Article is from ezinearticles.com and is by Jamie Hollier.

Today I was reading the Switchboard forums and came upon a thread about Etsy in all its glory and grime. In some ways, Etsy is one of the best things to happen to the world of craft and handmade goods in ages. It allows all sorts of artists access to an incredibly affordable online venue for their work to be seen and, if you are lucky, purchased. Etsy also allows for some great networking and community enriching communications. Craft and handmade goods have been bolstered in appreciation and recognition due in no small part, to Etsy.

However, do they have an air of being for those that are hobby crafts people and artists rather than for the professional and is that stigma going to be impossible to shake? The forum post I was reading started out with a quote from a recent InStyle magazine: “If you love to wear stuff nobody else has, allow us to formally introduce you to Etsy.com, an online flea market representing aspiring designers and artisans.” Many of the businesswomen on Switchboard balked at this and quickly came to the support of Etsy and the artists that are represented on there. However, most of the people responding to the post had some of their own issues with Etsy. For one, they agreed with the sentiment that the general public does and will see it as a flea market. I will probably get in trouble for saying this but I agree and I think that opinion is not unwarranted. The issue with Etsy is the democracy of it. Anyone can have a page and sell their wares there, regardless of the professionalism, craftsmanship, uniqueness, etc. When a site is open to anyone, you are bound to get a lot of mediocrity mixed in with the rest.

Another poster brought up the branding issue with Etsy. When a customer makes a purchase on Etsy, it is usually one they will remember as an Etsy purchase rather than remembering the artist that made the piece they now own. Additionally, I must agree with another poster who talked about comparison-shopping on Etsy and I will even go a step further, and say that many Etsy shoppers are bargain hunters. Have you ever taken a look at the Alchemy section? Granted, there are many people that are truly looking for unique works on there, but many of them just want to find x or y for really cheap, or at least cheaper than where they originally saw it. This undervalues art and handmade goods and all the blood, sweat, and tears that goes into making those pieces. A professional that owns a craft or handmade goods company is going to have a hard time competing on Etsy if they want to sell elsewhere. How can a professional knitter compete with a hobbyist that does not have to account for the real cost of an item and include marketing, business management, retail vs. wholesale costs, etc. in their pricing structure? They are just not on the same level and it ends up being to the disadvantage of many professional craftspeople.

On the other hand, Etsy has allowed many people to become full time craftspeople and leave their traditional jobs to follow their dreams. They get the exposure and sales they need to get their foot in the door. I am curious where they go from there, however. Do some of them set up their pricing to accommodate for all the business costs that are not readily considered? Do they think about selling on Etsy with retail prices so they can still have a viable wholesale business, which is imperative in today’s economy? I hope so, but I am not sure how many of them take those steps. Some shops must be able to do this, since there seem to be a fair amount of full time artists that make a living with Etsy alone. This again brings us to the issue of bargain hunters, however.

Having your own website and selling through a limited number of resellers that carry a small and juried sample of work may make better sense for a lot of artists. Selling where you are not competing with similar vendors but instead where you and your work are highlighted more has many benefits. If you are the only person selling felt bowls on a site, you will be more to that customer than just one of many felt artists and you will gain more brand recognition and, therefore, more brand loyalty. This is doubly true for sales from your own site, as that is the best reinforcement of brand loyalty. Also, these other retail venues may be better at presenting a more professional image for your company and your products.

One solution I hear about over and over again from professional craftspeople and artists on Etsy is that they sell their seconds and discontinued items on there. That seems like a perfect use of Etsy for these artists to me, but it will not help to bring Etsy’s reputation in the public to a higher level in the end. When people are using Etsy to get rid of things that they can’t sell through other venues, then it really is the flea market that we don’t want to think of it as.

Jamie Hollier believes in the importance of handmade and artist made goods. She has been involved in the arts community since she could barely walk beside her mother at art shows and museums. She is a metalsmith, library science student, and owner of a great store for handmade goods and gifts called Rancho Del Arte, a company that represents some stellar artists and craftspeople that Jamie also happens to think of as stellar people.

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Article is from ezinearticles.com and is by Kelli Swan.

As an artist, you’ve probably already realized that the “creative” end of your profession is handled. It’s the “marketing” of your work that is the challenge! In a previous article, I covered some of the key points of traditional Artist Marketing through participating in Art Shows and Festivals. This article will cover one online approach to marketing your work – Selling on eBay.

As a venue for selling Art, eBay is a much debated issue. Some artists say that eBay devalues an artist’s work and that one should never sell their work on eBay. This is certainly a valid opinion – a large percentage of eBay buyers are looking for bargains. That being said, here is another way to look at it: selling work on eBay to obtain exposure and advertising of one’s work, along with making sales. Let’s face it, there is no way to get around the fact that MILLIONS of people visit eBay everyday with the express intent of SHOPPING. It is unlikely that any other online site for marketing artwork will generate that volume of traffic.

A few years ago, before many artists entered the eBay marketplace, competition was light and making money on eBay a bit easier. Presently, eBay has grown to the point where jumping in and making a living selling your art exclusively on eBay would be challenging at best. If you can approach eBay as part of a comprehensive marketing strategy, as opposed to “putting all of your eggs in one basket,” the eBay experience can be quite valuable.

As far as selling prices go, yes, often times eBay prices are below other markets. If this bothers you, stop now – eBay may be a waste of your time. However, if you don’t mind having some pieces sell for less than average, the eBay experience can simply mean well spent advertising dollars in addition to income. And what about those customers who paid full price for your work? Business is business. Your response, should they ask, can be that you dedicate a limited number of pieces to auction for advertising purposes. (Countless artists have donated their work to fundraisers, with zero input on the final selling price.) If you are going to “protect” the value of your work, you have to market it…

The actual “how to” of listing items on eBay is quite simple, though time consuming. There is no need for a “how to lesson” here, as every aspect of the eBay selling process is explained through on-site links to additional information. Any questions you have about fees, guidelines, etc. can be found right on eBay with a little patience.

The “philosophy” of the approach is up to you. I will suggest some guidelines for making eBay part of your over all marketing plan:

If you already have your own website, or plan to start one, great. eBay can be used as a method for getting people to your main site. While you can’t advertise your website on an auction page, you can mention your site in the “About Me” section of your Seller Preferences. Also, you can mention your site in correspondence email to anyone who contacts you through eBay or wins one of your listed items. eBay is quite particular about Sellers advertising other websites (eBay would of course prefer that all business transact through them!) so make sure to exercise care and only respond to those who contact you first. (See the eBay User Agreement for details.)

If you don’t maintain your own website, or even if you do, you may want to consider opening an eBay store. It’s relatively inexpensive, with basic stores starting at $15.95/month, you can list as many items as you like in the store. Listing fees for store items are far less than listing fees for auction items. Of course, there is a catch – only auction items show up at the top of a search when folks go looking for items to buy. So, your store items will seldom be found by the average shopper.

However, you can advertise your store on your eBay auction pages. So one approach is to continually keep several items up for auction, and loudly declare that you have many more available in your eBay store (active links to your store help!) Also, you will find that after items have been in your store for a period of time, they may be indexed on Google and Froogle! Given the intense competition for site ranking on Google, an eBay store is a great way to get your work out there to be seen.

It probably goes without saying that you will need to post a picture of your artwork, and that image quality is very important. Try to avoid sitting your painting or sculpture on the sofa and just snapping a picture. Well displayed and well lit images will help a great deal. Also, you will need to consider how you plan to ship the item before listing it. eBay will require you to enter shipping options and pricing that you plan to offer to the winning bidder. You will also need to decide if you are willing to ship internationally or to US-only destinations.

A final note on listing your items, whether at auction or in an eBay store: remember to chose quality keywords! This is most important in the Title line of your item. Put yourself in the buyer’s shoes. Few people are probably looking for “Look at this very pretty view of flowers in a vase.” A much better title, littered with popular search words, might be: “Floral Painting, Still Life, Art Print, Limited Edition.” eBay provides a list of popular Keywords to assist in your homework.

One great way to prepare yourself for entering the eBay market is to BUY something on eBay! In this case, try buying a piece of art. This will give you experience from the Shoppers perspective on searching, bidding and winning an item. You can use your likes and dislikes of your experience to create a plan all your own!

Artist and Graphic Designer Kelli Swan: Pencil Drawings by Kelli Swan and Graphic Design Services and Sunny Sense – Doberman Inspired Dog Lover Gifts

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Article from ezinearticles.com and is by Kristin Royce.

As an artist, the key to selling more artwork is maximizing its exposure. The internet is an increasingly popular tool for promoting original art, and if done properly, can be quite profitable.

One of the most effective (and free!) online marketing tools for artists is the blog. Artist blogs provide an easy way to display your art, discuss your creative process, post exhibition announcements and more. Best of all, blogs require no working knowledge of HTML and the search engines love their dynamic content.

What is a blog and how will it sell my art?

A “blog” is a web-based diary or journal. The author of a blog, also known as a “Blogger”, publishes content on a regular basis about a focused topic. These regular postings typically provide a “community” feel by allowing site visitors to post feedback to your journal entries. This mode of communication can deepen relationships with potential art buyers, leading to increased sales.

Blogs also have the ability to archive all of your previous posts, dynamically creating an individual page for each journal entry. The feature is great for art buyers using search engines to find original art. For example, if you have a blog post describing a painting that you just completed of the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset and an art buyer in Florida goes to Google and searches for “painting of Golden Gate Bridge at sunset”, there is a very good chance that your blog entry will appear pretty high in the rankings. Cha Ching!!

Many artists have felt the pain of email marketing losing its effect due to spam filters, junk email overloads and virus paranoia. Blogs provide a new way to communicate with clients, fans and industry professionals. This trend can support your email marketing efforts by allowing blog subscription options for site visitors so that they are notified whenever your blog is updated along with providing a permanent place on the web for all of your postings as opposed to newsletter emails that are typically deleted.

How to start a blog

1. Blog Publishing Tools

To begin, visit some of these free blogging sites, all offering unique template options that even an artist can appreciate, image uploads and syndication ability.

* Blogger.com (blogger.com) – Simple to set up and multiple authoring ability
* MSN Spaces (spaces.msn.com) – Create your own mini site, with an exceptional blogging feature
* Live Journal (livejournal.com) – Requires a bit of ‘blogging knowledge’ to get it set up
* Blog Drive (blogdrive.com)

If you’re interesting in reviewing additional blog features, these sites require a small monthly fee to maintain.

* Typepad (typepad.com) – starts at $4.95/month
* Tripod Blogs (tripod.lycos.com) – starts at $4.95/month

Note to artists with MySpace accounts: MySpace provides members personal blogs, but it is important to know that MySpace blogs are not currently listed in search engines, which as noted above, is one of the main reasons to get a blog. While MySpace works to remedy this issue, it is recommended that you blog using a tool that is accessible to search engine spiders.

2. Decide on a title for your blog

The title of your blog should be brief and to the point. You can get creative with your language in the blog description / tag line. A focused title will help with higher search engine rankings and make it clear to visitors what the blog is about.

For example, the title for ThePauper.com blog is “Diary of a Pauper”. The blog description is “Rants and raves about the careers and lives of starving artists.” The title is concise, stating exactly what it is, while the description is a bit more creative.

3. Blog theme

It’s important to establish yourself as a professional working artist if you want to use your blog as a vehicle to sell your art. Blog theme involves the layout and color of the page, quality of the artwork images displayed and verbiage used for blog postings.

Select your blog template carefully and make a habit to review your blog from the perspective of a potential client. Is the page visually appealing? Do the images of your artwork provide a link to an extra large version to see detail? Does your content have a consistent theme?

Here’s a good example of a working blog by mix engineer, Ken Lewis: http://protoolsmixing.com/blog.html

The content theme is exceptionally consistent, plus the colors and page layout match his website.

4. What to write

What’s beautiful about blogs is that there are no rules on what to write, but if you want to attract and keep an audience, you might consider some of these suggestions.

• Keep your posts creative and interesting. Move and inspire your readers by being completely honest about your creative process.
• Use keywords in your blog title and post. Using the example mentioned earlier – if your post is about a Golden Gate Bridge painting, be sure to use that exact phrase in the title and body of your blog. Think about what people might type into search engines to find your content and then use those keywords in your blog. This technique will help increase the ranking of your web page on search engines.
• Post daily, or at least twice a week. If you publish blog entries frequently, you will see more return visitors, subscriptions to your blog and comments from site visitors.
• Proofread and preview your blog entries before posting. Some blog HTML editors have a way of creating weird symbols out of certain characters and a quick spell-check never hurts. (Note: be sure to create your blog entries using Word or some other text editor. Many blogging tools tend to “time out” after a certain amount of time and you could potentially lose hours of work.)

5. Publish your blog

Finally! Your blog looks great and has unique content. Now, depending on the blogging tool that you selected, follow the steps to publish it to the World Wide Web. Test the live URL that now houses your blog. If all of your graphics appear correctly and the copy is flawless, then you want to make sure that you promote your blog on your personal website, in your email signature and by word of mouth.

Using the tools you already have to spread the word while testing your dedication to frequent posting is the best way to get started. Part 2 of will unveil tons of ways to promote your blog online.

Kristin Royce is a search engine optimization and online marketing professional contributing online marketing and promotional content for artists to The Artrepreneur E-Zine and newsletter.

The Artrepreneur offers articles helping artists focus on proven techniques to accomplish any goal. Read More: http://www.theartrepreneur.com.