What a Website Is, and What It Isn't

First and foremost, a website is an online portfolio of you, your background, and your fine art painting or other artwork.

Years ago, artists spent copious time and bundles of money making slides of their work and 8 x 10 prints that they tucked into a leather portfolio case and lugged around with them from gallery to gallery. Those who spent more time and money made multiple portfolios that they sent to locations as opposed to flying themselves and their portfolios of painting works there.

 Now, it's all online, available for anyone to view who has the website address. This address you can send to gallery owners, show organizers, fellow painting artists, museums, educational institutions–anyplace or anyone you are approaching about viewing your art. That's the beauty of it.

And here is a reality of it that many people overlook: As beautiful and handy as websites are, they are not self-marketing. Just because you have a website does not mean that people will easily find it, as one artist I chatted with sadly did not realize.

"I'm putting the finishing touches on the website, and once it's up, people will be calling me to buy my art!"

Truth is, there are millions of websites out there, and just because yours exists does not mean that it will show up at the top of the first page of a search engine. That requires additional, ongoing work, which goes to show a basic premise of being an artist who markets your own work. You need to spend as much time marketing as you do creating. Not everyone, like my Norwegian Artist, is married to his or her marketer, but in one way or another, you will be married to your marketing plan.

Be persistent, keep at it, don't get discouraged, and do a little each day. Sounds a lot like living a healthy life, doesn't it?