While I was walking around the Broad Ripple Art Fair I was surprised by the number of artists that did not have a web presence of any kind. Some of them were older and a little wary of the internet, some were completly perplexed as to how to go about establishing an online presence, and some did not see the point at all.

In response to those people that do not have an online presence I would say that you must remedy that immediately in any way possible. According to research from Stanford University 60% of people in the United States are online an average of 3 hours a day. That is roughly 90 million people you could be reaching. People today are all about convenience. They use the internet to buy clothes, order a pizza, look up directions and just about anything else you can imagine. To some potential customers, if you do not have a website, you don’t exist.

Don’t miss out on all the potential revenue! There are a number of ways to get your name and art out there for the whole world to see. Here are a few of the more common venues:

Facebook: create a page and a fan club then invite all of your friends on facebook to join your club so that all of their friends see you.

Myspace: Create a page for your business

LinkedIn: This professional network helps you reach people in a more business-like setting

Blogger: Sign up for a free blog and begin documenting your artistic process, shows you are going to be in, inspiration, events, tips, discounts, and anything else that you want to talk about. The more you blog the more people come back to see what you are up to and what you have to say. Blogs aren’t just about your life anymore, they can be about your work and your business.

Twitter: This social networking site has seen tremendous growth since people like Oprah started “tweeting.” It is a way for people to share information in short bursts so as not to overwhelm people with information. You can follow people that you are interested in and post your own tweets on what you are working on.

Flickr: This photo site lets you upload photos of your work that people can browse to get an idea of what your work looks like. You can link to you page and customers can view a slideshow of your work.

And, of course, there is Patron. We want to help you get online as much as anyone. We realize how important it is for artists to reach as many people as possible, but also understand that creating an artist website and shop can be a daunting task. That is why we made our wesbite creator as easy and affordable as possible. When you have a Patron site it is easy to have contact info for potential customers, as well as, a gallery and slideshow of images, shop, and listing of events or galleries where you will be selling your work. We will also list your site in our new links sections so that all of our visitors can check out our artists.

Email us today with any questions and we look forward to seeing you on the internet.