What Is My Page Lacking?

have you been advertising? if your sitting and waiting, that won't work. you only have 97 things and some are confusing


showing an example like this - doesn't work well on this site, if it were a gallery header it would make more sense.

creating new work and having things people don't usually have - that's made by you is important

i can probably download this some place, with the time this was made and the angle, i don't know if there is a strong market for it.


posting stuff like this is just confusing.

marketing is about knowing who your audience is. making new work all the time to keep it all fresh and pushing work where ever you can. that's really it. i would also increase your prices a touch.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Thank you mike,
I am not good at advertising. This is a hobby for me and only work on it part time. I have been selling on a regular bases but it has slowed.
As far as the sample goes, I wanted to show what it would look like all together. But that is a good point as a header.
The piece that is shown at an angle is the original piece with a custom frame and resin coating. Was trying to sell the original. I have actualy sold it locally and need to remove that picture.
At this point I do not know who my market is. I am still trying to figure that out.

Your avatar comes across kind of sad to me. Is that intentional?

LOL, No my avatar is a digital portrait I did many years ago of myself. I think it turned out well. But maybe I should change it?

Gotcha. Maybe it's just me who thinks that? It's the downward angle of the brows that does it and the lack of smile.

I can't see how an avatar makes any difference to who buys your work.

changed my avatar, is it to stuffy now?

Much better avatar than the last one. It's inviting, low key and personable.Justin said, "I can't see how an avatar makes any difference to who buys your work." And maybe he's right, but everything we do on this site is about marketing our work and putting our best foot out there. A downtroden look on your face or a reflection of you taking your own picture might be cool for a personal Facebook page, but for a POD site, my thinking is present you and your work in the best way possible. First impressions mean a lot. If you have a brick and mortar store to sell your art, you're probably making sure the windows are clean, the paint is fresh and the sidewalk is swept, right?

As for my own avatar, well, there's only so much I can do with that face! LOL

@ Justin- It was just an observation on the avatar.

I don't think it's too stuffy. Good smile!

Joseph, Thank you and I agree I think I will stay with this one. It is more professional. Thank you Tamara for the observation, that is why i am posting on here, looking for any help.

It is more professional & seems to suit your work more. You're very welcome, Ryan! :-)

How do you get you page to open up showing your galleries first?

the avatar is a part of marketing. it won't kill a sale unless you have a swastika on your forehead, and even then it depends what you sell. however seen in a list, the forum, any place else it becomes your mascot. you may want to click on it just to see what it's all about. hence the reason i'm a turkey this month.

marketing isn't about wearing a top hat and waving a cane. its as simple as finding people that relate to the types of things you make. or making a blog or a web page about your art. start people in the gallery, and try to keep everything lined up. all the couch settings in a row for example. adding lots of new work every week is important.

the avatar you choose here - should be on all your sites.

https://twitter.com/ryans417art you want more than 60 followers. its a lot of work, but if you have that few people, you may not get a lot of views.

try not having images in the stream, it leaves off hashtags and there is no reason to click it. try not to clog up the stream with extra stuff that's not related to you. while it makes it less personable, it's confusing if you post other things - leave that for facebook. you did a lot of advertising back in august, then kind of stopped to a trickle. advertising isn't a now and again thing it's kind of constant. it doesn't and shouldn't be flooded each day, but a few a day, with #hashtags - will go a lot further than every now and then with a picture. bots pick out the tags and place them on twitter stream around the world.


---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

behind the scenes - defaults - at the bottom, show galleries first. do the same thing with the artist site, but it's located in different spot.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com

Ryan, setting the default to your galleries is a good idea, but since you don't have all that many pieces yet, I'd also suggest you organize your images so they are grouped according to type and subject matter. For instance, you could put all of your typographical art together, all of your urban photos together, your rural and landscape photos, etc. Makes for a little more cohesiveness. As it stands now, you have your paintings mixed in with your photos mixed in with your word art and it feels disorganized. Does that make sense?

"I am not good at advertising. This is a hobby for me and only work on it part time."

Well, your competition is learning everything they can about advertising. Your competition are not hobbyists. Your competition works on their business 24/7. Those are the facts.

The Internet provides access to all of the "secrets". Its all a matter of who takes advantage of it and who wants it more. There is nothing wrong with approaching online art work selling in a casual manner. Just don't expect the results achieved by people who are able to put in more effort.

Ryan, I think the triptych shown in a room setting works very well for this site, and any other -- especially if the artwork is shown to scale. Potential buyers have a hard time imagining size, even if they have the actual measurements, so the 'in situ' example is great for that. I intend to add some to my own portfolio.

Of course, the individual images need to be available for viewing, too.

Ok, I have changed my avatar, regrouped my galleries, changed opening to galleries, re arranging my art to be more cohesive.
Adding more art, well that will come but as it is a hobby it comes slowly.
Twitter, I am lost to it. I have it and I am working on getting followers but I need to do more research. And I will start posting more often.
I also have a instagram account and facebook, but need to work on those.
I am not expecting to compete with professionals, I am a hobbyist and only saw a dip in sales and traffic. I think I need to be more active and try and draw people in. That is the key.
Thank you for the tips and I will continue to improve.

Looks great! Here's to more sales!

Looks great but you should make a gallery entitled "Art in a Room" and put all of the images of your artwork displayed in a room into that gallery, (I'm assuming that those images of paintings over sofas are such)

A question to answer for yourself, and perhaps people who visit your portfolio:
What is the purpose of "art in a room" images? Is it to demonstrate the power of a polyptych? A way to stimulate buyers to consider such works? Or are the images intended to be bought and displayed? To me, the images seem like a sales tool, rather than an actual product, but perhaps I'm wrong. If they are the product, then who is your market: interior decorators to decorate their own offices?

The art with the couch is only to show how the polyptych will look when hung together. Strictly as a sales tool. If it was possible to not have it show up as a print and only as a header for a group i would prefer it that way. I think it is difficult to visualize the art in a single image and it helps to see them together in a room setting.

i think it might be easier to rename the gallery - the title and what it is, and have them align in the gallery. and create a new gallery - for "uses" for these images, they wouldn't be for sale, or large enough that they can be for sale. its just confusing to have them there.

mostly you have to get people to the site. the gallery can look almost like anything, but if there are no people then no dice.

join more groups, enter all the contests that fit your work. get more people milling about. even showing up in different groups, may help you in google. sign your name with your store as well - not many outsiders know that they can click your name to get there. use a sig line with your url in it. get a custom url for your art site. learn how to use twitter, facebook etc.

drawing people in usually involves the work you have and how it attracts them. creating new art all the time i think is important so you don't get stale. and uploading it in a consistent manner helps as well. creating new things and experimenting with them is a part of it. its hard to sell it as a hobby because you have to make new and promote at the same time. maybe you can hand out cards where you work and sell there.

---Mike Savad
MikeSavad.com