As I stroll through art shows, street fairs and art galleries, the main question I hear from art aficionados is, ‘Do you have a website?’ Too many times I hear artists respond with, ‘Oh, I’m working on it. It’s coming.’ But nothing ever comes.
This week I wanted to emphasize the importance of your online presence. It’s one of the key things that will get you into the doors of exhibitions at a museum or an art gallery.
Whether you’re a sculptor, a painter, a photographer, a poet, a writer, it’s important to have an online presence. Not just Twitter, Instagram or Facebook but a website that shows where people can find you. You can’t count on that everyone is on social media but a website is a great way to direct someone who is interested in your work.
This week’s tip: Build that website! Now!
For those of you who would like to be considered for any exhibition opportunity at a museum or art gallery do the following:
Create a website. This is one of the ideal ways to present your work to museums and galleries. Think about it, it’s a lot easier to send a curator a link to your website than emailing photos or dropping a CD of your work in a mailbox. If you seriously want to take your art career to the next level build that website.
Make your website looks professional. You don’t have to every single thing on your site in the very beginning. Building a website takes time and it is an ongoing process, because you’ll have to update it throughout the years.
The first thing you should include on your website is a series of past works, a résumé along with a brief artist statement.
But before you can even put anything up on your website, you’ll need to lock in a domain name. GoDaddy is one of the biggest internet domain registrar and web hosting company that people use.
What some people don’t realize is that you don’t have to create your website through GoDaddy.
I locked in the domain name TamikaCody.com with GoDaddy and then built my website on Wix.com using the domain name that I purchased on GoDaddy. SquareSpace.com is also a great platform to build your website. I’m sure there are others, but Wix and Square Space are my personal recommendations for artists.
ONE STEP AT A TIME
Don’t worry if you don’t have hours to pour into your website in one sitting. The goal is to first lock in the domain name.
Second step, pick a hosting company and add your domain name to it – there are instructions on how to do it on YouTube and on the hosting company’s site, at least there are instructions on wix.com.
Once you’ve completed the first two steps it’s time to post a few high resolution images of your work along with a caption that reads – Website Under Construction.
Then you start to build. Little by little, step by step. Start going through your work and capture those images so that you can start to create an online gallery on your website.
Finally, write and post your resume and artist statement. Remember to keep your statement short and please ask someone to edit your resume and statement. You can even ask me, I’ll be happy to take a look.
Do you have a website? Let me know where I can find you in the comment box below or tweet me @TCsViews
Art tips you’ve missed:
Tips to Building Your Art Career
- Pt. 1 – Build a supportive network
- Pt. 3 – Get back to class
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