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Well, if you were anything like me, you'd have just tons of great artwork you wanted to show the world, but you hadn't a clue as to how you were gonna get the world to look at it, much less buy it.
Well, I was determined to find out how this crazy Net thing worked. I learned all on my own with minimal investment on how to be seen from California, USA to Tokyo, Japan. Here's your opportunity to pick my brain and learn all of my secrets!
Print out this article here and you can use it like a check list!
Let's Get Started!
Web Page Basics - A list of do's and don'ts.
* DO make sure your site is compatible with most of the browsers out there today. Make sure Netscape and Internet Explorer users, down to at least 4.0, can see your stuff.
* DO organize your site into separate categories. Have a list of navigation links on EVERY page. DO NOT cram all your paintings onto one loooong page. People will not wait for it to download. Separate your images into appropriate categories. Place all your awards on one page, your links and banners on another, your bio on another, your web rings on another, etc.
* DO tell your visitors who you are, what you are about, what your page is about and what you want. Be clear, concise and to the point. Spell check everything. Have friends and family test it out and look it over for broken images or misspellings. Ask them if they felt anything was confusing to them. Just because you know what you mean, doesn't mean everyone else does.
Promotion Basics - The simple things.
* Add yourself to the following Search Engines BY HAND once you have added your Meta Tags: Lycos, Yahoo, Alta Vista, DMOZ, AOL, Google and HotBot. There are countless numbers of other search engines out there, but these are the ones that matter. Google especially. 50% of my search engine traffic comes from Google. The rest is divided up among the others.
Yahoo would be the second most important, but probably only half as much as Google's significance. It may take several attempts to get listed with Yahoo. Here's a hint: Try adding yourself to the Regional section. They're more apt to give you a listing. Give each search engine at least two weeks to have your site listed. If it's not listed by then, add yourself again.
If you have a commercial site, you will now have to pay a $299.00 fee. I'm really disapointed by this new rule, but it's still worth it to pay it. I can tell you that I get 20% of search engine traffic from Yahoo, second only to Google.
Search Engine placement is so vast of a topic that I can't get into all the in's and out's here. Some companies make a living off of placing your web site! To learn more, go to Search Engine Forum at http://www.searchengineforum.com. There is a wealth of infomation here and I visit this place often.
* Trade links with other artists and galleries. Do this a lot. Do this all the time. Ask them nicely and compliment their work, but be clear that you want them to link you as well.
I found a great Links Database program at http://www.gossamer-threads.com/. (I gotta warn you though, it was hell installing it and ended up paying someone $25.00 to do it for me. Otherwise, it's free and well worth it.)
* I don't recommend those free banner exchanges, like Link Exchange. You get very MINIMAL traffic and the banners can be annoying and/or distracting to your visitors. I do, however, recommend exchanging banners as links with other sites that have the same theme as your own site. This can generate more traffic than those free generic exchanges. I created my own Wildlife and Fantasy Banner Exchange at http://www.gadnet.com/bplus/.
The Good Stuff! - Tricks of the trade.
* E-mail. Create a signature file with your URL and a short description of your site. Some people create little pieces of ASCII art to go with it. This is your internet business card.
* Newsgroups. Find topics relating to your works or interests via a search at Deja News - http://www.dejanews.com. Then, go to these Newsgroups and read some of the conversations that are going on. If you feel you could contribute to a conversation, introduce yourself. Your signature file at the end of your e-mail posting will be enough to get traffic to your site without seeming like you're pushy. It's rude to simply butt into a newsgroup and say "Look at my site!". It's like interrupting a conversation. The one place where you're allowed to say "I have artwork for sale" is at alt.art.marketplace.
* DON'T SPAM! Newsgroups or e-mail - ever! It's not worth it. Your reputation will be ruined and you can't afford that. You will receive hate mail and e-mail bombs that could erase your hard drive and cause everyone on your server to lose their e-mails! Ultimately, the servers would have to add more connections to deal with all the spam and pass the cost on to all of us.
* Here is a better way: Newsletters. Start your own free newsletter by having a SIMPLE sign up form on your site. Explain what they'll get if they sign up. I say they get to see my latest works, discounts on my stuff, and announcements of upcoming works. Mention your newsletter in appropriate newsgroups. Encourage people to join if they want to know what's new. I have about 1000 people who are part of my newsletter. It took about 9 months of promotion to do it. However, now I have a VOLUNTEER CAPTIVE AUDIENCE in which I can "spam" to. These people WANT to know what I have to say cause they asked me for it, therefore they are not offended with my art promotions and sales.
This is the software I use to send out my newsletter: Mailloop
This program saves me TONS of time and headaches when e-mailing my newsletter members. It wasn't too cheap, though. At the time I bought it, was about $200.00. However, the time and aggravation it saves me is worth ten times that amount. I highly recommend it! It automatically creates the e-mail list, manages members and sends out the letter just with a few clicks.
* Get a referral program started. I got a great free one from BigNoseBird.com. This simple cgi program allows a visitor to recommend your site or page to several friends via e-mail. Nothing brings in traffic than a good referral.
* Start a contest. People LOVE free stuff! Raffle a print or a service. Set up a simple form and post the rules and the deadline. Add if they want to join your free newsletter while they're at it. Offer everyone who wasn't the winner a discount on something in your gallery. That way, everyone's a winner. Add your contest to http://www.onlinesweeps.com. Watch your traffic skyrocket!
* Check out Virtual Promote! http://virtualpromote.com/
I found lots of great tip, tools and tutorials there on web site promotion.
* Check out my sample newsletter page. http://www.wildlife-fantasy.com/newsletter.html
In it, I have listed over 50 helpful web sites. They are organized into several parts: Web Utilities, HTML Help, Web Site Promotion, Artist Resources, Writers Resources and Freelancer Resources.
Down the road. - When you have some cash.
* Get credit card capabilities and accept them on-line. I use PayPal. I like PayPal and use it for all of my sales. I've personally never had a problem with them, but some people claim they've had a lot of headaches with them.
PayPal allows your customers to use their credit card to make a purchase and even electronic check payment, without you needing to sign up with an expensive merchant account. There is only a 1.9% + $0.30 USD to 2.9% + $0.30 USD per payment received. You pay nothing upfront. This fee is charged per transaction.
* Place some paid advertisements in traditional magazines and newspapers. Choose a magazine that is into your genre. I place ads in fantasy and wildlife magazines because that's what I paint. Cost for advertisements can range from a $12.00 classified to thousands of dollars for a one or two page ad.
* Find a web site that is related to your artwork and gets LOTS of traffic. Ask them if they would accept your banner on their main page if you paid them a monthly fee. I got one site to do this for me by just giving them a print! I get tons of traffic this way.
* Use a great on-line promotion company called The Internet Marketing Center. I recommend the site highly! Lots of great tips and tricks!
* Start your own Affiliate Program! For a $130.00, I got this great program that allow others to do the selling for me. With a simple banner on their site they send me visitors. If those visitors buy something, they get 10% of the sale (you can set your own percentage). When a painting sells for $500.00, that quite a chunk of change! Most of those people were going to place a link on their site anyway, so they're more than happy to make some money off of it, too! I got my cool Affiliate Program at http://www.groundbreak.com/
* Buy attractive and professional business cards and brochures with your web site address printed on them.
My last piece of advice is stick with your promotions for a long time. Don't just give up if one thing doesn't work. Change your strategy and try again. Surfers see web pages come and go and they don't take someone seriously unless you've been around for a long time. Stick with it, even through periods of no sales and low traffic. You must decide now to be in it for the long haul or you will fail. There is no overnight success and don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You'll have to work hard and be thick skinned.
Please visit my web site, Becky's Wildlife and Fantasy Art, http://www.wildlife-fantasy.com/ for visual examples of the things I have outlined here. Be sure to check out my links pages for some great resources!
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