When you’ve decided that you are ready to build your artist website, you should think about the pages you’ll want on it.  This is a list of the most common ones used by artists.

1.  Home / Index / Front page: This is the opening page, the first page people will see when they go to the website you put on that business card that you hand out everywhere you go.  You welcome them to your site, post one of your best pieces of artwork, have links to other pages, and possibly a guestbook and contact information.  It’s the front door to your gallery, so make it inviting.  Make the visitor want to click a page link and go inside your website.

2.  Gallery / Portfolio: This page will have thumbnail size images of your art that become links to larger images of your artwork.  If you have a lot of art, you will want to consider breaking it down into categories and making a gallery for each category.

3.  Artist / Artist Info / Biography / Resume: Tell your visitors about yourself.  Are you a member of any art groups?  Are you represented by any galleries?  You can share on a personal level and/or business level.

4.  News / Recognitions / Awards / Press Releases: This is your website, it’s all about you.  You are allowed and encouraged to blow your own horn.

5.  Exhibits / Workshops: What shows are you in?  Do you do an art fair circuit?  Do you teach workshops or seminars?  Keep this page updated more than any other page so your visitors always know where they can view your work.

6.  Contact: It’s becoming more common to make a page just for contact info.  It’s wise to set up an email address specifically for your website.  I would never put my home address on my website.

7.  Order / Purchase: If you are going to sell work from your website, you’ll want a page that explains your ordering process.  Some artists do not think it’s professional to have a shopping cart on an artist website.  It’s personal choice.  It has to do with the purpose of your website.  I am among those who are not fond of the “sold” signs next to art pieces on websites.  I prefer to see the “In Private Collection” notation instead.

8.  Links: This is a collection of other websites you want to share with your visitors.

9.  Blog: This is the interactive part of a website.  It’s often used as a stand alone website.

10. Artist Statement: This is the page where the artist shares insight on their work.

A complete website can be as simple as four pages; a home page, a gallery, a bio page, and a contact page.  You need to decide the purpose of your website and build it accordingly.  Do you want to sell your art?  Then you’ll need a page about ordering.  Are you going to use your website to get gallery exhibits or gallery representation?  Then you’ll need to have an artist statement page.  Is it just going to be a place to send friends and family?  Then maybe you are just looking for that simple four page format.  Websites can grow and should grow.  You can always add another page.

At this point, you know that you need a Home page and a Gallery.  Now you’ll need to decide on the other pages and start writing.  Literally.  Write or type out everything you’ll want on each page of your website.   For your gallery page/s, map out every piece of artwork with titles, sizes and mediums.  You’ll need all of this information later.  You’ll also need to decide on colors of background and text.  Write down every consideration and decision.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 4th, 2009 at 4:12 pm and is filed under Website Building. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.