My Top 22 Tips For Selling Art Online in 2020

The internet has been a great place for content creators and if you are an artist, you can make it big by selling your artwork now online. Annual global sales have been increasing over the years as people opt to purchase items online. But as an artist, how can you succeed in e-commerce? Well, here is a comprehensive guide with tips on how to sell art online.

1.   Have Goals

This is one of the most important tips that you should consider first, even before you open your website and market your artwork. For instance:

• What is your goal when creating your artwork?
• What type of audience are you targeting?
• Are looking forward to diversifying your work?
• What would you do if you don’t hit your target within the stipulated time?

Generally, creating goals will help you to align with your vision. This way, you will have a sense of direction and know what to do within a certain timeframe. As a result, you will know if you are making progress, stagnating, or need to revise your goals.

2. Know Your Audience

Online art stores operate just like physical retail outlets. The only difference is that everything is carried online. If you want to get the most out of your artwork, then it’s important that you learn how to sell art and to who.

Are you targeting students, kids, or art collectors, etc.? Understanding their average age will do you a great favour in ensuring that you give them artwork that relates to their needs. This also comes in handy when using social platforms for marketing. For instance, older adults are more likely to use Facebook rather than Instagram.

3.Start Your Blog

Where do you intend to sell and talk about your artwork online? Well, there is no better way to do this by other than by starting your own art blog. This gives you the freedom to talk and post about whatever you want. Besides that, you have control of everything that goes into your website.

Starting a blog is even easier and you can get templates from sites such as WordPress. There are also designers who offer integrated solutions i.e. you have a website that also functions as an online shop as well. As a result, you can always talk about what you like and still integrate multiple payment options for those who want to buy your artwork.

Technology has made everything versatile when it comes to the online market. So, there is definitely no excuse for you to lack an art blog.

4. Optimize Your Own Website

A successful guide to selling art online should involve website optimization. This is important when it comes to search engine ranking. The general consensus is that if you want to rank higher then you must effectively optimize your site. But how does this happen exactly?

• Make sure that you only post authentic content on your website
• Consider using high-quality images with high resolution. There should be an option to zoom in and view the details closely.
• Your website should have relevant links to your social media profiles as well as other art galleries you have collaborated with.
• Your site should be compatible with multiple devices including mobile phones, desktops, and tablets among others.

5. Be Unique

Understand that all types of arts have already been created. On the other hand, they may not have been actually created, well, if you are only authentic. Did you know that people can create the same type of product but it can still be different?

Well, this is only possible if you have a unique style. You need to put your creative juices into use and develop your own unique style. Your style gives you your voice as an artist. Don’t be a copycat who lacks originality and, therefore, a voice.

6. Use Your Art to Tell Your Story

We all know that art is enjoyable, especially if you use it to tell stories. Well, that’s why artists usually look for sources of inspiration from time. It’s important to create successful pieces that have some sort of background.

This will lead to more sales indirectly because consumers love things that can definitely relate to. Does your art signify growth, change, or anything else? The goal is to give your customers something that they can associate with or identify.

7. Write Great Artwork Descriptions

The top-selling websites in this sector usually take time to craft details that relate to their masterpieces. This is more about story telling than simply listing facts. Ttry to take your potential customers on a journey – and paint the picture in their head as well as on the canvas.

Before you upload any work, make sure that you have a comprehensive description in a short paragraph. This way, you will be able to attract and retain the attention of the customer. The description should be free of punctuation, grammar, and spelling mistakes.

8. Master SEO

Search engine rankings depend on search engine optimisation (SEO) and this relates to how you choose to describe your artwork. Ensure that you use certain keywords that relate to your artwork and this should involve terms that a customer is likely to input in a search engine. Besides that, you can also use hashtags on your social media posts.

This is an entire topic by itself. Think about what you potential customers might be searching, and then write your content to best satisfy that search query. Google will take care of the rest.

You can also get plugins for your website such as Yoast SEO which will help with a lot of the grunt work!

9. Be Confident

Knowing how to sell art online requires a high level of confidence. the fact that you have to set up your own store, ensure that you have a navigable site, and do the marketing means that you have to believe in yourself.

Sometimes all it takes to stand out is your confidence. If your artwork is good and you don’t have the confidence to market them, it means that you will end up remaining with them. The most successful artists are those who believe in themselves and are able to confidently market their products. When it comes to business, confidence has a direct impact on how you will make sales.

It’s easy to succumb to imposter syndrome – when you don’t feel like you are good enough – that no one wants your silly art – or that no one will pay that price tag. But just remember everyone starts somewhere, and you’re always be an expert to someone, and a student to someone else.

10. Learn to Collaborate

Creating your own unique artwork is good and all. However, there is even greater power in creating masterpieces if you learn to collaborate with other artists. This is because you will be sharing your unique ideas and then blend them to create a powerful fusion of work. So, make sure that you look for other artists who share similar goals like you and then collaborate.

You’ll also benefit from exposure to a fresh group of high-value people. This way, your work will get exposed to an even bigger audience who could easily become your new customers.

11. Consistently Distribute Newsletters

For any serious online marketer, a newsletter is one of the most effective ways to communicate with your target audience. You are able to reach out to many art lovers as well as your clients at once. When sharing your newsletter, always:

• Choose the most interesting and relevant topic that will lead to more engagements
• Ensure that you specify the subject line and it should relate to the contents of the newsletter
• Make sure that each newsletter addresses your readers on a personal level
• Add links to provide more related information

Email marketing has the highest ROI of any advertising channel because emails are free!

12. Use Social Media

Social media platforms have become an integral part of business platforms. So, if you want your online business to flourish then you have to consider using multiple social media outlets. Not only will this help to boost your social profile to a broad range of possibilities but you have a chance of interacting with your loyal followers first hand.

This way, you will have a clear understanding of what they need, handle complaints, and even announce new products or promotions. Your social site should complement your business, especially when it comes to logs and appearance. Additionally, it’s also important that you use your business name to avoid confusion.

13.Get Pretty Packaging

The fact that you are selling your pieces of art online doesn’t mean that you should ignore the packaging. Generally, pretty packages are important as they help to add some bit of personal touch to your art. This is one of the tips to sell art that a lot of artisans tend to ignore. Make sure that for every product you sell, it’s carefully placed in a package that complements your brand. If you can’t design this yourself then get an affordable designer to create the blueprint for you. Remember that the art scene is highly competitive, how it’s knowing how to sell art that will put you ahead of the other competitors.

Also make sure to include some branded merchandise with everything you sell, as this reinforces you brand image even more. You can make business cards, thank you letters, stickers, button, even tee-shirts!

Top Tip: Include a coupon for a discount of their next order within the package. This encourages repeat purchases, and is way easier than marketing to a cold audience.

14. Don’t Undersell Yourself

Finding the ideal price that matches the budget of your target audience can be quite tricky. However, this shouldn’t be the reason for you to undersell yourself. Making your art cheaper isn’t the best way to attract and retain new customers.

Underselling yourself means that you will be depriving yourself of the chance to earn what you genuinely deserve. If you are unsure of the best price, do comprehensive research and check the rates offered by some of your closest competitors. Ensure that you check their selling history to determine if the price range is actually generating revenues. This will give you the best overview of how you should rate your art.

Under-pricing art also lowers its perceived value.

15. Have Presence in Multiple Sites

Just like any other business, if you want to succeed online then you have to diversify. You need to make sure that you have your presence in as many galleries as possible. Using your website as the primary base is good. But getting into several online galleries will significantly enhance your online presence. If you are just starting out, you can choose budget-friendly sites.

16. Don’t Focus on Social Media Only

Social media has become one of the best tools for marketing. In fact, using it usually leads to the generation of more returns. This is because a lot of people spend more time on the internet more than ever.

However, you should put all your energy into these social platforms. Consider using traditional methods of advertisement as well. We have seen how algorithms in these social platforms tend to change from time to time. Your business’s social page might also get compromised, hacked, or restricted. So, what is going to happen if you solely focused on social platforms? Well, you will not only use followers but chances are that you might also end up losing the contact details of most of your clients.

Supplement Facebook and Instagram with Pinterest, google ads, email marketing, SMS remarketing, even just word of mouth.

17. Listen to Podcasts and Watch Videos Related to Art

Creativity is something that will always make you stand out from the crowd. However, you must be willing to look for sources that can help feed your creativity. The world is dynamic and that means that consumer needs also change from time to time. Find something that can help you improve your skills such as listening to podcasts or watching videos that relate to content creation more specifically to art.

You can find great information of the business of art too. Such as marketing, running Facebook ads, and blogging all on YouTube for free.

18. Google Shopping Ads and Google Merchant Centre.

First of all, register your business (and your website) with google. Google will favour sending customers to your website since it knows you’re a legitimate business. While you’re at it, set up google merchant centre and sync your products through. This means that when people search for keywords related to your art, there’s a chance it will display your work right at the top of the page as a google shopping product.  

19. Create Events

It’s possible to now create online events where you can hold art exhibitions and promote your products. While doing so, keep in mind that this is the best opportunity for you to attract a new clientele base. So, make sure that you come up with new artwork and have special offers. You can even create a combination of exhibitions as well as sales. This way, you will not only be highlighting some of the best collections of your work but also ensuring that you sell more artwork.

20. Get on Pinterest

Pinterest is the perfect platform to get traffic to your website. In fact, Pinterest and SEO are the only two methods you’ll realistically be getting organic traffic coming to see your store. Pinterest is awesome because its 100% visual, and the content doesn’t die out over time like with Facebook or Instagram. Pinterest also lets you link directly to your store from your pins and boards, so your customers will have no problem getting over to your website and making the purchase.

21. Be Patient

Selling artwork online is not easier and this happens with other businesses as well. You are going to use a significant amount of resources to get things started. However, this doesn’t mean that you will start reaping the benefits almost immediately.

Building a solid customer base takes time. In fact, you may be lucky to make a reasonable number of sales within the first couple of months. If you are to make it out, then you have to stick to it for at least six months before you can even see something tangible.

One of my favourite quotes is by Matthew Kelly from the book The Long View:

“Most people overestimate what they can do in a day, and underestimate what they can do in a month. We overestimate what we can do in a year, and underestimate what we can accomplish in a decade.”

Set a goal for what you want to achieve in one or two years’ time, and measure you success against that, not what’s happened a week after launching your website.

22. Be Professional

Have a clear set of payment options, brand-oriented packaging, and a well-defined shipping method. These are some of the aspects that relate to professionalism. You need to ensure that customers can trust you by implementing various bits that are related to safety and professionalism. Have policies that relate to product shipping as well as a refund policy. You need to be clear regarding the terms of your business.