The internet continues to provide new ways to better communicate with your customers and prospects. The recent interest in web logs, or "blogs" for short, is one of those new ways that has grown rapidly in popularity. Essentially a 'blog' is an online and interactive diary, which can post images, links and feedback from readers. MyArtClub.Com is delighted to announce the Artist Blog feature is now available for our artist website users. Your blog page allows you to express your comments and include your images in context with your diary comments or to post other 'object files' (see the MyArtClub.Com webmaster blog for details on objects). Your blog page shows your comments for the current month and archives your past entries by month. The blog page allows readers to send their comments or responses to the artist blogger. The artist receives all the comments privately and can decide whether or not to post the comments on their site. The artist's blog is linked from the artist site and MyArtClub.Com features links to artist's blog pages with current entries from the right hand column on the MyArtClub.Com main home page. Several artists' entries have sprung up quickly, so please have a look and post your comments back to the artist or dive in and create your own "blog" page. Recently artist Robert Genn (who has been offering a weblog for years) gathered feedback from many mostly positive artists about their experiences and comments on blogging. Here is a paraphrased sampling, much more detailed comments can be read at www.painterskeys.com/clickbacks/blog.asp: Artist blogs help artists to: "share human experiences; evoke responses; be creative; get it all out; connect with a brotherhood of artists and art lovers; make a difference; let art buyers, collectors and appreciators know how and why artists feel about their work; join a forum to meet, discuss, argue, critique work and support each other; get feedback and better understand clients and others; answer the many questions collectors have and make that artist-to-collector connection; be more available to followers and gain support while isolated". To start your own blog, log in to your member pages, use the right-hand box titled "Artist Options" and click on the word "Blog". On the next screen, titled Update Artist Page Options, set the second option to "1" and press the update button at the bottom of the page. Now on your main menu page a new option appears titled "Maintain your Artist Blog Pages." We look forward to seeing you online!First published in the My Art News Letter #16 (June 2006). read more ...

Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully. On websites and promotion by artists MyArtClub: You have a lot of visits to your website. Do you feel you benefit from having this regular traffic? In what ways? Jane: The regular traffic is a benefit not only to me but to other artists I figure. Having the site helps people know that I have been producing new work and am taking my art career seriously. Also anyone going to MyArtClub.Com may venture to find an artist they like and that's always a good thing. If you don't have your own unique work to start with than I guess you may be worried about other artists taking customers away. I don't worry about that too much as art has more to do than just one painting that sells well. It has much more to do with how you connect to people and who you connect to. I believe it's good to let past customers or people interested in your art be remembered at different times of the year like at Christmas Holidays, Summer, Spring Break and the like. There is something special about an artist's connection with the people that admire their work. It's more personal than providing a necessary piece of home improvement. After all much of the time people connect to the artist as much as the artwork. I want to keep that connection going. MyArtClub: What feedback do you get from your website visitors? What feedback do you get on the emails that you send out? Jane: Actually I do not get many reply emails (less than 5% respond back) from my outbound emails from MyArtClub.Com. People are aware it's a group send out and even though I encourage feedback, I do not expect it. However I do not take this to mean that "my fans" so to speak do not like the piece or my work, or me as a person. The few emails I do get are mostly encouraging and kind. That keeps me sending more out. So thank you to those of you that have responded because art can be lonely without input. The fact that you can get feedback at a click of the mouse is great. A little goes a long way. All you need is one person saying "Hey that's the best piece you've done yet!" and you have enough motivation to do another (whether it sells or not). Others point out spelling errors and offer words of advice and that is also helpful. I make sure I respond back to thank them. Misspelled words and other errors seems one of the surest ways to look unprofessional so I really try to avoid that now. I keep the site updated with new images perhaps once a month or so. I try to keep the emails short, polite and informative with a personal little update or hello. I try not to send more than one or two [email] per month. It gets boring having to click to delete email too often. On top of that there is always an option to unsubscribe, so I do not worry that my emails are intrusive. Just the fact that people actually haven't opted to be deleted off the list of fans says quite a bit. In Part 2 of the article, Jane discusses how she generates traffic to her site. About Jane Appleby Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article. This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9 read more ...

Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully. On websites and promotion by artists MyArtClub: What ways do you get customers to come to your website? Jane: By handing out my card to anyone that might be interested-even the milkman. (He actually came to one of our shows). When people ask what I do I say, "I paint..." Usually they want to know more because they are not sure what I paint so when they ask I explain briefly and mention "MyArtClub.Com" -and I offer my card. If I feel it appropriate to ask for their email I do but otherwise I leave it up to them. When I invite people to my shows I include the web site address on the invite (in bold or some other colour to make it stand out). People that cannot make it might like at least to view some paintings over the web. Many like to preview some of the show and actually ask if they can see the painting before the show. I find it easier to promote MyArtClub.Com as it is a site of many artists and I mention that often. I may say something like: "You know there are a number of wonderful artist on the site my work is on that you may enjoy". I expect not everyone will like what I do so I invite them to view others work. And I truly do like the work and calibre of artists that I "share the site with" so am happy to promote it. Furthermore, I think it is important to provide opportunities for people to learn about art, and that it can be something fun to view or to take part in. And heck people love talking about the latest site to visit so why shouldn't it be MyArtClub.Com or ApplebyArt.Com? Part of really promoting is talking about what you do to as many people that are interested. And because I not only sell art but I also teach that opens up the discussion to almost anyone that may be interested in taking up a creative outlet. In that way I have been able to get many people visiting my site. MyArtClub: Do you use other ways to promote your art? Jane: Word of mouth has seemed to work the best for me so far. But I highly regard the galleries, offices, restaurants or any other location that an artist hangs their work at as one of the most important ways to promote work. Not to mention the people that work there. I always try to respect what they do and I am thankful for their support. MyArtClub: If you had 2 or 3 suggestions for artists to raise their profile or visibility, or to increase website traffic, what would they be? Jane: Hang your work to show!! It's a lot of work but worth it even without sales. What job doesn't have its brunt of grunt work? Of course include your web site on the cards that describe the painting or have business cards available there for people that may want one. What an artist have a "Business card"? Absolutely!! And many of them! MyArtClub: Time spent promoting takes away from time creating art, how do you balance this out? Jane: I work fast so that helps. It has been interesting to find out about running a business and learning as I go. I do not have a business background (it's actually in Biology) however getting a degree prepared me for perseverance in completing tasks. Much of my time creating inspires me to want to share my work with others and thus gets me to the computer to upload images and post updates. I have a digital camera that I like because I do not have to take a whole roll to developed them so when I finish a painting I feel it gets it's little showing right away as I put it on the web. It may take much longer for me to actually frame it and get it to a gallery so I guess I like that initial landmark of at least getting my painting on the web. And it's important to pat yourself on the back once in awhile! In Part 3 of the article, Jane discusses the benefits of having her site. About Jane Appleby Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article. This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9 read more ...

Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully. On websites and promotion by artists MyArtClub: Do you have to spend a lot of time working on your website to have these levels of visitors? Jane: No - Only to put new images on it and a few shows or classes that come up. Again, a little goes a long way! MyArtClub: What are the main benefits to you of having your site? Jane: An Internet gallery is the main benefit. I believe it adds a certain degree of professionalism and enables some feedback. A belief in taking what I do seriously while maintaining the Internet gallery is also a part of this: it makes me feel more business savvy. Whether that helps I don't know. However "if you believe in yourself then so will others" - that's the motto I go by. It helps with sales too. As a side note the site has been more useful as a gallery than a chat room and that's what I prefer it to be. Even though no sales have been ordered through the site by email I must say it helps people make decisions on their art purchases; whether they are mine or not. Further it helps not to only judge your worth by the amount of sales you do. And if I am contributing to influencing people's perspective on visual arts than that in itself is satisfying. MyArtClub: You show 30 artworks on MyArtClub.Com. You have included some links to other sites. You are often in the MyArtClub.Com "Calendar of Events". Are there some things you do that you find create interest in your art more than others? Jane: I would say having more than 10 art works adds to the site as it gives a fuller range of what I do. The links help show the validity of belonging to an organization such as the Federation of Canadian Artists or a certain Gallery and that helps people know you are for real and not just a Cyber Being of some sort. Whether the links from the other sites help bring viewers I am not sure but again even if its one that's better than none. The "Calendar of Events" is there for those that come across it so it should be up to date however I think it's the mostly the art that keeps people coming back. So I guess it helps to have new work and photos that represent the work properly. I take the digital photo straight on, and then I crop and edit colours so that the painting looks as good as possible. If the painting is good but the picture is poor I get a better picture. For example: "Angels Among Us" was taken on slide film and then transferred to a disc by London Drugs. Even though they did a good job, the image worked much better taking it digitally in the first place. So I did not include the image till I got a better digital image from my camera. "Get the picture?" In Part 4 of the article, Jane provides a summary of her tips for artists. About Jane Appleby Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article. This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9 read more ...

Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully. On websites and promotion by artists MyArtClub: Thank you very much for sharing this information Jane. Would you have any closing thoughts? Jane: Here are my summary tips for artists: "Present yourself as a serious artist but don't be too serious" "Keep your emails informative and brief but slightly personal and fun" "A little goes a long way! - Use what ever feedback you get to motivate you to do more - even if it's criticism." "Make an effort to get feedback: Show your work (framed and unframed); talk about art in general; send out emails even if they are not regular; just do it!" "Have as many business cards as you can manage: home, pockets, wallets, and car but do give them out and make sure they are where your paintings are so people have access to them. It takes many business cards to get one contact. It's money well spent. Sometimes I have given the same person a dozen cards because they lost it or what ever but I may still offer another to them. Also include your website address (link) with every email you send with your signature (This can be added to a signature by clicking Insert then signature). "Talk with a lot of people and ask what they do and tell them what you do". It only needs to be brief: " MyArtClub.Com" says it all! "Hang to show to new people as much as possible but also keep past admirers included, or at least updated" "Pat yourself on the back once in a while - even if it's just to let someone know what you do or have just done." "Believe in yourself and others will too." And lastly, "Good Luck!"-because I am sure that's also part of it! Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. About Jane Appleby Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article. This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9 read more ...

This blog entry is one of a series of tips provided by MyArtClub.Com to assist artists get the most from their Internet Marketing efforts. How is your artist's email list? Do you have one? If the answer is no, then you need to start one today. In this report we will discuss how to build, manage and use email lists to your best advantage, using email tools available on websites from MyArtClub.Com. How do you collect and build an email list? The first obvious source is from the people who contact you by email - add them to your email list. But where else? If you are showing your art at an exhibition, provide a column in your guest book for an email address. Put a sign behind the guest book inviting people to add their name and email address. Indicate that in return you will send them an email when you have new works available for them to see on your website. Segment your email list so you can send really effective targeted messages. Do this by create several email lists. For example, create one for your family and friends. Create one for your list of galleries you want to interest in your work. Create one for your customers and prospective customers. Create one for those who are interested in your blog entries. Create one for your press releases. Many members of your email list may reside in multiple lists, it is important to maintain and use the lists. How often should you send emailsto your email list? If you are generating new content on a regular basis (such as Robert Genn's biweekly letter from the Painter's Keys) then you can send out an email to your email list as often as you generate this new content. If you create new art and have moved it to your website, then you can create an email to inform your email list of your new content. Think about send one email announcing your several works of art rather than a separate email for each work of art that you add. If you are using a blog to create content on the internet, send an email to those who would be interested. When sending out your email, be sure to select the appropriate list to receive the message. A word on spam. You should be cautious about how often you send out an email to your list. If you send emails every day or every week, people may decide that you are generating too much traffic in their in-box. Email providers may decide that you are junk mail and your email may be consigned to the junk mail folder. The email you send out to people should offer an opt-out option. In other words, if they no longer wish to be part of your email list, they should have the option to unsubscribe from your list. MyArtClub.Com services auto-generate this opt out message, making you look very professional! Send the email to each person individually or send it to yourself and blind carbon copy (BCC) everyone else. Do this for two reasons. First, no one wants to feel that they are getting an email where they are 1 of 200 on a list. Getting an email where they are not in a huge list feels like it is more personal. Second, if you are sending your whole email list in the TO: or CC: line, then you are sharing your email list with everyone else on your list. You may find your list becomes someone else's list! You're giving away your gold! If you use MyArtClub.Com email tool to send your notes, this service automatically ensures that the Send To field contains only one name per email. If you have questions or comments, please contact us at [email protected] or click on the link to reply to this blog entry. read more ...

What should you consider when picking a domain name for your website? First of all, picking your domain name is all part of building your brand identity as an artist. So you want to pick a name that supports your brand. A domain name that identifies with you, the artist. What would someone guessing your web address think of or try first? Most often it is who the artist is. Therefore your name represents your brand, even though your style may change, your subjects may change or your media may change. As an artist developing a career you want people to be able to search for you on the web based on your brand. And using your name as your domain name is part of building that brand. Unless you have spent the last 5 years creating those cute pink porcelain pigs and plan to spend the next 15 years creating those cute pink porcelain pigs and your absolutely famous for your cute pink porcelain pigs, you should resist picking a domain name like www.pinkporcelainpigs.com. Mind you, if you are that artist, then you do want the domain name www.pinkporcelainpigs.com. Otherwise the domain name that you pick can restrict your brand. You can have more than one domain name, and use them for different applications. For example, let's say you are a landscape painter, and you do ceramics pigs too. Reserve both names, and point them to the appropriate locations on your site. Having two or more names allows you to advertise and build on more than one brand. How do you know what names are available? You can go to any domain name registrar and they will have a mechanism where you can put in the name you would like to register. It will tell you if the name you want is already taken. In most cases, it will also provide you with a list of alternatives. Or just write to us at [email protected] On the world wide web there can only be one BillSmith.com. So what do you do if BillSmith.com is already taken and you happen to be another Bill Smith? Some obvious choices are to look for variations on the name. WilliamSmith.com BillJSmith.com WilliamJSmith.com BillSmithArt.com What if my name is hard to spell? What do I do if my name happens to be Peter Tchaikovsky and people have a hard time spelling by name? Should I use my name as my domain name? The answer is still yes. Because it is part of your brand, and you want people to learn about and remember you. Another opportunity that is recommended, is to register the names of close misspellings. What would someone most often mistype? From our example above, you may want pinkporcelainpig.com as well as pinkporcelainpigs.com. What domain name ending should you use? Should it be ".com" or ".ca" , ".net" or ".org"? The ending ".com" is most popular, from the beginning of websites, and it means representing "commercial" sites. When attempting to find you, a visitor to your site would most likely select ".com" first. The ending ".ca" represents "Canada" and in Canada that is a likely next choice. For example, you could choose BillSmith.ca, especially if BillSmith.com is not available. Choosing both is also a way of blocking out the hordes of next door neighbours to your site. Having billsmith.ca and billsmith.com protects you from someone else doing this. Should you invest in a lot of names? The number of names should reflect the significance of your web presence. Typically doing the above strategies is a good idea, but as it does require annual or multi year commitment to pay for the names, it can become a significant cost. Look at your overall plans, and usually go with one or two names. Don't get too excited and register a ton of names just on speculation. The rules for creating your domain name are simple. Domain names must be between two (2) and fifty (50) characters long and made up of The letters a through z (no accents). There is no distinction between upper and lower case letters ; The numbers 0, through 9; and The hyphen character (although it cannot be used to start or end a Domain Name) You will notice that the space or blank character is not a legal character. A good place to see names available is www.internic.org/whois.html - it can also be fun to try to see what is available! In our next blog, we will discuss how you use your domain name to build your brand. read more ...

So how do you use your domain name to build your brand? First of all, add it to all your content, everywhere. Where can you add it? Print it on your stationary. Print it on your brochures. Print it on your business cards. I don't know how many times I have been to an art show and looked at the business card of the artist which are on offer only to see that they have not included their website address. Does it work? You bet. One of our artists was painting in a public location and had plenty of visitors passing by his easel. Folks would stop to chat and he would hand out his card and invite them to visit his site. When he would go home at night and look at his site statistics, his web page hits were through the roof. Where else should you add your domain name? Add it to your emails. Add it to your press releases. And when you send out your emails to let people know about your activities or your latest work or where you'll be exhibiting, don't just have your domain name at the bottom of your email under you name. Add it as part of your message. Make it an invitation to see more of your work on your site. Make it a clickable link in your email so people can easily come to see your work. When your customers or prospects go to your page, invite them to bookmark your site so they can return to it again without having to remember your domain name. So you've issued the invitation to have people come to your site. When they get there, what do they see? Naturally it is all about the content. In the next blog, we'll discuss ways to make your site inviting so they stick around. read more ...

There are lots of easy ways to increase your traffic and build your customer base. Your own traffic building efforts will guarantee a huge difference to your site visits. Here are 6 top ways: Add more artwork. Most artists with more hits have more art on line. If you have unused art space on your website, fill it up, and enjoy more traffic. If you are not sure what to do, especially newer artists please don't hesitate to email the [email protected] for assistance. You can add more art at any time, and even add more art spaces as needed. Keep your art work current. Active artists change some of their images and information at least every couple months. It does not take long to keep your content up to date and the payoff is great. Visitors will return often to your site for more when they find it is changing! Invite your fans to see your work on line This is one of the key ways to increase your traffic, especially to easily keep in touch with your customers. After you load or reload an art work, use our "Notify Fans" feature to send an email with your personal comments and a direct link to the art image just loaded. Got some news you want to share? Let your network know! Update your mailing list. Your customer and network list is gold for you. If you send out emails (the fastest and least cost way to keep in touch) you need to keep your email list current. Load up your email list to your website by logging in to your site then click on "Market your artist site", then click on "Maintain your mailing list information." You can load up your email addresses either one at a time or in bulk. Contact us if you need any help. Use your web address. Three ideas for showing your website address (shown on your webpage, i.e. www.MyArtClub.Com/Joe.Smith): 1) at the bottom of all correspondence and email, 2) on all pamphlets or business cards and 3) on any listing of you as an artist, or art group. List your web page with search engines and directories. Listing your website and art work can increase your traffic especially for new customers. MyArtClub.Com has links on line to several free search engines and directories sources. Click on our "Links" page which is found from the main MyArtClub.Com page, on the right hand column under "Resources". This article first appeared in the My Art News Letter #12 read more ...

The Secret for Artists The following blog is the first in a series of articles from a guest, Ruth Payne. For many of you in the Vancouver area, Ruth Payne will need no introduction. Ruth is the curator at the Ferry Building Gallery and the Visual Arts Coordinator of West Vancouver Cultural Services. The Secret for Artists The Secret for artists is first knowing what you want to have happen in your art career. The film THE SECRET (if you haven't watched it, DO!) spells it out in simple terms. The Law of Attractions is always at work and you create what you think about. You must have a clear dream so why not make it big as well as real for you? As Somerset Maugham quipped, "it's a funny thing about life; if you refuse to accept anything but the best, you very often get it." Dream from your heart while keeping your feet firmly on the ground. This will give you your heart's desire and a vision that you can articulate. Before you delve into the specifics necessary to present yourself to a gallery with the intention of having them represent you, it is necessary to do some in-depth self examination. This authentic, reflective and investigative journey is worthwhile for all artists…and it makes the journey simpler. Art-making and art marketing is a heartfelt journey; to keep that connection is essential. I believe it is in the heart-space that one knows what the dream is. Do you really want to exhibit in New York City in a world-class museum? Or do you want to be a weekend painter, giving your art as gifts to your family and friends and occasionally exhibiting in a local community gallery? Do you prefer the art festival and outdoor market type of venue? Do you want to sell your art as a sideline business which you run as a sole proprietorship? Does the idea of exhibiting in a group show appeal to you more than showing solo? Do you prefer to show people your work in your home or studio and not exhibit in galleries? Are you an Internet buff who would rather spend more time promoting yourself on-line? These are just a few of the questions you want to ask yourself…now you know where to start. Spend at least a month on this, journaling your thoughts and inspirations on what success is going to look like to you. Draw pictures, use lots of colour, cut out images and sayings in magazines. Make a Personal Success collage of your art business. Set aside a special sketchbook to make notes, jot down ideas, successes, tips, doodles, goals, dreams and entitle it: My Successful Art Career. Visit galleries and look at as many other artists' work as possible (advice from painter Gordon Smith). This will give you an idea of where you fit in the art world. Also think about where you fit in art history. What is your style, influences, mentors? Then share your findings with a fellow artist, trusted family member or friend. The next step is to Begin with the End in Mind by imagining yourself at the end of your life. This is a very useful visualization, one of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People from the book by Stephen Covey. What did you do with your art that you are so thrilled with? What did you accomplish that was just right for you? Now you can work backwards to present time and make plans, goals and commit to making your dream happen. Next, write it all down. As long as the idea is just in your head it is a slogan. I believe to make it a goal and make it manifest, you have to write it down. Now you can begin the path to successfully exhibiting and marketing your art. Stay tuned for more in April on the specifics of organizing your art business for success. Ruth Payne, Visual Arts Coordinator, West Vancouver Cultural Services, Ferry Building Gallery About Ruth Payne Ruth brings 25 years of experience as a gallery curator, visual artist, stress management consultant and teacher and runs the popular Arts Connection Networking Salon for visual artists. This article first appeared in the My Art News Letter #12 read more ...

Some artists feel just getting the images on line is all they need to do, and the more the images on line, the better. Artists often want to show a wide variety of work, to make the point they possess well rounded talents. Perhaps one style of art will grab a galleries attention, so it must be better they would argue to make sure a wide variety of art styles are sampled. Right? Wrong! As well meaning as loading up all kinds of art may sound, the way the art is organized and presented is crucial. Think of your own experience in galleries or museums. How nice it is to see art work well lit and set up in an uncluttered and spacious gallery. How much lower in value does art seem when crammed willy-nilly in every nook and cranny of a frame-shop wall? Think of your customer's experience when they visit your website. Customers can only take in so much at once, especially in today's busy times. If they want to see landscapes, let them focus on that form of your art. Badly organized multiple styles of art or too many art images at once can actually confuse and 'turn off' customers. Well presented sites have a much higher level of visitor satisfaction, organized presentations can make all the difference. But how can this be done on websites?Simple! Divide your art into logical sets of images, using the MyArtClub.Com "studios" feature. Each studio is a separate page on your site featuring your collection of similar works. Studios and be grouped as you choose perhaps by style, or by inspiration, by materials, any logical grouping that interests you and your visitor. The studio feature has a text section for introduction and description of each studio's body of work. Tell your visitor why you were intrigued with these works and they're sure to want more. Use specific terminology so the search engines will link to your studio. Within the MyArtClub.Com studio visitors can tour the art of that studio in large image format, uncluttered by images from other studios. So how many studios should you create? I recommend starting with 2 or 3, and define more as you feel the need. Generally try to keep each studio down to 10 or 20 images. To start building studios, just log in, select "Build or maintain your Artist Site" then select "Activate your Studio Pages option". After you have defined a studio you don't need to reload the art, just assign each image to a studio. This part is easy but necessary to keep your art showing. Just visit the "Add or Maintain your Art Pages" and next to each art image enter the studio number on the left column box, marked "Display in Studio" Create studios for your visitor, and you'll get the pay-off! read more ...

The following blog is the second in a series of articles from our guest, Ruth Payne. For many of you in the Vancouver area, Ruth Payne will need no introduction. Ruth is the curator at the Ferry Building Gallery and the Visual Arts Coordinator of West Vancouver Cultural Services. Art Fairs, Outdoor Shows, Tradeshows, One-Of-A-Kind Shows, Festivals, Markets In exhibiting your art, you certainly are not limited to commercial and public galleries. There are endless opportunities and venues for both selling and showing art if you become creative about researching prospects. Many artists despair when turned down by a jury or when they get a 'sorry' letter from a commercial gallery. They then go into hiding, so to speak, wondering if the world of art lovers and buyers will ever find them. If you look, you will usually find an opportunity for exhibiting in your own neighbourhood. First of all, consider home studio/gallery exhibitions. Host your own show and reception, or team up with fellow artists. Buyers love to visit the working space and creative homes of artists and this is often where the most sales will occur. Don't forget to display a painting on the outside of your home or studio. Why not? Hang a piece that you will delegate as a promotional piece and don't mind if it gets beaten up by the weather, right on your front door. It is very appealing to see art on the exterior of a home and it immediately brands what you do. If you work is 3-D, I suggest the same thing. You can display art in the garden, in an outdoor entrance alcove, in the apartment building foyer…there are many more possibilities. Alternative Venues An array of alternative commercial venues exist for marketing art, and many buyers prefer the demystified and relaxed atmosphere of these for purchasing art. The following are some options, and you can add your own to this list: Shopping mall exhibits, merchant windows Offices: doctors, dentists, law offices, accountants, SPCA, veterinarians, investment firms. Real estate offices, movie sets, homes for sale (staging) Wine shops (often will display your art; then host a reception to celebrate both your art and their wine- -a winning combo!) Cafes, restaurants Hospitals, airports, banks, retail clothing stores, design shops, textile stores, shoe stores City halls, hotels, public facilities, day cares, schools, universities. In the next part of the article, Ruth discusses further exhibition venues. Best of success with your summer art sales! Artfully yours, Ruth Payne, Visual Arts Coordinator, West Vancouver Cultural Services, Ferry Building Gallery Email: [email protected] About Ruth Payne Ruth brings 25 years of experience as a gallery curator, visual artist, stress management consultant and teacher and runs the popular Arts Connection Networking Salon for visual artists. This article first appeared in the My Art News Letter #22 read more ...

The following blog is the second in a series of articles from our guest, Ruth Payne. For many of you in the Vancouver area, Ruth Payne will need no introduction. Ruth is the curator at the Ferry Building Gallery and the Visual Arts Coordinator of West Vancouver Cultural Services. Art Fairs, Outdoor Shows, Tradeshows, One-Of-A-Kind Shows, Festivals, Markets In the second part of the article, Ruth discusses further exhibition venues. Be willing to do the installation yourself and always sign the art, place a label next to it on the wall with your name, title of piece, medium, price and your contact info. Sign the art on the back with a Sharpee felt pen and put the date and a © for copyright. Offering a commission of the sale to the hosting venue is an incentive for them to talk up your art. Write it all down, make sure you keep a copy, and keep in touch with the store, etc, every two weeks. * Never display your art in a place where there are toxic substances, extreme light or temperature, moisture, fumes or chemicals that will damage it (i.e. drycleaners). Tradeshows and outdoor art fairs can be great venues in which to sell to a large amount of buyers and reach an international market. This is generally very hard work and requires a finely rehearsed system to make it happen smoothly. However, it is an effective way to pay the mortgage! Art Fairs are usually juried and you can do this by mail or email. There will be a fee and you will have to set up your own booth with displays, lighting, and furniture. You can rent equipment from companies specializing in display equipment. (i.e. Eddie's Hang-Ups, Vancouver). The Yellow Pages is a good source for renting racks and lighting. I do know of a number of artists who sell extremely well at fairs in the larger cities and they have developed an efficient system to the way they pack, ship, setup and sell their art. One artist paints oil on canvas pinned to the wall. She then rolls the painting, places it into a mailing tube and ships it to the city where the fair is. Sometimes she takes them on the plane with her. When she gets to the fair, she has them put on stretchers. This cuts down on the hassles and costs of shipping. Go online to find information for large city outdoor shows and fairs. Locally, your Arts Councils and Craft Associations can give/sell a resource guide. Don't overlook the idea of local farmer's markets, fairs, and art festivals. Art can be sold at the most unlikely time, in the most unlikely way, at the most unlikely venue. This is guerilla marketing and the opportunities are endless. You could sell a $2000 painting in the Whistler weekend Farmer's Market, to a woman who is browsing and shopping for organic potatoes while her husband is playing a round of golf. Art in the Park: Stanley Park in Vancouver is a bustling art market. Check out these options in your hometown, or create your own group to sell art in park areas. Plein air painting is very inviting to viewers, Europe is famous for it and it is a wonderful opportunity to sell your work. Cruise ships and tourist locations. Special events and occasions: political events, 2010 Olympics, sports and cultural events. Guerilla marketing = unconventional marketing intended to get maximum results from minimal resources (it is worthwhile to search Guerilla Marketing on the internet. There are a host of worthwhile manuals, books and tips). Best of success with your summer art sales! Artfully yours, Ruth Payne, Visual Arts Coordinator, West Vancouver Cultural Services, Ferry Building Gallery Email: [email protected] About Ruth Payne Ruth brings 25 years of experience as a gallery curator, visual artist, stress management consultant and teacher and runs the popular Arts Connection Networking Salon for visual artists. This article first appeared in the My Art News Letter #22 read more ...

The following blog is the third in a series of articles from our guest, Ruth Payne. For many of you in the Vancouver area, Ruth Payne will need no introduction. Ruth is the curator at the Ferry Building Gallery and the Visual Arts Coordinator of West Vancouver Cultural Services. "Sacred space and sacred time and something joyous to do is all we need. Almost anything then becomes a continuous and increasing joy." – Joseph Campbell The Four Basics for building your art business are People, Space, Time and Money People to advise, encourage and help you Space to do your art and business Time to do your art and business Money to keep the wolf away from the door PEOPLE The people in your life who support your art business are your pit crew. They are the ones that spin your tires! They beam you up, dust you off and say…get back on the horse! Know who these people are. Let go of the naysayers, who may be envious or are just Negative Nellies. You don't have time for anyone who does not have positive and encouraging energy in regards to your art and business. Life is wondrous, the world is waiting for your art, and it is full of creative art marketing opportunities for you to grab. Let no one hold you back. Most people, if you explain heartfully to them, will understand and have great respect for the time you need to do your art, the path you are pursuing and the goals you have for your art sales and exhibitions. STUDIO You need a space that is yours to create art in. This may also be the space that you have your art business office in, where you do your marketing from. It is not the kitchen table. It is also not your bedroom or dining room. It is separate from the activities of daily life, and it is your designated art sanctuary. This space can be carved out in an unused garage, garden shed, empty room, space borrowed from a neighbour, artist's warehouse studios as in 1000 Parker Street, Vancouver, communal artist's spaces, rented apartment space, and the outdoor studio if you are a plein air painter. One very successful Vancouver artist has his studio in a converted garage off the alley. He rolls up the doors and it is called the Alley Gallery. Voila! Good lighting is essential, from either a skylight, natural and preferably northern light, or incandescent, but not fluorescent. Fluorescent light distorts colours. Your tools of the trade are a professional sturdy working easel, firm armless chair, preferably the twirling type with a flexible back, your paint and palette table, a filing cabinet for your business and art inventory keeping, and a worktable for your journal and sketchbook. Now add a chair or two for visitors, as well as a small table by the entrance where you have a photo of yourself at work, business cards, portfolio, invitations to exhibitions you may be in, and a vase of fresh flowers. Of course your art speaks for itself, and also the essence of who you are shines through in your studio space. Potential art purchasers are intrigued to meet the artist in his studio, see work-in-progress and generally feel a part of the process. It's all integral to your 'artist's magic' and every bit of your presentation is important. Visiting other artist's studios can be a great way to get creative ideas for your setup, renovation or to make your studio suit your personal style better. It is also a wonderful opportunity to network with other artists in their art-making space. I think it is useful to have a small shrine in the studio. This can be a table, a corner area, a small shelf, whatever works for you. On this you will put inspirational mementos, photographs of your children and mate, the seashell you brought home from your painting trip in Mexico, your little statue of Buddha or whatever has spiritual significance for you, and a candle. It is meant to centre you and bring you to the present moment of appreciation for your artist's life. Note: your business and tax set-up will take into account the space in which you work. Your costs and rental or mortgage agreement i.e. a percentage of your income, if used for work, may be deducted from your taxes. Please read your self-employed/ small business tax form available from Revenue Canada to learn about maximum workable deductions. For detailed information on The Business Of Finding A Workspace, a discussion of zoning requirements, leases, etc., please see Art, the Art Community, and the Law, Self- Counsel Press. In the next part of the article, Ruth discusses the other two basics: time and money. Artfully yours, Ruth Payne, Visual Arts Coordinator, West Vancouver Cultural Services, Ferry Building Gallery Email: [email protected] About Ruth Payne Ruth brings 25 years of experience as a gallery curator, visual artist, stress management consultant and teacher and runs the popular Arts Connection Networking Salon for visual artists. This article first appeared in the My Art News Letter #23 read more ...

The following blog is the third in a series of articles from our guest, Ruth Payne. For many of you in the Vancouver area, Ruth Payne will need no introduction. Ruth is the curator at the Ferry Building Gallery and the Visual Arts Coordinator of West Vancouver Cultural Services. The Four Basics for building your art business are People, Space, Time and Money People to advise, encourage and help you Space to do your art and business Time to do your art and business Money to keep the wolf away from the door TIME "Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it." -Scott Peck Knowing how to set healthy boundaries with others is to know how to really say YES and NO and this in turn saying YES TO YOURSELF. Give yourself what you need in time, for both creating your art and for the marketing of your art. By the way, plan on spending 50% of your time on marketing. (unless you have a gallery to represent you full-time and exclusively) Do you trade your time for easy cash? Don't undersell yourself. Your time is meant for art-making and marketing your work. If you volunteer your time, do it because you want to, consider this tithing your time to help others, mentor students, or talk to a networking group of artists. This time is freely given, even though you may receive a small honorarium as a thank you. I believe that what you give freely and from your authentic self comes back to you at least 10 times. Work from the 80/20 rule that made Walmart so successful. "Nothing can add more power to your life than concentrating all your energies on a limited set of targets." - Nido Qubein The 80/20 rule says that on a list of 10 tasks, only 2 of those tasks will return 80% of the value of the entire list. Look at your art marketing 'to do' list. Which tasks are directly related to what you want to happen. Find the 2 high- value items on your list and tackle them first. These tasks, contacts, exhibitions, potential buyers are the ones that will really move your career forward. Many of us actively avoid the top 2 priorities because they are more challenging than the rest. If they are to lead us to worthy goals, they are undoubtedly asking us to move into new territory in thinking and acting, and this can be scary. But this is also REWARDING. Focussing on your Centre of Influence, as Stephen R. Covey speaks of, in The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, with First Things First, is another way to do this. It takes you out of your Circle of Concern, where you tend to water down your time without concentration on your own needs. This is only a conscious choice away! "Don't kid yourself: it's because you're doing all those C's (low priorities) and NOT because you haven't any time, that you don't get to do you're A's." - Alan Lakein Make yourself a sign: ARTIST AT WORK: Please do not disturb. The flip side will say: ARTIST in STUDIO 2- 5pm: Please come in. One side is for your sacred art-making time and the other side is for open studio time for visitors and buyers. MONEY Don't quit your day job! This may sound trite, but there is nothing attractive about the artist who is really struggling to pay the rent and keep the chicken on the table. This angst comes across in the art you want to sell and it actually pushes the buyer away. It speaks of neediness and lack of security and it is not attractive. Balance in all aspects of your life will allow you to pursue your art business with ease and confidence. If your partner is willing to support you, you have an inheritance, or you are retiring, then great. Just make sure you have enough money for your basic living expenses, and to be able to invest in your art business. You will need to spend money on a website, invitations, business cards, as well as art-making supplies and framing. Extra cash is a necessity for this. I encourage you to add to this list, then post it in your studio as a reminder of what you will give to yourself! Artfully yours, Ruth Payne, Visual Arts Coordinator, West Vancouver Cultural Services, Ferry Building Gallery Email: [email protected] About Ruth Payne Ruth brings 25 years of experience as a gallery curator, visual artist, stress management consultant and teacher and runs the popular Arts Connection Networking Salon for visual artists. This article first appeared in the My Art News Letter #23 read more ...

As you may recall, last fall MyArtClub.Com conducted a market survey to assess the "5 Ws" about the art market, meaning the questions "Who", "What", "Where", "When" and "Why". We felt compelled to learn more about fine art clients for the large part because the answers for many important questions to help artists and art venues build solid business plans are not readily available. Our report, soon to be released, presents a concise set of findings to assist all participants in the art market. It brings together demographics and personal interests to focus on understanding client preferences to help you target your art markets most effectively. Key findings include reasons for optimism! A whopping 98.9% of participants purchase fine art an estimated 1.4 times per year. A huge 78.2% of these clients buy on impulse simply because they love the work. The highest customer preference at 71.2% is to buy directly from an artist to better know the artist and support the artist financially. The full report is to be out in Fall 2008. As a member of MyArtClub.Com you will have full access to the findings. An interesting summary presentation is also being prepared, with specific actions you and your art groups could take. We would welcome an invitation to present our findings to you and your group in future. This article first appeared in the My Art News Letter #24 read more ...

DIY (Do-It-Yourself) art marketing has never been so full of potential to help artists become successful. However artists need to realize results will be proportional to the amount of effort they put in. DIY artist websites offer artists the advantage of low start up costs; total control over content and display options; and powerful art marketing tools. With this in mind, artists need to consider how to make the best use of their time and money. We believe the key considerations are to determine: 1) your internet marketing goals and 2) your time commitment to execute your DIY effort. Goals: The first question to ask when considering your DIY web presence is: What are your expectations from having a website? Your answer might be some combination of: To show your art to others To connect with and build your audience To market and sell your art Time Commitment: The second question you need to ask yourself is: How much time are you willing to invest in achieving your DIY web presence objectives? You might reply with one of these typical answers: 1-2 hours / quarter – Time to build and maintain a web presence is time out of the studio! Save me from the computer! 1-2 hours / month- I just want to update occasionally when necessary. 1-2 hours / week – I am fairly committed – I see online presence as an important part of my marketing efforts. 1 hours / day – I am on the computer a lot and I really want to promote my art and art career for part of my day! An organized approach: With your answers to these 2 top considerations you will know where to focus your efforts. In upcoming blog entries, we will go into detail the web activities available to you to achieve your goals, reviewing the purpose of these activities along with their pros and cons. A summary of many typical artist website features or activities can be found here or a short commentary can be found here. Think of the three goals as if climbing a ladder. First build your site to show, then up a rung to connect, and further up to sell your art. Your time commitment should focus on the minimum required portion, the Basics of each rung, before advancing to the next rung on the ladder. Select anything from Optional section to enhance your artist website efforts. To Show Basics: Prepare suitable "jpeg" images of your art. Upload art images. Upload a picture of yourself. Choose your domain name. Optional: Upload a logo / signature header. Set site template colours and fonts. Group art by type in sub-pages (we call these "Studios"). Add your YouTube videos. Add a flash slideshow. Add music. To Connect Basics: Upload your Artist Statement, Resume and Contact info. Announce your website launch and subsequent updates. Link to sites you love. Add your domain name to your email signature. Add commentary, stories about each artwork. Optional: Set prices for gallery sales. Upload calendar events. Upload your email list. Email news of shows etc to your list. Blog about your target customers needs. Segment your contact list and email targeted messages. Use Facebook, Twitter to connect from and to your website. Create videos on YouTube and post to your blog or website. Add lots more links. Post comments on the blogs of others. Showcase your unique expertise or passion. To Sell (direct from the artist) Basics: Set up a payment provider account (e.g. PayPal, Visa etc). Set your pricing for direct sales. Add Order Forms, Price List and an Art Catalogue. Ask clients to buy from your site. Optional: Advertise on the internet. Offer specials – do some merchandizing. Prepare prints or lower price versions of your artwork. Give your customers specials / freebies. Use eBay and other online markets to meet new clients. Target your customer segment and converse via their community's blogs. How do you feel about our assessment? Your comments would help us understand your artist issues with managing an artist website. What have we got right or what have we missed? read more ...

Whether your art marketing focus is to Show, Connect or Sell art to your fine art website visitors, the central point of an artist website must be your art images. Here are the basics to show your art in the best possible light, from a customer point of view. Show your art well: 1. Use a good photo of your art. Photograph the art directly, never through glass. Use natural indirect daylight (on a cloudy day is best) and use a tripod when shooting 2. Crop your images - do not show any portion of a frame, and if you over-crop, meaning cut off some of the original work, that is far better than leaving a distracting portion of background 3. Don't fret too much about adjusting image colours on the photo. Showing art online is like standing on the TV showroom floor - every screen has different settings- so even if it looks good on your screen, you have no control over how it looks elsewhere. Instead you invite customers to come to see the work in person. 4. Present a selection of images as smaller images, called "thumbnails" on your site and provide a way to expand each thumbnail to a full page view 5. Load internet sized, clear images. Customers will not wait for your image to load, so use an image around 100 kilobits (Kb) plus/minus 20Kb in file size to ensure reasonable loading times, and yet maintain high image clarity. Too small a file size and the image appears pixelated or fuzzy looking. 6. Let your art be the focus of the page. Don't distract with conflicting background colours, patterns or animations such as scrolling text 7. Minimize the clicks -  Make it easy for customers to navigation from one full page image to the next, or to see text on your art page 8. Change up your images regularly, keep your site current. Email your customers to let them know when new content is added. Connect to your customer 9. Tell the story - every artwork has a story - please tell it! Customers want to know more about the piece and about you the artist. 10. Give a story that helps the viewer relate to themselves. Imagine what your visitor would say if they showed this image to their friends and family. 11. Be sure your purpose comes through in your brief narrative to tell customers why you created this work, and how it connects to your central purpose in making art. 12. Use key words to describe your art, or your story that are preferred words for Google to pick up on. Search your topic on Google and see what words are going to best resonate with your audience. 13. Add links to relevant sites, blogs, that add more context to your narrative. 14. Insert a YouTube clip of you in your studio to add emotion and your personality to your art work comments. 15. Let your visitors make comments on your website and respond to them when they do. 16. Offer connections to social media, so customers can easily share the work with their contacts. 17. Let visitors sign up to follow your artistic progress Sell to your customer 18. Show prices online. Customers want this on your website. They want to know if they can afford the work, and they don't like to ask in person. Price your works with potential galleries in mind. 19. Give customers a "call to action". How about a discount if you order by Friday? 20. Provide copies for lower price ranges. Customers have been found to buy just about as many copies as originals. Offering say a limited edition at lower prices enables a wider range of buyers to sample your work, and start to get to know your work better. 21. Connect the art for sale to your ordering system. Your site should provide a clear and simple means for ordering online. 22. Make it clear how to contact you, and that you stand behind your sales. Offer a guarantee to limit the customer's perceived risk to buy. Outline your purchasing and delivery policies. 23. Provide options for gift sales - what if a gift receiver wanted to return it, or exchange it? Our fine art market customer survey report shows that customers purchase art to give to others almost as much as they buy for themselves. Your artist website should assist your art marketing efforts by enabling easy ways to accomplish most of the above. Much of this list can be quickly addressed for each additional artwork. Remember that you don't have to do this entire list - see our article about deciding what your website purpose is as a guide to what you may want to do. Typically start at the top of the list and work your way down. Do you your customers say "wow!" about your art? Do you agree these suggestions would help? Let us know how you wow your customers! read more ...

Who are these people? This is a question every artist website owner asks, as the number of hits grows. Let us try to look into how Google can help. Most web services offer rudimentary hit or page counts. But there are many more statistics about your visitors beyond counts. Google has tackled this issue head on, and provides a free but very sophisticated tool called Google Analytics. You might wonder why Google provides this for free. By helping their clients know how to improve their site, Google knows their paying advertisers will increase their advertising spend. So Google Analytics tries to provide everything you need. Google Analytics is easy to install. All you have to do is sign up and paste some code on your website. Some artist website services such as our site, MyArtClub.Com make this an easy one step thing to do. Analyzing site traffic is a great way to see what your visitor is doing on your website. You get to follow what your customers are doing online. You win by learning from them, and adapting your website to take maximum advantage. This article will not describe each feature and how to use it. Google does a good job of course on their resources pages. See the brief product tour for an overview Here are couple of good overviews written for artists of the basics of Google Analytics related to marketing art Marketing Art Online: Using Google Analytics and Why all online artists and art bloggers should use Google Analytics Cutting to the chase, here is how you can use this powerful tool to augment results for each of the three main goals of an artists websites: to show, connect and sell. (Click here for a discussion on these goals) Showing your art - Google Analytics helps here to: Know your customer. You can count your traffic, break it down by geography, and where the traffic came from. Action: Based on where it is coming from, or what search terms attracted the traffic, you are encouraged to do more of what worked, less of what did not. Judge your content. Take a look at this artists report in the illustration below, it shows percentages of who clicked where on the page. Interestingly, the first and last positions have higher numbers of clicks. Action: Experiment with moving art pieces around to see if traffic moves with the piece or with the positioning. This is useful, as it shows which art attracted most interest. Can you add more art like the ones of most interest? Connect to your customer - Google Analytics helps here to: Measure the results of your promotions. When you invite your mailing list to view your latest works, or send out a newsletter, you can see how the number of visitors is affected over the next few hours and days. Action: Experiment with tracking the effect on your traffic of different types of promotions, such as emails or newspaper articles, or mail pieces, even handing out flyers at an Art in the Park event. Follow these events to see what creates more traffic. Sell to your customer- Google Analytics helps here to: Measure the sales you get. When clients visit your site see how many enter the sales process pages. How many complete that process? Were there steps on the process where more exited the sales process than on other pages? How might you adjust the ordering pages? Action: Experiment with different types of sales pages or page content, such as varying the sales story, trying special offers, etc. Your goal is to see what works better, and keep improving and tweaking your sales approach. Caution: Measures of traffic and attention mean nothing. You want to meaningfully expand your audience and build their trust. Audience: Just measuring Google page view counts and traffic increases does not mean you are developing an audience or growth in the community that you wish to serve. Measure growth in your mailing lists, or interactions from your audience (interactions like comments on blogs, emails to you, etc) to show progress with your art marketing. Trust: Just measuring attention your website gets in traffic and time spent, does not mean you are building trust. It is trust that truly defines the digital connection you have with your audience. Building online trust takes a lot of time. Be authentic and deliver value consistently to your audience to build trust. The bottom line: What then exactly is the value of Google Analytics to artists?!?! Answer - a general indication of your marketing efforts, and a way to identify potential changes to make. Try the actions suggested above, prioritized depending on your artist website goals. Take an interest in learning more about your customers by following their activities on your site, you may be in for some surprises! Set up your Google Analytics, wait a week, and see what your biggest "ah-ha" may be. What did you find? read more ...

A lot of artists wonder what it takes to sell art. They wonder what they have to do to become self supporting selling art. Some dream to earn a good living as an artist. There is nothing wrong about the idea of selling, and selling often. It doesn't have to be some wild and crazy dream to earn a good living from art. But it does have to be a business. Stop for a moment and ask yourself this: who do you know that makes a good living doing as they please? Is your answer a movie star, sports star, political figure, perhaps business owner? Think for a moment...are these people really free...totally free....to do anything they like and yet will continue to grow their incomes? Consider these career types a little deeper and you will see the movie star has to play a written role on screen and do it well, the sports star has to practice, produce points, and the business person is expected to add value to the bottom line. If they do not, their income will diminish and probably quite quickly, not grow. I think the only possible positive answer to this question is someone who is financially independent with a broad portfolio of business interests not reliant on the investor. A wealthy person can earn a living from their money and investments. They do not have to serve others to live comfortably if their investments are well managed. Artists who are financially independent are indeed fortunate, however in order to sell their art beyond sporadically, they still need to behave as if they are in business. As an artist you may think simply producing art is a valued service. Isn't that enough value add to be paid? Maybe, but only if someone else takes care of the admin and selling. It will take great art marketing. In short, all thriving businesses must provide products or services to customers that are 1) unique, 2) desired, 3) known, 4) convenient and 5) current. Let me explain these points from the view of the customer, with the example that they are purchasing a cell phone which is selling extremely well, the iPhone 4. Artists can provide these 5 necessities, here is how: 1) Unique A cell phone has a Unique Selling Proposition (USP). For example, the Apple iPhone 4 offers slimmer phone, better screen viewing, among other features. Apple itself as supplier is also important. Apple is a well known provider of designs that work well. The stronger the USP for a product vs. other similar solutions, the better it will sell. All works of original art are by nature unique. Uniqueness of art is a major attraction. This does not mean the art must be only the original. Our art marketing customer survey showed that of all potential customers, 65% said they purchase originals and 67% buy copies. How the customers value their unique personal connection to the work is more the nature of uniqueness in the art world. Artists create a personal brand image that is unique to them. There is only one you. Customers value knowing the artist, and add the uniqueness of the artist to the uniqueness of the work in valuing an individual art work. Build more about yourself into your art marketing. 2) Desired There are two main desire marketing aspects, product benefits and scarcity. In the example of the iPhone 4, it has sold very well because the USP offered is something customers value. If the USP of the iPhone 4 was that it made random noises, customers would not like that USP, and that product benefit would be not valued! When Apple launches any new product they follow a set formula to make it seem scarce. The build desire to the point early adopter buyers line up over night to be the first to have one. Sometimes the uniqueness can turn off a buyer, so just being unique is not enough. A desired work of art is beyond just unique. Customers in our survey (78%) mainly bought on impulse, because they loved the work. Really great quality of the art is the essential element that is required. Components of quality of art abound, but here is one particular simple view I liked. Artist (or should I say 100 artists in one – click here to understand why I say that ) Shea Hembrey suggests the main aspect of art can be summarized as Head, Hand, and Heart. Does the art and thus the artist stimulate intellectual interest or curiosity? (the head) Does the art illustrate the highest skills of the artist? (the hand) Does the art show the artist's passion? (the heart) A big part of desire is scarcity, whether real or perceived. When Apple launches any new product they follow a set formula to make it seem scarce. They build desire through pre-launch marketing to the point that buyer's line up over night to be the first to have one. Original art is very scarce, yet rare is the line up! Creating scarcity is what merchandizing marketing does when the offer is time limited, or available only to the first few in the door, or limited quantity, etc. Artists with better merchandizing use these techniques to boost client's desires. Very few artists market this way, until maybe after they die, and someone else takes up the marketing challenge. Consider pre- releasing information about the art. Arrange a private showing only for special clients. Consider a website with log-in for those privileged few to view hidden pages. 3) Known This element is about people knowing about an available product. Typically advertising whether formal or by word of mouth, are the means. Apple and the iPhone 4 are certainly well known, and are advertised everywhere, just to keep it top of mind. Artists and their art must be known in many ways. Known as to who they are, recognizable in their art, and known for what they stand. The more you show, and are seen by your customers and potential customers, the more chances you have to be known. It may sound simple, but it may be the artist's greatest challenge to become known. The good news is that, if uniqueness and desire levels are high, then getting known is much easier, as others will help pave the way. Until that hallowed time when others jump in to do your all your marketing, you need to focus mainly on your art, and building customer base as best you can. Communicate to your buyers often. Websites, newsletters, emails and social media facebook are great ways. Let them know you are still out there, so you too are top of mind. Be sure to follow up with your current clients to ensure they are most satisfied. When you are very sure they are, ask if they may want to invite a friend or two to your studio. It would be a way to show your appreciation to the client, and that they may show your works to potential new clients. 4) Convenient Today with the general conveniences offered by stores, shopping centers and the internet, all with carefully crafted displays and customer policies, it is hard to imagine buying an iPhone 4 could be made even more convenient. Notice too, a big part of the convenience is the display is especially set to maximize impulse purchases. As mentioned earlier, customers reported that art is mainly an impulse buy. One implication is that art must be available to be seen. So just being out there, everywhere, with highly attractive product is best. While this is not practical or easy, the more you do to offer your art, the better. Each year plan your exposure count. How many people will see my work, and will know it is by me, and will come to know me and my work? The more you can be seen by potential customers, the more you will sell, and grow your business. Offer to hang the buyers purchase. Offer to help them choose a frame. Offer great money back or gift exchange policies. Our art marketing customer survey also found of art buyers that 70% buy for personal use and 58% buy as a gift. Don't miss the gift opportunity! Have a convenient gift exchange policy. Tickle the customer's impulses with the age old suggestion that this makes a great gift. 5) Current A product can be all of the above, but if it is perceived as out of date, it will not sell. In the cell phone example, the iPhone 4 is the current rage, for sure. But sales will plummet the day Apple announces the coming of the iPhone 5. The price of the iPhone 4 will drop at that point, to bring more clients in to their customer base. New art does not necessarily bump out old art, but there is a school of thought that art from living artists should be perceived as recent works. After all, if you are progressing, a customer may perceive your more recent works to be higher on the progression scale. Keep your products and services evolving! You should be showing progress as an artist, you need not however, to be following fads. Stay true to your art AND progress. All your marketing print and web promotional items should be current and refreshed regularly. Stay with the times. Reflect what is going on in our world, through your work. Tell us some interesting stories through your work. Are you in business? The list above shines more light on the nature of the demands our customers place on all sellers, and in particular artists. Notice the customer perception of how you fulfill the demands is key. I know you do this already, and can do even more, when you break down what it is you are providing your client. As you think about these, do you see ways to make this a reality? How are you doing in each of these categories? Which area holds the most promise / opportunity? read more ...

R.I.P. Steve Jobs. What a man of vision and accomplishment. Spend a few minutes pondering how he did it at this amazing Simon Sinek video presentation on how great leaders inspire action. Reading some of the many tributes, what inspiration can he provide artists to build their business? Steve built Apple into a huge success, what can we learn? The Wall St Journal has an excellent page of Steve Jobs best quotes , covering a broad range of areas. I encourage you to read them all and let me know what you think applies to your art business. I focus here on a couple customer-related quotes here. Talking here about computer design, Steve says: "This is what customers pay us for–to sweat all these details so it's easy and pleasant for them to use our computers. We're supposed to be really good at this. That doesn't mean we don't listen to customers, but it's hard for them to tell you what they want when they've never seen anything remotely like it. Take desktop video editing. I never got one request from someone who wanted to edit movies on his computer. Yet now that people see it, they say, 'Oh my God, that's great!' Artists –translate this quote to your work world as: Do not expect to wow a customer by giving them what they articulate. You have to put together work that excites and pleases their senses and delivers the impact your customer seeks. Trust yourself. Talking about lessons learned with the iPod product, Steve says: "Look at the design of a lot of consumer products - they're really complicated surfaces. We tried to make something much more holistic and simple. When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don't put in the time or energy to get there. We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through." Artists –translate this quote to your work world as: Dig deeper in creating your art, think through how you can simplify your art, or client access to its message. Try to capture the essence of what customers truly need to receive from your art. Then you will connect to them emotionally, and will have a very loyal customer. Work hard. Do you think Steve's comments apply to your art? How? read more ...

Artists do art marketing on Facebook and Twitter because customers are there. Facebook statistics shows today 800 million active users of which over 50% active on any given day. As of June 2011, users on Twitter are now averaging 200 million tweets per day. Click here to see wonderful detail on 2010 Facebook and Twitter user statistics and demographics. Your customers can easily interact with your posts on Facebook and twitter so you are more likely to get a reaction, to engage with them. Clients often post encouraging comments, and better still these comments can be seen by others. Even more powerful is sharing on Facebook and re-tweeting on Twitter. What happens is the person on your list is so engaged by your post that they share or re-tweet your post to let their own list of people see your post, usually with their own introductory remarks. Do a little calculation: since the average person has 130 contacts on Facebook, your message can go quite far with just a few of your friends sharing your posting. If say 5% were to share your posting, you could be seen by almost 1,000 people! As with any form of advertising, you do need repetition - not by sending the same thing over and over - but by sending out new content again and again. You must not raise this to the level of annoyance. For best results, try to not always focus on yourself, or sound to sound too overtly commercial. Think of posts to Facebook like having a conversation at a party. You would be left alone if all you talked about was yourself and your business. Share what you enjoy and what you think others would enjoy I have found some great tips are available for how to increase your engagement factor for your posts. The more you are shared, the more you can be seen. Here are a couple excellent examples: First, consider these great Twitter tips and Blog, Facebook and Twitter sharing ideas to improve your chances of more exposure when you write. This list is invaluable, providing insights into what works and what does not for your posts to be shared by others Second, think about our content. Artists have an advantage when it comes to creating content, as you have lots of original images, which is always a plus in any posting. And your readers want to know all about your creative genius! The MyArtClub.Com art marketing customer survey Canadian Fine Art Market Report found that 48% of fine art customers buy from artists they know, and that 58% want to buy directly to get to know the about you as an artist, and your art. Content is marketing, and marketing is all about stories. If you are stuck what to write about, this link to 6 Ways to Tell a Story With Your Content to help get you going. To save time for artists and keep all this promotional effort from being repetitive work, MyArtClub.Com has just launched a novel approach on MyArtClub.Com artists websites. Artists can now post art work to their website, and at the same time with very little added work promote the art by email, Facebook, and or Twitter as they choose. Click here for more Facebook or Twitter details. Would you please share this post with others? read more ...

Knowing what, where, and how other artists earned their art business income during 2011, we believe can help you make more informed plans for your efforts to market and sell your art in 2012.MyArtClub.Com has launched a 15 minute online survey to help you learn what you need to know. We plan to compile all survey submissions and publish the aggregated results on our Art Marketer's blog, www.MyArtBlog.ca just in time for spring art sales.Please act now, survey closes Feb 14, 2012. Simply come to www.MyArtClub.Com/Survey and fill in your answers. We do the rest.If you do join our survey, please review our definition of "art business income" which we hope will serve as a guide: "Art business income" is any income from your work as an artist is the source of income for your art business. Please do not include commissions paid to galleries or agents, and do not include money earned from salaried positions (such as being an art gallery administrator, or say an art school teacher). You can however include income such as grants or sponsorships etc. that support your personal art business.Your personal submission details will be kept confidential. We believe your own answers will give you insight to your own business story. If you would like a copy of your personal submission, and to be sent a full report of the findings, please enter your email at the end.We hope you will find this of interest, and if so, would ask if you could please pass this along and encourage your artist colleagues to join in. The more details we gather, the better our results will be for all.Thank you for being with MyArtClub.Com, we look forward to helping you succeed in 2012Cam Anderson and Peter Newell,Webmasters of MyArtClub.Com read more ...

Xanadu gallery of Phoenix Arizona has posted their first results of their artist survey and they are very interesting to review. The blog provides some share opinions of artists of many types, and geographic base, who want to know where they stand compared to other artists regarding income levels and production levels. Early results show that those artists with more production correlate to higher sales. Skim the comments too, as there are some are very interesting stories from individual artists. As Xanadu provides more details, we will keep you posted. MyArtClub.Com is also conducting an art industry survey which is still open for your submission at www.MyArtClub.Com/Survey. The focus of both surveys are similar, but do ask different questions we expect will provide additional marketing insight for artists especially concerning channels to market. The MyArtClub.Com survey is only 15 minutes, and open to all. If you provide your email address (optional) we will not only send you our report, but as well a copy of your own submission for comparison purposes. Other wise you can read the results on this blog. read more ...

Many thanks to the 187 artists who took the time to complete the survey. There is a lot of interesting information I am analyzing for this blog entry and likely several more blog reports to come. Individual requested comparative reports for those who signed up will be sent out in the coming 2-3 weeks. Charts to illustrate the findings presented below, with much more detail, are available to download here. Please open this Artist 2012 Sales Survey Report 1 (If you cannot open see the Adobe Reader download link below) First a caveat: Everything presented here is opinion. Do not base your marketing efforts solely on this. You must do your own planning in context of your own business. With a healthy sample size of 187, we do hope to provide you with some reasonable sense of how artists are seeing the art business, and what they plan to do. The findings are: Half the 187 responding artists spend 20 or more hours per week. Page 2 Half see their art business as somewhat or very important financially. Page 2 A segment called ">20h-$NB" is defined to be those 70 artists (37%) who reported that they spend 20 or more hours a week, and the income is somewhat or very important to them. (NB is taken from Nota Bene which is good old LATIN for note well, aka 'important'). What I am looking to do by showing results for ALL in comparison wth those artists in this segment, is to show how this particular segment of the responding artists think relative to how the whole group thinks. I picked those who are able to and do spend most of their working time - you might call them "full timers" - and married with that those who are somewhat or very dependent on the income from their art business. In other words these artists have some skin in the game from a business point of view from both time spent and money needed. You will see that sometimes this group shows some interesting differences when compared to the overall group. Page 3 Market outlook is positive for 2012 by all artist respondents, and is even more positive in outlook by the >20h-$NB art business operations. Page 4 Group art shows came out overall on top as best way to get income, but the >20h-$NB artists rank commissions first, and then galleries, solo shows and group shows. Page 5 Promotions that worked in 2011 were # 1 direct selling to clients, then dealing with galleries/agents and media promotions as the most productive avenues, especially for >20h-$NB segment. Page 6 Artist spent about 53% of time producing art (Page 7) and over 73% want to increase that time. Page 8 Original art works sales were 72% of all income, with instruction generating 11% and copies or prints of originals generating 9.4% for all respondents, totaling 92.4% of all income sources. Page 9 The implications are: You can see where you fit in for hours per week, and review how other artists see the market from that similar perspective. Prices and sales units are seen to be going up. Artists should not lower prices, rather should at least hold prices steady and increase if their pricing analysis permits. A review of pricing benchmarks would be a worthwhile effort. The >20h-$NB segment is even more positive about sales opportunities. Seeing is believing! Don't let this very positive opinion sway you too much. You can feel some heart warming positive thoughts to be cautiously optimistic about marketing efforts you undertake this year. Commissions may be the best way to earn income, be sure you are promoting this or considering how to build this part of your business, if applicable If direct selling is the most successful, what are your promotions to contact and engage with your clients? Draw up a plan To increase the amount of time creating art means either having assistance with other time consumers, or getting more time to spend. A way to off load or save time doing admin and set up looks desirable. Could increased learning be done in tandem with creating? Income sources from originals is already so high it is hard to imagine that increasing as a percentage of your art business. Copies on the other hand do represent a way to reach a lower cost market segment. Our Art Market survey indicated clients buy as many copies as originals. Instruction while logical and lucrative needs to be balanced in time commitment if you want to increase your time creating and learning. Offer instruction as a block of time – say a weekend retreat – vs several weeks of once a week classes - to retain your maximum time availability. Anyone who would like a spreadsheet (CSV) copy to examine the detailed survey submissions immediately is most welcome. Email your request for the "Report spreadsheet", to [email protected] We will continue to report on our findings in upcoming blogs, and hope you find this of help. Please comment below to indicate / pass along your thoughts, comments and suggestions! Download Adobe Reader software here read more ...

One aspect of writing an art related blog, or any blog, is to find something original to contribute. Finding your voice as they say. Originality can be a daunting thought because the internet is so vast, we can expect someone has already written your very thought. But how to know you are not basically saying what everyone else is saying? Well firstly if you have written a blog without researching, in other words straight off the top, it may be an original perspective for sure. No plagiarism can possibly apply here, as you have put the words together yourself. Not a bad way to start, but what about the meat, the content you have provided, what if you are just babbling away with the same views many have expressed, even if it is in your own words? Searching a specific subject can be a good way. There is the obvious way, searching in Google, for your planned blog topics key words. That will turn up a lot of info. But it will be internet wide, not necessarily related to your field. This is where a Web Reader can come in handy. First - About Setting up Readers Readers abound on the web, here is a list and comparison of the top 10 I use the Google Reader, and have found it very useful. Once you select a reader, and set it up, you need to subscribe to some RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication) available from almost all sites. When you subscribe to a site RSS, the site will update your reader. This is a great way to consolidate the places on the internet you find interesting. One trip to your reader, and you have an update from all the sites you have subscribed to. Readers help you keep track of all the sites and blogs you have come across that relate to your interests. Yes, I hear you say, but who has time to read all this? Make Readers work for you Here is where it gets interesting. When I am writing a blog, say like this one, I identify the key words, in this case: using search engines, using readers and originality of blogs. You can see just by looking at these keywords, that in Google, the returned leads will be quite widely varied, to the extent that much would be irrelevant. But do the same search list within the various art marketing, social media sites I subscribe to, and it narrows down the search dramatically. The results are very relevant, and show me some of the current thoughts on the topic. Narrow your search using the readers filters When you set up your reader, you can group the RSS feeds by subject area. I mentioned art marketing, and social media for example. So if it helps narrow my search, I can select just one group of RSS feeds to find if the subjects I am writing about, are there or not. In my case, todays subject was not covered, so I can conclude with at least the confidence that many widely followed sites are not already talking about this. Yea! Sites to follow via your Reader Would you like to know some of the art marketing related sites I subscribe to? Email me and I will send you a list! [email protected] read more ...

One aspect of art marketing these days is affordability. The everyday consumer is reportedly under a lot of financial pressure, with the result that maybe buying fine art is just not high enough in priority these days to actually do it. So what to do? Follow the money! The money is either with the wealthy 1%, the extremely wealthy 0.1%, or with businesses. Unless you know the wealthy or have some great connection strategies, you may find business more easy to approach. Pick the successful businesses you see in the news. Canadian banks for example just announced record profits, across the board. B2B marketing As an artist, you are a small business. Small businesses often focus on Business to Business (B2B) marketing. For a detailed definition and how to do it check out Wikipedia . A lot of business decisions are based on building a business case to justify the purchase. Art work can be seen to provide a welcoming environment to customers, enhance and help to communicate your brand values, bring life to dead spaces, invigorate colleagues, and define specific areas. Your task is to show how these benefits can translate into dollars, for the business. And show that the dollars they would spend would be far less than the dollars they can expect to get back return. The trick is having something by way of proof to substantiate your claims. This is where perhaps a little market research could go a long way. One research project I would like to see, would be to compare art per square foot, to profitability. Has anyone ever tried B2B art marketing? How did it go? read more ...