There are 7 simple essentials you should include on your website as a creative entrepreneur. Why, you ask? Have you ever walked into a shop and felt like you instantly knew the owner? That’s the same feeling your website should give a first time viewer and these 7 website tips will help with just that.
Your website as a creative entrepreneur is your coveted SOLO gallery show–but online. It should represent you and your brand entirely. Your online space should speak to who you are as a person and showcase your work beautifully. A good rule of thumb is to make sure that your website clearly identifies:
Who is the artist?
What do they create?
When do they create or sell? (i.e. seasonal shows)
Where do they sell or create?
Why do they sell and/or create their artwork?
In addition to answering these crucial questions, your art website should have easy navigation to the 7 important pages that every creative entrepreneur should include on their website:
Who is the Artist/Craftsman?
It’s a known fact that people are more willing to buy something because of it’s story. This means that people want to know who is behind the artwork. They buy your story sometimes even more than the work itself. They buy from people that they feel a sense of familiarity with. Therefore, it’s important to have an “About Me” page on your website. To create a simple bio, just answer the questions above and add a current picture of yourself to the page. For fine artists, this page can/should also include your CV, which is an extensive list of every publication or award you’ve received in your career as an artist.
Events Page:
If you are a creative that sells their goods at private or public art shows and/or festivals, it is important to have an event page to announce when and where you will be at certain times of the year to show or sell your craft. This also helps the search engine optimization (SEO) portion of your website; Meaning, when people search for show details online, if you’ve documented your event with the correct tags (i.e. the name of the event and date), your own website’s event page will pop up next to the official show/event Google listing.
FAQ Page:
A frequently asked questions page is important because it streamlines the inquiry process for you and a first time buyer. My FAQ page is ever evolving on the ACCA website, as certain occurrences or questions come up that I did not think of while making the initial page. A good way to start your own FAQ page is by asking friends and family (that are not in the same industry as you) what their first question would be if they were going to hire you. Document all of their questions and as you answer them, you’ll organically create a very helpful FAQ page for future potential shoppers. *Another upcoming blog post will talk about what items you should include on a creator FAQ page.
Images/Gallery:
People come to a creator’s website to either buy art in any form or commission the creator for a custom project. This is why the most important part of an art website should be high-quality imagery on a gallery specific page. This page should showcase the best imagery of your best artwork. Photos of your art can include the framing details, lighting differences, and in-room examples of how it can be hung.
Descriptions:
To help people who would potentially be purchasing your product without seeing it in person, you should be able to clearly talk about the artwork itself with distinct descriptions. I personally do this on my sales pages and in the form of a blog. In my online art store, I take care in crafting a detailed description for each piece of original artwork so that the viewer can better understand its price point and envision the piece in their space. For my custom work and my collections, I create blog posts about my design process, and what the imagery I’m making means to me or my client.
Prices:
I think it’s good to include at least a base price for your services and products on your website to give people an idea of what to expect prior to their initial contact with you. By offering a “starting at” price point, you can rest assured knowing that the people who contact you will be more serious about investing their time and money into a potential collaboration….Goodbye to those countless “how much does X cost” emails!
Subscribe:
There should be a place on your website for people to opt into some sort of email newsletter. *An email list is something that I will go into more in depth on in future blog posts. It’s important to collect people’s emails so that you have a place OFF your social media accounts to serve your audience. People that give you their email address are generally more interested in your work than someone who simply clicks “like ” on your reels every now and then. Both types of fans are important.
In conclusion, a perfectly curated social media presence is not nearly as important as a well designed landing page and user friendly shopping experience on your OWN website. Let me know if you have questions on this topic or if you have had success with other kinds of pages on your website in the comments.
Hand|Art. Head|Business. Heart|Belief.
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