.ART

Unlike social media, you essentially decide what your audience sees and how they respond to it. Also, a website lets you present content that remains useful for generations.

If you are an artist or run an art business, you will need a website. And, considering the abundance of content online, you will need your website to stand out from the rest.

Firstly, you will need to create a website. There are several features you will need your website to have.

A functional art website will consist of:

• Home page
• About page
• Collection
• Contact page

Homepage
The homepage is the landing page of your website and the face of your work. You will need it to present a unique window into what you do. You will also want it to be engaging. Therefore, you want to make it easy for your audience to quickly take action when on your landing page.

For example:

Your homepage should not be like other pages of your website. It should tell your audience why you do what you do as an artist. It should contain enough information to ignite the curiosity of your visitors – such as an artist statement. At the very end, you should have a central message that directs your readers to a specific action.

About page
Unlike the homepage, the about page lets you describe what you do in detail. Therefore, you will want to specify the type of art you are presenting. Being an artist, you will want to highlight your bio or your project details on the about page. As such, you need this page to familiarize users with your credentials as an artist. In addition, the about page is an excellent location to showcase reviews from your clients, galleries and collectors. Doing this will improve your overall image in the eyes of visitors.

Collection
No art or artist website will be complete without a collection of works – a portfolio. This section should be an entire page dedicated to the art or art products you offer.

Your collection should be easy to find. So, you want people to find the link to your portfolio on your homepage.

A good way of making your collection accessible is to make it the highlight of the landing page. Similarly, you don’t want visitors to have to scroll before clicking on it.

Contact page
Many artists get caught up trying to highlight their work so much that they forget to tell their audience how to contact them. It is a grave mistake, as in some cases, readers may want to reach out to you for a purchase or a collaboration.

So, you should include a contact page on your artist’s website to avoid such issues. You can add several ways people can contact you on this page. Forms and a corporate email address are excellent options visitors can use to communicate with you. These tools can help you interact with clients without giving away personal information.

You will want to consider other features for your platform to stand out. These options are less obvious but contribute to the quality of your site.

Domain name
The domain name is the digital identity of your website. It tells people how to find you on the internet. A good domain name (web address) makes your site easy to remember and find on the internet. Therefore, you should aim to buy a short yet memorable domain name, preferably the one that features your brand name. You will also want to use a great top-level domain alongside your domain name. .ART is the obvious choice for an artist website and being a new domain zone if offers a large selection of short and memorable domain names. Above all, avoid using generic free domains from sites like WordPress, Blogger, or Tumblr. These domains are not yours and will include the name of the service offering it to you, making you look unprofessional.

Head to our flagship store on get.art or your selected registrar to find your .ART now! When purchasing your domain via the flagship store, you benefit from using the free built-in website builder that allows you to set up a website in a few minutes – following a simple template that includes all the most important website sections. 

SSL certificate
Having an SSL certificate helps to secure your website. It allows browsers to tag your platform as a secured site. This certificate helps encrypt HTTP responses and requests into HTTPS. In simple terms, it makes all communications in and out of your website secure. Most clients prefer to visit your website when it has a secure connection. A browser like Chrome will block you from visiting sites without a safe connection unless you insist.

SEO
If you are a serious website owner, you must consider SEO (search engine optimization). It allows your platform to be ranked on search engines. In particular, you should worry about on-page SEO. It includes page description, URL, and page title.

These three elements determine how your web pages appear on a search engine. It would be best to consider the character limit for your page meta description. Search results will cut the page meta description that exceeds the character limit. Therefore, you may want to use meta description tools to ensure the character limit (maximum of 165 characters) is not exceeded.

Mobile-friendly layout
Now, more than ever, individuals access websites via mobile devices. As a result, your site should be mobile-friendly. People who use mobile devices prefer to read small paragraphs with lots of photos. As an artist, doing this would not be too challenging. Make sure each website element loads properly when viewed via a mobile device.

As an artist, having a unique, creative, visually appealing, and inspirational website is essential to your presence on the internet. Don’t settle for anything that doesn’t properly represent you as a creator. Make sure that your website is not only beautiful and informative but also easy to navigate.

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About the Author

Donald Fomby is a writer and digital marketing expert. He regularly contributes his expertise at TrustMyPaper and SupremeDissertations, because he believes that young minds excel with help and proper guidance, and can more easily become their best selves. In addition, Donald loves to travel and share his experiences with his online friends.