I have an addiction or more like a passion to create and make art. The current medium I have been working with is Acrylic and Oil paints, which are ridiculously expensive. Last year at this time my employer limited my hours to a maximum of 30 a week. Giving me more time to do what I enjoy but less money to meet financial responsibilities. Well here I have this addiction to create and make art using paint. When I am done with an artwork I either stack it up in a corner somewhere or hang it on my walls. So I thought maybe if I can sell a few of my artworks that will help make up for the lost hours of pay at work and help fund more art projects. Wrong, well kind of. Like anything there is always more to get more to buy more to fix and more to do. I have had sales, but I also have had expenses.
My current outlets for sales is an online presence on Etsy.com which is a website that allows sales of anything handmade or vintage. Etsy.com is basically the only site you need if you wake up one day and want to be a hipster. I have my "shop" on Etsy and just need to maximize exposure to maximize the odds of sales. Online sales of artwork is much harder than one might think and with the cost of shipping for an artwork that is gallery wrapped beyond a certain size is astronomical. Unfortunately I did not discover a technology that helps reduce shipping costs. However I did come across an article that helped me realize that there is more I can do to integrate my Etsy shop and my facebook fan page. The article is here http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/9-companies-doing-social-media-right-and-why/ .
I had no idea that with Facebook + Commerce and other third party apps I can redesign my facebook fan page to stand out from the crowd and show my Etsy shop items on my fan page. I have used twitter, and instagram so far to promote some of my new stuff. I am refining my skills with this course to not be the annoying guy at the cocktail party that only talks about himself. That can be a challenge when you become frustrated and desperate. I have some ideas and new skills to apply to my development of my social media campaigns to expose my art to the masses. It is so much easier to be an artist in the real world. So far I have been featured in three galleries and have sold my artwork to a gallery owner for their private collection. Unfortunately I need to use new technologies to stay informed of when shows and exhibits are accepting applications. Well wish me luck, and thank you in advance for any additional information on how to grow my brand.
I think that it is awesome that you are selling your own artwork on the web. One way to promote your website is Search Engine Optimization, basically you create backlnks to your shop on etsy.com and your page will show up higher on google search results, which means more visitors to your shop on etsy.com. I think it will be worth your while if you look in to it.
ReplyDelete