Sell Art Online Checkoff List

Sell Art Online Checklist - Art Business Startup

How To Start Selling Art Online

Starting an art business, or any business, for that matter, is a challenge when you do not know what is involved with operating a business.

Whether you are a self-taught artist or majored in art in school, operating a business differs from painting beautiful paintings.

This post will cover all the basics you need to know about selling art online.

How To Be Successful Selling Art Online

I have often been asked, “What does it take to be successful at selling art online?“

Every successful artist starts at the same place. They have a dream and a vision of selling their original artwork.

If their desire is strong enough, they will continue to work towards their goals until they reach the finish line.

Successful artists believe in themselves and their ability to learn and overcome obstacles.

We all start at the same place, knowing nothing about selling art.

The will to learn and try new ideas will separate someone who sells art online and those who struggle to sell art online.

Sell Art Online Checklist – What You Need To Succeed

Let’s review everything you need to know about selling art online and building a thriving online art business.

There is much information in this post.

Take each section step by step, and do not move forward until you have completed each section.

Use this post as a sell art online checklist.

Write Your Art Business Objectives

Before you can start selling your artwork online, you need a vision and a plan, this is why writing goals is on top of the “sell art online checklist.”

Your art business goals will be the blueprint of your art marketing plan.

Take some time to write what you want to accomplish with your art business.

Where would you like to be five years from now?
Where would you like to be a year from now?
Where would you like to be six months from now?
How much money do you want to make selling art online?
Are you selling your art in galleries, local art shows, or online?
Are you going to sell original art?
Are you going to sell giclee prints?
Are you going to sell merchandise with your artwork on it?
How much original art will you have to create to reach your yearly goals?
How long will it take you to create the original?
How are you going to market your artwork?

Here is a workbook to help you write and keep track of your business goals, How To Write Goals You Can Achieve.

Write Your Business Plan

Developing an art marketing plan might seem overwhelming because you do not know where to start, but it is more straightforward than you might think.

Know your goals and financial projections – You have already written your goal and economic forecast in the previous section.
Identify your target audience – These are the people interested in your artwork.
Study Your Competition – Discover what is working for your competitors.
Learn about the different digital marketing options -Digital marketing tools include blogging, social media platforms, and newsletters.
Write down the steps you will need to take to reach your business goals.

Do not be too concerned about writing the perfect plan.

To be honest, there is no such thing as the perfect business plan.

Every artist will have a different target audience, and the marketing strategy will be adjusted accordingly.

Start With Small Goals

Develop a plan to achieve a small milestone.

For example, if your goal is to sell fifty paintings in a year. Start by focusing on selling one painting or drawing.

Pick your favorite piece, promote it on all social media platforms, send it in a newsletter, and create a blog post.

Analyze what was working and what was not working.

If a strategy work, continue to use that strategy.

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel.

If a plan didn’t work, try revising it or discard it altogether.

Keep in mind that your plan will be changing as your business grows.

Online Art Gallery

You will need an online portfolio for selling art online.

Your portfolio should showcase your art and have a way for a potential buyer to make a purchase.

There are a couple of options available, and I will talk about all of your options.

Etsy

The easiest way to get started is by having your art displayed on an Etsy Shop.

Etsy was created for artists to be able to sell their original art online.

When Etsy first started, it only allowed original art and crafts to be published. Now, Etsy allows artists to sell prints of their original artwork and other digital items.

Etsy is an excellent way to get started if you are unfamiliar with online sales or digital marketing.

Etsy’s listing fees are inexpensive, and it is free to open an Etsy Shop.

While you are familiar with Etsy’s platform and market your art, you will want to learn how to build your artist’s website.

How To Sell On Etsy Successfully Resource:

If you are planning on starting with Etsy, I have created a step-by-step video tutorial on how to open an Etsy Shop. By the end of the tutorial, you will have your shop live and items available for people to purchase.

Build A WordPress Website

Another option is to build a WordPress website.

The benefits of building a website are that you will own the site and have total control of your site's look and feel.

You will have to purchase a domain name for your site to get started.

A domain name is an address that people use to access your website.

For example, my domain name is www.nevuefineartmarketing.com.

Here is an article to help you pick the perfect domain name for your art business.

How To Choose A Perfect Artist Domain Name

You will also have to purchase hosting for your WordPress site.

A web host, or web hosting service provider, is a business that provides the technologies and services needed for the website or webpage to be viewed in the Internet. Websites are hosted or stored on special computers called servers. (Source: Website.com)

You can purchase your domain name and hosting and have your site launched with just a few clicks of a button with BlueHost.

BlueHost's hosting costs start at 3.95/month, and the domain name is free for the first year.

Here is a video showing you how to launch a WordPress site on BlueHost.

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

WooCommerce

After you have launched your WordPress site and picked a theme for your website, you will want to upload WooCommerce.

Themes are changeable templates that define the appearance and display of a WordPress site.

Thousands of free and premium themes are available, and each theme will offer different design options.

WooCommerce is a free WordPress plugin that allows you to showcase and sell tangible and digital products.

Here are some articles to get you started with WooCommerce:

Website Builders

The last option is to use a website building platform.

Website builders are tools that allow the construction of websites without manual code editing. (Source: Wikipedia)

The main differences between WordPress and website builders:

WordPress is a CMS (content management system), and a website builder is a program made for building a website.
WordPress is more flexible and can be modified as your art business grows.
Most website builders have a drag-and-drop editor, which makes it easier to use.
You have to pay a yearly fee for hosting and a domain name for WordPress.
Website builders charge a monthly fee.
WordPress plugins allow you to add a variety of functions and features to the site.
The options available for modifying a website builder are limited.

Popular WordPress Builders

Here is a list of some of the most popular website builders.

Review your goals and decide the best option for your art business.

Next, the "sell art online checklist" is about creating a digital image of your artwork to upload the image to your online art gallery.

Photographing Artwork

To sell art online, you need to take high-quality artwork images.

When uploading your art, ensure your image accurately represents your artwork and is not grainy or blurry.

People decide to purchase your art based on the image you are showcasing on your website and other marketing platforms.

They are not there in person to look at the different angles and touch them.

Spend some time practicing how to take high-quality images of your paintings.

Practice taking photographs with natural sunlight, indoors, and stage lighting.

After trying all of your options, pick the best, and use it for your photography strategy.

Here are some helpful articles to help you learn more about photographing your art.

Do you sell drawings online?

Creating digital images of your drawing will be different than photographing paintings.

It is challenging to capture all of the smooth value changes with graphite in a photograph.

I have discovered that scanning my drawings is the best option.

Here are a couple of articles that talk about scanning drawings:

How To Sell Drawings Online

Best Art Scanner For Graphite Artists

Image Editor

After you have photographed or scanned your art, you must crop and edit your digital image before uploading them to your artist's website.

Most professional artists use Adobe Photoshop to edit their digital images.

Adobe Photoshop is a powerful image editor used by professional photographers, artists, and graphic designers.

You can crop and edit your images to accurately represent your artwork with Photoshop.

Photoshop is a powerful software with a lot of different editing options.

The good news is that many Photoshop tutorials are available online that will help you learn how to edit your images.

Here are a couple of videos to help get you started.

Artist Blog

Now that you have an online art gallery filled with high-quality images of your art, you will need to start driving traffic to your site.

Content marketing is the most effective marketing strategy for businesses of all types and something you will want to learn more about.

If you sell your art on Etsy, you can start a free blog with Blogger.

Blogger is free and easy to use.

You can upload images of your art, text, and videos and provide a link so someone can purchase them if they wish.

If you are familiar with Facebook, you will have no problem learning Blogger.

Blogger might be an excellent place to start learning about blogging, but you will soon realize you will be limited in what you can do.

You will not be able to match the look of your blog to your online art gallery.

This is important for building brand awareness.

Your blog will also be separated from your art website.

Combining your blog and gallery is a powerful SEO strategy you will not want to overlook.

If you start a blog using WordPress, you will have everything you need to build a professional artist website and incorporate a blog in one place.

What is the best way to start?

Everyone has a different level of knowledge about digital marketing.

I recommend that people not familiar with WordPress or blogging start with Blogger.

While learning the basics of blogging, I recommend learning more about WordPress.

WordPress is a tool you will want to consider using if you are serious about selling art online.

Here are some helpful articles to get you started with content marketing:

PayPal Account

Now that you are starting to drive traffic to your site, you will need a payment gateway to collect your buyer's money.

You might already be familiar with PayPal.

They are secure, reputable, easy to use, and allow buyers to use most credit cards.

Other payment gateway options:

Writing Skills

Selling your art online is different from selling your artwork in person.

You can quickly tell your story to potential buyers verbally while looking at your art in person, and you will be there to answer any questions they might have to encourage a sale.

If you sell your art online, you must get your message across using text and hope that the potential buyer trusts what you say.

Storytelling can be a challenging assignment for many people.

The good news is that storytelling is a skill you can learn.

Like everything else, the more you do something, the better you will become.

A well-written art description can be extremely helpful in inspiring art collectors to purchase a piece. By providing information about the artist's process, materials, and inspiration, a collector can better understand the work and how it fits into the artist's oeuvre.

In addition, a good description will provide context for the work, making it clear how it fits into the wider world of art. A well-written art description can be the difference between a collector purchasing artwork and passing it over.

By providing essential information and engaging prose, a description can help to make a work of art more accessible and inviting to potential collectors.

Here are some articles that will show you how to write blog posts that will drive traffic to your site:

Here is an article to help you write better art descriptions:

Effective Tips On Writing Art Descriptions That Sell

Email Opt-In

Your email list will be the most significant asset for your art business.

You will want to have a way to collect email addresses from your art website and art blog.

It will be a guaranteed way for you to contact people interested in your work.

Opt-in email is when someone is not initially added to an emailing list and is instead given the option to join the mailing list. (Source: Wikipedia)

Here are some articles to help you get your email opt-in up and running:

Email Marketing Services

Once you have people signed up for your newsletter, you will need to send the newsletters in bulk.

An email service is a company that provides businesses with tools to send bulk emails and implement email marketing. (Source: Sendpulse)

Here is a post that covers everything you need to know about writing and sending newsletters that people will open and take action:

How To Create A Successful Art Newsletter

SEO

SEO (search engine optimization) is a way to organize your artist's website, art blog, and text so that search engines will refer people to your sites.

You will want to spend some time learning more about SEO.

No matter how good your art or a writer you are if your site is not optimized for the search engines, no one will find you online.

Here are some articles to help you learn more about SEO:

Google Analytics

The last thing you will want to do is sign up for a free Google Analytics account.

Google Analytics is sophisticated software that provides detailed information on your website's performance.

Google Analytics shows you how many visitors your site receives, your website's top-performing pages, detailed information about your audience, and more.

Google wants you to be successful.

They provide all the information you need to write a more effective digital marketing plan.

Here is an article to get you started on Google Analytics:

How To Use Google Analytics To Sell More Art Online

Final Thoughts On The Sell Art Online Checklist

Learning how to sell art online can seem overwhelming at first.

This sell art online checklist will be a great way for you to start building a solid foundation for your art business.

Once you have the basics, you will soon realize it is not as difficult as you thought.

Building an online art business is affordable, but you can not sell art online for free.

There will be fees associated with operating an online gallery and premium services you might consider using.

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Write Your Art Business Objectives