I know the question of how to sell my artwork is on every artist’s mind. This can be one of the most rewarding careers if you can paint and market your work.
However, the big problem usually comes when it’s time to sell your art. No matter how gifted you are at painting, if you don’t employ marketing techniques, you may end up having your masterpieces lie in your home or office for the rest of your life.
To most artists, the ideal place for them to sell their art is by displaying it in Art Galleries. Yes, this is an effective way.
But, there are other ways you can explore when it comes to selling art.
Here Are 6 Tips On How To Sell Your Artwork.
1. Make Use of Online Platforms
There is no doubt that online platforms have become the most predominant marketplace today. Everyone is turning to online platforms whether they are interested in buying clothes, cars, and even medicine.
Art has also not been left behind by the ‘online wave’. As of now, there are hundreds of websites that you can use to sell your art.
Examples include; Shopify, Amazon, Etsy, and eBay. These are just but a few of the most popular online platforms where you can sell your art.
Though you may be asked by the website owners to pay some commission, you can be assured that your art will find lots of prospective buyers. These are people coming online to buy art so why not yours?
Are you stuck wondering how to sell your art? Why don’t you advertise it on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram?
A while back artists had to either advertise their works in Galleries or on TV. However, today you don’t need to go to such extra and expensive lengths. Advertising on social media isn’t only free, but it’s quite convenient.
All you need to have is a quality camera and an account on either one of the above social media platforms. You can then post your masterpiece there and wait for potential clients to message you.
Another benefit of using social media is that you can make use of hashtags and also interact with buyers. As a result, you will be able to sell your art with ease.
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3. Pay Per Click
Another way to sell your art is to run a pay-per-click campaign with Google Adwords, Bing Ads, or both.
These are the 2 largest search engines on the Internet today. There are a few smaller search engines, but Google and Bing get over 90% of the search traffic so that is where you want to be.
What do you need to start a PPC ad campaign?
- Money. Budget at least $10 a day to start.
- Set your goals. Are you looking to make sales or build a list?
- Choose either Google Adwords or Bing. Set up an account.
- Pick your keywords. These are the words people are typing in.
- Establish your bid price.
- Write your ad.
- Monitor conversions daily.
- How is your ad doing?
- You can make changes to your campaign.
4. Create an Art Website
If you are a regular painter then owning a website is a smart move. It can be very useful in growing your art sales. Having an art website gives you access to a variety of audiences.
Your job will be to update it and ensure it receives a lot of traffic. Once your site is established.
You can begin selling your art. It will be an ideal place for customers to view and interact with your art.
You do not have to display your art in every gallery representation in town for you to make a living as an artist. Exploring other methods can be equally effective.
Related Video:
The best places to host your website are:
- Bluehost
- Godaddy
- Wealthy Affiliate
- Host Gator
Use a WordPress theme to build your website. Divi and Kalium get good reviews. Here is a list of the 28 Best WordPress Themes for Artists 2019.
5. Start A Blog
If you can start a blog on your website. This is easy to do with most WordPress themes. If you are using a theme such as Divi you can start a blog and quickly add content to it.
This is where you can target primary and long-tail keywords people are searching for such as ideas on places to buy art, teach me about art, I want to be an artist, and so on.
Your blog could end up being an authority blog on all things about art. People will buy your art because you are the “art expert” and who wouldn’t want to own a piece from someone like you?
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6. Take Your Painting to Art Fairs
Another excellent way to sell your art is by taking it to art fairs. Most people underestimate these events, but they can help you land lots of well-paying clients.
Most artists fear art fairs because they are quite competitive. Let me say this to you; if you believe that your art is a masterpiece then there is nothing to be afraid of.
Check your calendar and make sure that you attend all art fairs happening near you. International art fairs can also lead you to potential customers.
Conclusion
All it takes is some enthusiasm, creativity, and determination. Of course, you need quality work and a little marketing as well.
Many artists are great painters, but not great marketers. This is true of many skillful people in all kinds of different businesses.
You can always outsource aspects of your marketing and focus on how to sell your art getting a little help and then just be a great artist.
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HI David, I nearly didn’t read this post as I am not an artist and don’t sell art. I did however as it hit my interest button as to you would actually do it – I pictured a snooty auctioneer at Lloyd of London with people holding up bidding paddles. As I finished the post I came to the realization that you could actually implement tips 1 to 5 for just about anything. And maybe for number 6 they could substitute art show/fair for any other interest group.
I have actually bookmarked this site for that reason. I guess I do have one question in that if I was starting out in this field would it be worthwhile setting up an ETSY store whilst I built my blog site?
Paul
Hey Paul, thank you for the read and input here on ways you can sell your artwork and the different avenues one should take to get maximum exposure.
Although it may be quite similar like selling anything online, being visual here takes a different roll cause your photos must be unique and has to be done live with a good camera with a clear background.
Setting up an Etsy shop is the right approach and you should begin setting up immediately. Fundera is a good platform for that cause they show you step by step how it is done and what you need to add to your store. For more details check out their website below. Thank you for the comment.
Setting Up Your Etsy Store.
Cheers!
Interesting read about how one needs an array of skills to succeed in his profession. ‘Suppose that’s why we were forced to take up some business classes even though we were studying computer science. The whole concept of “You might be an expert in X, but if you know nothing about Y, you won’t make it”. I can see how having internet marketing literacy (if that’s a thing) can really give various professions (like art…) a boost without having to resort to splitting the shares, especially for a beginner who hasn’t broken through yet and is usually on a tight budget.
Making money in business can be an easy task if one knows what to focus on to make a profit on whatever they want to sell. Business training and Internet classes are two areas that have to be considered because of the age we are living in today.
People are buying more online today than in the past, and learning how to market to those people has to be learned and anyone who wants to sell their art, must possess internet marketing skills if they want to reach more people to succeed. This gives beginners, as you mention an equal opportunity to succeed in spite of the more established business. Thanks!
I read this post out of curiosity but I got wowed by the idea that popped into my head while reading. If marketing could be a great source to boost the sales rate for artists and their works, then it could be a greater means for me to market on their behalf. I have a friend who is an artist and it just occurred to me I could maximize my earning by helping to project his works to a larger audience and increase his sales rate. Thanks for this post
Marketing products online is a learned skill and if done right by following certain guidelines, one can market anything online and earn an income from it by working for business owners or anyone who need help and willing to pay for that service. I would love to know how it works out with your artist friend. Keep me posted.
One of the ways you mention in your article is to use PPC. If someone is trying to earn a living from their artwork, how does having a budget of $10.00 per day, amounting to $300.00 per month actually help to bring in money when you appear to be pouring out money?
Is this really a viable option?
I have my doubts about how effective this would be and I would be wary of pouring money into something that MAY work or may not work.
Do you have any experience with this and if so, at what point were you able to REALLY benefit profitably from it?
Scaling your PPC campaign is a learned process, and one should get the training and understanding of how to go about it. Although one should always use SEO, it is a slow process if you know what you are doing. I think to grow any business to the level to achieve real success, paid advertising has to be mixed with SEO for faster results.
For example, if I am paying out 10.00 a day and building a list of 5 – 10 subscribers a day, for me that is a winning campaign. All I may need to adjust to make that payment is maybe breakfast and lunch in the workplace. If they don’t have the money to invest, then they should not do PPC. But most people quit if they are not making any sales. with PPC you make sales even if your profit is zero or next to none, at least you would be building a list.
Bing ads are what I have benefitted from to sell one of my membership sites and I use Facebook ads to build my list as I grow my SEO campaign to increase traffic. My first campaign was set at $50.00 a day but was only costing me $27.00 a day. Hope I answered your question.
Wow. You gave me so many ideas for selling art. Very comprehensive article. I think the idea of a website is useful even though we may also selling on platforms like eBay, Etsy, etc. We can locate potential customer on those platforms and send them to the website for more details.
The website is vital to building an email list of interested individuals. If you can nurture a list of 1000 raving fans who will buy $100 in art per year, you will earn $100,00 per year. Maybe you are not interested in earning a six-figure income, so just adjust your number of true fans. 500 fans, 300 fans or maybe 100 would be more comfortable for you. My question: is there an App where I can find the locations of the Art Fairs?
Once you start building a list, that will determine the amount of revenue you will earn because your list will be turned into your number one traffic source. Thank you for pointed that out.
Building a website is the best approach with any business because we are living in the information age and the famous term “Google it” has become predominant on the minds of everyone, even among the 9-year old and teenagers.
The best place to keep up-to-date on what is happening in your location is by subscribing to art fair calendar. You read all about it by checking the link below.
https://www.artfaircalendar.com/art_fair/advertise-with-us.html
Hope that helps!