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Artist Websites

I advise all artists who are serious about trying to promote and sell their work to start a website of their own, and then have business cards made that have the web address on it, as well as other contact information. My website over the years has helped generate sales, shows, commissions, and other forms of publicity. While a fair amount of work has to go into maintaining these sites, the payoff is generally far greater than the work involved.

While starting and maintaining an art website is easy, organizing it is another matter entirely. There seem to be two approaches to organizing it: 1) it is simply an online gallery, showing your work over the years. Many successful, major artists do this. 2) it is an online clearinghouse and way to sell your work, with pricing and purchase information. Or 3) it is a little of both. I have to admit that I don't really know which approach is best. I've tried all of them over the years.

What I do now is more like a combination of all three. My site shows older works that are already sold but which I feel represent me and my style the best, and it also shows works that are currently for sale. But with the latter prices are not listed. This is to encourage people to contact me about pricing, which I can be flexible with, etc. depending on the circumstances (both mine and the buyer). In the past I had prices listed, but I think people were scared away by them, even though I am always ready and willing to negotiate prices, and they probably could have gotten the piece they wanted for a price they could afford.

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