Artist Website Basics Complete Guide

Would you like to start selling your art online? 

You may have already been selling your art on Etsy and are ready to start your website. 

In this post, I will talk about nine artist website basics you will need to focus on that will attract more potential buyers for selling art online.

In 2016, retail e-commerce sales worldwide amounted to 1.86 trillion US dollars and e-retail revenues are projected to grow to 4.48 trillion US dollars in 2021. (Source: Statista)

There are many reasons why more people are shopping online.

Purchasing products online was relatively new when I started selling art on eBay in 2002.

Shopping online is now the norm.

Gilon Miller explains why people prefer to shop online.

• Convenience
• Better prices
• Variety
• Fewer Expenses
• Comparison of Prices
• Crowds
• Compulsive shopping
• Discreet Purchases

You can read more by visiting 8 Reasons Consumers Like to Shop Online – Cater to Them For Online Retail Success.

Do Artists Need A Website

There are many options available for artists selling art online.

Some artists will sell their original art on social media like Facebook, while others build a website or sell their art on a third-party platform.

There are many benefits of owning a website for all businesses, including artists. Neil Patel explains some benefits of owning a website later in this post.

I strongly recommend artists own a website or third-party platform for selling their art.

Selling art on social media alone has become more challenging over the past years.

The artists who are doing well online have a website, and it is something you should seriously consider having.

Are you ready to build a professional artist website?

Let’s go over the 9 artist website basics you will need to build a loyal following.

1. Biography
2. Artist Statement
3. Gallery or Portfolio
4. Contact Information
5. Social Media
6. Sign Up Form
7. Links of Interest
8. Blog
9. Press Release

Best Fine Art Website Platforms

Before we get started, you need a website.

There are two options available.

You can use a third-party website builder like:

• FASO
• Vango
• ArtPal
• Tumblr
• Etsy

Sites like these are tempting for artists starting out.

But if you are interested in building an art business online, you will want to build a site you own.

Neil Patel explains why you should avoid third-party sites.

• It doesn’t save money.
• It’s much more restrictive.
• It’s not much (if any) easier.

You can read more by visiting From 0 to Launch: 6 Steps to Building Your First Website.

It will take you the same amount of time learning how to build a WordPress site you own or how to operate a third-party site.

You must sign up for hosting and create a domain for your new artist’s website. Sites like HostGator offer domain names and hosting. Bluehost also has a one-click WordPress installation and will have your site up in minutes.

Artist Website Goals

You will want to set website goals before you can start on your artist website design.

Start with the 9 artist website basics outlined below and develop some goals you would like to achieve.

Writing your goals and developing a strategy that reflects your goals will help you to build an artist website that will attract your target audience.

How To Make An Artist Website With WordPress

Before discussing your website needs, let’s review how easy it is to launch a professional WordPress website.

First, visit BlueHost and pick which plan works best for your goals.

Pick a domain name for your artist’s website.

Related Post: How to Choose a Perfect Artist Domain Name

The next step is to fill out your account information and confirm what package you would like to enroll in.

The next step is to fill out your billing information and create a password for your account.

Once you have completed that it will be time to pick out a theme for your new artist website.

Congratulations you are a new owner of an online website where you will be able to sell your artwork.

Build your online website quickly with BlueHost.

Visit Art Business/ Art Marketing Resource and scroll down to WordPress for articles to help you with your new site.

Now that you have a WordPress site go over some artist website tips that will have you selling your art online.

9 Artist Website Basics

After you have recorded your goals work on the 9 artist website basics one at a time.

Do not rush these steps.

You will save time in the long run by doing them right the first time.

Artist Biography

Provide a summary of all the experiences during your journey.

Include an overview of experiences, awards, education, and honors.

This is a wonderful place to showcase any articles you were featured in. Be sure to include links to the articles so your collectors can read them.

For more information on how to write an artist biography, visit How to Write an Artist Biography.

Artist Statement

Your artist statement will explain your values and the message you are trying to share with the artwork.

Keep your artist statement short, and make it easy for non-artists to understand.

You are writing to people who are interested in your artwork. More than likely, they will not understand the artist’s vocabulary.

Art Gallery Or Portfolio

Your art gallery or portfolio will be the area that will generate most of your income.

Keep this area clean and only showcase high-quality images.

For help photograph your artwork visit How to Photograph Art to Sell Online.

Here is an example of artist Justin Clement’s online art gallery.

Justin uses a black background that enhances his beautiful oil paintings.

The images pop right off the screen.

He includes the title of the piece, the medium, and the size.

As you can see, Justin’s gallery is clean and simply showcases his artwork. It is as if you are visiting a local gallery.

You can see more by visiting Justin @ Justinclements.com.

Contact Information

Sometimes, a potential buyer has a question that needs to be addressed before making a purchase.

Providing a contact form that includes a way for them to email you will help increase your sales.

There are a couple of benefits that are associated with contact forms.

The first benefit is obvious if a potential buyer has a question about a product, they can email you.

Answering all questions promptly will increase the odds of landing a sale.

Be personable when answering emails, and try to be as detailed as possible.

The second benefit is that new buyers will feel more comfortable knowing they can contact you if there is an issue with the transaction.

WordPress Contact Forms:

Here are a few of the most used contact form plugins for WordPress.

• SumoMe 
• Contact Form 7
• WPForms
• Ninja Forms

For more information on contact, forms, visit How Contact Pages Increase Art Sales.

Social Media

Every artist’s website design should include social share buttons.

The social share buttons make it easy for your readers to share content and images they like to their favorite social networks.

Providing a way for your audience to share your content will help you to reach new people and build an online presence.

You will also want to provide a way for people to follow you on social media.

Provide links to all the social networks you have business pages for like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, etc.

Sign Up Form

Building your email list should be one of your top priorities.

It doesn’t matter if you sell original art online, sell fine art online, sell art prints online, or just sell your art at craft shows.

Your email list will be your money-maker.

If you want to know how to sell art online and make money, you start by building your email list.

Why is it so important to build an email list?

The people who join your email list are interested in what you have to offer and trust you enough to provide you with their email.

They will be the first people who will purchase new products you have available.

For more information on email, visit Ultimate Email Marketing Guide for Selling Art Online.

Outbound Links

Harsh Agrawal describes outbound links as:

Outbound links are links that point to some other domain from your site. When you link out to related domains, it not only helps the search engine to understand your niche but also helps to increase the trust and quality of your site which plays a vital role in your blog’s SEO.

You can read more by visiting How Outbound Link Improves Your Blog Authority & Ranking.

No one person knows it all. Linking to other content that backs up your views will help you build trust with your audience.

Besides providing links to content that supports your views, you can also link to art galleries, museums, suppliers, and other artist websites.

Art Blog

Just like your email list will be your money-maker, your artist blog will be your traffic generator.

The content you write and publish will attract people interested in what you have to offer.

By providing them with valuable information, you will build their trust.

At that point, they will be willing to sign up for your email list and potentially become loyal collectors of your artwork.

Would you like to learn the strategies I used to generate over 50,000 monthly page views to my artist blog in just two years? Download 28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists today.

Press Release

Keep your audience up-to-date with showcasing information about the new artwork you have created, promotions and sales, gallery openings, craft show events, donations of artwork, or even charity events.

Share everything that relates to your art business. You want your audience to feel connected with you on a personal level.

Artist Website Examples

Here are some artist websites you will want to take a look into.

See how they designed their website and note the most common practices of each artist.

Your mission is not to copy them but to learn from them and discover what is working for art websites.

Katherine Weber Watercolors

Let’s look at Katherine’s main menu. She has links to Galleries and Shows, Award Winners, Portfolio, About Me, Additional Sites, and Contact Me.

Tarek Montasser

Tarek shows the menu bar from a drop-down box on the right side, including social share buttons, About, Gallery, Books, ETC, Store, and Contacts.

Angela Tommaso Hellman Fine Art

Angela has her main menu on the right site that includes About, Artwork, Contact, Events, Commission a Painting, Past Newsletters, Subscribe, and “Angela’s Favorites List”.

You can see by visiting these three artists’ websites you have the ability to create a unique brand, but the content should include the artist website basics we have covered earlier.

Final Thoughts on Artist Website Basics

When you are creating a blueprint for your artist website, your site should be able to answer:

• Who is the artist?
• What style of art does the artist create?
• Is the art for sale?
• How to purchase the art?
• What are the shipping costs?
• Is the artwork guaranteed?
• How to contact the artist?
• How to navigate through the gallery?

If your artist website can answer yes to all of these questions, you have a strong foundation that you will be able to build on.

After you have completed the basics, you will want to start working on creating your brand.

9 artist website basics overview:

1. Biography
2. Artist Statement
3. Gallery or Portfolio
4. Contact Information
5. Social Media
6. Sign Up Form
7. Links of Interest
8. Blog
9. Press Release

Did you incorporate all of the artist website basics into your site?

Share your artist’s website in the comment section below.

You might also be interested in:

• Why Sell Art Online and How to Start
• How to Write an Artist Statement That Sells Art
• How to Build an Email List from Scratch Fast
• How Artists Get Found Online?
• How to Create an Artist Blog That Generates Passive Income