Would you like to see your online art sales increase? Did you know that you can sell art on your blog? In the post, I will share with you 7 art blog tips that will help you to increase your online art sales.
7 Art Blog Tips That Increase Online Art Sales
Disclaimer: Please note that some of the links on this post are affiliate links and will be clearly marked as so. I will earn a commission at no extra cost to you if you choose to purchase through those links. I will only recommend products I have used, found helpful to my business and are companies I trust.
What makes you have favorite artists, musicians, actors and/or actresses?
Maybe a friend told you about them or you heard about them on social media.
Most famous people you come to know and admire comes from word of mouth.
You hear their names from friends, family members or co-workers.
The more you like them the more you want to learn about them. You keep up-to-date with social media or blog posts.
The more you learn about the person the more you feel connected to them. You are now one of their greatest assets.
You might be asking, “How can I be a valuable asset for my favorite entertainers?”
You are an asset because you are helping to share their message.
How many times have you asked someone if they have seen the latest movie your favorite actor was in?
How many times have you shared your favorite song to a friend?
How many times have you talked about a piece of art that is being displayed on your wall?
Your art blog will tell your story as an artist. The art you create will have a different meaning to a person who has come to know you as an artist.
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Building Your Tribe
What does tribe mean?
Tribe for business is a group of people who share an interest in a niche.
For example, you will find tribes for distinct types of art. There are groups of people who are fascinated with oil paintings, watercolors, or graphite drawings. These groups are also narrowed down by the subjects artists create such as oil paintings of horses or abstract art.
These groups of people or “tribes” promote their favorite artists by showing the artist’s artwork to their family and friends.
The tribe you build will be a part of your marketing team and help you to share your story. They will be your best advocates and will promote, share and protect your brand.
Your job is to build your tribe. They will do the rest.
You can start building your tribe by publishing blog posts on a consistent basis.
How can I build a tribe by blogging?
People love to share things they like. The content that you write will tell your story as an artist.
Your readers will learn more about you and start to feel connected to you. When you share something new to your readers, they will want to share that information with their friends and family.
They might share your blog posts on their social media sites, or they will talk about it verbally.
The friends that are interested in your art style will start to follow you via social media, blog, and website. They will learn more about you and become a part of your tribe. Your tribe has just grown.
Blogging Statistics for Small Businesses
I fully understand why you might be skeptical about starting a blog. I was too, especially in the beginning, since writing never came easily to me.
The more I learned about digital marketing over the past 17 years, the more I appreciated how important blogging is.
Here are some statistics that show the value of blogging for small businesses.
- Companies that blog have 97% more inbound links. – Source Hubspot
- 92% of companies who blog multiple times per day have acquired a customer from their blog. – Source Hubspot
- 37% of marketers say blogs are the most valuable type of content marketing. – Source Content Plus
- 81% of companies consider their blogs “useful,” “important,” or “critical”. – Source Hubspot
- 60% of consumers feel more positive about a company after reading custom content on its site. – Source Content Plus
- Articles with images get 94% more views. – Source Jeff Bullas
- 68% of consumers are likely to spend time reading content from a brand they are interested in. – Source The CMA
- 70% of consumers learn about a company through content rather than ads. – Source Tech Client
- Content creation is ranked as the single most effective SEO technique by 53% of businesses. – Source Marketing Sherpa
- If a blog is more than 1,500 words on average it receives 68.1% more tweets and 22.6% more Facebook likes. – Source Quick Sprout
7 Art Blog Tips You Can Start Using Today
The seven tips I will be discussing are not “new tactics” or the “latest hacks” that will drive a tremendous amount of traffic to your site.
They are seven areas that you will want to focus on every day. The foundation of your art blog will be built from these areas.
Understand Your Audience
According to Internet Live Stats, there are over 3,500,000,000 internet users in the world and the number continues to rise.
The misconception many artists and small online business owners have is that they believe that their art or product will be liked by every person on the internet.
Why would they believe something like this?
There are so many articles that say something like, “Try this new hack”, “Guaranteed to” or “How I got 600,000 visitors a month by….”
I am not going to say these ideas do not work in all situations. What I will say is that they will not work for everyone.
Yes, there are a lot of people in the world and yes, there are a lot of people who are on the internet. Technology even allows you to connect with all of those people, but the reality is not everyone is going to be interested in your artistic style. It is ok because on the other side of the coin there are a lot of people who would love to buy your art.
You have to focus on the people who will are interested in purchasing your art. All of your energy should be focused on your niche.
Targeting your niche will help you to work selectively. This means you will develop plans that will be productive instead of marketing to people who are not interested in your art. Communicating and converting your audience into customers will be easier.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase by clicking on an affiliate link, Nevue Fine Art Marketing may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate relationships include, but are not limited to, Bluehost, Tailwind, Skimlinks, SareASale and StudioPress. To learn more visit Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy
Craft Your Story
For you to tell your story, you will need to have a clear picture of your story.
Believe it or not, this takes practice.
Many people struggle when it is time to talk in front of people they do not know or write blog posts that are personable.
Do you remember how nervous you would get when you had to give a presentation in front of your classmates?
The good news is that the more you do it, the easier it will become. Just like anything in life, repetition makes perfect.
Take some time to ask yourself:
What is your mission?
What is your story?
What message would you like to get across with your art?
Why does your art matter?
How will your art change lives?
What is your artist story?
Write down your answers to these questions and practice saying them out loud. The more you practice telling your story, the easier it will be to tell your story, even when it is unexpected.
The message you craft should add value to your brand and your artwork.
The people who are buying from you are buying something that is personal. It is not like they are going to a Wal-Mart and buying a print.
They are buying a piece of you. Tell them the story behind your art so they can feel more connected with their purchase.
When you are writing your blog posts, write as if you were talking to someone sitting across a table from you drinking a cup of coffee or a glass of wine.
You want the person reading your article to feel as if they already know you.
I know this might sound difficult to some of you. I struggled with this in the beginning as well. But I will tell you, that it will get easier the more you do it. Repetition, repetition, repetition.
Make it Easy to Make a Purchase
If you want people to purchase your art from your artist blog, you must make it easy for them to do so.
People are busy and they do not have time to waste trying to figure out how to purchase one of your items.
The best solution is to have a “Buy It Now” button directly on the post. There are several different ways you can do this. One way is to use PayPal. The other way is to use a WordPress plugin for your WordPress art blog.
There is one more option that you can do, but it is not as effective. You can include a link to a landing page where they can learn more about the art you are showcasing.
Just keep in mind that you want to make it as easy as possible for someone to make a purchase. The fewer times a person has to click on a link the higher your conversion rate will be.
Cross-Promote Items
An effective way to increase more sales is by cross-promoting other items on your landing pages. They could be other original pieces, prints or something that relates to the product being showcased.
Amazon does this better than anyone. If you want to learn how to cross-promote your art take some time and visit Amazon. They are the best cross-promoters out there.
Benefits of Cross-promoting:
A buyer might be interested in purchasing more than one item. Maybe it is the holiday season or someone’s birthday.
If they are buying a gift for someone and see something they like, they might make an additional purchase. Make it easy for the buyer to see other items that relate or have a similar style of the product being showcased.
Another reason to cross-promote items is that a potential buyer might be indecisive of purchasing the art you are showcasing. If you cross-promote other items they might see something they can’t live without.
The third benefit is the cost. Maybe a person is in love with the art you are showcasing but cannot afford the original piece. You would have a good chance of selling a print if you cross-promote prints along with the originals.
You will not make the same amount of money selling a print as you would by selling the original painting or drawing, but it is still money coming in.
Build Your Email List
Your email list is your money-maker. It is easier to land a sale with people on your email list than it is to find a new customer.
The people on your email list already trust you and are interested in your artwork.
Start building your email list today.
Here are some helpful articles to help you build your email list:
- 7 Email Services for the Artist Selling Art Online
- Best Places to Add an Email Opt-in on Your WordPress Blog
- Ultimate Email Marketing Guide for Selling Art Online
- How to Build an Email List from Scratch Fast
Make it Easy to Share
To increase sales, you need to generate website traffic.
An easy way to generate extra traffic is by making it easy for your audience to share your posts.
There are many social sharing plugins available for WordPress.
I have tried many of them in the past. I have recently heard about Social Warfare (affiliate link) and decided to give it a try. I could not be happier with the plugin.
Social Warfare (affiliate link) has it all. You can see the plugin in action on this post. It is easy for readers to click a button to share the post on their favorite social media platform. The social icon links can be on the top of the page or bottom as well as follow the page so they will always be available for the reader to click.
Not only that but you can also customize the image and text you want to be shared. This will help you to have control of what is being shared by your audience.
Most blogging platforms have social share features. If you are not using WordPress, take some time to research how you can add social share links on your blogging platform.
Be Consistent
The most important thing an artist can do to increase sales blogging is by being consistent.
Search engines reward people who are publishing content on a regular schedule.
Besides the SEO benefits, your audience will learn when to expect a new post from you.
It will be more difficult to build a following if you are inconsistent with your posts.
Decide on how many times you can publish a blog post per month and stick to it.
It is better to start on the low side at first until you get used to a routine.
If you decide in the future you have time to publish more posts, include that into your schedule.
Successful Artists Who Blog
Here are some examples of artists who do extremely good blogging.
Abby Ryan
Ryan Studio Paintings by Abbey Ryan
Abby Ryan started blogging by posting a painting a day in 2007. Since then she has received over one million visitors from more than 100 countries.
Her paintings have been featured in Oprah Magazine’s “Women Who Make Beautiful Things,” Seth Gordin’s Linchpin: Are you Indispensable?”, Fox’s Good Day Philadelphia, YaleRadio and more.
Abby started Ryan Studio in 2003 and used her blog and eBay auctions to sell her art online since 2007. Over twelve hundred people are enjoying her artwork.
Abby is one success story showing artists they can live their dreams with hard work and dedication.
Visit Abby’s:
Blog – Ryan Studio
Website – AbbyRyan.com
Lisa Congdon
Lisa is a fine art artist, illustrator, author, and speaker. She is known for her colorful paintings, intricate line drawings, pattern design, and hand lettering.
She works with clients around the world including the MoMA, Harvard University, Martha Stewart among others.
Lisa blogs daily about her life, work, and inspiration on her blog Today is Going to be Awesome.
If you need inspiration go visit Lisa at:
Website – Lisa Congdon
Blog – Today is Going to be Awesome
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest
Best Blog Platform for Artists
There are many blogging platforms available for you to choose from. For many years, I have believed WordPress to be the best platform for artists to use for their business and still will recommend it.
But as you can see from Abby and Lisa, it doesn’t matter what platform you are using. What matters is the quality you are providing.
Here are some common blogging platforms to consider:
If you have decided to use WordPress to build your artist blog and artist website, you will need to purchase hosting.
Blue Host
WordPress Themes for Fine Artists
When you are designing your blog you will want to think about how you will be branding your art business.
You will want to decide on what colors you will use for the background, your logo, categories, and the flow of the blog, and website.
You can see with this website I have combined a blog and website that support my artwork as well as my art marketing business.
The posts I write for this site are blog posts. Every post I create helps me attract artists like you who are interested in learning how to sell art online, people who want to learn how to draw, and art collectors interested in purchasing graphite drawings.
I have built this site using WordPress.
WordPress is a CMS (Content Marketing System). You will need to use a theme to create the look and feel of your artist blog.
Every them is different and will allow you to do different things. One thing to consider when deciding on what theme you will be using is to make sure it is safe and responsive.
I have tried many themes such as ThemeForest Themes, but I am using StudioPress Themes for WordPress. (affiliate link)
Genesis themes by Studio Press, in my opinion, are the best themes available and have many templates to choose from.
Look at what Genesis has to offer before looking elsewhere. This way you will be able to make the best decision for your art business.
How to Run a Successful Art Blog
There is no secret on how to run a successful art blog. It takes planning, dedication, a vision, a mission, being consistent and the will to learn.
Abby and Lisa show you how hard work will pay off. They started just like you, with a dream. They have worked very hard to get to where they are today.
You too can reach your dreams.
I have written a book to help make blogging easier. Grab your copy today and join all the other artists blogging about their crafts.
28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists
Also, available on Amazon 28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists.
Conclusion:
Running a successful art blog will take some work and dedication. As you can see the benefits are well worth the time.
Wouldn’t it be nice to have over a million people see your art like Abby’s blog generated?
Your art blog could do the same for you.
Take the time to learn your audience and craft your story. Make it easy for people to purchase your art and cross-promote other items. Start building your audience today and make it easy for your audience to share your posts.
You might also be interested in:
- Sell Art Online Startup Plan
- How to Sell on Pinterest Tips for Artists
- 6 Blogging Benefits You Can’t Ignore
- How to Promote Your Blog Post
- 3 Best Digital Cameras For Photographing Artwork
28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists
Are you ready to start building an online presence?
Download your copy today, or Purchase on Amazon.
The Productive Artist How to Live Your Dreams The right mindset and time management skills are essential for any business. These topics are often not talked about but are key elements for your success. You will learn how to have a winning mindset and time management skills necessary for operating a successful art business. Available at Amazon or Download today.
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