Follow these steps to start marketing your art online.
Marketing your art is hard, especially online. It’s hard to make a living as an artist in the first place let alone to get noticed in a digital world. The internet is fast-paced and ever changing. Keeping up with the latest tech, apps, and markets can seem like running a rat race. Most of us aren’t full time web developers or search engine optimization (SEO) experts so we need a little help.
There are plenty of resources for amateurs. Services like Squarespace and WordPress offer pre-made templates. If you need a custom app created, services like Éphémère Creative provide services for startups and nonprofits.
Once you have a site be sure to include engaging content. This will bring users back again and again. Your content should be relevant to your brand. Let’s say you’re a painter and you want to put your name out into the world; you can create monthly blogs. Discuss your techniques and processes, and mix in painting history or fun facts. You can also share your creations as you work so people can see all of the steps involved. If someone has followed your process it makes the finished product even more exciting.
To drive people to your site you need to have social media channels. Which channels make the most sense for you will depend on your brand and target audience. If your work is visual you may want to look at image based platforms like Instagram and Pinterest. You should also look into sharing sites like Deviant Art. The more people you reach through these third party sites the more will click through to your personal domain. They will get a taste of your work and want to see more, or they may be looking for information you can provide. How-to’s and Tops Tens are always popular.
If it sounds difficult to keep up a website, blog, newsletter, and multiple social sharing accounts that’s because it is! Marketing yourself properly takes time and energy. Luckily there are tools to help you stay on top of it all. Hootsuite can post scheduled content to multiple social channels. WhatCounts is great for scheduling newsletters and emails to send to various subscriber lists.
If you have trouble creating content you can curate it instead. Post the funniest comics relevant to your medium (and give credit). Aggregate useful articles and videos for students and hobbyists. Maintain a gallery of new and hot art. Whatever your passion, you can find a way to reach out to other passionate and curious people and share what you know.
Now get started marketing your art!
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