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Does Your Art Website Pass This Test?

By Renee Phillips 17 Comments

Are you upset that you aren’t receiving as many exhibitions, subscribers, sales, commissions, students and clients as you would like? If not, your art website may be at fault. In this article I offer a questionnaire that will help you evaluate the performance of your art website.

The questions are based on the most frequent mistakes I see on artists’ websites.

writing on computer. Photo Credit: KOBU Agency on Unsplash
Photo Credit: KOBU Agency on Unsplash

You want to treat every visitor to your art website as you would every guest that enters your home.

Every decision you make should be to make sure the visitors are treated to convenience, comfort, easy navigation and pleasure.

From the moment a visitor lands on your home page in a split second they learn a lot about you and decide in a few seconds if they want to spend time with you or go to another website that’s more enjoyable.

art website test

Examine your art website with these questions in mind.
I hope you pass the test!

First Impression

Is the font you have chosen for your name easy to read at a quick glance and memorable or do we have to search elsewhere to find it?

Have you displayed your First and Last name clearly and prominantly?

Does your ART appear on the home  page?

Is your Home page uncluttered and easy to navigate?

Using Inappropriate Default Settings

Many website templates come with default settings. It’s up to you or your website designer to change them to customize your site. If any of these settings are not appropriate for you fix them! One example I see often is the top navigation link that says “About Us” instead of “About the Artist”. Unless you are a business drop the “Us”. It is misleading. And, if the order that the top navigation links are set up are not the best for you, change them!

Art website test
Avoid making these mistakes as shown in the above image: Difficult to read font for your artist’s name, and small and/or white lettering on dark backgrounds.

Colors, Text and Links

Is everything up to date — including this year’s copyright date, your resume, and artist’s biography?

Do you place white text against dark backgrounds? That’s not only out of style but it forces your visitor to suffer and strain to read large blocks of text, like your artist’s statement and biography.  The eyes take some time to adjust to the light writing and dark background and the visitor usually skips this or jumps off. The majority of professional designed websites use dark text against a light colored background for very good reason. Take the advice from the pros.

Another thing to avoid is colored text against backgrounds, that are almost in the same tonal range, which makes it almost impossible to read! For instance, lavender type on a purple background! Yes, I’ve see artists do this!

Do you use CAPITAL LETTERS FOR THE BODY TEXT ON YOUR WEBSITE OR BLOG?
This is a mistake many artists make on their websites as well as in emails. When you do this it is the equivalent to shouting.

Function

Photo credit Thomas Lefebvre on Unsplash
Photo credit Thomas Lefebvre on Unsplash

Did you convert your website from the HTTP to HTTPS?  Without this simple application, visitors will see your website as “unsafe”. HTTPS stands for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol Secure. It is a protocol for securing the communication between two systems e.g. the browser and the web server. You need to have your website set up with the HTTPS. Ask your website hosting company about this quick and easy update.

Have you tested all the outbound links recently to see if they are still valid?

Is your website functioning properly? Run regular tests on different devices as well as using at least two different web browsers.

Images

Does the same work of art appear on your home page without changes? Surprise visitors with a new image every time they visit or provide a slider.

When you click on the thumbnail image of your art work does the correct image enlarge?

Are your images properly photographed? Avoid the most common mistakes made: blurred images, incorrect resolutions, improperly cropped images.

Do your images include detailed captions? Are the titles of your works the same on every page they appear? (On a visit to an artist’s site I saw the same painting in different places on the website with three different titles. Imagine how confusing that is for the potential buyer!

Content

Question. Photo credit: Simone Secci from Unsplash.
Photo credit: Simone Secci from Unsplash.

Have you checked all facts and spelling before posting your Artist’s Biography and Resume? That includes correct titles of exhibitions, galleries, names of jurors, and titles of the awards you have received.

Is your art website missing your artist’s biography, an artist’s resume/cv, and an artist’s statement? You should have all three on your website. That’s of course if you have some career credentials. If you’re a new artist at the beginning of your career a simple Artist’s Biography will suffice. Check out my writing services. If you want to read some of my writing samples go here.

Do you have a contact page on your website? It should include your city, state and country, and your email address so interested buyers can contact you quickly to discuss purchasing your art.

Do you place a clear short description of yourself and your artwork on your home page below your name? This statement should immediately separate you from every other artist on the Internet.

Did you remove all outdated “New” and “Upcoming” announcements on your site and blog and replace the content?

Addons and Distractions

Do you have music on your art website? Keep in mind not all visitors have the same taste in music. Music of any kind may be competing for their attention while they are trying to focus, while reading your bio and processing your visuals.

Do you have disturbing popups on your site? Does your sign up form pop up as soon as we arrive? Are you allowing fancy plugins to cause havoc for visitors and slow down the loading time? Avoid overloading your site with too many visual distractions and moving parts.

Google announced that they are penalizing sites that have intrusive “interstitials” or pop-ups. They say “pages where content is not easily accessible to a user on the transition from the mobile search results may not rank as highly”.

Did you pass the test?

Champagne for celebration. Photo credit: Myriam Zilles from Unsplash
Photo credit: Myriam Zilles from Unsplash

I hope you passed this test. If not please make any adjustments to improve your art website. All it takes is a few extra minutes to take your website from an unpleasant experience to one that visitors will return often and become art buyers.

Don’t Be Afraid to increase your knowledge about website design and function. Many website templates are easy to use.  Check with your platform to see if they offer free tutorials. If not, go to YouTube and you’ll find many technology experts have created videos with simple step-by-step instructions that will help you.


Ask Renee to Write About Your ArtFind Out About My Writing Services for Artists


You may also want to read
Add a Praise Page to Your Art Website
Create an F.A.Q. Page on Your Art Website


Filed Under: Articles, Featured Articles Tagged With: art marketing advice, art website, artist's biography, Google, SEO, website design

Find out about Renee’s Writing Services for Artists

About Renee Phillips

Renée Phillips is a mentor and advocate for artists helping them achieve their fullest potential. She provides career advice, writing services, and promotion for artists from beginners to advanced. She organizes online exhibitions as Director/Curator of Manhattan Arts International www.ManhattanArts.com and Founder of The Healing Power of ART & ARTISTS www.healing-power-of-art.org. As an arts' advocate she has served on the advisory boards of several non-profit arts organizations. She lives in New York, NY.

Comments

  1. Andrea Robinson says

    07/14 at 2:20 am

    Thank you Renee for the timely reminder.
    Your news items and articles are such a big help. I very much appreciate all you do to support artists.

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      07/14 at 2:29 pm

      Thank you Andrea. I visited your art website and everything looks wonderful. I’m sure you passed the “Website Test”. 🙂

      Reply
  2. Gaia Orion says

    08/01 at 7:10 am

    I recommend investing in the best e-commerce platforms for the “shop” part of our website. People are getting used to paying online even for large purchases like original art. A reliable professional-looking shop with easy checkout is an absolute must!
    My online sales tripled just by moving from Woocommerce (WordPress e-commerce) to Shopify.
    I am now considering moving my whole site to Shopify and just keeping wordpress for the blog (my articles are very well referenced and thanks Renee for suggesting to blog regularly!).
    Shopify also has incredible 24/7 support. I am saving thousands of dollars in webmasters bills (fixing wordpress bugs). I haven’t paid one webmaster in almost 2 years with Shopify, which is quite an achievement!

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      08/02 at 11:14 am

      Thank you Gaia for sharing your positive experiences with Shopify with us as an alternative for artists who want to sell online. Your art website looks fantastic. I have visited other Shopify websites and many of them don’t compare to yours. Congratulations also on increasing your art sales, saving money, and becoming more independent.

      Reply
  3. Vicki P. Maguire says

    05/24 at 12:21 am

    A timely article Renee. You are a wealth of detail. My search, study and pursuit of a new platform has been a few years. I even built one Squarespace and a Weebly. Security (HTTPS) is vital as well as adding a cart. I’m seeking a good recommendation. As you noted, support is key. I shall return to seek improvement on mine, while I definitely desire a new platform. Wise words always, Renee! Thank you! Vicki

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      05/25 at 1:38 pm

      Vicki your art is gorgeous and your website is fantastic. Top navigation and ease of use all get “Wow” from me. I also love your page where you show art installed in rooms. And, your smiling face shines through. I don’t recommend any rebuild for you. My quick tip for you is, since you have a blog, update it with a scheduled consistency or remove it. Wishing you creative bliss, Renee

      Reply
  4. Agnes Jorgensen says

    01/05 at 8:02 am

    My New Year’s gift is to redesign my website. After your sound advice I realize there is alot of missing information on my site. I am currently working on gathering all this vital information. Something I also did not know is that not all web designers know what is important to have on an artist’s websites. Thank you for your guidance. If you could suggest a good Artist web designer in Canada that would really help.

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      01/05 at 9:07 am

      Agnes, I’ll send you an email with a link to a website designer’s website. I think your website would benefit from a new design and wish you great success with it.

      Reply
  5. Holly says

    07/26 at 1:16 pm

    Hi Renee. Great stuff!

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      07/26 at 1:44 pm

      Thank you Holly and I appreciate your calling my attention to the broken link. It’s been fixed. 🙂

      Reply
  6. Peter Bracke says

    06/17 at 10:36 am

    Hallo Renée – I found your website when I was googling Vanity Art Galleries.

    What would your opinion be about Coningsby Gallery in London – Vanity or serious?

    Peter Bracke – Ghent – Belgium

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      06/17 at 1:02 pm

      Peter, I’m glad you found The Artrepreneur Coach website. For obvious reasons, I don’t write about specific galleries in this forum. However, you’ll find helpful advice in the article “Beware of Vanity Galleries and Other Exhibition Opportunities” which applies to all galleries. You can also consider getting my personalized response to your question in a mini consultation for which I could spend time doing required research to give you a better answer and help you with other matters.

      Reply
      • Peter Bracke says

        06/28 at 12:52 pm

        Thanks Renée

        Reply
  7. Caroline Burton says

    01/31 at 1:52 am

    I’m off to check all my links and images!! Thank you for a useful post

    Reply
  8. John R Math says

    07/10 at 11:06 am

    Hi Renée :

    A single thought about your post. There is one thing that I see over and over that is a problem for “older” visitors and that is having the text too small and hard to read. I suggest that at least a 14 pt, typeface. If it is not easy to read, then it will not be read. Thanks.

    Reply
    • Renee Phillips says

      07/10 at 12:30 pm

      Hi John,
      Thank you, that’s so true — whatever the age of the visitor is — readable text is a must!

      Reply
  9. Betsy Jacaruso says

    04/25 at 8:03 am

    Great info, as always, Renee. Thanks!
    Betsy

    Reply

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Welcome!

My purpose is to help artists achieve their fullest potential. On this website I share decades of knowledge and experience as an art writer and artist career coach.

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