Just like art can take varied forms, an art website can serve various purposes. For artists, their websites are online homes for showcasing their work. They must have features that can boost user experience while ensuring artists are rewarded financially for their talent.
So, what does it all look like?
Your art website should be interactive, letting visitors visualize their intended art purchase properly. It should be personable, giving buyers the chance to know the artist behind an artwork they are looking to buy. The website must be optimized logically for the best user experience, offering visitors all information they require to make a confident purchase.
And creating an art website is a pretty good investment considering that 12% of the art sales in 2021's first half were digital. As per the Hiscox Online Art Trade Report 2017, the online art marketplace hit $3.75 billion in 2016, a 15% increase from 2015. And it is anticipated that the online art market value will reach $9.14 billion in the coming years.
If you are an artist or a photographer with a website but are disappointed with its lack of sales, work on your website's features. Here are a few features to consider:
1. Your Portfolio or Online Store
You can set up your online store or portfolio in several ways.
First of all, have your best art pieces displayed on the website's home page. Then you can have a gallery divided into concise and clear categories that the visitors can navigate easily.
Ensure the images you display on your site are correctly sized for the web, so they load up quickly while taking in less than 500KB. Do not forget to label all the displayed artwork by including specifications like title, dimensions, medium, price, and year of the art piece if you offer it for sale.
Also, include a short and crisp description of your inspiration behind creating the piece. This is important because people love knowing the stories behind different art pieces.
2. Videos to Bring Focus to Artwork
You can use videos to spread the word about your art pieces on display. Videos will not only help you in creating engaging material about your work but in captivating the attention of the audience.
These days, everyone is very busy. As a result, they don't spend too much time on anything.
Videos are the best way of presenting audiences with information within a short time. It also helps the viewers see the person behind the video and establish a connection.
But make sure the videos you use to display your artwork are of the highest quality. You can edit videos to look more polished and professional, so your target audiences are attracted to them.
3. Simple Website with Clean Layout
When designing an art website, focus on adding decorative hints to the online space. But your main objective should be bringing the focus to your artwork.
And for this, you must ensure your website has a clean layout.
Generally, it's better to keep the site simple so the users are not distracted from your artwork.
Take the example of Andrea Lawl Manning's art website here. Andrea Lawl Manning is a visual artist who works in varied disciplines like labyrinths, painting, accumulations, and sculpture. Her website is relatively simple and clear in presenting contact information and portfolio. The site's eccentric font and clean design exhibit a specific aesthetic direction- stylish, hip, and contemporary.
The key here is to make your art website infinitely adaptable to embody precisely who you are.
4. Your Artist Statement and Bio
The next important feature is your artist bio, where you will describe yourself as an artist. This segment should also contain your artist statement detailing everything about your artwork.
You can include your artist bio and statement on your About page and your CV. Be as simple as possible while using artsy jargon to the minimum.
It is better to include just the basics, such as the place you are coming from, the kind of artwork you create; your inspiration or driving factor; past accolades, and the current collaborations or projects you are working on.
5. Top Quality Pictures
Brilliant pictures of your artwork will catch attention, bring people to your artwork, and present your art pieces in the best possible light. Make sure the images of your artwork are clean, crisp, and filled with life because only such images can create the most striking impression.
There are different ways of achieving this result, even with simple product stills.
Work on lighting because only perfectly strategized lighting can highlight the lines and colors of your artwork in the best way possible.
When photographing your art pieces to be displayed on your site, try to take detailed shots, styled shots, and a close-up of the entire thing. Prospective customers like visualizing how your artwork will look in their homes, and detailed and styled shots do exactly the same.
They highlight the details of an art piece and its design, making it easier for people to comprehend whether it will suit their home environment or not. If you are highlighting your artwork framed, make it clear that the framed pieces are only for display purposes and will not be sold along with the frame.
6. Lead Magnet
Having a good fan following on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram is fantastic, but the followers on these and other social media platforms keep coming and going. They might not purchase your art.
But, your email subscribers are valuable because they have given their email addresses because of their interest in your artwork.
It is good to think that people will love your site and sign up on the spot. However, people do not just easily hand out their emails; you need to create something attractive to provide them with in exchange for their email addresses. This is called a lead magnet, and it can come in different forms like resource list, eBook, discount, email course, or the chance of winning a prize.
7. A Blog
Many artists ignore the importance of including a blog on their websites. This is a major mistake on their part because a blog can serve as one of the greatest ways of engaging with the audiences and boosting SEO.
You can use a blog to make announcements about new pieces or collections and upcoming exhibitions. It will also give you the scope of showing your more personal side to your followers.
And since a blog is a highly shareable content related to your artwork, it makes it easier for the search engines to rank your site higher. It also makes it convenient for new customers to find you when searching for artwork like the one you indulge in.
A blog is not an absolute must, but it can drive awareness about your work.
8. Testimonials
Showcasing customer testimonials on your art website helps build trust with prospective buyers.
When clients share the details of how your art pieces inspired them or reminded them of an experience or a person, it builds a story around your brand which further brings in more interested customers.
9. Social Media Buttons
You might have one or two social media accounts for marketing your artwork. And if you are still lagging in this, get the ball rolling as soon as possible because social media is the most affordable and easiest way of sharing your artwork and getting people to know about your brand.
Since this is an era where social media networking sites are widely used for finding information about anything along with search engines, it is better to have social media buttons on your art website. This way, people can follow your brand, message you, and share your artwork with other individuals.
10. Contact Information
Without proper contact information, it will be super difficult for people to find your work.
Adding a nice contact page to your site's main menu will help people get in touch with you if they want to buy your artwork, book you for an upcoming event, or commission new art pieces.
Your contact page should also display a form to contact you through email, along with your contact number and gallery address if applicable. Besides these, links to your social media profiles are also an important inclusion on the contact page.
11. Press Page
If you have a good number of press clippings, make sure your art website has a Press page too. This page will highlight links and images to your varied attributes.
Prospective buyers will like checking out your press page as it will help them build trust and add another element to your artist's story.
FAQs
1. What should be included in an art website?
Artwork details, artist biography & CV, top-quality images, and contact information are some of the most significant inclusions of an art website.
2. How to make a great art website?
The mantra for a great art website is keeping it simple, fast, organized, and easy. Content and navigation should be straightforward, simple, and concise to attract visitors and keep them on the site once they get there.
3. Is it important to create a site to display my artwork?
Yes, creating a website will be the most effective way of marketing your artwork, building your brand, and selling your artwork.
4. Do artists need a website in 2022?
Even with social media networking sites available to users for free these days, artists need to have a website in 2022 to look credible.
Conclusion
The users on your art website should get a grand display of some of your works. Do not stop testing and trying new ways of engaging the audience, and keep introducing new content and art pieces regularly to keep the visitors engaged.
Also, pay attention to website analytics and how visitors interact with your website. This way, you can improve your site as per the preferences of your visitors.
