Getting links into your site and also having lots of pages linked together on your own website are very important. One of the ways you can encourage cross linking is to build some form of application that users will use to benefit themselves. A recently relaunch of an old established site has done just this – www.oilpaintingsonline.com has created a facility or artists to create their own gallery, which are then public on the site for others to see (which creates site-cross linking) and also they can share their gallery by creating a Facebook or Myspace plug-in. This is really neat as it will provide some great inbound links to the site from users own micros sites

If you are an artist struggling to sell art online, you should scout around and take a look at these sort of feature s- several free online galleries have the ability for you to post and promote your art at no cost at all.

This article was provided to Simple Art Marketing by Boden O’Brien

• Keep creating
• Post a new piece of Art or A work in progress
• Create and install pay pal
• Review descriptions on ImageKind, and Flickr
• Become a fan of at least one artist

Weekly:

• Review all sites you have become a fan.
• Blog Review Sites on my blog roll
• Post work to a blog like Art and Artistry

Peddle articles:  Twice week write an article about your process, tips and steps.  More on this comming up soon

Check your progress weekly:
Twitter Followers
Facebook Followers
Flickr Fans
ImageKind Views and Coments
Analytics

Take one planned day off a week.  Think about you online stuff on the day off  but, do not work on it.  Just keep note of all the great ideas you get.

Take Care,
Jeremy

Artist Statement: Write an artist statement, make it an evergreen post.  Sidebar, header or footer.

Post you wips:  Post your work in progress (wips).  As it goes ask for comments, get you readers involved in the creative process.  Sell originals on your.  Get a paypal account and follow a tutorial on paypal about how to add a button for purchase.  Once you have done this a few times, it will be as easy as sending an email.

Twitter (easier than sending an email)

Keep the conversation going with a twitter account, you can remind the world what you are creating.  More on twitter in Part 1 Sell Art Online With Twitter

Use Flickr or Picasa

If you are going to use Imagekind, or you think yo are going to use Imagekind use Fickr or Flickr Pro to store all the electronic copies of your art.  I recommend you use it as a make shift file ssystem/catalog for your art in Is Flickr A Social Media SIte?

Use Imagekind or Redbubble

Set up galleries to display and offer prints for sale.  If you are looking to provide high quality framed prints of your work Imagekind and RedBubble both have nice features.  A comparison between these two sites comming in Print On Demand – Part 2

Read Great Books and Blogs

Get two great books I’d Rather Be in the Studio! and The Unconventional Guide to Art and Money read them and put them to practice.
Read Art Marketing Blogs

EmptyEasel.com
Tony Moffit
Fine Art Views.com
ArtBizBlog.com

Your comments are appreciated and will help move forward the idea that an artist can take total control of their online success.

Jeremy

If you only wan to sell high quality prints of you work, then Imagekind or RedBubble are the services you should use.  Imagekind allows and encourage you to upload large formats of you work.  Imagekind’s policy is that images smaller than 800×800 pixels will be available for display only. Large high quality photos of your art work best.  The prints your customers purchase will be a beautiful representation of your masterpieces.

Other POD services like Cafe Press and Zazzle, give you the opportunity to print your images on merchandise.  If your art lends it self to coffee cups and hats by all means use these services.  It is a great way to distribute your cards, and designs.  I am workingon a graphic novel and intend to offer plenty of merchandise to my collectors.

There were four POD services reviewed in The Unconventional Guide To Art and Money.  There are probably more POD services available.  Please be sure to leave comments about any  print on demand (POD) services you may have used and your opinion of each, so we can all benefit.

This is just a short listing and you could spend the rest of the day exploring each of these options or even find new ones. Please share your experiences with me and in Part 2 will begin to explore the details of each service.
Take Care,

Jeremy