Free Internet Marketing for Artists

First, I recommend that you have separate profiles for business (art) and pleasure (personal).

You'll want to create a professional-looking profile. There are many DON'T's when it comes to creating something professional looking - Don't leave your profile in its default state. Don't use tacky sparkle graphics like teenagers use. Don't load your page down with a ton of Flash objects.

Here is an example of a professional profile:

Profile courtesy of WildEyedPixie

Plain colors, simple graphics. Let your art stand out - not your ability to cut-and-paste flashy images.

Use a professional service to design your profile, or create your own with a service like Tame The Beast.

Showcasing Your Art
If you decide to upload your art into the photo section, it would be wise to place a digital watermark over the art. Some artists have uploaded large photos of their art, only to have unethical people save the images and sell them on sites like CafePress. (see below for more information on CafePress!)

If you upload your art to Photobucket and create a slideshow, you can display that on your profile. This will create a slower loading time, especially for dial-up users. (Yes, some people still use dial-up) However, using a slideshow application will prevent people from saving your art for any purpose.

It is smart to upload at least a couple pieces of artwork - just watermark them or upload them at too small of a resolution (DPI - Dots Per Inch) to be usable on tshirts and things.

On your MySpace page, you can also use the calendar function to list your upcoming events - from an opening to giving a class to anything notable you want your fans to know about.

Your blog is also customizable, and you can use it to make announcements and other such stuff.


Blog customization courtesy of WildEyedPixie

Friends

'Friend', for those who don't know, is a verb in the social media world - it refers to the act of adding a friend to your profile. Also in use is 'friending'.

Friend your infulences - bands, causes, other artists - as well as real-life friends and family (remember not to gab publicly!), galleries, people who have bought your art or signed up for your mailing list, etc etc.

If you give classes, also friend local college students (local to the class metro, anyway) who major in art. A little research will tell you what the local schools are, and you can just use Classmate Search after that.

If you like this lens, please:

Bookmark it.



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Not a Squidoo user? Sign up - it's free! Then you can create your own lens, and rate and favorite other people's!

Facebook is a little trickier than MySpace, but still very worth it.

Before you do anything else, you'll have to create a profile. This is preferably professional, but a little more flexible.

After that, it's time to start adding applications. The most important one is Pages.
Pages are kind of like the 'profiles' of business, organizations, public figures, etc. The main difference between this and MySpace is that on Facebook, you can't friend your fans. They have to come to you. But I assure you, they will!

I created a Page for a client just a few weeks ago, and over night the fans went from zero to ten. That's an incredible growth. Another client of mine gained a customer just a week after adding the yoga studio to their online campaign. The point is, it really does work.

Some good pages:
PostSecret
To Write Love On Her Arms (nonprofit)
Heart of America Shakespeare Festival

If you create art for a nonprofit, create a Cause page for the organization and link to your Page.

Causes:
Not For Sale
Creative Commons
Freedom to Read Foundation

The Pieces of Flair app will let you create your own 'buttons' for other users to add. Especially if you are a cartoonist looking at a young adult market (Like Jim Benton's Happy Bunny) this could be a very easy way to get your work seen.

And become a fan of yourself - whatever you do (Pages, Causes, Flair, etc), add the app to your own profile and showcase yourself. Don't be shy.

Use Create-On-Demand services like CafePress to put your product on tshirts, posters, mugs - anything. Put your URL on the products as well, and people can walk around with your art! A successful Create-On-Demand store can result in many extra dollars each month.

Even if you don't make much, if people buy your images, every time they use the product, they're advertising you. And they paid to! (By the way, that's the miracle of viral marketing).

CafePress is my favorite service, though there are many others. A popular favorite is Zazzle.

You can also feature your Create-On-Demand store on your MySpace profile!