What Are The Advantages of Selling Art Online?

Web-based artist networks, art marketplaces, and online art galleries are helping artists who are selling art online, a more and more common practice as time goes by. More often than not, selling your art online on your own can be an experience that disenchants many artists with the prospect of selling art online using any tool; even a personal website can be difficult to manage in comparison to an online gallery account.

The online art market is growing considerably, and with online art sales on the rise, it is proving to be an increasingly fruitful avenue for artists, even compared to traditional methods for selling art as an artist. Previously established networks like those used by online art marketplaces and gallery settings have many things going for them that personal websites do not, namely the ability to draw on greater authority rankings that help them appear higher on search engine results. Larger sites draw a large portion of the market of online art buyers looking for artists who are selling art online. These buyers are already seeking art to buy online, and are open to the prospect of purchasing directly from the artist. Selling your art online can be difficult if you are only selling from your own personal website. Increase the scope of the audience who can potentially see your work by including your pieces in an online art gallery or marketplace!

Traditional galleries have the problem that they are highly localized in their traffic, whereas with the online revolution, someone in England can buy a painting or sculpture piece from an artist in Hawaii, arrange for shipping, and pay the artist directly. Galleries also have limited wall space, which is not an issue when you're selling your art online.

Many websites have sprung up to help artists with the task of selling art online; they often charge a nominal fee, some one time, some annual, and some taking a commission of each sale an artist makes, but no matter the payment model being used this is often much less than an artist would pay to display their work in a traditional brick and mortar venue. A virtual listing for a piece of art allows the artist who is selling art online to display at least one image, often more, of their work as well as a description of the piece that can be key word optimized for better search engine exposure, and contact information for interested buyers. The advantages of selling your art works online are numerous, and center around the several ways that you can save both money and time. Your worries over maintaining a physical gallery space are over if you decide to work on selling your art online! No more rent and maintenance worries, no more adjusting your schedule to fit that of the gallery, with online art sales it is all between you as the artist and your buyer, and that is as it should be.

Compared to selling art pieces online, gallery sales are a lot harder to come by. But just because there is greater potential for an artist selling art online to make more sales does not mean that these sales will come without a little effort on the part of the artist. The way the internet works for someone selling art online it is all about your 'findability'. So when someone searches for something using a specific word or phrase, the websites which are ranked best for those terms come up in order of relevance and importance. The better you describe your work when creating a listing on an art sales website, the better chance you have of making a sale. Now this does not mean that you should find a list of popular search terms for selling art online and cram as many of them into your description box as possible, but rather select a few that are most closely associated with your piece or gallery as a while, and work those into your description text.

Making a sale using your new online gallery pages can be fun if you want it to be. This does not mean that marketing yourself effectively will not require a little effort on your part, but if you let yourself enjoy the challenge, it can be a very rewarding way to see the fruits of your labor ripening on the vine. Promote yourself and your work through social networking sites like Facebook and Google+ with links to your gallery and pictures of your work (make sure to use watermarks to protect your unsold pieces) and encourage your friends and contacts to share these with their contacts as well. Selling art online doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming if done correctly, so stay tuned for more information how to sell your art online and all the benefits you can expect to enjoy!

Are you considering selling art online? If so, check out Artweb.net, one of the best online art marketplaces on the internet. Buying and selling art online has never been easier!

Original article

Selling Your Art Online - Can You Do It?

The World Wide Web is a wondrous technological advance in how we humans interact with each other. We all owe a debt of gratitude to Tim Berners-Lees for inventing it, back in 1980. The basic thing for artists to understand about the Web: it is all about Communication.

The Web is the most cost-effective way to advertise your active presence in the art world. On the Web, you have a vast choice of venues on which to promote your art. But it is not primarily the place to try selling your artwork.

Back in 1985, when the Web was barely known outside of the scientific community, I was just starting out as a gallery owner-director. Some of you will remember the 'Eighties as the era of the 'Gordon Gecko' figure with his motto of 'Greed is good.' I soon found that the motto applied not only to Wall Street.

Disgusted and astonished was my reaction to news that private galleries in New York, in London and even in Sydney had begun taking commissions of fifty percent and higher. Some were also demanding a 'hanging fee' - in effect, artists had to pay rental on the gallery's wall space.

Disgusted - because I already knew from my own experience that if your business could not survive on the traditional commission - one-third of the selling price achieved - then you were doing something wrong. Though regulation is still voluntary, the Australian Commercial Galleries Association has now set the bar for ethical practice in Australia.
Astonished - because, as an artist, I wondered why other artists were accepting such terms.There is always the choice to get a job that pays a decent wage, and make art in your own time. That's what principled artists have always done.

Even the greatest names in Art history had to train in their craft and develop their style in obscurity while they waited for the longed-for attention from a patron. If the work was good enough, that attention always did come, sooner or later. Here, you might be thinking along the lines of 'What about Vincent Van Gogh, then?' Van Gogh is the stand-out exception that proves the rule. I don't intend to debate the merits of his artistic output, but a brief perusal of his life story will show you that he did very little to advance himself on the business side of the art scene.

Today, you have an unprecedented opportunity to build recognition. Uploading images of your art to the Web attracts the attention of collectors and galleries at little cost or effort to yourself. But you will be setting yourself up for disappointment if you fail to understand a basic truth about the Web.
There is a certain price level beyond which online art buyers will not go. Currently, this level seems set at a few hundred dollars. Shipping costs for sculpture, pottery, even a low-priced painting, if it is framed or under glass, will deter many online shoppers. Put yourself in the buyer's shoes and you'll soon understand this reluctance.

After all, the people who are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a painting still want various assurances from a creditable expert in the field. The assurances they seek include a guarantee that the work they're buying is neither stolen nor a forgery. They want to know that the gallery will undertake to re-sell the work should they need to put it back on the market. Some dear souls even need re-assurance on their choice. They need the gallery nod that their selection is 'in good taste' and accords with the prevailing Establishment fashion.

What's the solution? Some people resign themselves to churning out pieces priced to sell on the online market. At this soul-destroying rate of through-put, such people can never develop in a way that would satisfy the true artist.

There is a far better alternative.

Personally, I have never tried selling originals online and among the professional artists I know, not one has reported having sales by this method. However, like many others, I have had success in selling reasonably priced prints online, via a personal website.

The Web holds a treasure trove of information to educate the beginner on building and maintaining a website. I would just add this piece of advice:

Avoid those big, free, catch-all sites whether they are general retailers or specialised art sites. You will be easily lost among the endless lists of other artists. Patience and perseverance with a well-designed personal website will get you the contacts you need. May I wish you success in the venture and lifelong joy in making your art.

(c) Dorothy Gauvin

Dorothy Gauvin's oil paintings have been reproduced as high-quality, affordable, limited edition art prints. Four prints comprise the Waltzing Matilda series. Five prints comprise the Great Australian Horsemen series. See them at http://www.artofgauvin.com/

Original article