Your Own Personal Art Web Site |
Cyber Galleries |
Comparison and Conclusion
YOUR OWN PERSONAL ART WEB SITE
There are plenty of art-based web sites on the Internet; the trick is to find - or to create - one that best suits your needs.
Some artists have chosen to start and develop their own web pages. If you have time to commit to this endeavor, then it can be very rewarding on a creative front. Be careful though - you only get one first impression. Don't make it sloppy.
The costs to develop your own web site vary based on the equipment you have and your own technical skill. If you have the equipment and the skills to use it, you can have your own web site. You will need:
- Your own computer: Obviously...
- Web Hosting: You'll have to pay a basic monthly fee to have your site on the web. It is relatively cheap (as low as $10 per month).
- A Registered Name: The web address for your website is called a "domain." Choosing and registering this name will cost about $15-$30 per year. You can search for available names at http://domains.yahoo.com
- Programming: You'll need to know at least the basic HTML programming language OR you can use drag and drop web design software such as Microsoft's Front Page which requires no traditional "programming" skill.
- Equipment: You'll need programs such as Photoshop to edit your digital images and a scanner or good digital camera.
Once you have a website, what do you do next? You will need a way to lead people to your site on the Internet, and one of the best ways to do so is to actively gain positions on the search engines. People surfing the Internet find various web sites by entering key words or phrases when searching. It is important that the web operator is actively gaining presence on these engines, and to do so will require some additional web research and savvy.
Links and affiliate programs are also important, but these tools need to be used very carefully. The links have to be reciprocal and offer some affiliation to your site; otherwise, why would you invite people looking at your web site to leave it.
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Great Examples of Personal Art Web Sites
Note: Each of the above artists are also featured in interviews on ArtSchools.com - click here to read about their careers and experience in getting their art seen and sold!
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Pros of managing your own site:
- complete creative control
- you can control how much you want to spend on it and in many cases it is quite inexpensive
- great for direct marketing (send people to it via phone calls, business cards, etc.)
- compared to cyber galleries, potential clients see your work only, not potential competitors and this could
effectively save them time if they are there just to see your material
- some clients will view someone that has their own website as being more advanced or more established
Cons of managing your own site:
- can be very time consuming
- limited to your own skills and knowledge
- can take you away from your other creative endeavors
If you don't have the skills to design a web site, you will need to hire a web designer. A good independent web designer will be able to create a site for you. Prices vary depending on whether you want a Mercedes Benz or are willing to be satisfied with a Pinto. Costs will depend on whether you want to sell online in a secured format (credit cards). You can expect to pay a few hundred to a few thousand.
CYBER GALLERIES
If all you wish to do is show your portfolio and direct viewers to where to find your work, a personal web site may be what you need. But creating and maintaining your own web site can be expensive and give you little or no return on your investment. You are missing an opportunity to sell your work directly to interested buyers who browse the Internet. This is where the cyber-galleries can help.
Cyber-galleries are catching the attention of many artists. These web galleries have e-commerce capabilities which allow viewers to buy works of art directly and securely - and as soon as they find what they are looking for. They are pioneering art selling on the Internet, and their ranks include dozens of large and small online galleries, and tens of thousands of personal sites.
As you might expect, with so many of them on the Net, there are a number of different kinds of cyber galleries for you to consider. A typical cyber gallery might represent a few artists and the sale of their works. They are often broken down by the artistic genre or style of the works, the geography or nationality of the artists, the media, or any other factor.
You'll find some variation from gallery to gallery with regard how the artists and their work are represented. Some galleries include extensive biographies, exhibition histories and candid shots of the artists themselves or their studios. Others simply display the work with only the most basic information, such as dimensions, media, and price.
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Great Examples of Cyber Art Galleries
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It is not as expensive to run a cyber gallery as a physical museum or gallery, and as a result, owners may not take as much money in commission from the artists whose work they exhibit. Conventional "bricks and mortar" galleries customarily charge the artist a 50% commission for selling their work, while cyber galleries are typically at 25%.
Of course, many small and large museums also have web sites with cyber galleries. These sites will include all, a portion of, or on-line additions to their collections. But, getting your art onto these sites may be as difficult as getting into the physical galleries themselves.
Here's a look at some of the things you should consider when choosing a cyber-gallery to display and sell your art work:
- Size Matters. Once you decide that you want to show your work in a cyber-gallery, the next step is to choose the size of the site. Cyber-galleries will house the works of just a few artists or hundreds. Just like deciding where to live, you have to choose between the big city and the small town. Big web sites, like big cities, offer variety, but they can be overcrowded and easy to get lost in. For potential buyers, who generally like to browse sites that are easy to navigate in, large sites can be overwhelming and frustrating.
- Theme. Another consideration when choosing a cyber-gallery is theme. If the body of your work falls within an obvious theme, such as wildlife, then it could be beneficial to associate yourself with other wildlife artists.
- Money. Commissions are another factor to consider. They are held for gallery sales. Just like any gallery, they will charge a commission for work that they sell.
- The Rights. Some sites will ask you for exclusive rights on your work, so that you do not offer the same piece on a competitor's site. If this is a concern for you, you should offer only prints and price consistently.
COMPARISON AND CONCLUSION
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Editor's Note:
Want your cake and eat it too? Being part of a cyber art gallery AND having your own personal art web site, will likely produce more results than one or the other. ArtSchools.com itself offers a good analogy: Most schools in our database have their own website AND they work to get themselves listed in web directories such as Yahoo, Petersons.com, and ArtSchools.com. What to do first, the gallery or your own website? Weigh the pros and cons, as discussed in this article, and decide for yourself!
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In my opinion, cyber-galleries have some distinct advantages over personal galleries and web pages. So, here are a few final thoughts regarding the choice of creating your own personal gallery or turning to a cyber-gallery to display your work:
- Strength in Numbers. Personal websites are less likely to be found on search engines. There is more chance of being found in a group.
- Discovery. You can be discovered by chance in a cyber-gallery. Someone looking for a certain artist or theme may stumble on you and like what they see.
- Better Targeting. A gallery site may cater to or target certain markets or audiences, which you would benefit by reaching.
- Traffic. Site traffic is what generates sales. The more traffic, the better - and a well-managed cyber gallery will be well-publicized and well-connected.
- Location, Location, Location. One of the biggest benefits of showing your work in a cyber-gallery of any sort is that location does not matter. Pacific Rim has artists from British Columbia, the U.S. and Costa Rica. On the Internet, distance is irrelevant, and there are no borders.
The Internet has changed the way we do business and it looks like it is here to stay. More and more artists are using cyber-galleries to promote and sell their works. The artist's show is just a few key strokes away, and the possibilities for success are global.
Robert Roy is a Victorian artist and web site owner. His site can be viewed at www.PacificRimArt.com, and you may e-mail him directly at zenandnow@home.com.
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By Robert Roy, 