7 Tips for Building a Brilliant Website for Your Art Business
A functional, well-laid-out website is essential when you are running a creative business. Before you run to your computer and start changing fonts and colours, let’s look at what an effective website is.
An effective website reflects who you are, showcases your work clearly, builds an engaged audience, and increases sales.
Yep, that is quite a bit of ground to cover. So how do you get started?
Well, grab your pen and notebook. Here are my 7 best tips for building an artist website.
1. Be clear about your brand.
Make sure that straight away, visitors to your site can see who you are, what you offer and why. In other words, they have a strong sense of your brand. If you need a little help with this, check out my Building Your Brand podcast episode and free downloadable workbook.
2. Know your website's purpose.
I want you to think about what your main offering is. When someone comes to your website, what would you most like them to do? Is it buy a piece of art, listen to a podcast, or sign up for a workshop? Whatever it is, you need to make sure that it is the first thing that a person sees when they come to your website. It needs to be right at the front and centre of your website.
3. Make your site easy to navigate.
Test your website out with others to see if they can find what they are looking for. Make sure that it is easy for people to contact you, find your social media sites and sign up for your newsletter. It's amazing how often we think that something is easy to find when it's not.
4. Build your email list using an opt-in (lead magnet).
When you get visitors to your site, you don’t want to lose them. A great way to maintain contact with a visitor is to get them to sign up for your email list. To encourage newsletter sign-ups, you can offer a free resource (what is often called an opt-in or a lead magnet). A few ideas for opt-ins include an e-book, workbook, checklist, quiz, free class, and a discount coupon. To encourage even more people to opt-in, you can use pop-ups to promote your freebies. I resisted pop-ups for a long time, but my goodness, they really do work!
5. Use engaging copy that is targeted to your ideal audience.
Always write with your ideal audience in mind. Speak to them directly and look at ways you can tackle their pain points and help them to overcome challenges. Try using short sentences and writing the way that you actually speak. That way, your personality will come through on your website and visitors will get a feel for who you are and what you are all about.
6. Weave testimonials and stories through your website.
How often do you look at reviews before making a decision about a purchase? We all do it! Social proof is very powerful. Adding reviews and testimonials to your website helps your visitors know that others are enjoying what you do and builds more confidence and trust in your business. It's always a good thing!
7. Make a visual impact.
Finally, we get to the fun part! From the photographs you use to the colours and fonts that tie it all together, there is a lot to be said for a visually appealing website design. Take your time, considering what your choices say about your brand. These days, if you are using a platform such as Squarespace or Wix, you can customise your website fairly easily. You can also purchase templates from places such as Pinterest or Etsy. Keeping your website clean and consistent throughout will give it a professional feel. As will using professional quality photographs, especially for full-screen banners and slideshows.
So there you have it, my top 7 tips for creating a website that not only looks great but really works!
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