When an artist is trying to sale his wares he better be sure he has a marketing sense. Most artists I have met have little real experience with the marketing world but there are a good percentage of people who acquire that sense by taking small business courses so as to sell themselves properly. Those courses will advise the painter on preventive measures so that he will avoid loss. Here learning how not to spend frivolously is one sure way of putting your money where it counts.
Now I went through the trouble of putting my paintings up for sale on eBay but found out that the artist has to pay for the space he uses on the site. Now this is a good scheme to get exposure but if the artist wants to come away with a profit, he had better consider the cost of having the site host his paintings. What I did not like about the web advertisement besides the cost was the presentation; the paintings appear in a list among other artistic works. Being on a large search engine has its advantages because Ebay has developed a name for itself but the disadvantage is unless the artist can come up with something original, his work is not going to stick out from the rest. The result is that some good work often gets overlooked
If the artist is going to chose a site to sale his works he should know that people do prefer to see the painting directly. Many like the idea of standing up close to a painting to see its composition and texture clearly. Websites are getting close to seeing the real thing but there is nothing like seeing it first hand without the polished look it will have on a digital image screen. He should then look into sites that have the best ratings. A site with a counter will be a good indication of how many potential buyers visits it in order to buy. So this is something for the artist to look for on a website when choosing one to host his artwork.
One art site was set up which allowed the artist to set up a mock room with his picture hanging on a wall surrounded by furniture and the like. It offered an idea of an interior decorated room. This sort of site would be something to look into especially when the buyer is interested in matching a painting to the upholstery of his couch. Now this might be a total turn off for the artist who considers his work as independent of home furnishings. However it is the buyer who is going to pay money for his work so both parties should be satisfied. At least the person is getting exposure.
Serious exposure is better than none and so an artist must exhibit his paintings at reputable places in order to increase his credibility. A lot of fine work is also exhibited at cafes and bistros so I am not negating those venues but usually there are richer buyers who frequent the well-known galleries as opposed to buying art at a café. Again this is not to say the artist cannot sell a painting at a café; your truly has and continues to do so when galleries are too expensive to rent. It is just that there is the awful reality that many people associate better quality art as being exhibit in established galleries and if these people are going to make a serious investment, they will likely go there instead of the corner café.
The artist should never sell himself too low. In other words he should study the range of prices that exist out there and govern himself accordingly. There is a formula that I was given in order for the artist to come up with a price but this system considers that the art is dependent on the size and not on the artistic value of the painting, installation or work of art. So the artist has to ask himself if he wants to be recognized as an artist who gets paid by the square inch or someone who will merit him for the amount of work he puts into his work. Now there are tons of people who have no idea of how many hours of painstaking work it takes to get special effect on a painting. These are most likely people who you do not want to sell to.
If you are going to depend on a website listing your art will get lost among the masses so the best solution here as for other art producers like writers, is to have your own website with a minimal amount of advertisement. Having advertisement on the site will help drive people to your site and Google had come up with a valid scheme to incorporate ads that will do just that. The website should be pleasing to the eye and the paintings should be shown individually and not just as thumbnails on some international websites. The visitor will want to click on the art piece and zoom in to get a closer look.
Once the site has been created it is up to the artist to make sure the word gets out about it. One way would be by adding a link to your site on art search engines and referring to your site on blogs and forums where possible. One never knows the type of visitor who will look in on those sites so the best thing is to make sure you market your site on diverse locations.
The artist should also consider reinventing himself from time to time so that viewers will always be surprised. This means you will have a better chance of being recognized as someone who keeps up to date. The road is long when it comes to being successful but if you are tenacious some success will arrive.
