I was just looking at my website and realized I really needed to devote some time to updating it on a regular basis. I thought I'd spend a bit of time looking at some other artist's sites to see what I liked, maybe give mine a complete overhaul. I like parts of it, but think that my art should really 'pop', be the main focus.
I am kind of a laid back triple type A person... you'd have to get to know me to understand how those two contrasts work together in one body! I wanted my website to reflect some parts of my personality so I didn't want the flash-y type things that a lot of people use on their sites. I know it's a great thing to see a big flash show of an artist's work, one that's clickable so you can go look at different shots, enlarged shots, of the work that interests you. I would bet that sells too. I want to sell my work.
So, I need some sort of compromise. I need to have my art be what catches attention, not all the words. What can I say? In addition to my pottery I manage and write for a bunch of websites and blogs, kind of makes one 'wordy'.
I have a theory that what sells a person's art is often the person as much as the look of the art. Get a warm and fuzzy about the artist and you're more inclined to like the art. Of course, many times the artist's personality and connections has nothing to do with whether their art sells or not. If you have it in a store or gallery the pottery or art is standing alone, no artist standing their smiling next to it! However, I'd bet that getting the work IN the gallery or store probably had something to do with whether the owner "clicked" with the artist. That's not always true either, and is probably more important with new artists.
Gee, typical me, start out talking about re-doing a website and I'm off on some philosophical track on what sells work. I know it's related, but if I kept going I'd sooner or later be writing about going to Jupiter or all those hummingbirds whizzing around outside my windows...
I could easily write about the hummingbirds!
I'm an eclectic mixed bag. I sometimes tell people that my multiple Gemini personalities have multiples. My work kind of reflects that mix --- I never settle in on a color scheme, a style, a look. I hope that on my last day on earth I'm wondering what new thing I can explore. Are you like me? You get your Ceramics Monthly, Clay Times, etc. and want to explore every styles, try them all, incorporate some aspect of half the stuff you see in your next project?
I kind of think my website shows a tiny bit of that part of me. But I still think it needs an update, a more current look maybe. I do think I need to make my pottery the focus of the site, or maybe it is and I just need to update the site a bit more often, change out the pieces of pottery. I know one thing I'm going to definitely do --- make all the photos the same size and make them clickable.
OK, off to do some website wandering to look at your websites. I'd be curious to know if you've found things that seem to work for you on the Internet in regards to your websites. Do you sell on your site or just use it to showcase your work? Any luck selling from your website? Do you think you should put prices? Do you like or dislike the floating slide-shows that many are using?
