This is the official Blog for the EBSQ Self-Representing Artists Community, where you'll find news, reviews, site announcements, and of course, a generous helping of art!
So. You’ve been reading up on how to market your art, gathering advice and tips from a smathering of friends, colleagues, and online experts. You believe in your art. You’ve got the requisite accounts at EBSQ (obviously), Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram. You have a blog. (You even occasionally update your blog.) So, why isn’t it all coming together?
Sometimes it takes an outside eye to see what you’re missing. To that end, we’re looking for up to three artists to review, critique, and case study. Totally on us.
Interested? Leave us a comment with your name, EBSQ Artist url, and let us know why you want our help. If you’re chosen, you’ll get to work with us for 90 days, totally for free, to see if we can help jump start your marketing efforts and find you some greater success. We’ll be profiling our selected artists during the case study via the EBSQ blog. Even if you aren’t one of the lucky artists selected, we hope our case studies will be able to help you as well!
Ready? Let’s get started!
PS Not yet an EBSQ Artist member? Why not join today?
Day of the Dead New Year by EBSQ Artist Susan Brack
Ok, I admit it: this is a repost from last year. But the advice is just as timely. Get ready for 2013 with these 7 readiness tips.
Is your contact information up-to-date? Make sure we have your current private email address for lost password retrieval and public contact information for people who want to learn more about your art. We’ve often seen members post that they do commissions but don’t offer a contact method for potential buyers. If they can’t connect, you’ve lost a sale.
Are your website and blog addresses still correct? How about your eBay and Etsy IDs? Again, if we don’t have the right information, people aren’t going to be able to find you or your work at your preferred sales venues.
An addendum to the above: Have you linked to all of your current venues? And have you unlinked venues you no longer use? If you’re primarily selling at FineArtAmerica, but you only have a link to an abandoned eBay account, you’re squandering an opportunity to direct interested parties to work that’s currently available. We suggest you consider removing venues you aren’t actively using or maintaining. This includes placeholder websites and blogs that haven’t been updated in over a year.
When is the last time you took a serious look at your artist’s statement? Do you have a “Hi, I’m new,” message that you posted back in 2007 and simply forgot about? Or notes about your Spring cleaning sales from last year? Are you talking about your photography or sculpture when you’re now showing a portfolio full of abstract expressionism? Have you done any new shows or changed galleries? Don’t forget to add this new information to your CV.
Have your commission prices changed? If so, don’t forget to make these edits if you have pricing listed on your commissions page. Or maybe you don’t do commissioned work at all anymore–you can always turn off this feature by unchecking the “commissions available” box in your profile tools.
Are you showing your newest work? While we do have members that update their portfolio as soon as they have something new, others simply upload a handful of work when they join and forgeddaboutit, letting their portfolios collect cyber dust. When was the last time you added something new? Every time you add new art to your portfolio, that piece shows up on the front page of EBSQ, which in turn brings more people back to your portfolio. For best success, we strongly suggest you upload new work monthly, or even weekly. “Post and Pray” does not work.
Have a Steampunk New Year by EBSQ Artist Susan Brack
The new year is fast approaching. We thought now might be a good time to offer some concrete ideas on how to get your portfolio ready to rock for 2012:
Is your contact information up-to-date? Make sure we have your current private email address for lost password retrieval and public contact information for people who want to learn more about your art. We’ve often seen members post that they do commissions but don’t offer a contact method for potential buyers. If they can’t connect, you’ve lost a sale.
Are your website and blog addresses still correct? How about your eBay and Etsy IDs? Again, if we don’t have the right information, people aren’t going to be able to find you or your work at your preferred sales venues.
An addendum to the above: Have you linked to all of your current venues? And have you unlinked venues you no longer use? If you’re primarily selling at FineArtAmerica, but you only have a link to an abandoned eBay account, you’re squandering an opportunity to direct interested parties to work that’s currently available. We suggest you consider removing venues you aren’t actively using or maintaining. This includes placeholder websites and blogs that haven’t been updated in over a year.
When is the last time you took a serious look at your artist’s statement? Do you have a “Hi, I’m new,” message that you posted back in 2007 and simply forgot about? Or notes about your Spring cleaning sales from last year? Are you talking about your photography or sculpture when you’re now showing a portfolio full of abstract expressionism? Have you done any new shows or changed galleries? Don’t forget to add this new information to your CV.
Have your commission prices changed? If so, don’t forget to make these edits if you have pricing listed on your commissions page. Or maybe you don’t do commissioned work at all anymore–you can always turn off this feature by unchecking the “commissions available” box in your profile tools.
Are you showing your newest work? While we do have members that update their portfolio as soon as they have something new, others simply upload a handful of work when they join and forgeddaboutit, letting their portfolios collect cyber dust. When was the last time you added something new? Every time you add new art to your portfolio, that piece shows up on the front page of EBSQ, which in turn brings more people back to your portfolio. For best success, we strongly suggest you upload new work monthly, or even weekly. “Post and Pray” does not work.
A Little Help From My Friends by EBSQ Artist Julie Cady Ryan
EBSQ is putting together a series of how-tos, both videos and blog posts, to help our members get the most out of the EBSQ Art website as well as best-practices for marketing your work online. Is there something you’d like to know how to do better? A topic we haven’t explored yet?
What specific topics would YOU like to see us cover?
When artists join EBSQ (or other online artist communities), it’s usually because they’re interested in marketing their work. For many, our site is their first foray into presenting their art online. They eagerly add their work to their new portfolios and wait for something to happen. But success as a self-representing artist requires the artist to be much more active, and dare I say, aggressive in their approach than “post and pray.”
I’d personally like to share a few best practices for our site to help you get the both out of your membership. And even if you’re not a member, you may find some of the below is still applicable:
Introduce yourself. EBSQ is more than a place to park your art; we have a very active community that’s great for networking and sharing experiences, discussing media, materials, and techniques, and in general sharing the daily grind of life as a self-representing artist with all of its unique challenges. If you’re registered for this site, you’re already registered for our forums, and with a the exception of a few goodies that are for paid-members only, the bulk of our forum content is free and open to the public.
Enter an exhibit. Our monthly exhibits give members a great opportunity to challenge themselves as well as get their work in front of a whole new set of eyeballs. I remember rather famously a few years ago, a member wrote to me, wanting to remove her show entry because she didn’t want her patrons to see that she didn’t win. But entering shows is actually one of THE best ways to be seen on our site. Take a risk and put yourself out there!
Talk about your art. So many artists on our site list a title, maybe a date or media, and that’s it. And then wonder why they aren’t being noticed for Art of the Day or getting a lot of hits to their portfolios. Simply put, you need to feed Google. Talk about your pieces with the same passion with which you created them. Give the search engines something relavent to find so that patron of a lifetime can actually find you.
Link link link. Have you used your EBSQ marketing tools? Add a link to your website or your blog! If you offer commissions, give people a way to contact you by making your public email address available. Yes, spam can happen this way, too. One option is to use a separate email address, whether it be another alias at your personal domain, or a free account like hotmail, yahoo, or gmail. Just make sure you actually watch this accounts for legitimate contacts! (We have a section in our forums to report suspicious contacts, yet another reason to stop in to say hello!) Also, you have the option to add a marketing blurb that personalizes the title of your page in the search engines. If you’re the world’s greatest tromphe l’oeil pickle artist, say so!
We’d love to know what’s missing on this list: how do YOU get the most from EBSQ?
I’ve been hearing from so many artists who say they wish they could keep painting (or sculpting or crafting) but this economy is killing their business. We’ve seen some members have to close their accounts, vowing to return when times get better. There’s no question that things are tough when what you create is a luxury, not a necessity. It doesn’t just hurt your pocketbook. It also kills your soul just a little. And then a little more.
I believe there will always be a desire for beautiful things, for art and handmade items, even when times are bad. Perhaps, especially when times are bad. We want to offer some strategies for keeping your dream alive while also keeping a roof over your head. Some may seem silly. Some may be things you’re already doing. And if you have other ideas, we’d love to hear from you.
Work smaller. This may be a no-brainer. But if you haven’t tried it yet, it’s worth doing. Smaller art often takes less time to create. Less materials go into it, generally. Smaller art is cheaper to ship. And you might be able to offer this work at a much lower price point. ATC’s (Artist Trading Cards) and OSWOA’s (original small works of art, a 4 x 6 format) are quite popular with both artists and buyers right now. This could be a great way for a new collector to jump in and get an original from you now, which could lead to a larger purchase in the future.
Offer reproductions. Even if you don’t have the leisure time to crank out new work the way you used to, you can still make a fair living selling quality reproductions of your work. Imagekind does fantastic museum-quality prints at reasonable prices. You can order your own to resell at your leisure or have customers order directly through their website. It’s a great way to keep your work out there in circulation, and again, a print purchase now could lead to the purchase of an original at a later date.
Make your art into something useful. Along the lines of making reproductions available, why not also make your work available as a t-shirt via Spreadshirt? Or as a mug through sites like cafe press and zazzle? And again, this is a way to keep your previous work earning you some extra income even if you’re not able to create new work right now.
Try a less expensive media Now, we’re not talking about downgrading to canvas board and student-grade paint. But if you work in metal, perhaps you might want to try a less-expensive alloy and use it in a creative way so it doesn’t feel like a compromise. Or maybe move to a series of drawings on gessoed paper instead of your large oils on gallery-wrapped canvas. Or take up photography. Try working with found/recycled materials. Anything to keep you creating.
What are your strategies for coping with this economy without sacrificing your art–and yourself–in the process?
Amie Gillingham
1 July 2008 Get out of the vacuum and express yourself!
In the 21st century, being good at painting (or sculpting or photography or making altered books or …) is not enough. The internet has changed the face of art and art marketing irrecovably. Now you must be also be good at talking about your art, not just as part of an artist statement, but also in your blog, which you must update at least several times a week to gain any traction. You have to be better than average at photographing your work, or cough up the funds to find someone to photograph it for you. You have to master a slew of image editing tools to correct the mistakes you made with your photos before you put your art online. Because in this day and age, your jpeg is your proxy for your art. It’s often the only thing someone will see when they decide to buy your art or not. Or show your work in their gallery or juried show or not. And even that is starting to change, because with the advent of webcams, YouTube, and all number of video embedding (and editing) programs, artists are putting out non-traditional versions of their art. You can watch some artists paint live. Or sped up. Or super sexy slideshows set to Creative Commons licensed music. And artists are having to learn a whole new skill set. Again.
In the coming months, EBSQ will be looking in greater depth at how the art market is changing to embrace all things Web 2.0. To get things jump started, we’d like to showcase a few blog posts from our resident new media expert, Natasha Wescoat:
Recently a old friend blogged that the poppies are starting to bloom in San Francisco, but for so many of us, we’re still locked in a battle with winter blahs. I personally like to do proactive things to cajole spring into existance. Spring cleaning is chief among these activities. If you’ve logged into EBSQ in the past couple of weeks, you’ll have noticed we’ve done some spring cleaning “under the hood” so to speak. We knew that some of our members struggled with the “urban-sprawl” that occurs when a site like ours evolves organically over close to a decade. So we’ve dusted things off, put like items together, and labeled things better so their uses are more obvious.Spring is a great time to tweak. Here are some subtle nudges to make use of these newly dusted tools, particularly if your account is growing cobwebs in the corners and dustbunnies under your Art Case.
Is your contact information up-to-date? Make sure we have your current private email address for lost password retrieval and public contact information for people who want to learn more about your art. We’ve often seen members post that they do commissions but don’t offer a contact method for potential buyers.
Are your website and blog addresses still correct? How about your eBay and Etsy ids? Again, if we don’t have the right information, people aren’t going to be able to find you or your work at your prefered sales venues.
When is the last time you took a look at your artist’s statement? Do you have a “Hi, I’m new,” message that you posted back in 2004 and simply forgot about? Or notes about your Christmas sales? Are you talking about your past realist work when you’re now showing a portfolio full of abstract expressionism? Have you done any new shows or changed galleries? Don’t forget to add this new information to your CV.
Have your commission prices changed? If so, don’t forget to make these edits if you have pricing listed on your commissions page. Or maybe you don’t do commissioned work at all anymore–you can always turn off this feature by unchecking the “commissions available” box in your profile tools.
Ok, so maybe your account is totally up-to-date and you’re still not getting the kind of traffic you’d like. If so, we’d like to hear from you. This month we’re cross-breeding March Madness with Extreme Makeover Home-Edition to bring you March Makeover Madness! If you’re willing to let us do a show-and-tell with your profile in the EBSQ blog and participate in a public discussion about your profile on the EBSQ forums, we’d love to put you under the knife (so to speak) and have better results by prom night. We’ll be looking at your:
copy (that’s marketing spiel for all of the writing in your profile)
general online presentation
SEO (that’s search engine optomization–all the things you do to help Google bring eyeballs to your art)
Up to the challenge? Drop us a line–and let’s clean our way into spring!
Amie Gillingham
1 March 2008 Get out of the vacuum and express yourself!
This was posted on the EBSQ forums by the very insightful Kris Jean. The suggestions she makes can only be described as invaluable.
10 Ways Better to Promote Yourselfon EBSQ
Add the EBSQ keyword to your sale listings. This gets your EBSQ directed traffic to your listings on sites like EBAY and ETSY.
Add the EBSQ as an interest to your networking sites. This helps you connect with other EBSQ users on sites like Facebook, Myspace, Live Journal and share traffic/patron interest.
Utilize the keywords in your portfolio. These keywords help patrons who are searching for art. It gets your artwork seen. This is also one way EBSQ Directors find artwork for AOTD. (Art of the Day)
List your artwork in EBSQ genre galleries. When adding or editing your artwork in your artcase be sure that you are choosing galleries that fit your art. This way patrons can see your artwork when browsing certain genres. You can choose three galleries by using the CTRL key. (This is another way they find the art for AOTD.)
Post on the Forum especially the PUBLIC areas. Tons of patrons are looking at the forum daily. Posting in the public areas gets links to your profile/blog/cafepress/etsy/ebay/email visible.
Use your EBSQ bio page for more than a bio. Use it to direct people to upcoming festivals/gallery openings/events you might be attending/showing your work.
Write articles for the ZINE. Know something you want to share or want to shout from the rooftops??? Write it up and send it to Amie – it might get published in the ZINE along with a link to your portfolio. Exposing you to everyone who reads it or clicks on the link for the entire month.
Do a LIVE. This also plasters your name/links all over the site/blog. Don’t know what to do one on? Ask around you might be surprised what you know that others would KILL to know.
Participate in the monthly shows. This gets TONS of traffic, plus you might win a little ribbon that looks awesome in your portfolio!
+ one to grow on…
Be sure you fill out your marketing ID’s correctly on your EBSQ Marketing page. This includes your blog, website, ebay, ebaystore, etsy, cafepress, ect. Check your links to be sure they work every so often – ESPECIALLY if you edit them. The link to edit them is located on the left hand side under “Your Information” when you edit your Profile on EBSQ. (For the ones that want a website be sure to add http://, for the ones that want a username just add in your username or the links generated won’t work site wide.)
—-
I would like to add to the following points…
Utilize the keywords in your portfolio. These keywords help patrons who are searching for art. It gets your artwork seen. This is also one way EBSQ Directors find artwork for AOTD. (Art of the Day)
–This also makes it easier for search engines to find you. You are giving them more to grab onto.
List your artwork in EBSQ genre galleries. When adding or editing your artwork in your artcase be sure that you are choosing galleries that fit your art. This way patrons can see your artwork when browsing certain genres. You can choose three galleries by using the CTRL key. (This is another way they find the art for AOTD.)
— Make sure you put your work in appropriate galleries. You won’t be found if your art is in the wrong place. The galleries are also cleaned of inappropriate work periodically and while we would like to be able to move things to the right place, this is not always a viable option.
Do a LIVE. This also plasters your name/links all over the site/blog. Don’t know what to do one on? Ask around you might be surprised what you know that others would KILL to know.
— Please! Contact me at edu@ebsqart.com.
Be sure you fill out your marketing ID’s correctly on your EBSQ Marketing page. This includes your blog, website, ebay, ebaystore, etsy, cafepress, ect. Check your links to be sure they work every so often – ESPECIALLY if you edit them. The link to edit them is located on the left hand side under “Your Information” when you edit your Profile on EBSQ. (For the ones that want a website be sure to add http://, for the ones that want a username just add in your username or the links generated won’t work site wide.)
— Heaven’s to Betsy, yes. I frequently need to contact people and find the email link in their profile to be old or misspelled. I also check to see if an AOTD piece is available on Etsy, Imagekind or Ebsq, so like Kris said – make sure those links work
If anyone else has anything that they would like to add to this, please do. If anyone has any questions, post them here, on the boards or email me at edu@ebsqart.com.
Art & News from EBSQ 