In response to my last post outlining Clint Watson’s must-haves for artists’ Web sites, Lisa Call commented:
As to the rest of Clint’s list – I think he's lumped every artist into a single category. I think the top 10 list of must haves for a website would be different depending on the purpose of that website – and all artists don't all have the same goals.
Some of the items are obvious as they apply to every website out there – such as Clean and Consistent Design.
So a more useful list would be the "list of gotta haves for every website" and then sublists for gotta haves depending on what your goal might be as an artist.
Lisa, this is an excellent point. The first action (action=chapter) in my book is to define success for yourself. Each artist has a different goal and shouldn’t listen to what others’ definitions are.
If your Web site is an online portfolio to help you get into a gallery, you probably don’t want a shopping cart on there.
If you are selling wholesale, you undoubtedly need entrance for retailers.
If you are selling directly to art collectors, you should have your photo up.
Everything goes back to goals. Doesn’t it always?
3 thoughts on “Your artist Web site content is determined by your art career goals”
Your goals are key to everything you do. But it is so easy to get distracted from them! I often find myself chasing “need-to-dos” only to later realize that they have no connection to my goals. Luckily, when I start to drift, I have some friends with sharp-as-tack business minds, who aren’t afraid to give me a dose of reality. “That’s nice Dan, but what does it have to do with your *goals*?”
One more thing that I think is an essential element on your site is to have your pages load quickly. I don’t know how many times I have gone to look at someone’s site & I give up & go away because I am sitting there waiting for it to load. Christine http://passionforpainting.blogspot.com
Lisa does have a point. My list of 10 essentials for an artist web site makes a couple of assumptions: 1. That you want people to find your website and view your art 2. That you want or need to actually sell your art. If your goal as an artist is not to engage in commerce then some of the items in the list wouldn’t apply (such as make buying easy or having contact info on every page). Although. . . if your web site goals don’t include people seeing your artwork and don’t include selling your artwork….then you probably don’t need a web site at all. I guess the only exception I can think of is a situation where an artist doesn’t really care about new people finding his/her site but wants an online place to develop a community with existing contacts . . . Sincerely, Clint Watson Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic