Content for an artist’s website

Here are some tips and ideas for content for your artist’s website:

► Portfolio ‘showcase’ websites – these are good for presenting your art to the community and art gallery owners. At the very least it should contain standard pages such as “about the artist,” “galleries,” “events” and “content”.

► If you can afford it, opt for a bespoke site that is designed specifically to your specification so that your visitors enter your world of art.

► Write about yourself. Use the first person where possible to give a personal feel to your site. Answer questions such as ‘ Why are you an artist?’ ‘What inspires you?’ What materials do you use?’ What or who influences your art?’. Your aim should be to make your visitors feel as though they are getting to know you and know how your tick. Think about the things you would be talking about if you met a potential customer face to face in a gallery. These are the things you need to include in your personal statement on your website. On a practical note, the more you write, the more material the search engines have to index which helps your site get found on the internet.

► If you plan to sell art from your site, give your potential customers reasons to buy your art. Explain what other people think of your art and why people want to own it. Say what it does for them , how it makes them feel, why they like it. Tell your visitors how long it takes for you to create your art. The intention is to build desire and a reason to buy. Art never sells itself unless you are very famous and this is especially true online.

► Understand the psychology of selling art. Always assume that new visitors to your site have no knowledge of you or even art in general. Generally, potential purchasers like to understand what they are looking at, how it was produced and the reason for its being. If they don’t understand a work of art, they are unlikely to want to buy it.

► Beware of having too many links on your site. Links are an invitation to leave your site and should be kept to a minimum, if include any at all. If you are going to include links, make sure they support your work in some way, perhaps giving a theoretical or academic insight into your work or the inspiration behind it.

► Pay attention to search engine optimisation ( techniques to make sure you site stands the best possible chance of being found on the internet.) Include keywords in your titles and in your text. Keywords will help people who don’t know you exist can find you. For example, if your art features cats, make sure you use lots of cat related key words.

► Resist the temptation to fill your site with every single piece of work you have ever made. Your site will feel crowded and visitors will be overwhelmed and confused by the sheer number of images. Less is more in the world of art websites. If visitors want to see more, they can always ask or visit one of your exhibitions.

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