8 Easy Steps How to Sell Art Online

aroundknowledge.co.id – Want to learn how to sell art online? Great idea! Selling art is a great way to make money doing what you love. People around the world are ready to invest in print and creative art design in a global art market worth nearly $50 billion.

Fortunately, now that all the tools are at your fingertips, you can create an online art store for showcase your prints and merchandise and easily accept payments from people at the whole world.

While gallery exhibitions are still a great way to promote your work, online marketplaces are a great opportunity to reach a wider audience.

Whether you're a budding artist dipping your brush into a new way of selling or you've become creative masterminds for years, here's how you can start selling your work online in 8 steps simple.

Tips for Success How to Sell Artwork Online

Here are some successful tips on how to sell art online that you can try.

1. Original or Remanufactured?

One of the first decisions you will have to make when selling art online is where to focus your business. Artists can choose to sell copies of their creations (e.g. prints), selected works (from other artists), or original works.

Some entrepreneurs sell a combination of different types of art to appeal to a wider audience. Options include:

• Original Works: Paintings, drawings, and other original works designed by you. Prints and reproductions of this work are also available for sale.
• Limited Edition Prints: You can increase interest in an item by selling a certain number of prints for a limited time.
• Custom Art: This is usually artwork that was designed after a customer ordered something from you. For example, you can create a picture of a dog or someone's best friend. These pieces are usually one of a kind.
• Merchandise: Thanks to print-on-demand companies, you can easily place your designs on all kinds of t-shirts, enamel pins, and more.
• Licensing: Certain works, such as photographs or illustrations designed for other brands, may be licensed to other companies.
• Digital downloads: Bring-from-home templates, desktop wallpapers, artwork, and other digital downloads are very popular (and cheap to sell).

2. Make Prints

If you decide to create an original piece of art and make a print, you'll need to think about the best way to make the print. Fortunately, there are many options here. If you have the right printer at home, you can make DIY prints with high-quality ink and on all kinds of beautiful paper.

DIY printing can be a great way to keep your profits high if you're a budding artist and you're worried about spending too much. If you can't afford a professional printer at home, you can use a local printing service whenever someone orders one.

As the number of orders increases, you may consider using an online printing company to replicate more of your work.

Print-on-demand is another option for keeping costs low. The cool thing about print-on-demand is that you can print on more than just paper. Companies in the POD environment can also print artwork on canvas, metal, and accessories such as bags and mugs.

3. Digitize Your Work: Photo vs Scan

Digitizing art to sell online can be challenging. As you know, photographing only your latest work may not be the perfect way to accurately showcase every detail of your work.

Photos may leave a glossy image or colors may appear slightly different from the actual image. Everything from lighting to camera choice affects the quality of your photos. Here are some tips to follow when photographing and scanning your work.

• Take multiple photos: Take sharp photos from various angles and zoom in to show detail and texture. Lifestyle photos (like the artwork on your bedroom wall) are great for making an emotional impact on your audience.
• Image Editing: After your photo has been digitized, enhance it using contrast, brightness, and other settings to make it look as realistic as possible. Don't use filters or add-ons that could make your customers unsure of what they're getting.
• Image cropping: Remove unnecessary border and background elements unless you are showing the scene in context. Make sure your hands and extra props are not visible as they can distract from your artwork.

Don't forget to save the image in the correct format as well. PNG images often retain much higher resolution and sharpness than JPEG files.

PRO TIP: For flat or 2D images, we recommend using a scan as the scanning system can inspect and upload the image pixel by pixel carefully.

4. Get the Right Price

Pricing is one of the most difficult parts of how to sell art online. If you choose a price that is too high, you run the risk of scaring off your customers. The price is too low and I believe the audience is not getting the best quality. Balanced.

Pricing original art is very difficult because it is difficult to put a value on someone's craftsmanship. If you're just starting out and don't have a lot of followers or fans, it's best to start with simple pricing. For example, combine time and labor costs with material costs and expenses.

Add a little markup at the end for profit. Once you've identified better demand for your art and have amassed a following, you may consider charging a premium.

Think also about your competitors and the types of prices they offer. Should costs be lower or higher? If you sell curated art or prints, pricing is a little simpler.

All you have to do is add your print sales and marketing costs and markup (profit) to your print costs. For limited edition prints, you may be able to charge a slightly higher price.

Keep an eye on your competition and market to see what types of pricing your customers are likely to respond well to. Don't be tempted to belittle yourself to attract more customers. You need to make a profit for your efforts to be worthwhile.

Check out these pricing strategies to get a better idea of ​​how much you should charge for your art prints or merchandise.

5. Create an Online Store

It's finally time to get started creating and starting your online store. With a solution like Shopify, you can build a shop in 30 minutes. This ecommerce site creation service includes everything you need to showcase and monetize your art.

You can customize the theme to match your brand image, set up checkout pages, and even add apps that help you sell your art. The Shopify app market is full of tools that make life easier for creative professionals. For example:

• Email marketing tool: This is useful for keeping customers informed about new products, generating hype about new collections, and informing customers about past orders.
• SEO Solutions: SEO Apps can help you research and track keywords to increase your online visibility. You need SEO to get customers to find your work when they search for certain terms on Google.
• Print-on-demand apps: If you sell art and want to partner with a company other printers to print products in large quantities, print-on-demand services will become big profit. Make sure you choose a reliable POD service to produce high quality products for your customers.

Shopify also has a number of free apps, such as a countdown timer app, if you want to create a sense of urgency and get people to buy. Everything you need to support your online store is available in the Shopify App Store.

6. Explore Additional Platforms to Sell Online

If you really want to increase your sales opportunities as much as possible, then you have to sell more than just your own website. There are dozens of art-focused online marketplaces with existing customer bases, making it easier to find potential buyers. Options include:

• Etsy: Probably the most well-known site for arts and crafts. Etsy is an online marketplace where you can list your work with other local and global creators.
• CafePress: A solution for turning art into unique products and collectibles, CafePress helps open new forms for art. You can also showcase your work in front of a huge potential audience.
• ArtFire: Like Etsy, Artfire is a marketplace for creators and craftsmen around the world. Artfire helps you engage your target audience with podcasts, articles and more.
• eBay: If you sell unique creations, eBay might be a good choice. This is the world's largest auction site where people can bid for the exact price they think your work is worth.
• Artfinder: Artfinder is a niche marketplace for curated works. You must register with the site to receive referrals. There are many merchant plans available and various commission options to consider.
• UGallery: Aiming to democratize selling art, UGallery connects artists and collectors directly. This is a great site to consider if you sell unique products. The website has an application process in place to ensure that all artwork sold through the site is of a high standard.

You may also consider selling directly through social media channels such as Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram. Or, if you want to sell photos and prints in bulk, check out wholesale sites like Handshake.

7. Work Or Copyright Protection

One of the hardest parts of building a brand as an artist is protecting yourself from people who try to steal your talent.

It is not uncommon to see people online claiming to have created certain designs or reproduced works of art for sale in print through various websites and marketplaces. Hiring a legal team can be very expensive and complicated, so it's best to be proactive and try to defend yourself from day one.

Copyright your masterwork as soon as possible and watch out for anyone trying to copy your designs. It is also important to work with reputable marketplaces and third-party sellers when distributing your work online.

The right print-on-demand companies, marketplaces, and curators will work with you to protects your work and notifies you if someone else tries to claim your image as theirs.

8. Art Brand Marketing

Now you're ready to go out and spread the word about your art brand. There are lots of great ways to generate interest in your site and your creations. For example, you can start a social media page where you share some of your latest creations. Instagram and Pinterest are great environments for this. Other options include:

• Run paid ad campaigns on Facebook and Google with PPC
• Invest in word of mouth marketing through competitions and events you participate in on social media.
• Reach influencers and connect with the industry press.
• Naturally, learn about SEO and rank higher on sites like Google.
• Drive organic traffic to your website using content marketing.
• Consider offline marketing options, such as participating in art exhibitions and working with galleries to expand your reach to new audiences.