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Driving Traffic to Your Artspan/Jewelspan Website
So you've created a beautiful and remarkable Artspan/Jewelspan website and are ready to show it off to the world. But once you accomplish that, where do you go from there? Well, just as creating new pieces to sell is a constant ebb and flow, a work in progress, so too, are your marketing efforts and should be done on a continual basis. They differ a bit from marketing in person and in galleries, so here are our latest tips to share.
1) Social media:
Social media has been, and continues to be, a staple in many artists marketing efforts to spread the word and sell more effectively online. We offer our members a robust package of add-ons, which includes tools that post new art to Facebook, Facebook Showcasing, Facebook “like” buttons, Pinterest “Pin It” buttons, and more For example, the “Artspan Showcase” feature automatically showcases your artwork on Facebook, and makes that another sales platform for your work. All you would need is to have an artist Facebook page, and when you enable the feature through your Artspan Control Panel “Social Settings” section, it will generate the showcase for you and link your paintings directly to your site. Here's a current member that is using it:
2) Blogging:
Google (and search engines like Google), love new, relevant and unique content. Why not start your Artspan blog today and share things that your visitors would find interesting? If your visitors like what you have to share, so will Google - and it will reward you by increasing your rankings as a result. If you are having problems starting with your blog, here's a tip: Many members will create a blog post that explains their latest work. They will share the process, describe the inspiration, and explain any meaning they wish to convey.
3) Video:
Have you been featured in any videos by galleries or others marketing your work? Do you have any video tutorials? Or perhaps you would like to create your own video which will then be something to share with your visitors. It could be an opportunity to have your visitors “Meet the Artist”, or something along those lines. Then embed the video onto a dedicated page on your website. Also, it is a good idea to add your URL to the description of the Youtube video.
Here's an example of a video profile of an artist. Probably a bit long to keep the viewer's attention — half the length might work better.
4) Newsletters:
Newsletters are a great way to market your work and create publicity. Do you have past collectors who like to receive notifications when you have created new art? Add their email addresses to your list of contacts and let them know on a monthly basis what's new that month. We suggest taking one work and explaining what you were trying to do. Show the work and keep the explanation relatively brief. Another thing that you could do to make the newsletter a valuable read is to list all gallery openings in your area that month. And you will think of other news items. Remember, keep any news item brief.
Access your email function by clicking on “Email Marketing”.
5) Artspan Shop Originals / Artspan Shop Prints:
When you enable the Artspan shopping cart, you can see your work being showcased within our marketplace, on Artspan Shop Originals and/or Artspan Shop Prints. Both shops expose your work to a larger audience, and you may generate some sales.
Visit the following:
Regarding the prints, we and our printer partner will do all the heavy lifting: printing, matting, framing, calculating sales tax (if applicable) and shipping to the buyer. Your prints will be Archival Pigment prints created from high-resolution digital images, using the best quality ink and paper stock available. This process results in color resolution that far exceeds any other type of image printing.
6) Exhibitions:
Many artists share current events and exhibitions, both on their Artspan website and by creating events through Facebook. Do you have one coming up? Create an events page for this and highlight it or place it prominently on the home page. Creating a Facebook event is a great way that others can share your exhibition for you as well.
7) How to optimize for Google and other search engines:
Artspan /Jewelspan does a lot for you as it adds category tags to your images and pages but there is still a lot you can do. One key thing is the browser title corresponding to each page (shows in the upper left hand corner of the browser window). This is perhaps the most important single factor in site ranking. You can and should fill it out for each page on your website. There is a default browser title field in the site info section which will show on all the site pages and there are browser title fields for each website page (click on Change Page Settings). Make the browser titles as specific as you can. In other words, the default title can be “Your Name - Maine coastal impressionist landscape painter” rather than something general like “landscape paintings” The other page browser titles can be variations on that.
This is a complicated subject and there are people who do this for a living. We have more info here:
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