The Importance Of Building Your Own Website
Recently I did some research on the Net, research into other artists and what they’re up to. I went to hundreds of websites, viewed thousands of images and saw some pretty interesting Art. You’d really be amazed at the level of diversity within the Art community and all of it is right at your fingertips.
While touring the Net, I found that there were two types of websites that artists were employing to get the message around about their artwork. The first type were personal websites, ones that were separate/distinct and had their URL based almost solely on the artists name — such as my own. The second type were the kinds of sites offered up by social networking giants such as MySpace, Blogspot and Flickr; pages that exist within what I’d like to consider ‘gated’ communities — websites which are a single page within a larger organism.
I noticed many differences between these two types of webpages. Some were good and some were bad. One difference I found to be detrimental when it came to the social networking sites had to do with the ability to contact an artist directly.
Pages which were separate entities, ones presumably run by the artists themselves, had a diversity of contact styles. There were specific contact forms, pages listing name, physical address, e-mail and telephone number as well as e-mail links that would access your own computer’s personal e-mail editor should you prefer that option. Contacting artists with their own personal sites was readily available and easy. In fact, it was almost insisted upon.
Pages which were part of larger social networking sites such as MySpace or Flickr had nothing – no contact forms, no e-mail addresses — no addresses of any kind. In fact, the only way to contact these artists was to become part of the network itself and then approach them with a contact request. Sure, they were flashy, the artwork was showcased nicely and of course the service was absolutely free, but there was nowhere to contact the artists. That seemed very strange to me.
Having a website on the Internet is all about showing the world what your artwork is all about. Not only that, it’s a powerful business tool, one that should be employed by any serious, professional artist working today. If you’re attempting to make Art your primary source of income and unless you have a very dedicated and reliable local customer base, you’ll need a website at some point to let new clients know about what you offer as an artist. A website allows access to your work on a worldwide scale. George down the street can have a look at your latest masterpiece; so can a complete stranger from sub-saharan Africa. That’s the power of the Internet.
I ask you then, what good is it to have a website that showcases your artwork, your philosophy and your dedication only to have your services be unavailable because no one can contact you directly?
Don’t get me wrong, social networking sites can help to promote what you do. I use FaceBook quite a lot in fact. I’ve got a fan page and when I’ve got an event to advertise, I can let all my friends and acquaintances know all about it in one fell swoop. It’s fast, efficient and designed to be user friendly. There’s power there. I also have a MySpace profile. That being said, my FaceBook and MySpace pages are not my primary websites – www.seanchappell.com is and I’ll tell you why.
I’m creating a brand name.
With my website, I’m creating a brand name. When people hear the name Sean Chappell, I want them to think seanchappell.com and everything that goes along with it: all the artwork, all the articles. I don’t want them thinking about Blogspot or MySpace or Flickr. Associating my artwork with any of these services is tantamount to licensing my painting to promote their social services – for free. Why would I want to do that?
Having my own website allows me to be a unique entity on the Internet, one which will flourish or fail based solely on my efforts. The traffic on the site is mine. The contacts who sign up for e-mail updates are mine. The sales I make are mine. For me, Sean Chappell = seanchappell.com and that’s the way it should be.
I have creative freedom.
On my website, I can do anything. I can post any painting I’ve done no matter how questionable the content may be. I can write and post an article about anything I choose no matter how objectionable the subject matter. On seanchappell.com I am King and what I say goes.
On social networking sites you are confined by a series of rules and regulations that may tie your hands in specific situations. Not only that, other users of the service can complain about what you’ve posted and have it or you removed from the system. So much for your MySpace artist page.
Contactability.
My website is all about personal promotion and communiction with the art community. Without the ability to contact me about what I’m promoting and communicating, I may as well not have a website. At seanchappell.com there are all kinds of ways to contact me. I’ve got a specific contact form you can fill out. Every post has the capability to receive comments. I’ve also got direct links to my e-mail address and I’ve even got my telephone number handy for anyone who’d like to contact me about taking courses that I offer. This is a business for me and the more ways I have to be contacted, the more likely I’ll be able to make a sale of either Art or time.
Social networking sites have none of this. Blogspot, Flickr and especially MySpace have very limited information, if any, posted about how to contact the artists featured on their sites. Even though many of the services have profile pages available, most of the profiles I saw were either suspiciously unencumbered by info or they had no field for a direct link to the artists and their work, and here’s the reason.
These social sites want you to use their service. They don’t want you to be able to find individuals outside of their walls because with every hit they get, they collect advertising revenue. It’s all about the dollars and cents kids. The more people who use their services, the more money they make. Facebook is currently valued at $10 Billion. Why then, would they want you to be able to contact people outside of their domain?
This is where social networking services are going to shoot your artistic practice in the foot. It’s in their best interest to make your artwork look professional and approachable on their website and their website only. That’s why it’s all free. That’s why they have every option and flashy gimmick in the book. The more people they have, the more money they make. They don’t care if no one can contact you about doing a commission or purchasing a piece of artwork already for sale. They get the benefit of the web traffic based on the popularity of your artwork and that’s all they want.
You can bet that the owners of MySpace, FaceBook, Flickr, etc. sleep very well at night, indeed.
In summation, I love having my own website and my advice to you would be to build yourself one too. Call it www.insertyournamehere.com and make it your primary site, the place where all of your artwork, all your updates and contact information can be found. When people Google your name, your personal website should be the first thing they find, not a MySpace or Flickr page.
I’m not saying that you shouldn’t put together a page on FaceBook or DeviantArt. These places are great for contacting mass amounts of people about events and updates to your website, but if you run with these services as your primary website you’ll be selling yourself out in the long run.
Building your own website is easy and there are a myriad of free website building tools on the Internet. My website is support by WordPress software. It’s free, it’s easy and I can customize my page any way I like. There are thousands of themes and thousands of add-ons. There really is no limit to what I can do, and when I do, people know I did it and how to contact me about it.
Just remember, your artwork is your communication to the world. Don’t let a social network do the talking for you.
For now, that is all. Goodnight.
