hi everybody and welcome back to my
channel so I had another video that I
was going to be doing for today but I
decided to set that aside after I
received a comment from one of you
lovely followers and the reason why I
decided to work on this video and this
topic and status because more and more
of you are connecting with me who are
just starting to warm up to the idea of
how to sell online and you may not know
where to start because it's a very
daunting thing to think about when
there's so much information to sort of
bring it down to just this core of
information that you are going to want
to pay attention to strip everything
else away so I decided that I wanted to
focus on this topic so if you are just
now getting started into this arena of
selling your artwork online and you have
no idea where to go or what to do first
then this video is for you so I want to
read you the comment that I received and
we will get started I have about four or
five points that I want to talk to you
about on how to start selling online
let's read this message first this is
from Teresa and she says do you have a
video on the most basic of basic how to
actually get started online artist
statements biography profile the scary
bit and can you remember what it was
like and how you did it hmm yes I
remember vividly that I was scared half
to death that I did not know the first
thing about marketing I've mentioned
this in videos before and that I
stumbled along the way because I didn't
know what I was doing I didn't know that
there were resources out there I didn't
even think about going to YouTube and
looking for videos on YouTube never even
thought about it YouTube wasn't as big
then as it is now either so
you have a leg up on me as far as that
goes because there is a wealth of
information here on YouTube and I
appreciate you asking me that question
so this is these are my tips to you on
if you are just getting started
and you want the basic of the basic this
is sort of the meat of the information
so number one the first thing that I
want you to consider before you think of
anything else I want you to ask yourself
grab a pen and paper sit down ask
yourself Who am I as an artist and what
is it that I want to put out into the
world this is probably one of the most
important things that you can do for
yourself if you are just starting out
you have an idea of what it is that you
want to sell you already know you have a
passion for something whether that be
crocheting or fine art or jewelry making
or maybe you know whatever it is
printmaking whatever it is that you do
and you do well what is the reason
behind you doing these things
what is the drive what what is your
passion about it and once you can answer
that question what it is Who am I as an
artist what is it that I want to to
bring to people what is it what kind of
a need do I want to fulfill when you
answer these questions it will lay the
groundwork for not only who your
customers are going to be and who you
will need to bring to you so that you
can make that connection between your
work and the people who want it it would
just is a good thing to know as a whole
it will help you along the way so once
you have that for the basis that lays
the foundation of really the rest of
your art business at least in my
piñon I didn't really think about that I
was just creating and thinking I'll just
put my stuff out there and the right
people will come along and that does not
happen did not happen for me it's a lot
of work but if you can sort of hone in
on what that means to you then that will
really really help you along the way
okay so that's number one number two
what do you intend to sell if you're a
fine artist I speak as a fine artist so
I'm gonna talk from my own viewpoint
here are you going to sell only
originals and one-of-a-kinds are you
going to sell prints of your work are
you going to sell merchandise are you
gonna put your work on coffee mugs and
canvas bags canvas prints phone cases
things like that or are you going to
take commissions you know from from
customers so you have to decide what it
is that you want to sell that is also
going to help you move forward and
figure out where exactly you need to be
on this journey so figure out what it is
that you want to sell okay so number
three where are you going to sell there
are plenty of places for you to sell
your artwork just off the top of my head
there's obviously Etsy I am on Etsy so
of course I mentioned Etsy first there's
Etsy there's red bubble again speaking
as a fine artist this is mostly fine art
websites but I'm sure that there are
others out there that I am unaware of
but Etsy red bubble society6 Zazzle
where else is that it fine art America
that's another one there are places
there are plenty of places who would
love to host your work so you need to
decide we
you want to sell and the best way to
figure that out is to go to all of these
places find out what their commission
rates are if you're comfortable with
them platform are the websites easy to
use traffic do they do they have the
customers that that frequent their sites
where you will be able to be in fair
competition with other people so that
you can get your work seen and noticed
and people will purchase there are a lot
of things that that you will need to
think about as far as that goes before
you can move forward so wherever you
want to sell your work that's what you
need to think about next so that is
number four where will you market your
work the internet the majority of
websites that are visited on the
internet for social engagement
you are talking Facebook you're talking
Instagram Twitter Pinterest snapchat
there are probably hosts of others but
those are the top ones that come to my
mind so you need to decide on where
you're going to market your work how are
you going to bring people to you people
that frequent these social media sites
they're on there for social engagement
so when you engage with your potential
customers you will bring them back to
wherever it is that you are going to be
selling hopefully and engage with them
further there and then hopefully they
will purchase your wares
so trying to decide I've mentioned this
before this is important to bring up
again and again and again you don't want
to be everywhere that was one of the
mistakes that I made I thought I needed
to be everywhere
you can't be everywhere you have to come
to terms with the fact that you are you
are in this business if you're just
starting out chances are you're in this
business alone unless you're fortunate
enough to have help but most of us when
we start out we have no money we we are
really just trying to buckle down and
trying to keep our businesses afloat so
if you are doing this on your own you
can't be everywhere at once you can't be
on all of the social media platforms and
create your work and take care of your
your shop wherever it is going to be and
market yourself you can't do all of that
all of the time something will have to
be sacrificed and a lot of things will
ultimately be neglected so I highly
recommend that you figure out which ones
you like to engage in the most and just
pick two or three of those places and
and just start there because if you go
everywhere if you sign up for all of
these social media platforms you will
want you will neglect a few of them
because you'll find that you just don't
have time to do it or you're going to be
too overwhelmed and the worst thing that
you can do is set up something and then
not participate in it it doesn't look
good for you as a business so whatever
you do choose things that are meaningful
to you as far as social media platforms
go and then participate you have to
participate in them you have to
constantly and by constantly I mean
really on a daily basis engage engage
engage with your potential or current
customers it is extremely important to
do that so that you can establish a
connection or relationship with your
customers so
that is that's very important and then
lastly I highly recommend that you
purchase Oh create your own website I
know that this may be really daunting
and I hesitated even putting this in but
it is important it's something that I
wish I had done early on because
wherever you sell your work on any of
these other platforms whether it be Etsy
whether it be fine art America whether
the red bubble wherever you sell them
you have to remember that you may have
your own shop but it is on their site
you don't own it they own their site
you're basically just paying rent to be
there if they decide to ultimately close
and you have put everything that you
have into these online shops that you're
relying so heavily on then you're really
kind of out of luck it's nice to be able
to have your own space that is solely
yours that people when they hear your
name and they type it in to whatever
search engine they're using that your
own website comes up it establishes you
as a business owner it makes you more
credible and to top everything else off
it is yours it is a place for you to
sell what you want with no restrictions
you can do whatever you want there and
and ultimately it's great to have
thinking ahead you may be just starting
out now and think you don't need it but
down the line if if you're really
serious about doing this full-time
you're going to want your own website
you're not going to want to rely solely
on one place for you to receive income I
only make on Etsy you don't make my sole
income on Etsy I only make about a
quarter of my income
on etsy I have my eggs not in one basket
I have my artwork at several places
which allow me to bring in my income
that's just me you may be differently
there are people who make a couple
hundred thousand a year or more on Etsy
that's not how I like to do my business
really I don't like to rely on just one
thing in order to bring in all of my
income so I like to have my work sort of
spread out and your website is going to
be a place where you maybe want to sell
your just your original work or just
something that they can't find people
can't find anywhere else anyway so I'm
already starting to get off topic there
but it is important I think to have your
own website if you just cannot handle
doing that right now the very least
thing that I think that you should do is
secure your own domain name I think that
that is highly important I mean you're
gonna want to do that anyway but you can
go to Namecheap you can go to GoDaddy
you can go to Squarespace and you can
just type in their little search area
and see if whatever website address you
want whether it's your name the name of
your company whatever you're going to
call yourself see if it's available and
if it is purchase it so that when you do
decide to create your own website you
will be the owner of the name that you
want so when I when somebody is looking
for Ellen Brennaman studio and they type
it in Google then my website will come
up ellen Brenneman studio.com
and it will take them right there so at
the very least do that I think it's only
like 20 dollars a year to be able to
secure your own domain name so at the
very least please do that for yourself
because again it will help you further
down the line okay guys I think that's
all I can think of at the moment Teresa
I hope that this answered your question
somewhat for those of you who are more
experienced and if you've made it
through to the end of this video then it
was out of pure loyalty cuz I'm sure
that you guys already know all of this
stuff but I would love for you to share
any of your knowledge things that I did
not think about the things that I did
not put in my top five list below that
maybe beginners a need to consider put
it in the comments because you guys are
so really you're really great about
helping each other out and sharing your
information that's what I really love
about this community so I appreciate you
doing that and if you like this video it
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you guys in the next video so I hope you
have a good day and I'll talk to you
soon bye