How to Create A (Good) Artist Website - 10 Tips

As an artist I am open to creativity and wild innovative ideas. As a web designer, I know there are specific ways for users to understand and navigate through an artists website.

Now not to stereotype here, but if you're like me, we artists like to get things done ourselves.

When most first-timers attempt a website their skill set is a bit lacking and that can have a tremendous impact on what the designer can accomplish. Many times, the novice designer settles for something that is "acceptable".

In these circumstances, I suggest hiring a freelance designer. Freelancers are generally inexpensive and you can work with them one on one to get your perfect design down.

Of course, there are still plenty who want to tackle it themselves. So here are some common mistakes that artists make when creating their website (some of which I am guilty of myself). These are just suggestions, so any artistic choice is understandable. Just know that these are common reasons why a viewer may abandon your site in pursuit of something else.

If you're going to do it yourself, try Square Space or Wix. Both make it easy for you create a website. But don't go into it blindly... here are some tips to help you along the process:

1.) No Intro Screen

Artists seem to like the little intro page where the user can see a piece of art and then enter the site. Those with a little flash knowledge may choose to have rotating images or some kind of fun visual. This is a problem.

One, search engines scan your home page when they are crawling your site and they do not read these images or flash.

Two, most users these days can't be bothered with an introduction screen. Bring them right to what they came to see.

The best idea is to just skip the intro screen and have a simple HTML site as the homepage. Easy to search crawl, easy for the user to navigate.

2.) Stay Away From Strange Fonts

HTML editors these days are pretty good these days about embedding fonts. However, I thought I would mention this because this is an all too common problem. In your HTML editor you may choose the font 'Cooper' and it may look positively fantastic.

But if your user does not have 'Cooper' on their computer, it will be presented to them in Times New Roman which can change the layout and feel.

The worst part is that you will never know it either because it will look correct on your computer. I suggest using a universal font: Times New Roman, Georgia, Arial, Helvetica, Verdana, Tahoma, or Comic Sans MS.

3.) Think 'Ease of Use' in Your Website Gallery

Gallery pages are sometimes difficult to design and often challenging if made by hand. Be careful when creating your gallery. The online user these days likes to breeze through galleries and look at one image after another.

Keep things simple and use visually attracting thumbnails. It is generally a good rule of thumb to use a detail of the painting as the thumbnail instead of the full painting, since it will not register well on a small scale.

I would also suggest a free product like Lightbox, which will display the image in the same window. Allowing the user to exit out of the image while remaining on the gallery page.

4.) Tell Us About Yourself

As much as artists love to focus on the art, online users are not able to see your work in person. Therefore, they must be attracted to both the artwork image and the figure creating them.

Be sure to include information on yourself as well as an artist statement.

Whether you are a veteran artist or an amateur, having information about you is crucial in forming a connection through something as impersonal as a website.

I would suggest a bio that is about a paragraph or two as a start.

5.) Image Quality

Ah, heres a common issue. Artists these days are soooo worried about people ripping off their artwork via the internet. Unfortunately it is a reality of the technology revolution. The #1 mistake artists make with their online presence is poor image quality. Whether it be for web speed or copyrighting, it is all too common.

I implore you to increase the quality of your images. The biggest reason why potential buyers do not pull the trigger is because they were not able to see the art in its true capacity. There are ways to prevent image theft such as copyrighting an image via Photoshop or displaying detailed zoom in photos.

It is absolutely necessary for an artist to show high-res images so be sure to include them in your layout.

With fine art, people will wait for images to load and if copyrighting is an issue be sure to add a watermark via an image editor.
By the way, it takes an incredibly enormous image to make a good art print with.

For instance, a 8"x10" print needs at least a full 10MP image which is thousands of pixels, so relax!

6.) Keywords!

This involves those pesky search engines. In order to be found these days you need to include META tags in your site. This has been around since search engines were invented and you can easily add them to your site.

In your editor you will find a 'Properties' or 'Page Title' option and that is where you can add your keywords.

Along with keyword META's, be sure to have proper keywords throughout your home page so you will be on the top when some searches 'Portland Abstract Art' for example. Be specific.

7.) Coming Across As A Salesperson

Art is a commodity indeed. Clearly you've gone online because you either want exposure or people want to see your artwork.

Creating a site to sell your work is wonderful but do not create an eCommerce site.

Chances are you won't be selling hundreds of items a day, so do not create your site to be one big advertisement.

It will turn people off and it will make you look like you care about money more than your art.

8.) Update Often With Art and Writing

Too many artists work very hard on their website and then leave it stagnant for months at a time. I am guilty of this as well. Sometimes it becomes cumbersome to add new sections to your website or make changes.

However, this is what keeps people coming back. Patrons of your work will want to see new updates and even casual online encounters may check in on your site and be put off by a lack of new work.

If you work hard to produce new work as an artist make sure you work hard to get them out and show them.

Being an artist is a tough job and an easy way to beat other artists out is by showing your progress.

9.) Be Honest

Honesty is the best policy. Lame statement I know, but it rings true when having your website up and running. It is difficult to sound like an artist worth spending hundreds of dollars on if your only show was 4 weeks at Joe's Restaurant. However, struggling artists sometimes yield the best results. There are lots of people who will support struggling artists and like to read about the person.

For those who have been around the block, the worst thing you can do is mention every little thing you have done (like 500 items on your CV). Focus on the big stuff, since no one is reading all of those anyways.

If you do want to talk about every adventure, a blog comes in handy. Start a blog and update as often as possible. It keeps people coming back and really sparks interest from drive-by readers.

10.) Too Much Color!

Ah, a common complaint. To be frank, artists love color! However, keep it with paint, not pixels.

Treat your website like a gallery and not a piece of art.

Calm, muted colors will be a good backdrop for your artwork. White and black are the best bet since most complimentary colors involving art include one or the other.

I hope this helps. I have been web designing for several years now and these are just pieces of advice for those who operate or are looking to tackle their own sites.

Here's one last extra tip.... do NOT use Flash. It won't work on any tablet/mobile devices!