Are you ready to face the new challenges ahead? Is your art already to be sold online? If you are wandering like many others? How are you going to turn your art into a business online? Then here are some suggestions that will hopefully clear a few uncertainties.

As a fulltime artist and entrepreneur, this is a question that rings constantly in my mind.

And there are good reasons for that.

You see, making a real business of your art online is not something you can treat as a hobby. At some point, You have to make the difference between a side hustle and a career.

Taking this decision in itself requires you to break out of your comfort zone and push new boundaries. Some of us are at crossroads with big career choices to make and others might just need a little nudge.

It is no myth that the challenges that artists and creative entrepreneurs face are real and often very complicated.

What if you could be your own online gallery.

Wouldn’t that help? If you could sell your own art?

Which kind of artist are you?

1. Are you the weekend hustler? Being a passionate hobbyist is your thing!

2. Are you employed in the creative industries and hoping for that lucky break? You’re career-driven, but still sitting on the fence opting for that possible promotion!

3. Perhaps, fearless warrior, serial entrepreneur sounds more like you. But something always seems to get in the way of you succeeding.

4. Maybe you are the talented professional artist everyone is looking for but too shy to expose your work.

This is my “survival guide” to navigate through the online art world Post-COVID 19.

Content summary

Part One

1.0 Coming to terms with where you are.

1.1 Connect with the art industries online support networks

1.2 Refresh and synchronize your social media accounts.

1.3 Register a company name for your online art business.

Part Two

2.0 Establish a stable work environment

2.1 Purchase a domain name

2.2 Start building your blog/website

2.3 Update and upload your portfolio online

2.4 Learn about file sizes and formatting for SEO

2.5 Organize your portfolio into clear categories

Part Three

3.0 Write your first blog about your artist statement

3.1 What is an artist’s statement?

3.2 How long should my artist statement be?

3.3 Define and share your value proposition

3.4 Is you4 value proposition clear for everyone?

3.5 Who is your target audience for your art business online?

3.6 Reach out and connect with that audience

3.7 Position yourself as a leader in your art style.

Part Four

4.1 Get to know your art Industry better.

4.1 Are you going to represent yourself as an individual or a brand?

4.3 Taking that big leap of faith

4.2 Put together a planning schedule

4.5 work in private, commercial, and government sectors.

Part Five

5.0 Market and advertise your art business online

5.1 Figure out Paid advertising vs free advertising

5.2 Establish Key Player business Connections and sell more art online.

Summery

Conclusion

Part one

1.0 Coming to terms with where you are.

Before you decide to make any big arty business decisions.

It’s a good idea to figure out how much time you are currently spending on your various income sources versus how you would like to be spending your time to better position yourself financially and emotionally.

Now has never been a better time to make some big career decisions. Start by doing a checkpoint of were you are now.

1. What job or jobs are you working on to sustain your lifestyle and financial commitments?

2. How much does the revenue from your personal art activities compare to your steady monthly income?

3. Are you trying to boost art sales faster to reduce the hours in your 9-5 job? Allowing you to focus more on your business development.

If you are starting a new project, or in the process of expanding your products and services.

It is important to consider how you will expand your reach to connect with new clients efficiently and at a low cost.

1.1 Connect with the art industries’ online support networks.

Find someone or several people outside your immediate family network who can give you constructive support.

There are many professionals out there willing to share information about some decisions and plans you have to expand your client portfolio to an online community.

Join some if not many online groups and chat forums to connect with people who have similar interests that may be able to give you some friendly advice.

Relying on the support of your family and close friends is also great, just keep in mind that they will generally have a more biased opinion of your decisions. And this is not always a constructive way of moving forward.

Consider connecting with groups related to online creative hubs, art studios, educational institutions, even online galleries.

There exists an online community for just about anything you can imagine. So go for it and discover where you fit it in.

1.2 Refresh and synchronize your social media accounts.

These days everyone is focusing on screens.

More and more people are working from home and online interaction is normal.

If you are planning to make your business about art? Then being reachable across multiple social online platforms is vital.

Verify that all your profiles are telling the same story.

Take some time to start screening through all your online profiles and update them so that there is consistency in your story.

Our individual lives are constantly changing and so are our global life circumstances. It is therefore important to update online profiles regularly to fit the current context that you are living and working in.

This is a good time to go ahead and delete any accounts and profiles that are inactive or no longer serve you any purpose. If you don’t want to permanently delete an account you can always look in the settings and deactivate them.

Your online profile is a reflection of who you are and what you stand for.

So think about what social media platforms you are using and why you are using them.

This will help you determine the relevance of each one. Save time by focusing predominantly on the platforms that will serve you a purpose both socially and professionally.

After all! What we all want is to sell more art online right!

1.3 Register a company name for your art business and start selling more art online.

Are you prepared to take the step of registering yourself as a company?

Why you should consider doing so!

Opening a company account or registering a brand will prove to yourself that you are committed to giving your online art business a real chance.

Separating your personal budget and expenses from your business ones makes it easier to track your activities and targets.

Managing your business cash flow through a company account means you are less likely to be spending your working capital on general house expenses.

Invoicing your clients as a business is professional and will give you the confidence to push for more sales and find new clients.

Take into consideration that the majority of your potential clients will mostly come from the corporate or mainstream sectors.

Banking and trading as a business are reassuring and familiar for them.

Having a registered company will come in handy for things like general accounting, tax exemptions, Bank loans, as well as potential financial support during tough economic times.

If you have never sold any art before, you might be thinking that all this is going too far and you will cross that path when you get there.

The reality is that if you are pouring time and effort into turning your art into a business online then chances are that you will start to sell more art.

Being ready in advance will start to sound like a more professional option.

As artists, we all love to create and be immersed in our processes and experimentation. Often neglecting the administrative responsibilities that come with our career choice.

Post-COVID 19 will encourage us to let go of our ideologies of art for art’s sake. Pushing us to focus on creating good art and valuable content.

In return, it will also offer great business opportunities for those who are prepared.

Part Two

2.0 Establish a stable work environment

Where are you going to work from? How will you benefit from working from home instead of a studio, hub, or community center for example? Is this “work from home” concept suitable for your art activities?

If you haven’t already, then now is a good time to start thinking about what would be the ideal workspace for you.

Can you work from home?

This is vital in your big decision making as it is the component that will have the most impact on your cash flow and business.

Maybe you have some very specific requirements that will play an important role in developing your art practice as a professional.

Things such as equipment and machinery might be something to take into consideration.

This could be a perfect time to re-evaluate your artistic processes as there may be other more effective ways to make and sell your work.

If your work is minimal and small, perhaps all you need is a desk and some internet. Everyone has their own way of working.

Maximize on areas where you can cut costs to a minimum.

2.1 Find and purchase the ideal domain name for your new website.

Before you buy your domain name. Think about what your site will be offering.

What are the advantages and disadvantages of using your personal name as opposed to creating an original brand name?

If for example, you are someone that enjoys writing and would like to document and share information about your art and processes on a regular basis, then perhaps a blog site format is more appropriate for you.

On the flip side, if writing is not your thing, then what you might need is a simple static site. One that serves as a gallery or online shop where you can upload your art easily and sell your art all over the world to your clients.

Do some research and have a look at some sites that offer either or both options. See which ones have brand names and which are the ones that use personal names.

You can buy your domain very easily by creating an account at a site like GoDaddy.com or crazydomains.com.au there are plenty more sites available, don’t be she to explore them.

2.2 Start building your personalized blog/website.

To build your website you will need to set yourself up with a few programs, most of which you can source online at little to no cost.

A crowd favorite seems to be WordPress, maybe thats just my oppinion. However, there is a wide variety of good quality free website building software’s out there.

If you can put together a PDF presentation then chances are that you will have no trouble building a simple website to get you started. Updating, and even completely changing the look of your site is super simple with plug and play free templates.

So there is no need to rush into making things perfect before launching it online.

Avoid at all cost paying a designer to build your site. Rather spend the time it takes to learn and experiment with what your site has to offer.

Remember you are the artist. When people visit your site they are essentially visiting your studio, gallery, shop or classroom.

Being able to adjust your site according to your services is essential to creating a platform that your viewers will enjoy visiting.

YouTube has millions of free tutorials all about how to build your blog or website. Follow the step by step guides to almost anything you want to do on your site.

2.3 Update and upload your portfolio to your website

What good is a website without any content? You might be thinking that you are not ready to upload any work.

That it is too soon for you to have a website. Perhaps everything you are working on is still in progress.

Keep in mind that your art will always be in progress and on that basis there will never be a right time to start. Uploading work in progress is perfectly fine for your website. Because that is were you are at right!.

As long as you are documenting and filing your work in the appropriate place you should be fine.

2.4 Learn about file sizes and formatting for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

If you look in your phone settings you can also adjust the quality of the photos you take based on the purpose they will serve.

This will save you some time when you are processing your images.

Let’s face it! no one likes a slow loading site these days. So make it a priority to figure out file sizing.

2.5 Organize your portfolio into clear categories

Put together a shortlist of the pages that you think will fit the context of your website.

These pages will serve as the backbone for your website. They will help you promote and sell more art online.

Home – Gallery – Blog – Shop – Services – inspiration – Portfolio – Products – tutorials – and contacts are some typical options to choose from as main titles on your site.

Sub categories might be things like. Drawing – paintings – sculpture – oil paintings – acrylic paintings – photography and so on.

Simple titles make it easier for your viewers to find what they are looking for.

Write down 3 categories of art that you think best fits your style of work. This is a good place to start

Part Three

3.0 Write your first blog about your artist statement

In practical search terms, for people to find you online, you need to have a certain amount of text on your website that lets people know who you are and what you are offering.

Why not use this to your advantage by putting together a well-presented artist statement.

Create a catchy title that will encourage people to have a read and discover more about you. If you are using a blog site then take the opportunity to add some of your work. Use your visual art skills to personalize your statement so that it reflects who you are.

All this great text about you and your art will serve to let search engines know what it is you are offering so that your website or artwork can appear in the right topics that people are looking for.

3.1 What is an artist’s statement and how do you write one?

The purpose of writing an artist’s statement is to include a short description of you, followed by your research topic and work process.

Think of this statement as an extension of what you are showing your viewers to add to their experience of your art.

This is not your CV.

Your artist statement explains specifically what your art is about and what processes you have used to execute your ideas.

In a few short paragraphs, your artist statement should engage a viewer in your work and clearly define what the expectations are.

It is important to remain consistent with your visual content and written content.

Your artist statement can and should evolve as you also grow as an artist, so keep this in mind as you define further your artistic practice.

3.2 How long should my artist statement be?

Your artist statement can be as short as 100 words and up to 400 words depending on your research and process.

Think about how you would like to experience someone else’s artist statement. Use this as a starting point to prepare yours.

By putting yourself as the receiver you can shape your statement with more intentional words. A short and concise statement is nearly always easier to digest than a lengthy essay.

Start by putting all your ideas down on paper.

Making a list of everything related to what you do now and all the experiences that have taken you this far.

Then narrow this list down progressively to leave only the most valuable and relevant information to your art.

Your artist statement does not have to be a static text. You might need several attempts before you are happy with it. So take your time. It’s ok!

I think you get the picture. Right! Your personal profile and artist statement should always be up to date. It is the first point of contact people will have with you. Especially online.

3.3 Define and share your value proposition

Your customers need to know what kind of art services you are offering.

Do you have a clear vision of what your art practice represents? Is that vision clear to the public?

Your value proposition as an artist is the totality of the knowledge, services, and products you can provide. Which is why it must not be neglected.

If you were to think of yourself as a business then turning your art into a business requires clarity, curiosity, resilience, and commitment.

Like it or not, people seek comfort in categorizing most things. So knowing in what categories you would most likely fit makes it easier to make decisions about your work.

Where does your work shine?

Think of what really stands out about your work and what are the areas that stand out the least.

Narrowing your offer is a way of creating a niche market that is tailored to your story.

A niche market does not have to mean a small market. So trust in your convictions and you will find your market along the way.

For example, you might need to think about multiple value propositions for different sectors of your art business.

Tweaking your story to adapt to a particular audience or market is a way of showing people that you are open to discussing terms as well as being flexible to adapt to new opportunities.

Whether or not there are similarities or differences, you can use these experiences to help you design a value proposition that fits your profile.

3.4 Figure out where your niche market is

Finding your niche market, and knowing how to reach them is essential to turning your art into a business

If you have already made good progress with your value proposition and your artist statement is being defined as you go.

Then Identifying a niche market becomes much clearer. Knowing who and how you are going to connect with more customers will shorten your path to making more sales.

Finding your niche market does not have to mean entering a popularity contest. Stay true to what your plan is even if other artists are taking a different path.

3.4 Is your value proposition clear for everyone?

Being clear About your values and services is a way of being able to monitor what jobs you can deliver and what jobs you should let go of.

Saying no projects that don’t fit your profile is ok. Don’t be that person who is remembered for biting off more than you can chew.

This form of self-evaluation can lead to a niche following. Finding your clear path will make it easier for you to reach out to the right audience or attract a following that is in tune with your offering.

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3.5 Who is your target audience for your art business?

Can you identify 3 distinct environments where you might have a chance of reaching a compatible audience to present your work to?

How you go about finding the right audience for your work is essential for you to generate more income from your art.  

Just like in every industry, it is important for you to find your market and where your work can thrive to generate more consistent sales from your art.

Identifying your buyer profile can take time especially if your work is constantly evolving.

The value proposition and buyer profile go hand in hand. Something to keep in mind as you navigate your options.

3.6 Reach out and connect with your audience

Consider how adaptable your artwork and services are to each format.

Try to keep it realistic.

If you are already present on social media platforms. Try to keep your accounts active and updated. It’s better to delete a dormant account than to show up as inactive.

Try to be as active as possible on them, then use these platforms to share your portfolio, information about your latest work, and any updates that you make to your website.

Use sign up forms and subscriptions to allow people to follow your latest post and artwork.

Set up a mailing list to keep your friends, family, followers, and clients up to date with your work.

Getting visibility and finding your audience requires you to study the trends in your area and niche market. Your site will need all the help in its early days. So it’s is your responsibility to go out and look for those clients.

Taking the time to figure these things out progressively will help you shape and define your vision and who you are as an individual and a professional.

3.7 Position yourself as a leader in your art style.

The idea here is to stand out where you are comfortable.

The sum of your past is generally what will guide you into the future.

From a business perspective, it is important to have a well-prepared document or profile that clearly represents who you are and what you are doing.

Not necessarily what you will do or want to be.

Here are a few examples that can get you started.

Including some form of academic background or experience is a great way of letting people know what your interests and qualifications are.

Managing your artistic portfolio regularly will make it faster and easier for you to identify and connect with potential project opportunities.

Your portfolio and credentials are a reflection of who you are and what you have achieved. It is how you are being viewed from an external point of view.

For example, if your art is all about horses and horse riding, then your niche market will be focused on people who also like horses and horse riding.

Make it a point to thrive in this context by exposing your work to like-minded people. Otherwise, referred to as creating your tribe.

Knowing who your niche market is can save you tons of time when it comes to your marketing strategy.

Finding your place within a niche market is much easier than selling your work to an open network where you are at more risk of a hit and miss scenario.

There is no harm in keeping a few niche markets open if you are currently unsure of the direction you want to take.

That’s OK!

Part Four

4.0 Get to know your art industry better.

Do a comparative & competitive analysis report. By this, I mean. 

“figure out where you fit in the market.” Your competitors don’t have to be your enemies if you know where you fit in.

Very often successful businesses are able to work off the growth of their competitors to help push the market forward.

Understanding the trends and tendencies of your industry is important for the decision-making process.

When possible, try to participate in activities, events, discussions that fit into your style of work. Visit galleries and meet artists.

Find out who are the curators and event planners in your area of interest. Getting to know your industry can be a lengthy process, so stick to your plan.

Identifying gaps in your market can open possibilities for collaboration and partnerships that are beneficial to several parties.

This is especially important for SMEs and individuals looking to expand into different markets.

4.1 Are you considering representing yourself as a brand?

You can easily do this by getting your work trademarked with your name and copyright regulations.

This is essential to formalizing your art hobby and or activities into a business.

Protect your intellectual property from Copyright.

Letting people know that you respect your work and value your personal identity as an artist will show them that you are committed to your practice.

To find out how to do this you can contact your local government departments to ask them for more details.

Contact some local and international media providers. Such as newspapers, magazines, and directories.

Ask them to publish some of your work. This is a way of establishing some authority in your industry and creating a brand name.

4.2 Taking that big leap of faith

The hardest decisions are often the most rewarding ones.

Nevertheless, a lot of artists never leave the starting blocks of their dreams simply because they are focusing on the now, instead of the “tomorrow”.

In order to fast forward your business into a success, sticking to a few established guidelines will ensure that you have something to fall back on as you discover your full potential irrespective of the time it takes.

Having a long term approach to your practice allows you more space to experiment, reflect and repair as you go.

The key thing to remember is that you need the big picture insight as you shift between phases.

Knowing and accepting that you will be making mistakes along the way. This will essentially help you to define your business and become resilient.

4.3 Put together a planning schedule

The main reason why a hobby business may fail comes down to proper planning.

Once you have the big picture view of what you want to achieve then you can start unpacking it in phases that are manageable and in context with your current situation.

Pre COVID 19 knowing that I needed a studio space in order to build up my business meant that I would have some fixed expenses.

One of the main reasons why I decided to look for an alternative studio was due to the high rental fees that I needed to cover each month.

Sticking to my big picture plan I managed to find a better-suited location at a cheaper rate.

Reducing my financial burden gave me more time and less stress to focus on developing my activities and growing my network of clients.

If by now you are thinking to yourself that this sounds exactly like the situation you are in.

Then chances are that you are simply not leaving yourself enough time and space to produce and structure yourself efficiently.

Post-COVID 19 it just makes sense to be online. Little to no overheads and an opportunity to reach out to a world of potential clients.

4.5 Work in private, commercial, and government sectors.

Keep an open mind about how you want to make a living and live your dream.

Once you have identified one or perhaps several niche markets, the contact time to reach potential clients is much faster.

If you have friends and or competitors in the same niche markets then you might decide on collaboration opportunities to increase your exposure.

Put together a small marketing campaign.

You can do this easily by prioritizing the products and services that you know you can deliver in the current context you are in.

Leaving less accessible ideas and projects to deal with at a later stage.

False advertising is a fast way of losing your credibility and slowing your business development to a halt.

Its no point reaching out to a wider audience for more business. If you will not be able to deliver professionally.

This is a good time to reflect on what you can do now as opposed to what you are hoping to do in the future.

Marketing is a good way to get to know who your customers are and where you can find more of them.

Use this time to go through the trials and errors while you can. Marketing is not a one size fits all so expect constant experimentation.

4.4 Don’t guess about your pricing.

If art is your business. Then do your research. Pricing to sell your art does not have to be complicated.

Find out what other artists in your community and niche market are selling their work for.

Then align yourself sensibly based on the industry-standard practices. This will give you a practical approach to enter the market.

If you have doubts, then consider testing the market with a variety of prices to see where you have the most success.

Understanding the basics of how and why you are pricing your art will go a long way when it comes to finding your market and long term audience.

Not to be taken literally but it is of my opinion that it is no point rushing towards high prices. Rather establish a clientele that will follow you throughout your career as an artist.

Pricing high may have a psychological effect on the buyer even if that person sees something special in the painting.

Avoid the risk of burning your candle too soon by doing some research before setting your prices.

A long term following is more sustainable than gambling on a few overpriced paintings.

Format.com gives a great break down of the various aspects of pricing structures.

Part Five

5.0 Marketing and advertising your art business online

Start by identifying a few marketing channels that fit well with what you are interested in.

Group them into clusters of priority and their potential for a return on investment.

For example, knowing if your marketing is going to be free or paid can make a big difference in how you plan your cash flow to meet these targets.

Remember that free is not always the best option and investing in your hobby might be essential to seeing things develop faster than if you rely on free services or platforms.

5.1 Paid advertising vs free advertising

Doing business online is a good way to test your market research without having to spend too much money.

You can actually do a lot of promotional work online without having to pay for anything at all. Use existing popular search platforms like Pinterest to upload and share all your artwork and research.

Then link everything to your website. You can do the same with Facebook posting as well as Instagram and LinkedIn.

This will increase your organic reach and give you a better chance of letting people find your artwork.

If you are more traditional and your target audience still reads the newspaper or buys magazines then maybe advertising in with some online press online is a better option for you. Try a few different options and see which ones work and which ones don’t.

Why not do a few paid campaigns if you have the budget.

You would be surprised where $50 takes you online these days.

Paid advertising does not have to mean expensive advertising.

It’s worth doing some research and finding out which ones suit your art industry the best.

5.2 Establish Key Player business Connections

Being upfront with your intentions is a good way of establishing trusting and lasting relationships.

If you are not ready to leap into a project, then its best to make clear what your purpose of connecting is to avoid any misleading conversations.

It is ok to do some research and scouting as long as you are clear about it.

Try to think of a few people in your network that you would like to reach out to. See what is required of you to make these connections happen?

Consider these connections as accounts you are opening or tracking devices that you are creating between yourself and your network.

So that when the right time or opportunity presents itself, you will be ready to do the heavy lifting.

Summary

Think About creating a brand around what you are doing. This could be a personal brand, or you could create an art and design company, maybe an online retail company.

Either way, it is important to be registered as a business when planning to sell art commercially or on a full-time basis.

This will make it a lot easier for you to track your activities and expenses. As well as your revenue and progress while keeping your personal accounts separate from those of your art activities.

Consider putting into place a marketing plan with strategies and outcomes that allow you to start sharing and promoting your work and services with purpose and intention.

This may be a short term or long term plan depending on your goals.

Don’t guess, rather do a competitive analysis report. Simply put, figure out what other artists are doing to sell instead of guessing and complaining.

This will help you to understand the local market so that you can find your place.

Next, Prepare your pricing guidelines and test the market with your new body of work.

Look for ways you can have access to networking opportunities by being present in your industry or participating in things that interest you. Such as groups, shows, festivals, gallery openings and charity events.

Conclusion

Too often people start projects with good intentions, then for various reasons they either lose faith in themselves or lose patience resulting in slow progress.

Perseverance is the key to success in any industry. If you take your business seriously, then people will also take you seriously.

You will find that you can scale your art hobby into an online business faster than you thought. You will also realize that building up your business does not have to be an expensive process if you start early.

There are obviously countless other ways that you can develop your art practice.

Some of which you may have already discovered, others that may pop up along the way.

If you want to commercialize your art as a business with little to no expenses. Then first you have to ready to commit to a step by step process. Secondly, you must be aware and accept that it will not happen overnight.

And lastly, consistency, resilience, and determination will eventually give you the rewards you are working towards.

Stick To The Plan & turn your art into a business online. Remember to have some fun along the way.

Why not! Just start a blog!

Its been a pleasure. Until next

Art enthusiast & illustrator

David Lagesse