Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully. On websites and promotion by artists MyArtClub: You have a lot of visits to your website. Do you feel you benefit from having this regular traffic? In what ways? Jane: The regular traffic is a benefit not only to me but to other artists I figure. Having the site helps people know that I have been producing new work and am taking my art career seriously. Also anyone going to MyArtClub.Com may venture to find an artist they like and that's always a good thing. If you don't have your own unique work to start with than I guess you may be worried about other artists taking customers away. I don't worry about that too much as art has more to do than just one painting that sells well. It has much more to do with how you connect to people and who you connect to. I believe it's good to let past customers or people interested in your art be remembered at different times of the year like at Christmas Holidays, Summer, Spring Break and the like. There is something special about an artist's connection with the people that admire their work. It's more personal than providing a necessary piece of home improvement. After all much of the time people connect to the artist as much as the artwork. I want to keep that connection going. MyArtClub: What feedback do you get from your website visitors? What feedback do you get on the emails that you send out? Jane: Actually I do not get many reply emails (less than 5% respond back) from my outbound emails from MyArtClub.Com. People are aware it's a group send out and even though I encourage feedback, I do not expect it. However I do not take this to mean that "my fans" so to speak do not like the piece or my work, or me as a person. The few emails I do get are mostly encouraging and kind. That keeps me sending more out. So thank you to those of you that have responded because art can be lonely without input. The fact that you can get feedback at a click of the mouse is great. A little goes a long way. All you need is one person saying "Hey that's the best piece you've done yet!" and you have enough motivation to do another (whether it sells or not). Others point out spelling errors and offer words of advice and that is also helpful. I make sure I respond back to thank them. Misspelled words and other errors seems one of the surest ways to look unprofessional so I really try to avoid that now. I keep the site updated with new images perhaps once a month or so. I try to keep the emails short, polite and informative with a personal little update or hello. I try not to send more than one or two [email] per month. It gets boring having to click to delete email too often. On top of that there is always an option to unsubscribe, so I do not worry that my emails are intrusive. Just the fact that people actually haven't opted to be deleted off the list of fans says quite a bit. In Part 2 of the article, Jane discusses how she generates traffic to her site. About Jane Appleby Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article. This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9 read more ...

Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully. On websites and promotion by artists MyArtClub: What ways do you get customers to come to your website? Jane: By handing out my card to anyone that might be interested-even the milkman. (He actually came to one of our shows). When people ask what I do I say, "I paint..." Usually they want to know more because they are not sure what I paint so when they ask I explain briefly and mention "MyArtClub.Com" -and I offer my card. If I feel it appropriate to ask for their email I do but otherwise I leave it up to them. When I invite people to my shows I include the web site address on the invite (in bold or some other colour to make it stand out). People that cannot make it might like at least to view some paintings over the web. Many like to preview some of the show and actually ask if they can see the painting before the show. I find it easier to promote MyArtClub.Com as it is a site of many artists and I mention that often. I may say something like: "You know there are a number of wonderful artist on the site my work is on that you may enjoy". I expect not everyone will like what I do so I invite them to view others work. And I truly do like the work and calibre of artists that I "share the site with" so am happy to promote it. Furthermore, I think it is important to provide opportunities for people to learn about art, and that it can be something fun to view or to take part in. And heck people love talking about the latest site to visit so why shouldn't it be MyArtClub.Com or ApplebyArt.Com? Part of really promoting is talking about what you do to as many people that are interested. And because I not only sell art but I also teach that opens up the discussion to almost anyone that may be interested in taking up a creative outlet. In that way I have been able to get many people visiting my site. MyArtClub: Do you use other ways to promote your art? Jane: Word of mouth has seemed to work the best for me so far. But I highly regard the galleries, offices, restaurants or any other location that an artist hangs their work at as one of the most important ways to promote work. Not to mention the people that work there. I always try to respect what they do and I am thankful for their support. MyArtClub: If you had 2 or 3 suggestions for artists to raise their profile or visibility, or to increase website traffic, what would they be? Jane: Hang your work to show!! It's a lot of work but worth it even without sales. What job doesn't have its brunt of grunt work? Of course include your web site on the cards that describe the painting or have business cards available there for people that may want one. What an artist have a "Business card"? Absolutely!! And many of them! MyArtClub: Time spent promoting takes away from time creating art, how do you balance this out? Jane: I work fast so that helps. It has been interesting to find out about running a business and learning as I go. I do not have a business background (it's actually in Biology) however getting a degree prepared me for perseverance in completing tasks. Much of my time creating inspires me to want to share my work with others and thus gets me to the computer to upload images and post updates. I have a digital camera that I like because I do not have to take a whole roll to developed them so when I finish a painting I feel it gets it's little showing right away as I put it on the web. It may take much longer for me to actually frame it and get it to a gallery so I guess I like that initial landmark of at least getting my painting on the web. And it's important to pat yourself on the back once in awhile! In Part 3 of the article, Jane discusses the benefits of having her site. About Jane Appleby Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article. This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9 read more ...

Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully. On websites and promotion by artists MyArtClub: Do you have to spend a lot of time working on your website to have these levels of visitors? Jane: No - Only to put new images on it and a few shows or classes that come up. Again, a little goes a long way! MyArtClub: What are the main benefits to you of having your site? Jane: An Internet gallery is the main benefit. I believe it adds a certain degree of professionalism and enables some feedback. A belief in taking what I do seriously while maintaining the Internet gallery is also a part of this: it makes me feel more business savvy. Whether that helps I don't know. However "if you believe in yourself then so will others" - that's the motto I go by. It helps with sales too. As a side note the site has been more useful as a gallery than a chat room and that's what I prefer it to be. Even though no sales have been ordered through the site by email I must say it helps people make decisions on their art purchases; whether they are mine or not. Further it helps not to only judge your worth by the amount of sales you do. And if I am contributing to influencing people's perspective on visual arts than that in itself is satisfying. MyArtClub: You show 30 artworks on MyArtClub.Com. You have included some links to other sites. You are often in the MyArtClub.Com "Calendar of Events". Are there some things you do that you find create interest in your art more than others? Jane: I would say having more than 10 art works adds to the site as it gives a fuller range of what I do. The links help show the validity of belonging to an organization such as the Federation of Canadian Artists or a certain Gallery and that helps people know you are for real and not just a Cyber Being of some sort. Whether the links from the other sites help bring viewers I am not sure but again even if its one that's better than none. The "Calendar of Events" is there for those that come across it so it should be up to date however I think it's the mostly the art that keeps people coming back. So I guess it helps to have new work and photos that represent the work properly. I take the digital photo straight on, and then I crop and edit colours so that the painting looks as good as possible. If the painting is good but the picture is poor I get a better picture. For example: "Angels Among Us" was taken on slide film and then transferred to a disc by London Drugs. Even though they did a good job, the image worked much better taking it digitally in the first place. So I did not include the image till I got a better digital image from my camera. "Get the picture?" In Part 4 of the article, Jane provides a summary of her tips for artists. About Jane Appleby Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article. This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9 read more ...

Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully. On websites and promotion by artists MyArtClub: Thank you very much for sharing this information Jane. Would you have any closing thoughts? Jane: Here are my summary tips for artists: "Present yourself as a serious artist but don't be too serious" "Keep your emails informative and brief but slightly personal and fun" "A little goes a long way! - Use what ever feedback you get to motivate you to do more - even if it's criticism." "Make an effort to get feedback: Show your work (framed and unframed); talk about art in general; send out emails even if they are not regular; just do it!" "Have as many business cards as you can manage: home, pockets, wallets, and car but do give them out and make sure they are where your paintings are so people have access to them. It takes many business cards to get one contact. It's money well spent. Sometimes I have given the same person a dozen cards because they lost it or what ever but I may still offer another to them. Also include your website address (link) with every email you send with your signature (This can be added to a signature by clicking Insert then signature). "Talk with a lot of people and ask what they do and tell them what you do". It only needs to be brief: " MyArtClub.Com" says it all! "Hang to show to new people as much as possible but also keep past admirers included, or at least updated" "Pat yourself on the back once in a while - even if it's just to let someone know what you do or have just done." "Believe in yourself and others will too." And lastly, "Good Luck!"-because I am sure that's also part of it! Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. About Jane Appleby Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council. Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article. This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9 read more ...