EAB eMarketing, Website Design, Internet solutions for artists in St. Albans, Hertfordshire UK.

The newsletter for artists – February 2008

Already have a website?

• Is your site visible on the web?
• Does it generate sales?
• Does it meet your requirements?
• Are you updating it regularly?
• Develop your brand
• Conclusions

Is your site visible on the web?

Just because you have a website does not mean it is very visible on the Web. Chances are, whether you are a sculptor or a painter you're competing with thousands of other individuals just in the same position as you are. The first pages of Search Engines results are very desirable place and it takes a lot of effort and investment to get there.

So, type your art form into Google! Do you appear in the results? If not, you have work to do! Email us or pick up the phone (+44 (0)1727 751445) immediately and we'll give you a quick assessment of the situation.

Does it generate sales?

If you have spent a lot of money on your website hoping to sell loads of paintings, sculptures, glass or textile creations and not sold much it must be very disappointing.

Chances are you still have much work to do to make money out of selling on the web. It may be that your brand has not yet reached sufficient depths to attract enough visitors to your site.

Perhaps the main reason is that you did not invest enough. If your site is off-putting chances are people will not buy from it! Would you really enter a shop in the high street where you disliked everything about it? Are the photos of your artwork looking professional? If not you're giving the impression that you and your artwork are of an amateur calibre. Is there anything in the site that will suggest to visitors that their life will be enhanced if they surround themselves with artworks you have created. Give them on your website reasons why they should buy your artwork. You are far more likely to convince visitors to buy from you if they can be in empathy with you. If you say nothing about your artwork how will they ever find out that it is relevant to them?

Does it meet your requirements?

Your situation may have changed since you created your website. Have these changes been reflected on the website? Is it still the marketing tool it was designed to be? Perhaps you need to add e-commerce to your site so you can now start selling online? A site that is not aligned to your current requirements is not going to be able to be much use to you. If you are committed to improve your business activities you owe it to yourself to do the relevant changes.

Are you updating it regularly?

Are your prices up-to-date? Are the works of art you're promoting still available? Is your photo as it was 10 years ago? Is your email address on the website still valid? Are the exhibitions you are promoting still up-to-date? If the last exhibition you advertised on your site is two years old visitors will think you have stopped promoting yourself and no longer interested in selling your works of art.

Has your style or art form changed recently? Have you moved house? Are your contact details still valid? Are you updating it yourself and doing it well or do you see this as a distraction? Are you using an agency and it's costing you a fortune? It's dangerous to have a website which is not up-to-date! It indicates a lack of professionalism, gives a feeling of amateurish approach to "selling". This immediately has the effect of devaluing your works of art. Is this your objective?

Do you require technical knowledge of HTML (the language of the web) to update the site? If you wish to update the site yourself but do not have those skills, have you considered the use of a "Content Management System" (CMS)? If your site were to use a CMS you could easily update it from anywhere in the world and you would not require to be trained or buy any software.

Do any of the above apply to you? If you are aware of these considerations, why not let our years of experience help you address these issues? Should you wish to explore how any of these areas apply to your own circumstances please get in touch with EAB on +44 (0)1727 751445 or email us.

Develop your brand

To really succeed as a "business" you need to have a "brand" people know and recognise. The "bigger" the brand on the web, the easiest it will be for people to find you and buy from you. No brand, no sales. And finally, no, you cannot "rename" yourself Damian Hirst. But if you keep reading these newsletters who says you could not be the next Damian Hirst...

What type of branding do you have? Type your name into Google and see what shows up! Anything missing that should be there? Go and update the site quickly, or, if you're more inclined to paint or sculpt ask your web design company to update it for you (or contact us!!). You're missing out.

Conclusions

If you have read this far you either feel on top of the world or ready to give up, in which case don't!!

To be honest, even after 13 years of building websites, we can say that it takes a lot of effort to get there if that's all you do for promoting yourself as an artist. We would like to hear from you if your website is working wonders for you (congratulations by the way!), as you will be an encouragement for all the other artists who are not there yet! We can perhaps help your promotion further by allowing you to share your experience with less successful artists.

If you are on your way to stardom and feel that the ideas mentioned above mean anything to you, please get in touch with EAB on +44 (0)1727 751445 or email us. It'll probably a useful conversation which could easily change your attitude to the web and your fortunes.