More people are purchasing original artwork online than ever before. The benefits of selling your artwork online seem endless. Whether you’re an amateur or professional artist, selling your artwork online is the wave of the future and will more than likely continue to rise over time. The online marketplace is growing every year.
So many artists and art enthusiasts prefer purchasing art online rather than in person has a lot to do with convenience. It’s easier for potential buyers to explore a variety of artwork from the comfort of their homes and make a purchase without having to leave their house. Not only is it easier for buyers, but it’s also easier for artists to sell their work online. Setting up an online shop is simple, and many platforms cater specifically to online sales.
This article will discuss some of the benefits of selling your art online. We will also give you two options for creating an online store and talk about some ways to attract more customers.
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Benefits Of Selling Your Artwork Online
1. Reach a wider audience More people have access to the Internet than ever before, which means a greater potential audience for your artwork. You can reach art collectors from all over the world interested in your specific type of art. You no longer have to cater to people in your local area and local art fairs.
2. Easier and faster transactions Transactions are quicker and simpler online. Buyers don’t have to worry about finding the right time to visit an art gallery or museum to view the artwork. They can browse your artwork at any time and purchase it with just a few clicks.
3. Increased exposure. An online shop gives you a presence on the web that you wouldn’t have otherwise. This increased exposure can lead to more customers discovering your artwork and potentially buying it.
4. No geographical limitations You can sell your art to anyone, regardless of location. There are no boundaries when it comes to selling art online.
5. Increased profits. You can sell your artwork at a higher price online than in person. The convenience and exposure an online shop provides will allow you to charge more for your painting, resulting in increased profits.
Creating An Online Shop
There are many different ways to create an online shop, but they all follow the same basic steps.
1. Find a site that offers online shops. Countless sites allow artists to quickly set up an online shop for their artwork. You can either set up your website with e-commerce like Woocommerce or use a platform like Saatchi art or Squarespace specifically for selling products online.
2. Upload your artwork. Once you’ve chosen an online art gallery, you’ll need to upload all of your artwork with high-quality images.
3. Set up payment and shipping options. Be sure to set up payment methods convenient for buyers, such as PayPal. Depending on the platform you’ve selected, you may also be able to set up shipping options for buyers.
How To Set Up A WooCommerce WordPress Site
Launching an artist’s WordPress site has never been easier.
First, visit BlueHost and pick which plan works best for your goals.
Pick a domain name for your artist 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 easily with BlueHost.
Once you have your website liv go to Art Business- Art Marketing Resource and scroll down to WordPress tutorials. There you will find over 45 articles that will solve any WordPress questions you might have.
Don’t be afraid to contact me with any questions you might have.
It doesn’t matter what platform you are going to use when you are starting your online art business.
The best platform will be determined by the goals you wrote down earlier.
The only thing that matters is that you have an online store or online gallery to showcase and sell your fine art.
Selling Art On Etsy
If you do not have the time to learn how to build a WordPress site you can start selling your art in just a few minutes on Etsy. Etsy is a global online marketplace where people buy and sell handmade, vintage, and unique goods. Etsy has over 89 million active buyers and over 4,000 active sellers.
Independent artists are selling their work on Etsy because it is easier for them to reach larger audiences on Etsy than how long it takes to rank an online gallery in the search engines.
Related Posts:
How To Sell Art On Etsy – Complete Guide
Marketing Your Art Store
Market your shop. Once your online shop is live, the next step is to promote it and attract potential customers and clients. Here are a few ways you can get attention for your website:
a . Create social media profiles for your shop and regularly post about your new artwork. Use multiple social media accounts to reach more people.
b. Add a link to your online shop on your website, blog, social network accounts, newsletters, and business cards.
c. Reach out to art bloggers and ask them to review your work.
d. Mail postcards or brochures with information about your online shop to potential buyers in your area.
e. Run online ads targeting art enthusiasts.
f. Give away free art prints or other promotional items to customers who purchase from your shop.
Ways To Attract More Customers
1. Make your artwork available in multiple formats
Not everyone is interested in buying a painting or sculpture. To reach a wider audience, offer your artwork in different forms, such as prints, T-shirts, or coffee mugs.
2. Price your artwork competitively
Some buyers may be hesitant to purchase artwork that is too expensive. Price your paintings and sculptures reasonably so that more people are inclined to buy them.
3. Offer discounts
Another way to attract buyers is to offer discounts for bulk purchases. For example, you could create packages that include multiple prints or T-shirts at a discounted price. Print-on-demand sites like Printful and Fine Art America make it easy to sell merchandise with your artwork on them.
4. Make your shop accessible
To reach a significant number of potential customers, make sure your online store is easy to find with search engines like Google or Bing.
5. Have patience
Building an online shop takes time, just like creating a physical one. You won’t have success overnight.
How To Take High-quality Images Of Your Artwork
Now that you have your Etsy shop up or your new WordPress site live, you will want to take some time learning how to take high-quality images of your artwork.
This step can not be overlooked or put on the backburner.
The bottom line is that the image you share will be the first impression someone has of your artwork and art brand.
Like I have mentioned earlier, the online marketplace is booming, and new competition is eager to take a piece of the pie.
The opportunity of losing a sale will increase if you start uploading images that have bad lighting, blurry, or have a distracting background.
Please take a few minutes to look at how other artists selling artwork showcase their paintings or drawings.
You will soon notice that every image representing their artwork is crisp with perfect lighting and no distracting backgrounds.
- Why Professional Quality Images Are A Must For Art Websites
- 4 Best Digital Cameras For Photographing Artwork
- Best Art Scanner For Graphite Artists
- 7 Tips For Photographing Artwork To Sell More Art Online
- Tips For eCommerce Photography For Crafters
For more photography articles visit Art Business- Art Marketing Resource.
How Art Descriptions Will Help Me Sell My Art
At this point you are probably saying, I can sell my art.
We told you that it is not that difficult if you just start with the basics.
Speaking of the basics, let’s talk about writing descriptions of your artwork.
The image you post will attract your potential art collectors.
The description you write will make a personal connection between your potential buyer and your artwork.
The description will also tell the buyer exactly what they will be receiving if they make a purchase.
There is no perfect formula when it comes to writing an art description.
The objective is to tell the story behind your painting or drawing and provide detailed information about what they will receive if they choose to purchase the product.
The story behind your art should include:
- Your inspiration for the piece
- Reflect you and your personality.
Here are some questions you might want to answer in your description:
- What was the inspiration behind the piece?
- What does the piece mean to you?
- What message would you like a viewer to receive when looking at the piece?
- What techniques and mediums did you use for the piece?
Related Resource:
How To Write Art Descriptions That Will Sell Your Art
Selling Art With An Art Blog
You can only sell your paintings online by having people visit your online art gallery. You could sell tangible and digital products with the free Woocommerce plugin with a WordPress blog.
Blogging about your art and your art business will attract more art collectors to your website. Start a blog and post about the inspiration behind your work, what you think of other artists in your field, or a tutorial on making a beautiful painting with oil paints or your medium of choice. Keep up-to-date with developments in the art world and put your two cents in by writing an opinion piece for other blogs.
Study how other professional artists write blog posts and how often they publish new content online. A great way to get started is by learning from talented artists who have an abundance of online art sales.
SEO
Publishing content about your art business is one way to increase website traffic. Another thing you will want to work on is SEO.
SEO is the process of optimizing your website so that it appears higher in search engine results pages (SERPs). This is done by adding the appropriate keywords and phrases to your website’s content, titles, and meta descriptions. For example, if you are selling a nautical painting you might want to include keywords like nautical painting, home decor, wall art, and original works of art in your blog post.
If you want to learn more about SEO, there are plenty of helpful guides online. And if you’re feeling overwhelmed, consider hiring a freelance SEO expert.
As you can see, an online art business is just as feasible as any other type of e-commerce venture. It may simply take a bit more time and effort than opening an Etsy shop or having a website designed and built from scratch. However, there are plenty of resources available for you to learn how to build a successful art business.
To get you started learning about SEO, check out this video SEO Training Course by Moz.
How To Build An Email List
It is easier to sell art to people who have already purchased from you in the past than it is to find new art collectors.
Building an email list will help you reach your art lovers whenever you have new art for sale or events you will be attending.
There are several ways you can grow your email list:
- Offer a subscriber-only discount.
- Collect emails from your website visitors by including a popup box that encourages them to subscribe or add an email signup form on your blog. If you use WordPress, the free Jetpack plugin allows you to add email signups to any page on your site.
- Build an email list of people who have attended your art exhibitions or art shows.
- Share your email list with other artists in your field so they can promote their work to your subscribers.
- Remember, it’s important only to send subscribers relevant and valuable content to them. If you bombard them with too many emails, they may unsubscribe.
Here are some articles to help get you started:
How To Build An Email List From Scratch Fast
Best Art Newsletter Topics To Write About
Best Email Opt-in Plugins For Artist WordPress Websites
Final Thoughts On How To Sell My Art Online
The great thing about selling art online is that there are no boundaries for who can become an art collector. It’s a global market, so anyone with an internet connection can purchase your work.
That being said, it’s important to put in the time and effort to make your website look professional, write well-crafted artist descriptions, and build an email list of art lovers. Once you have gone through the necessary steps to increase your online presence, you will reach out to more interested parties and successfully sell your artwork.
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