ArtSites Updates
How Google Search Works
Many of us rely on Google to find "stuff" on the Internet. Since you now have your own website, you may be interested to learn how Google search works.
Here's a great "infographic" that provides a nice overview of what's involved (without going into too many Geek details ;-).
Enjoy!
Reloading or Refreshing Your Browser
Some of you may have noticed that we've recently change the behavior when you click on the "view website" link at the top of your Admin Panel. Now, when you click on that link, it opens up a new Tab with your website.
The reason we did this is that it's often easier to have two Tabs open to manage and edit your website. If you have one Tab open with your Admin Panel, you can make changes and save them there.
Then, you can switch to your Website Tab, reload the page (I'll tell you how below) and see the changes you've just made! If you don't like what you see, simply go back to the Admin Panel Tab and make the appropriate changes.
And, as I like to say, "Rinse & Repeat" as often as necessary ;-)
Now, when you go back to the Website Tab, you will probably need to "Reload" or "Refresh" your browser to make sure you have the latest changes.
To do this, you have a few options.
In most browsers, near the address bar (where the address of the webpage is), there usually is an icon either like the green or blue one pictured above and you can simply click on it to reload the page.
However, sometimes that doesn't completely remove your "Cache" and you'll need to "force a reload". But, what is your browser (or internet) cache and how do I "force a reload"?
Browser or Internet Cache
In order to speed up web browsing, web browsers are designed to download web pages and store them locally on your computer's hard drive in an area called "cache".
Browser cache (also known as Internet cache) contains records of every item you have viewed or downloaded while Internet surfing.
So when you visit the same page for a second time, the browser speeds up display time by loading the page locally from cache instead of downloading everything again.
Force a Reload / Refresh
Depending on your operating system, all you need to do is the following key combination:
- Windows: Control (Ctrl) and F5 (simultaneously)
- Mac/Apple: Apple and R or Command and R (simultaneously)
- Linux: F5
As always, we're more than happy to answer any further questions you might have!
The Latest Upcoming Facebook Changes
You may (or may not) have heard that Facebook announced yesterday several upcoming changes to the way your "News Feed" will look and work (I know MORE changes! ;-)
That said, some of these changes will actually be to your (or your images') benefit. Here is a short list of what was announced:
-
Rich Stories: Your photos and visual content will now display much more prominently and vividly
- Choice of Feeds: You will now have more control over the topics of stories you see and you also have more "News Feed" options (see below)
- Better Mobile Consistency: This means your Facebook experience will be more seamless across desktop and mobile devices
Here's a great article that provides more details and images.
In short, yes, Facebook is changing the way it works, but we're hoping it allows even more sharing of your beautiful artwork! ;-)
"Just Dance" is a Juried Art Exhibition of Visual Art at the Newton Cultural Centre, 13530-72 Ave., Surrey, BC Canada. The show will run from April 5th-30th.
Early Entry Deadline for Cover of Spotlight on the Arts Magazine: Friday, March 1 at 4 pm
Entry Deadline: Friday, March 15 at 4 pm
Entry Forms: Available from the Arts Council of Surrey: 604-594-2700, or by email at info@artscouncilofsurrey.ca or download from www.artscouncilofsurrey.ca.
Many thanks to ArtSites artist, Leah McCullough, for bringing this to our attention!
Danger! More Art Scams
Following up on our Art Scam article from a few weeks ago, we have been notified of more "individuals" who are trying to scam our ArtSites artists. The names being used include "Peter Towery" and "Helen Carzola".
If you have been approached by either of these "individuals", please do NOT respond or engage with them! They are not legitimate.
ArtSites artist, Jennifer Weber, also shared a very good Facebook Page that is trying to Stop these "Art Scams" by listing names and emails, as well as getting artists to submit any "suspicious inquiries".
I would strongly recommend you take a look at this "Stop Art Scams" page whenever you get an unsolicited inquiry, if you have any sense it might be a scam!
We'll continue to do our best to keep you posted on any further developments and many, many thanks to all our ArtSites artists who have kindly been letting us know!
We are often asked, whether an artist should post prices of their works and if so, what's the best way to do this.
Here are few tips that you may find helpful as you think about presenting your prices online:
Put prices on all art that's for sale
This assumes you don't have any issues with galleries or other who are representing your works. However, if you do have representation, try to talk to them to see if you can find an option that works for both of you. That said, if they don't want you posting prices, don't ;-)
If you're not represented, post your prices. If you ask visitors to contact you, etc. before finding out the price, most won't do this. And, you may lose a potential sale.
Just like in the real world, many of us like to shop quietly by ourselves, to come to our own decisions and then reach out.
If we have to ask about prices, there's a good chance the piece may be out of our budget and if not, maybe you'll try to sell us on another piece or even a piece at a higher price.
Think about the yourself and how you like to make a purchase decision. Remember the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" ;-)
Explain your prices
We all like to think that we're getting value for our purchases. So anything you can do to help buyers understand your pricing structure can be quite helpful. Perhaps, it's based on size, medium, or other factors.
Regardless of your pricing structure, we do recommend you create a page on your website outlining how you price your artwork so that potential buyers understand why they're paying what they're paying.
Offer approval, return, & refund policies
Online art shoppers may want to see art on approval first and be able to return it for complete refunds (less shipping costs), especially for cases where the artwork doesn't look like they thought it did when they saw it online.
No approval, return, and refund policies mean fewer, if any, sales. The more willing you are to work with buyers, the greater your chances of selling art.
Provide instructions on how to buy
Tell people:
- What payment options you accept (accept as many as possible)
- How you pack
- How you ship
- How long they have to view the art on approval
- And so on ...
The more professional you appear, the more comfortable people feel about buying from you.
Offer art in a variety of price ranges
Online shoppers tend to be conservative. They tend to start out by buying less expensive pieces from artists they're not already familiar with or who they don't already know.
As a result, they may get discouraged if every piece they see costs thousands of dollars or more.
This is especially true of people who happen upon your site for the first time. And, impressing first-timers is critical to your online success as an artist.
So make sure that pretty much anyone who likes your art has a chance to buy something regardless of his or her budget.Have I missed something? Please let me know what's worked for you and if there is anything else that you'd add to our list of tips!
Artlens App - Follow Visitor-Created Tours
Hoping to give visitors their own platform for curation, the Cleveland Museum of Art has launched its Artlens App, which can be used by patrons to create and share their own path through the collection.
Those heading to the museum can download the iPad app for free, which uses indoor navigation technology to tell them which artworks are nearby and plan their tour around the building.
If the Artlens iris logo is present next to an artwork, visitors can access audio and video content related to specific parts of the piece by holding up their iPad and scanning it, which overlays information using augmented reality.
Users can also mark their favorite works and share them to Facebook and Twitter. For guests who don’t own an iPad, a USD 5 rental service is available to open up access to Artlens to everyone.
This information can then be used to create their own tour of the art gallery and upload it to the Cleveland’s collection.
Future visitors can then select either expert or customer-curated guides from a 40-foot multi-touch screen located in Gallery One.
Users can also search the 3,500 items in the archive by theme, materials and date and 16 people can interact with the screen at the same time.
The video below shows the touchscreen wall in action:
How do ArtSites Statistics Work? And, can I get more details?
I received a question from ArtSites artist, Bruce Millen, asking "What constitutes a view in the Statistics tab?".
In our Statistics tab, a View represents one page view by a visitor. So, if someone went to a specific Gallery and looked at 7 separate images in that Gallery, that would count as 7 views because the visitor would have visited 7 different pages.
Visitors, on the other hand, are the total number of Unique Visitors that access your website in the given time frame. So, in the above example, even though that person visited 7 pages, they would only count as one Visitor for that day.
We also sometimes get asked: Why don't the Daily Visitors add up to the Monthly Visitors?
This is because if the same person comes back to your site on different days, they will be counted as a Unique Visitor for each of those separate days, but they only count as one Unique Visitor for the entire Month.
A follow-up question we often get is: Are MY visits included in the statistics presented?
The simple answer is "No". When you login to your Administration System, we register your browser and then ignore any visits from that browser to your website.
In other words, any browser that logs into the Adminstration System is not registered in the statistics for that website. This makes sure that your ArtSites statistics only register your visitors and not you. :-)
Now, if you are interested in getting more detailed statistics, we do have a Tutorial on adding a more sophisticated option called Statcounter.com.
Using Statcounter.com, you can see which pages get the most views, where your visitors are coming from, and many more details, as well as some very "pretty" graphs ;-)
If you're interested in setting up Statcounter with your website, check out our Tutorial: Add Statcounter Statistics to Your Website.
(However, you should note that Statcounter DOES include YOUR website visits in their statistics.)
How to Increase the Chance of Your Art Being "Discovered"
This week, I received an email from ArtSites artist, Andrea Zimmer, asking about keywords and tags to help with Search Engine Optimization("SEO").
In other words, how should (or can) you use keywords to increase the chance that your artwork comes up in the results when someone does a Google search?
Now, you need to understand that search engine optimization is part science and part art (yes, it's an Art form in its own right ;-). And, there are many factors that contribute to the ranking of results in Google.
That said, one thing you can do to improve your chances of being "discovered" based on a Google search is fill-in your Image Descriptions.
While Google does have a image search option, most people will do a search via the standard web search and will use "words" to describe what they are looking for.
For better search-results ranking, we recommend that you fill-in your Image Descriptions with more details than just the basics of size and materials.
Think about the colors used, the subject of the painting or art piece, the location in the painting, and how a buyer might describe the piece.
If you have more words describing your artwork, you have a much better chance a potential buyer will stumble across your website and your paintings.
Moreover, when Google indexes your webpages (including the images), the words surrounding your images such as the Title, Description, even the name of the file, are all used for "context" and are evaluated when matching search inquiries.
So, as I say to my 3-year old nieces, "Use your words!" :-)
While creating Art is clearly your first talent, using more words to describe your art can definitely help market it online and hopefully, get your artwork sold sooner!
10 New ArtSites Tutorials
Since we're continuously adding more features and updating our system, we want to make sure you have the latest help and tutorials to walk you through the latest updates.
Here are 10 new tutorials you may find helpful and interesting:
-
Add Social Media Icons / Buttons to Your Website
(e.g., Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn) - Embed Your Facebook Video
- Embed "Codes" from Other Websites
- Add, Remove or Move Images to Other Galleries
- Change the Order of Images in a Gallery
- Select the "Feature Image" for a Gallery
- Create Text that Links to Other Webpages, Websites, or Email Addresses
- Hide Your Email Address on Your Contact Page
- Change or Remove the "Inquire about this work" Text
- Setup Your "Official" Email in Yahoo! Mail
Remember, if you're having any issues with our system or want to know how to do something and it's not in Our Tutorials, please let us know!
We're more than happy to answer your questions and we'll probably create a new tutorial for others with the same question. :-)
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