Best Practices for Selling Art on Artrepreneur

While there is no one steadfast answer regarding successful sales of your work, there are things you can do to increase your opportunity to sell your work in our Sell Direct Store or Giclée Print Shop.

First, understand that while we spend a lot of time and resources bringing buyers and collectors to Artrepreneur, you are still competing against other artists on our site for that sale. So it is important to differentiate yourself from the competition.  That is to say: if a buyer likes several works on our site, what can you do to make your work stand out as the better purchase?

While there are many ways to gain a competitive advantage, the easiest and most straightforward approach is to provide information about yourself and your work, — to tell your story. In a live sales setting such as an art gallery, sales rarely occur without the interested buyer first discussing the work and the artist with the gallerist. In an online setting, being able to tell that story virtually is critical and can mean the difference between making the sale or not.

Thankfully, Artrepreneur proved all the tools you need, more than any other site in the industry.

1. The Artwork Detail Page.  For each artwork uploaded, an Artwork Detail page is created with all the information you need to let viewers know about the work, including descriptions, materials, and tools used to create the work, likes, follows, and copyright information, as well as unique details that will help users find your work through an online search, such as categories and subcategories, keywords, and colors used. You can also add your work to a cohesive portfolio of related works. ( See Creating Portfolios.)
   • We suggest that you spend some time crafting a description of the work that is both interesting and entertaining. The description can be about anything that grabs the viewer’s attention and makes the work more personal, such as why you created it, which techniques or challenges you had in its creation, why you chose the subject or medium to express your artistic vision, or how this particular work fits into a series. Give them a story that they can tell their friends and others who may express interest in the work.
   • it is important that the details, especially the sales information, are completely accurate and reflective of the work presented. Measurements of size, materials used to create the work, shipping details, number of editions, and any relevant information pertaining to the piece(s) you wish to sell, should be included.
   • Photographs of your work should be as beautiful as the work itself. Photos that are blurry, uncropped, have poor lighting or color reproduction, or superfluous items around the work, like furniture or art supplies, will only serve to give the viewer the impression that you don’t care about how your work is presented.  And if you don’t care, then why should the buyer? (For more on this topic, see the Image Upload Guidelines.)
   • If the work is multidimensional, like a sculpture or installation, include additional images (see Adding Additional Images of a Work) from multiple viewpoints to capture the work in its entirety. While we love seeing images of artists at work or how the artwork looks hanging in a room, those types of images should be added as additional images, not as the primary image of the work.
2. Resume / CV. Your resume/CV isn’t only for finding a job. It is the synopsis of your creative career and can help buyers understand your creative vision, judge the value of the work, and sometimes help determine if the purchase is a good investment. Your resume section is broken into two sections, your Artist Summary and Career Highlights, each with a number of sections that you can use to tell your story.
   1. Artist Summary. This section is the area at the top of your profile that will often be the place where potential buyers will receive their first impression of you as an artist. Pay particular attention to creating an Artist Statement that explains your creative vision and overall career or goals.  We suggest adding your social media links so that potential buyers can follow you there as well. If you are looking to get hired for a job, a freelance gig, or a commission, you should also add your skills to your resume, as well.
   2. Career Highlights.  We encourage you to fill out your most important career highlights.  It is not necessary to be exhaustive, but just enough to give the potential buyer a quick view of what you have done.  We have provided many sections you can use, including work experience, education, exhibitions, press, awards, affiliations, and more.  You can also link a portfolio to your career highlights so people can see the highlights, not just read about them.
   3. PDF Resume / CV Upload. You can upload a PDF of your Resumé/CV, however, we do not recommend only uploading your Resume / CV without adding your Career Highlights since the PDF is not immediately visible and must be clicked to view in a separate window.  Also, PDFs are not searchable on Artrepreneur or Public Search Engines so you may miss additional opportunities to be discovered.
3. Activate Your Showroom. Showrooms are personal stores where Pro Members can sell their work separately from the Artrepreneur Sell Direct Store, which will help you stand out from the crowd.  (For more information, see Managing Showrooms.)

Once your profile is complete and you have activated your Showroom, be sure to share your Profile, Showroom, or individual works on social media or to your list of customers via email or online newsletters. While Artrepreneur is here to help support your sales and drive viewers to our platform, your active engagement will increase and enhance the likelihood that interested buyers and collectors will see your available works inventory.