, it’s really important that we spend so much time creating that work that we show it off properly.
One of the biggest errors that I see, in terms of artists that I work with coming into the Passion To Profit programme, is their websites are just not clear.
They tend to be a kind of a mishmash of lots of things.
If a website is confusing and the customer journey isn’t clear, it’s hard to know what you sell and who you are as an artist.
In this day and age, where people make snap decisions, we need to have a much better presence than that, because people come online and they make a decision instantly as to whether your website is somewhere they want to spend the next 5, 10, 15 minutes. And we make that decision probably in about three to five seconds. It’s that quick!
How to build a website that CONVERTS browsers into buyers
A lot of artists think that just having a website is enough. It isn’t. Yes it has to be a good web provider with all the functionality you need but it also needs to be structured so that it CONVERTS into sales.
That means it’s clear, it’s aesthetically pleasing and it’s really easy to navigate. When I land on your website it should automatically tell me who you are, what you’re about and your style of work. So I can make that decision “is this something I like, or is it not really my kind of bag?”.
A lot of us don’t do that. We kind of throw everything and the kitchen sink at the website.
We have, for example, lots of menu headings. We have all our offerings on there and it just becomes confusing. And it’s almost like the customer doesn’t have head space to think and feel properly. An overwhelmed customer will leave your site before they even see your beautiful work.
What we want to do instead is we want to take them on a journey. When they arrive on our website we want to first of all draw their attention to the biggest asset, the one thing that we want to really focus on and portion (usually our best seller range).
Then after that, we’re going to take them somewhere else to have a look at another product offering because if they’re still around, they’re interested, and then we take them somewhere else. So we’re literally, metaphorically holding them by the hand and taking them through our website to calmly show them what we offer.
What we don’t want to do is we don’t want to have to make them dig through five or six different levels to get to what they wanted to get to to find that product and to buy a print. And we don’t want to leave them with questions like, well, hang on a minute, how does it come shipped? Is there extra costs for shipping? Is it framed? Is it rolled in a tube? All those kinds of things are questions that will stop somebody ordering if they arrive on your website and it’s just not clear. So we don’t want them to have any questions – everything needs to be spelled out for them so they have all the information they need, ready to make a purchase.
Most importantly, we want them to arrive and feel an emotional connection of some kind with your work. We want them to see how your work will enhance their lives and make the purchase.
So if we can get all that the chances are our website, in fact, it’s not a chance at all, it’s a definite, our website will convert well and then at that stage what we have to do is make sure we are driving enough traffic to it.
Final Website Tips for Artists
In summary, the best websites for artists are those which are super clear, aesthetically pleasing and very easy to navigate. Take a minute to cast your eye over your own website and conduct a mini review. Put yourself in the shoes of a customer – are you taken on a journey? Is everything easy to find? Are all your questions answered?
Now, remember, most visitors need to see you between five and seven times, at least before they make a purchase as well. So we need a way of capturing their details so that we can build a rapport with them by email and keep bringing them back to your business.
Using social media, Pinterest and other forms of online advertising can work wonders for bringing traffic to your website but I’ll dive deeper into that in another blog post.
I hope these website tips for artists were useful! Let me know what you think in the comments below.
If you want to come join us in the Passion to Profit Programme, you’ll get all the skills, knowledge and confidence you need to create your own high converting website and so much more!! Plus you have access to support from my coaching team and student community of like-minded, supportive artists that you can grow with.
I also have a super freebie you can download: 12 Ways That You Can Make Money From Your Art, which gives you lots of ideas on the different ways you can turn your passion into something that gives you an income. Get your copy now, and start working through which ideas work for you!
Or come and join me on my FREE masterclass and discover the System That Took Me From £500 to £5K+ a Month
So that you can implement it too and spend your time doing what you love ... making art!.
Here’s what those who watched my free masterclass went on to achieve...
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“I went from $30 in a year to $9000 in one month! I never thought it was possible to earn that much in a month” Jay
“I made my course investment back within 4 weeks and had made it back five times over, just eight weeks after the programme!” Lynsay
“I would totally refer Amanda’s course to anyone wanting help setting up or growing their art business – she has been amazing! I went from zero sales to selling a painting for £5500!” Solly
“I sold out of 2 art retreats in LESS than 24hrs!” Debs
