Artists' #1 Website Mistake: Your Site is a Tool, Not the Business

I wanted to introduce a new voice today.

Eddie Davis

Eddie is the founder of ETCHster, an artist website platform. Eddie and I recently had a zoom conversation where we shared experiences as businesses who serve the art community.

Eddie told me about his background in tech and why he started ETCHster. He was so passionate about artist websites that I asked him to share information with you about how you can really maximize your site.

Understand that I’m not an affiliate of Etchster. I’m not making any money if you work with them. But I am a fan and I wanted to share this resource with you.

So now, without further ado, here’s Eddie’s advice about how to avoid the #1 Website Mistake

The #1 Website Mistake That Artists Make

Congratulations on your journey into digital marketing. If you’re reading this, you likely either have recently launched or are about to launch your first website. There’s a lot to learn!

You might be thinking that this article is about some aspect of design, content or maybe even an IT mistake to be avoided.

You’ll find great, free resources at The Working Artist to help you avoid the mistakes mentioned above, but they are not the #1 mistake.

As the provider of websites to thousands of artists spread across almost every country on earth, we find that the #1 mistake artists make is:

Thinking a freshly-minted website is an art business in a box.

Is an Artist's Website a Business Tool or the Business Itself?

An artist's website is primarily a business tool, not the business itself. Websites today don’t work like they did in the 90s and have a completely separate business purpose from social media, where connecting with people you already know is easy. Your website is a tool for helping you build relationships with strangers, unlike the early days of the web where simply having a good URL could generate instantaneous traffic and sales.

Websites today don’t work like they did in the 90s and have a completely separate business purpose from social media, where connecting with people you already know is easy.

Your website is a tool for helping you build relationships with strangers.

Why Does a New Artist Website Lack Initial Traffic or 'Gravity'?

A new artist website lacks initial traffic, or 'gravity,' because it's not yet a massive object like Earth that passively attracts visitors. The equivalent of gravity for your website is called traffic, typically measured in visits per hour, day, or month. You won’t have people asking to buy your work via your just-launched website until you have people visiting in the first place, much like a small object needs to build mass to attract gravitational pull.

The equivalent of gravity for your website is called traffic and is typically measured in visits per hour, day, month, etc.

You won’t have people asking you how to buy your work via your just-launched website until you have people visiting in the first place.

How Can an Artist's Website Function as a Super-Powered Business Card?

An artist's website functions as a super-powered business card by serving as a phenomenal tool to convert momentary interest into lasting fandom and patronage, even if it doesn't immediately generate sales. You can get this 'super-powered business card' into other people’s hands by linking to it in your email signature, dropping links in social media posts and comments, registering with local business and art groups, claiming your free Google My Business account, answering calls for artists with it, and printing old-school business cards that link to your new website for networking events. Simple actions, like a single tweet linking to artist Alex Scott's website, can bring significant visitors by showcasing your work impressively and quickly.

No, there are all kinds of ways to increase your website’s gravity and start making passive sales, but those take time.

In the meantime, you’ve got a phenomenal tool to convert someone who is momentarily interested in you into a fan and eventually a patron.

So how do you get your “super-powered business card” in other people’s hands?

• Link to it in your email signature
• Drop links in your social media posts and comments
• Register with your local business associations and art groups
• Claim your free Google My Business account
• Answer calls for artists with it
• Print old-school, 50-word business cards that link to your new website and attend networking events

Simple actions in this phase can be really powerful. A single Tweet from a non-influencer account (less than 100 followers) linking to artist Alex Scott’s website brought him 600 visitors over a single weekend.

The secret to this success was that the Tweet-viewers clicked over to his website, which showed them 50+ of his works in less than 2 seconds. They were so instantaneously impressed that they started a Twitter conversation, sharing their thoughts on his talent and encouraging even more people to visit his site.

What Strategies Exist Beyond the Initial 'Business Card Phase' for Artist Websites?

Beyond the initial 'business card phase,' many strategies exist to grow your artist website’s gravity and start making passive sales, once you are familiar with active engagement and traffic tracking. For more tips and tricks specific to digital marketing and to find an artist website platform, consider ETChster’s Creator Resources. ETChster provides websites built to complement your growing art business, requiring no technical skills, offering smartphone updates, automatic traffic trending, and helping you avoid common digital marketing mistakes. Eddie Davis, a technologist and founder of ETChster, created this platform to offer free and professional tools for artists and art collectors.

If you need an artist website in the first place or would like more tips and tricks specific to digital marketing, spend some time with ETChster’s Creator Resources. You’ll find ETChster provides websites built specifically to complement your growing art business and help you avoid other common mistakes throughout your digital marketing journey.

ETChster websites require no technical skills to create nor manage, can be updated from a smartphone, automatically show you how your traffic is trending, and in general, are designed to complement your growing art business with minimal distraction.

About the Author: From a family of artists, Eddie Davis is a technologist and founder of ETChster, a platform that provides free and professional tools including websites and catalogs to artists and art collectors.

crista-cloutier

March 14, 2022