Selling your art online can be a great way to make extra money to support your art habit. When selling online, your art needs to stand out to be noticed by buyers, so you’ll need a professional-looking website and an online store. Most importantly, you’ll need to know how to sell online. The internet has changed things for artists, but knowing how to sell your art online is even more important today than when I first started selling online.
How to sell art online
Selling art online is easier than ever, thanks to the explosion of sites allowing artists to sell their work online. Some websites, like art.com and craigslist.org, allow artists to post their own work, but these websites charge for the privilege of selling art online. Other sites, like artspace.com and saatchiart.com, allow artists to sell their work through other galleries, and these sites charge artists a monthly fee for their services.
Side hustle vs. full time
Working from home can be a blessing or a curse. For some, it can be a way to work around a demanding schedule. This is because they can save a lot of time by omitting the traveling to the office part. These people prefer to buy essential office items like desks and chairs (from office monster or similar furniture suppliers) to set up their home office where they can work peacefully in the comfort of their homes. Similarly, there might be others who might find working from home as a distraction, a potentially debilitating addiction. Whether working from home is the right choice for you is a personal decision you should make based on your financial needs, your professional goals, your career goals, and your must-haves. But, before you take the plunge, let’s cover the differences between a side gig and a full-time gig. If art works as a side-hustle for you, then you may have to hold another full-time job or work to growing your own business. If you make art full-time, then this is what you will be pursuing for the whole of your time, and not work for anybody else.
Selling your own work vs. selling art by other artists
Selling your own artwork or by other artists is possible if you’re willing to put in the time, especially since it usually means you need to invest in your own marketing. Selling your own work involves finding a buyer (if you’re selling from your own website) or finding an art buyer at a craft fair or art gallery. Selling work by other or “signed” artists is an entirely different beast. For both, however, you may need an initial online platform to sell on, and of course, a workable marketing strategy to put the word out there. You can get some useful advice from a good article or two on the Internet which should help you start off.
Your online store
The best way to start is by first identifying your target audience. Putting this audience at the center of everything you do is the key to the success of your business. Once you know your target audience, you can ensure your products or services appeal to them, and you take the time to study how your competitors operate and which marketing strategies they employ. By knowing your competition, you will be able to devise your own marketing strategies, including whether you need to hire online reputation management companies to increase your brand visibility or figure out other ways to gain traffic to your store. This can also keep you aware of any changes in consumer behavior.
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Photographing and scanning art
If you work in an art-related job, you might not realize how important art is to your organization. Not only is art important to your audience, but it’s also a valued part of your overall brand. But art isn’t always easy to display in your home or at your office.
Open vs. limited edition
“Is that open edition or limited edition?” It’s a question I hear a lot when customers are trying to choose between open-edition and limited-edition prints. It’s a valid question because the pricing between the two options is often a big difference.
Printers and printing
The printer is one of the workhorses of the office. It’s used every day. But how often do you actually look at your printer? What if something were to happen to it? Without a printer, you wouldn’t be able to print anything for your business. For this reason, you need to back up your printer data regularly.
Working with galleries
By working with galleries, you improve your odds of exhibiting at a high-quality gallery. There is no getting around the fact that practicing artists need a gallery to show their work. And in today’s art market, gallery representation is a requirement for most artists to get paid for their art.
Packing and shipping art
Packing and shipping art can be tricky if you’re a novice or a first-time shipper. You can’t just slap the artwork in a box and ship it; instead, you have to arrange the artwork in a sturdy box or crate and (if necessary) fill it with padding to protect it from outside forces. Multiple pieces could be stacked together using pallets, and then covered tightly with pallet wrap in order to keep them secure during transport. This is much more secure than cardboard boxes. Packing and shipping art may sometimes get frustrating, but proper packing is essential.
What is the best way to sell art online?
Selling art online has gotten so much easier in recent years. As more people turn to the internet for everything from shopping to checking the weather, more people are turning to online auction sites to sell their work. But rather than sell directly to the buyer, some choose to sell their work to an online art dealer. But how does an artist get their work in front of art dealers and buyers?
Is selling art online profitable?
Selling art is a profitable business. For some, creating art is a hobby. For others, it’s their passion. But selling art online can still be a profitable business.
Selling art online can help an artist boost sales. The better your art is, the more you’ll attract buyers. Using platforms like Etsy gives artists a way to connect with customers. Artists should pay attention to their pricing, communicate with buyers, and keep online profiles updated.