My Thoughts on: "Getting Your Sh*t Together (making life better for artists)"
This article focuses on the many tools on the internet that are available for artists. The first topic that is discussed is ideas for developing an artist website, which provides exposure of an artist's works to curators, funders, and critics. An artist website can also be an excellent marketing tool. It should be easy to use and workable, so that an artist's works are accessible to potential buyers and patrons. Under a heading called: First Things First, the importance of the artist buying a domain as soon as possible is stressed. The URL should be memorable and pronounceable. It is also mentioned that it is not essential for the artist to use hosting services at this point. However, the artist should consider whether to price his or her artworks and whether to offer products for sale on his or her website. It is also important to consider whether to create an experimental, unconventional, or innovative design on the website. The main point to apply is to make the design clean, with few distractions.
Another heading is called: Do Your Homework, which means to research other artists' websites. It is useful to bookmark the ones that are appealing and the ones that are boring or irritating! Also, some basic guidelines are mentioned: make it accessible; keep your visitor, keep it simple, make it fast, and focus on art. It is a good idea to separate your fine art from other work projects, such as wedding photography. Other useful suggestions are: don't use cookies; make sure your website is good with all browsers; avoid too much text; include information about each piece; keep images limited to 72 dpi and limit of 800 pixels in width; make sure images drag and drop to desktop; make sure images have your last name on their titles; provide direct contact information for visitors (email); provide no links to outside websites; keep ads off the website.
There are more extensive topics covered throughout this article, such as: Hosting Options, Hiring Someone, and Designing It Yourself. Also, the benefits of using social networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest are discussed. It is suggested that the artist use these tools, in addition to having his or her website. In conclusion, I found this article to be thorough and helpful to artists who are considering promoting their artworks online. In my opinion, it is important for artists to explore all options available to market their works. After all, it is not always possible for artists to gain the right kinds of exposure through their limited use of brick and mortar art galleries, which may not be accessible to them.
