Tips For Artists Who Want To Sell Art

How To Sell Art

Many online and offline venues exist for artists to earn money selling art.

Artists new to selling art often become overwhelmed with all the information available for selling their creations, including website builders, social media marketing, content marketing, email marketing, and offline marketing strategies.

Deciding where to sell your products and how to build a loyal following is easier than you might think, and NFAM has come up with a list of the best tips for artists who want to sell art.

Is My Art Good Enough To Sell

Before we start talking about selling your art, let’s talk about the importance of enhancing your artistic skills.

One of the best tips for artists wanting to sell art is to dedicate time every week to work on their art skills to develop their own unique artistic style that will separate their artwork from other art.

The online art world is introducing new artists every day who want to sell their creations. New artwork is being uploaded every day on all social media platforms and websites.

The competition is becoming more fierce every hour, so the importance of taking the time to make art that is different than all of the other work being displayed on online galleries is essential to the growth of your art business.

Investing in online art courses will help you develop a unique art that people will be searching for online.

Top Online Art Courses

• Acrylic Painting Courses
• Oil Painting Courses
• Watercolor Painting Courses
• Digital Painting Courses
• Drawing Courses

There will be times during the learning process will you will lose motivation. If you find yourself not practicing your artistic techniques, read Motivation Tips For Artists In A Slump to enhance your art skills quicker.

Create An Online Portfolio

An online portfolio will allow agencies, art collectors, recruiters, and galleries to view your best artwork.

Your portfolio is different than your gallery. The purpose of the portfolio is to allow people to see your best artwork and read about you and your art business. An art gallery is where art collectors can visit to purchase original work, limited edition prints, along with other products and services you might be offering.

Make sure that you have a link to your website and an opt-in form where people can add their email address for your newsletters. Also, include links to your business social media accounts in case the readers want to follow you on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Build A Website

Artists who want to sell art must have an online gallery where people can visit and purchase products. Your artist website is one thing that will separate you from all the other artists in the art world.

You might be asking yourself, what is the best place to sell art? Here are three options you have when it comes to building a website.

• Build a website
• Use a website builder
• Use a third-party service

It is a good idea to research all of the options available before making a decision.

Deciding on the best platform for you will be determined by your business goals.

For example, for some artists who want to sell their art, reproductions of their art and art courses might see better results with a WordPress website.

On the other hand, artists interested in selling artwork and handmade crafts part-time might find it better to use a third-party platform like Etsy.

Create A FAQ Page

Making it easier for potential art collectors to find answers to their questions is one of the many tips for artists who sell art online and offline at local galleries and art shows.

A FAQ (frequently asked question) page is a page dedicated to answering the most popular questions art collectors might have relating to your art.

To get started, answer questions about:

• How long it takes to complete a commission piece
• Shipping procedures
• Shipping costs
• Return policy

These are just a few questions to get you started. Over time you will start to notice that you are answering the same question via email. When this happens, add the question to your FAQ post.

To find more tips about FAQ pages, visit, How to Write a FAQ Page For Art Websites.

Create A Contact Page

There will be times when a potential customer can not find the answers on your site. No matter how hard you work on writing a great article that answers the most popular questions, there will still be questions you will want to address.

Adding a contact page on your site will allow visitors to contact you 24/7 and is safer than just adding your personal email address.

For more information about contact pages, visit How Contact Pages Increase Art Sales | Selling Art Online Tips

Create An About Me Page

An about me page includes an artist’s biography, artist statement, and the art business mission statement. The “About Me” page will be the first place potential art collectors will visit to learn more about the artist and is one of the most important pages on your artist website.

The About Us page is one of the most important pages on your customer’s website. It is an opportunity where their visitors get to know their company. This is a chance for your customers’ to introduce themselves and the kind of business they do to their clients. So you might as well make it great!

Here are some topics to include in your “About Me” page:

• What inspired you to become an artist
• How long have you been creating art
• What is the message behind your artwork
• When did you decide to start selling your art
• Where do you sell your art
• Education
• Awards
• Events you have attended
• Upcoming events

To learn more visit, How To Write An Artist About Page.

Describe Your Art

Writing a detailed description of your artwork is as important as uploading a high-quality image of your paintings and drawings. If you want to sell your art online, you will have to learn how to write a great article that describes the artwork being showcased.

The article should include:

• The message behind the painting or drawing
• The medium used to create the art
• The size
• The texture
• The colors

The adjectives you use to describe your art will allow people to understand what the piece will look like when receiving it. They are looking at a 2-dimensional image, and PC screens can alter the colors of the image shown, so the adjectives you use to describe your art will help the buyer understand what they are purchasing.

For more information about writing art descriptions visit, How To Write Art Descriptions That Sell Art.

Build Customer Loyalty

Building customer loyalty is essential for the success of both small and large businesses. 

It is easier to keep a customer than it is to find new ones.

When a person buys your art, your goal is to make sure

they are one hundred percent happy with your product and customer service, so they will be inspired to join your newsletter and continue to purchase from you in the future.

Building customer loyalty benefits:

• Repeat business
• Lower marketing costs
• Honest feedback
• They will support and promote your art business with others

Update Your Art Gallery

It is essential to keep your art gallery up to date with new high-quality images of your artwork. Many artists remove listings of original art that have been sold.

Keeping the listings but marketing them as sold is beneficial and creates an urgency for potential buyers to purchase right away or there will be a chance that the painting they like will not be available the next time they visit.

Informing potential buyers that people are purchasing your art will make them feel more confident purchasing from you.

Underneath your sold art, include the description of the piece and include links to where people can purchase giclee prints of the sold art and any other merchandise you will have your artwork printed on.

You will also want to keep updating your gallery because every time you update your website, Google will crawl your site, helping your PageRank.

Find New Places To Sell Your Art

Many artists get comfortable selling their art using only one platform like their website, Facebook, Instagram, Etsy, or Pinterest.

Looking at other places to sell your products will provide different opportunities that will help you to grow your collectors.

Here are different places artists can sell art.

Art Fairs

Before people purchased art and handmade crafts online, local craft fairs would be the place every artist would want to participate in.

Local art fairs brought local artists and crafters together in one area that would allow visitors to come to visit and purchase unique products they could not find anywhere else.

Selling your art at local craft fairs will help you to build name recognition in your area which will help you to grow your online followers.

Local people like to support local artists and crafters and will share what they purchased with their friends on social media. If their friends like what they see they will ask who the artist is and if they have a website.

Local Holiday Art Shows

Local holiday events usually happen between Thanksgiving and Christmas, allowing shoppers to purchase unique handmade products.

Visit your town’s local Facebook page and ask about all of the local holiday craft fairs in your area to see what would be the best fit for your business.

There is an excellent chance you sell many products at a holiday craft fair because people visit them to purchase gifts for others.

Trade Shows

A trade show is similar to an art show, allowing businesses to display and discuss their latest products.

The main difference between a trade show and a craft fair is that trade shows are often more extensive and costly.

The benefit is that you will have an opportunity to get your creations in front of people interested in the subject matter you create. For example, an equine trade show would be a fantastic event for artists you paint horses.

Local Gift Shops

A local small business like gift shops, coffee shops, and restaurants is an excellent opportunity for artists to display and sell their work. Small companies often support other local businesses, so be sure to take some time to introduce yourself to your local businesses.

For more information visit, How To Sell Art Prints To Stores.

Prepare For The Holidays

Most of your sales will occur during the holiday season.

Many artists miss the opportunity to generate extra income during the holiday rush because they are not prepared.

Start planning for the holidays in January for the following holiday season.

Think about what products you will be selling and dedicate some time to create an extra inventory for the holiday sales.

Start announcing your specials in late September to get the word out and develop a newsletter marketing plan for October, November, and December.

Include any local holiday craft fairs you will be attending in the newsletter.

Promote Your Art On Social Media

Social media is a great platform to promote new art, sales, and old inventory to your followers and build relationships with your fans.

Most social networks are not designed for businesses to sell products. However, they are a great way to drive traffic to a website free.

Writing engaging content about your products and your art business will inspire people to visit your artist website to see landing pages for your products.

The only Social media platform that allows you to sell products on a social media page without leaving the page is Facebook.

For more information about Facebook Shops visit How To Add Products To A Facebook Shop.

Decide on what social media platforms you would like to promote your art and research how other artists are promoting their work.

Build An Email List

The last tip on how to sell your art is the importance of building an email list.

The people who join your email list are the people who will be more likely to purchase your work. They have given you their personal email address because they like your artistic style and they want to be kept up-to-date with your art business.

Once you have some email addresses, you will want to design an artist newsletter that highlights new art, sales, and upcoming events.

Also, include blog posts in your artist newsletter.

To learn how to write newsletters visit, How To Create A Successful Art Newsletter.

Final Thoughts On Tips For Artists Who Want To Sell Art

Whether you are thinking about starting a career as an artist or just want to earn some extra money selling your creations part-time, the tips for selling art outlined above will help you to make the most of your time. Artists like you see all over the internet are implementing the same strategies you have learned about today.

There are no secrets that successful artists know about selling artwork. The truth is, art that sells is the art that is seen by the right person.

Common Questions About Selling Art

How can I sell my artwork?

Artists can sell their creations online and offline. Use a website builder to sell tangible and digital products online and participate in local art shows for selling products offline.

What is the best place to sell art?

There is no “best place” for selling art. Your original and limited edition prints will not sell if nobody knows it exists. It does not matter if you show your products on Etsy, WordPress, or Fine Art America. If nobody knows about your art business, you will not sell a thing.

The site you use to create a gallery is only a platform that allows visitors to purchase your work. You have to get your work seen by the right people and drive them to your listings so they can make a purchase.

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