Do you market your artwork online?

​Are you listing artwork on market sites such as Bluethumb, Redbubble, Fine Art America, Etsy etc? If you are, you will need to actively promote your listings. While these sites promote themselves, they expect you to take responsibility for promoting yourself. Basically, if you want your work to be found by potential buyers, you need to do the marketing, hard yards.

Do you have a website, a blog, or social media pages? Do you have links to your selling platforms on your social media pages, blog etc? If not, why Not?
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Note:    I am going to blatantly and unashamedly litter this blog with links to my selling sites. 

Bluethumb

​If you do not have social media pages (at the very least), then you should get on board with these. You need to have platforms to promote your selling sites. The selling platforms are not 'set and forget' sites if you want to make sales. Use the privacy settings on social media sites to protect yourself but don't have them so tight that you cannot be found and followed. Keep your private interactions separate to your business by having specific pages for your business.

Instagram

​On your website (if you have one) show samples of products available from the selling platforms and add prominent links to direct the viewer to the selling site - to the sample products and to your profile. Update the sample products regularly to reflect your new offerings. If you have any special deals, make sure this is highlighted also - with links. You can even embed special code provided by the selling platform to direct traffic to that platform.

Art Enjoyment - Redbubble

If you have a blog, mention your selling platforms when appropriate in the blog post (I use Bluethumb, Redbubble and Fine Art America at the moment), in a sidebar, in the footer or in a special footnote to the blog post (copy, paste, repeat for next blog post). When you mention your selling platform, make it a hyperlink as I have done in this paragraph. Again, special code from the selling site can be embedded.

Your website or blog provider will have instructions on adding hyperlinks and your selling platform will give instructions when they provide special code for embedding in your website/blog. Codes for embedding generally have the selling site logo with a link to the site and may also have some sort of link to your products or profile.
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Embedded code enabled me to do this - see below:

​Your social media network is your most valuable marketing tool. You need to be diligent about updating these platforms regularly. Make sure you are constantly linking back to your selling sites and actively encouraging your followers to 'click' the links. This is a case of ' do as I say rather than I do' - whoops - I usually forget to encourage followers to 'click' the links. Please, click my links.

Facebook - Anne Huth Artist

​Link your social media sites to your website/ blog and vice versa. If your selling platforms allow, also link your social media sites and your website/ blog to these selling sites. You need as much interaction between selling and marketing sites as possible.

Facebook - Art Enjoyment

​Often, the selling platforms enable you to post a new listing directly to Facebook and Twitter plus various other sites at the time of uploading the products. Use this option when you can. These sites generally have 'share' buttons that you (or anyone) can share your work to social media (as long as you have enabled these share buttons - recommended). If necessary open the selling site to your profile or products and copy and paste the browser address over to your website/blog or social media sites, as appropriate. You can incorporate this address into comments made on Facebook etc. Usually the address will become a live, clickable link & will often be accompanied by an image from the selling site.  

Twitter

Inform yourself on all the ways to link your sites so that you can direct traffic to your selling platforms. The sites usually provide plenty of information and help to achieve this. There are some apps available that help link sites. I use IFTTT to connect  Instagram to Twitter - check it out here.  Dive into Google land to find solutions when your sites provide incomplete, confusing or no information to assist you. 'Phone a friend' if necessary. Just make it happen - get those sites linked and traffic flowing.
 
Until next time
Anne

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