I recently received an email from a fellow RedBubbler and thought I should share my response… DISCLAIMER: this is just my opinion an…
I recently received an email from a fellow RedBubbler and thought I should share my response… DISCLAIMER: this is just my opinion and advice so don’t take my word as gospel! ____________ Hi Jo, I ‘discovered ’ you on Red Bubble and love your work.. You mentioned you work for a gallery that takes work on consignment. I’m interested in getting some of my work into galleries but don’t know how to. My stuff is here… http://www.redbubble.com/URL So just wondering if you have some advice?? Cheers & thanks, ____________ Hey M First thing is you will notice that the footer of this email has all my phone numbers- please do not hesitate to call me and we can have a proper conversation about this. I have a lot of artists ask me about this and am only happy to help out. I have found that the best way to get your stuff into galleries is to do what you have just done- send an email with a link to your work. Your webiste is basically your CV in the art world – it doesn’t have to be flashy (and redbubble is totally appropriate) but having work that loads quickly is important. You will be lucky if a gallery spends more than 1-2 minutes looking at your site. The other thing you can do is to print out samples of 5-8 images of your work, a biography or artist’s statement and any quirky info that could be used to market you. Put this together into a CV or folio and make several copies. Then you do the door knock thing. If you take this option be aware of a few things- Gallery staff at some places (certainly not us though) can be quite snobby to artists who come off the street and try to sell their wares. I suggest being pleasant but do not try to take up too much of their time. I’m more receptive to a “here’s a copy of my folio, here’s my contact details, i’d love to have a chat some time but obviously now isn’t the best time for you- maybe give me a call if you’re interested?” than a lengthy rehearsed sales pitch. Each gallery will have a slightly different way of doing things. Some will ask for a tax invoice when you bring in art and they will just pay you when it sells. Other will ask for an invoice only once something has sold and they may or may not request a consignment note when you deliver your art. Other places do 90% of the paperwork for you but these are rare. We keep a running file of what work you bring in and if anything gets returned to you because it wasn’t selling. Then if something sells we call or email you the same While I’m on this I should mention that some galleries will not deal with you unless you have an ABN. GST normally doesn’t make a difference but I have heard of a couple of fussy places who have insisted on dealing with GST inclusive artists only- go figure? The other thing that changes between galleries is the mark up of your work. In some of the artist run galleries you can get a 30/70 split of the sale (with the artist being better off). Other places will rip you off majorly and mark up your work by more than 100% and therefore will get more money than you do when it sells. Don’t let people bargain with you for your cut and THEN try to add 10% on for GST- insist on bargaining on the final price inclusive of GST. I make this bargaining process sound difficult but the truth is most places have a policy about how they split things and you either take it or leave it- my advice is more to show you the difference between money grabbing and artist appreciating! Which brings me to my next point- look at the attitude of the gallery. Some places are really picky about what you give them to sell which can mean that they either have no idea OR it could mean that they know their clientelle really well. You just have to be good at reading people to wrok that one out. The places that I would steer clear of are the ones who don’t seem to fussed by what you give them or don’t really care about having a biography or any information about you. They should be interested is selling ‘you’ as a product as well as your stuff. You have to balance out the financial side of things with the personal side. At our galleries we go 50/50 on sales which is considered a bit high. The upside however is that you get a mini cheering squad who will rave about your amazing talents to anyone who glances at your work sideways. We don’t have artists complaining about the higher mark up because we make up for it in branding and promotion you. This is a call each artist has to make for themself. If you’re stuff is considered sellable (which is decided on a case by case basis) we will give it a decent chance of selling- normally I put new stuff on display straight away or in the shop window. Then we see hwat the reaction is. Sometimes we find out very quickly that there is no interest, or everyone loves the image but thinks it is too small, or red, or badly framed or whatever. We aim to have open lines of communcation with our artists so that they don’t keep sending us stuff that no one wants! But in the end if after 4-6 weeks things are not going so well I send things back and invite the artist to try again if they begin experiementing with a different syle or medium. I certainly invite you and any other RedBubble artists to contact me about selling work through our galleries. We are always very keen to see what people have got to offer. Jo O’Brien Work: +61 3 9349 4333 (Sunday, Wednesday, Thursday) Work: +61 3 9827 3338 (Monday)
This is based on my experience working at markets and in “painting and sculpture” galleries. I have heard of exclusively photographic gal…
This is based on my experience working at markets and in “painting and sculpture” galleries. I have heard of exclusively photographic galleries (collaborative- not just for a single photographer) which are an easier market but I am yet to find one in Melbourne. DISCLAIMER: The opinions presented in this journal are not a substitute for professional advice and are based on analogical evidence Things that I have found help to sell photography are: / 1) Taking a strikingly lucky, creative and one off image that others would struggle to replicate / 2) Presenting your photos in an original way / 3) Providing support material to the seller about the image and yourself / 4) Signing the image and providing info on the back / 5) Having a variety of photos available for sale / 6) Only having one copy of each image on display Things I have found detract from selling photography / 1) Inferior or unsuitable framing or packaging / 2) You are selling a whole bunch of your images and most of them look similar- or more so, look like you took them all on the same day / 3) No information about the image is available / 4) No image about the photographer is available / 5) I hate to say it but photographers with birthdates in the 1980s should consider omitting this information from their biography because youth = inexperience in the minds of some buyers. The exception seems to be works using a lot of photomanipulation. / 6) Damaged prints or packaging / 7) And it might have seemed the most obvious point but images that are not interesting, or that do not fufil a decorative need There are many ways of presentaion your images including: / 1) Loose prints or posters / 2) Matted prints (and whether to sign the image or the mat) / 3) Canvas Prints / 4) Framed Prints / 5) Putting your images on other products (tastefully) Generally speaking, bad presentation will doom the sale of even the most amazing photograph and that the more creative and unusual your presentation, the more attention you and your work will recieve. Who has some other tips?
Keep your portfolio short and sweet. Show only y…
Keep your portfolio short and sweet. Show only your absolute best work and ensure your portfolio can be flicked through in under a minute. People have really short attention spans Use tags. But only use relevant tags which describe key features of the work. Use your journal to give buyers a glimpse into your motivations, inspirations and learning. Don’t put anything negative in it (people can see it!) Remove negative or critiquing comments from under artworks- potential buyers can read them and you don’t want them to be put off Personalise your work by adding meaningful descriptions that tell your audience about how the work was created, what it was inspired by or the story behind it Think about and make a deliberate decision on how much to charge for your art
I’ve managed (by some miracle) to crack the 100 t-shirt sales mark. I know that there are loads of people on RB that probably do that in …
I’ve managed (by some miracle) to crack the 100 t-shirt sales mark. I know that there are loads of people on RB that probably do that in a month (I’m looking at you and your CCTV Government t-shirt Ross Robinson!) but if you’d told me I’d be able to do that a year ago, I’d have thought you were one of those crazy internet people who doesn’t spend enough time in the real world. To mark the occasion I’ve decided to throw out a little t-shirt design challenge with a difference. The main difference being that this one has a prize. I had all these crazy ideas about prizes. Helvetica DVDs, free t-shirts, gorgeous books on illustration and typography, free CDs etc. then I thought, you know what … this is going to cost a shedload to post from the UK and it’s coming up to Christmas … I reckon people would just prefer the cash. So pay attention cos this is how it’s going to go down. Important stuff first. The Prize/Incentive A guaranteed sale. Not very exciting right? Well it’s a bit more exciting if you put an 800% mark up on it. Now, I’ll most likely go for a girly fitted tee so by my calculations, that means you’ll earn yourself about £75.00 (approx $160.00 USD) from one shirt sale. Which is better than a kick in the face with a golf shoe. Upload your shirt at the normal price and if you’re the chosen one, I’ll let you know and we can arrange a time where you can bump the price up and I can make my pur-chase … The Theme The theme for this little challenge is Reveal Yourself. Now, before you get the digital camera out and start nuding up I should clarify. I’m looking for a design that features something revealing about your personality – not your anatomy. It could be designed in a style you love, feature a subject matter you’re passionate about, demonstrate your sense of humour or tell a story from your past. It’s open to wide interpretation. The Fine Print It must be uber cool as I’ve got to wear it and I need all the cred I can get New designs only Enter as many times as you like Post your designs in the comments below The challenge will close midnight (GMT) Sunday 21st of September, 2008 Bonus points will awarded for spending extra time in the tee community over the next few weeks, leaving comments and encouraging others Tag your work revealyourself (this bit is important) The final choice is up to me and I’ll pick the design I love the most Please pass this on to any t-shirt designers you think may be keen. It’s just a small incentive to encourage some new, killer t-shirt designs and a way of saying thanks to everyone who has bmailed, encouraged me, commented on my stuff and bought shirts since my first upload 10 months ago. I can’t begin to thank you enough :) Cheers, / Nat
My primary goal for the next 3 months is to help you sell your art. Selling stuff used to be my profession, but now it is my passion. And…
My primary goal for the next 3 months is to help you sell your art. Selling stuff used to be my profession, but now it is my passion. And I have plans about how I might help you make more money from your art and designs. But before I spend hours doing research, conducting interviews and writing articles, I’d like to know, what you want to know. I don’t profess to know it all, but I’ll be giving it my all to find out! Do you have a question about marketing or selling your own art? I’d like to hear it
Well the 100,000 masterpieces celebration ended …
Well the 100,000 masterpieces celebration ended a couple of days ago – and it was quite popular! Here’s a graph of the daily sales on RedBubble since we launched in Feb 07: The first big spike was Christmas last year … and the recent spike was last week. Congratulations to the 2239 folks who received a sales notification last week. Another stat I was surprised to learn recently is that 74% of members who have made a purchase on RedBubble aren’t active uploaders … it seems there is a large number of ‘fans’ active on RedBubble who just browse, comment and buy. In fact I think that only about a fifth of the members on RedBubble are trying to sell their work … so last week over 10% of the people who are trying to sell on RedBubble made one or more sales. I also found it interesting to learn that most people (64%) who make a purchase on RedBubble make their purchase on the first or second visit to the site. There’s a couple of reasons for this. RedBubble itself generates between 30% and 40% of all sales on the site through our search engine work – i.e. a potential buyer types something into Google, they find something that matches their search interest on RedBubble and buy it straight away. The second part of the explanation is that Bubblers direct their potential customers to the site … and these people come to the site in ‘buy mode’ and transact pretty much straight away. And while I’m talking about the power of the search engines, they can generate opportunities in few different ways. Judith Oppenheimer has recently licenced one of her images to an agency after they found it on RedBubble. Congratulations Judith! You can read about that here. Well that’s about it for today … oh but before I forget, you remember the incredibly cool t-shirt comp we launched last week? Well due to popular demand we’ve extended the date for entries by a few days. So you’ve no excuse to not get involved and hopefully end up with your design hanging in streetwear store Demo, in London. So get scribbling. Ciao, - Peter
There are so many tips’n’tricks, tutorials, enhancements and various other interesting articles listed around Redbubble. I’ve decided it …
There are so many tips’n’tricks, tutorials, enhancements and various other interesting articles listed around Redbubble. I’ve decided it is time to revitalise the articles I have written. / Why? Because so many writers are long-winded, overly-descriptive and their instructions are near impossible to navigate. I believe my documents cover the many issues necessary to run a successful redbubble gallery, allowing artists to successfully present their portfolio to all clientele. Linking Text and Images Advantage of Tagging your Uploads / ASCII Characters in your RedBubble Journal / Coding your RedBubble Journal / Embedding a Profile Banner / Linking Images in Series, Columns and Rows / Linking Photographs / Naming Your Art / Using Favicons in Your Profile Exhibitions, Marketing & Sales Add This To Your Cart / Making a Profit Because of Redbubble / Marketing and Sales / Running Sheet for Exhibitions / Sell, Give, Donate and Use Your Skills / Selling Your Art Successfully Photography DPI – Myth, Mania, or Massive? / DPI – Myth, Mania, or Massive? v.2 / Knowledge is Power / Two Crafty Ways to Become a High Profile Photographer Interesting Reading Consent for Photography Not Required in Australia / Correct Spelling on Mozilla Firefox / DPI Determines Resolution, Not Quality / Online Purchasing : Safe or Scary? / Playing the Popularity Game Without Caring if You Win or Lose / Tip for Answering Comments About Redbubble Advantage of Choosing RedBubble / My Redbubble Dictionary / Ode to Redbubble / Redbubble Breeds Winners This will be updated as I write more interesting articles and tutorials for your reading-pleasure.
I’ve seen so many people still asking why they’ve still not sold any artwork on Redbubble! So I’ve compiled all my enterprising, marketin…
I’ve seen so many people still asking why they’ve still not sold any artwork on Redbubble! So I’ve compiled all my enterprising, marketing, sales and money-based articles written over the last two years. I really REALLY hope you enjoy reading and applying them into your sales-campaign. First, let’s take a look at you, the artist within. Wait, that sounds like the first article… 01. Defining the Artist Within / 02. I Have a Special Condition! / 03. Keep that Entrepreneurial Spirit Alive / 04. Two Crafty Ways to Become a High Profile Photographer / 05. Playing the Popularity Game Without Caring if You Win or Lose / 06. What Makes You Think Your Art is Good Enough? Here is the guts of this article, the really in-depth stuff that should help understand how to better use Redbubble in your venture to either make money or make a name for yourself: 07. Are You Selling More Artwork ? / 08. Helping YOU Make a Profit on Redbubble ! / 09. Pleasure from Profit from Pleasure / 10. Quality Marketing Equals Sales / 11. Selling Your Art Successfully / 12. Sell, Give, Donate and Use Your Skills / 13. My Marketing Strategy / 14. How to Sell Anything / 15. Tips to Successful Photography. / 16. Twelve Months on Redbubble The trick is to read each article, and then ask yourself: ‘How does this apply to my situation?’. I’m very sure you’ll find a way to incorporate the ideas I’ve used here to improve your situation and increase your sales! I look forward to hearing how much more sales you make over the next few months!! EDIT [11:32 PM 15/05/2009] / Some of you will now want to run an exhibition, gallery or stall of your artwork. For that I have compiled another list of links that should help you! / ... Running Sheet for Exhibitions Since this is my article, I have to get a few shameless-plugs in here somewhere. I have T-shirts for sale that will get you noticed! / ... Your Name on a PHOTOGRAPHER Shirt / ... Photographer Shirts / ... Redbubble Shirts for Artists, Writers and Photographers Postscript / I started writing simple tips that any Redbubble Artist could use. I don’t write them so much any more, but I keep them here for my own reminder. I hope you enjoy these two that relate to this post enormously: / ... Tip #001 / ... Tip #004
Press mentions are hard to come by, but perform remarkably well in terms of exposure and sales. Recently, RedBubble artists have received…
Press mentions are hard to come by, but perform remarkably well in terms of exposure and sales. Recently, RedBubble artists have received press on these sites: - BoingBoing / - SlashFilm / - Topless Robot / - Toxel.com / - Gizmodo / - Fantastic Blognanza (Please feel free to send me other press mentions and I’ll post them here.) It’s no coincidence that these artists received press. Many artists work very hard to promote and secure exposure for their work. Sure, some get lucky, but they’re in the minority. So, how does PR (public relations) exposure happen, and how can I get some? Relationships sell art. If I approached you on the street and said “buy this shirt or art print” you would think me certifiably insane. If I came to you with a softer sell such as, “How does this photograph make you feel?” you might stop for a second and consider my question. And at that point a dialogue would begin. I would give you some background on the artwork, the story behind its creation, my inspiration, as well as ask how you feel about the image. You might buy the image – or not – but at the very least we started a conversation, a relationship. Press and PR is much the same. The writers have a relationship with their readers. The readers trust the writers. And so, when a writer posts about a t-shirt or artwork there’s some credibility already built in. These same types of relationships exist between the artist and the writer. The artists that received the above press exposure found out whom to write, and likely put the artwork within a context or story. (Full disclosure: I pitched the Toxel post with the idea that designers that read Toxel would resonate with a digital art tool – again, the story and history.) Where to begin? Start with family and friends. Ask them how they feel about your art and/or t-shirt designs. Take that information and extend it to writers, e.g., wouldn’t your exquisite photographs of flowers resonate nicely with a writer that is focused on gardening? Perhaps they would consider using your image in exchange for a link to your RedBubble profile. Selling art is a marathon and not a sprint. Some sales are easier than others, e.g., when the viewer or buyer has built-in context (as related to pop culture), but regardless of how you sell, a story or a relationship will win the day. What if garnering press seems impossible? The same techniques outlined above can be extended to an art fair, a gallery opening, a coffee shop conversation, your mission statement, your RedBubble profile, Bubblesite, an email, a Tweet, a Facebook status update, or any space or place where you can start a conversation that leads to a relationship. More to come. Regards, / Jason
Twitter.com is mainstream due to exposure from Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, and a number of other high-profile…
Twitter.com is mainstream due to exposure from Oprah Winfrey, Ashton Kutcher, and a number of other high-profile players. The now debunked rumor (in the U.S.) was that a Twitter television show (that box people watched before the Internet) was in the works. A quick, boring background: Twitter is a self-described “service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?” (in 140 characters or less) The full story is on Wikipedia (where everything is true). While there are no rules for using Twitter effectively, there are strategies and tactics that work better for selling art online. To see Rule #1 for using Twitter for purely marketing and PR (public relations) purposes, click here now. Despite the above guidance, there are no shortage of opinions about how to use Twitter for marketing and PR … 629,000 at last count. So, if Twitter isn’t a marketing and PR tool, “What is it good for aside from announcing that awesome breakfast?” At its core, Twitter is a messaging system and relationship building tool. In aggregate, your Tweets should give people more information about you, your artwork, and your creative process. You can use Twitter to engage followers in a discussion about [your] art. Here is my shortlist of tips for using Twitter to further your artistic bone fides. Please feel free to add your tips and tricks in the comments area below. If you want to be effective using Twitter to promote and sell your art: DO / - Use search.twitter.com (also see Twitter Advanced Search) to find and follow people interested in art, t-shirts, design, interior design, office management (these folks buy office art), etc. Essentially anyone with an interest in creativity. - Use Twitter to alert followers about: + Your progress about a current project or series. Use a RedBubble Journal article, Twitpic.com or another service to post works in progress; people love to see work in a fluid state. You can engage and pre-sell people on the design, solicit feedback, etc. + Tell people the beginnings of “the story behind a work.” Continue the story on your RedBubble Profile Page or on the ‘Show Work’ or ‘Configure Page.’ Note: The one thing that most Twitterers are lacking is great content; content is the most expensive tool in a Twitter toolbox. The good news is that you already have this content in your RedBubble Profile and/or Bubblesite. + Link to relevant content such as a RedBubble Journal Post or an article by an industry thought leader. Use TinyURL.com, Bit.ly or another free service to shorten your links. + Announce the addition of new work to your RedBubble profile. + Announce a promotion, e.g., a short-term reduction of your royalty, or a RedBubble-sponsored promotion. Always announce the promotion with a deadline. You can send one reminder when you’re 24-36 hours away from the end. That’s all though; no Tweet spamming. + Live ‘tweet’ an event. For example, every gallery in my hometown opens its doors on the Second Saturday of each month. Restaurants, musicians and street vendors also use the event to gain exposure. Twitpic, post to a RedBubble journal article, or simply tweet the goings-on – show your work, other work, action, etc. Give context to your work and your story. DON’T, if you want to use Twitter effectively for selling art … - Don’t use Twitter to announce what you had for breakfast. - A lot of people are voyeurs, but you’re looking for action, so create a call to action. E.g., use verbs like “see, click, view, read, try …” - Be ultra-efficient with your words. Get the point across and add a link if needed. A preamble isn’t needed for a Tweet. - Don’t use Twitter as your soapbox for negativity. On Twitter, no one can see you; they just hear you. If your language is ugly, well … EXTRAS You can customize your Twitter background to include pictures of your art and design, as well as your RedBubble URLs, a personal website address, phone number, or some context about you and your work. Remember to keep it simple. Note that I didn’t tell you that it’s imperative to use Twitter. Twitter isn’t for everyone. It’s an exercise in dedication, efficient use of words, and restraint; verbal diarrhea is not recommended nor effective. Please add your commentary, ideas, etc. below. Regards, / Jason, aka Jersey2J and 50Champ
Let’s look at the subjects that people favor when purchasing art. By extension and personal experience, these are big buckets that are se…
Let’s look at the subjects that people favor when purchasing art. By extension and personal experience, these are big buckets that are searched for often, but are hard to win through search engine optimization and expensive to buy through pay-per-click advertising. In a survey of 2,000-plus art buyers ages 18 to 65 (selected based on their previous purchase of art), shoppers aged 45 and above favored landscapes, flowers and gardens, and country traditional themes more than those who are younger. Shoppers aged 35 years of age or younger favored photography, abstract/surrealism, European subjects, and movies or celebrities (pop culture) more than the older [in age, perhaps not in spirit] consumers. Here are the art themes that had the strongest appeal to shoppers (in ascending rank). One caveat: keywords that are a direct hit, e.g., Star Wars, Barack Obama, etc. don’t apply below; it’s a given that brand names are targeted by their very nature. 1. Landscape / 2. Photography / 3. Flowers, Gardens / 4. Wildlife, Animals / 5. Abstract, Surrealism / 6. Impressionism / 7. Tuscany, Paris, Cafes (scenes of Europe) / 8. Still Life / 9. Country Traditional / 10. Pets (dogs, cats) / 11. Sports (baseball, cricket, football, futbol, soccer …) / 12. Religious / 13. Pop Culture / 14. African-American / 15. Brand Icons / 16. Hispanic Art / 17. Other What can we do with this information? We can use the above keywords for tagging, artwork/group descriptions, and Bubblesite text, as well as integrate them into titles, description copy, and hyperlinks in from external blogs, personal websites, and other credible referral sources (e.g., press, social shopping websites such as StyleHive, Kaboodle, etc.) when linking back to your RedBubble pages. In no way should these tags be applied to unrelated work; you’ll drive page views, but not sales. Plus, it’s poor form. There are many excellent categories missing above, e.g., nude art, self-portrait, dance, etc. The recommendation is to think about how you search online. Use common terms and keep it simple. If this article bores you to tears, we suggest that you take a bit from the above and then go with your gut. You know your artwork best, and by thinking like a regular art shopper you might find that fewer tags in a simplified structure will help categorize your work – both in your own mind and for the shopper and buyer. Bringing it all back home. All this sales talk is great; thanks for listening. However, I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that the outcome is to provide an amazingly great work of art and design to someone that appreciates it… that we artists made something that someone loves or gave to someone they care about. In many cases, the shopper will come to think of you as a contact or friend; or at the very least, someone that they feel they know a bit about. Regards, / Jason
We previously talked about how RedBubble Groups bond artists by subject matter, and how they are also powerful search silos....
We previously talked about how RedBubble Groups bond artists by subject matter, and how they are also powerful search silos (marketers call them verticals) that can direct shoppers to targeted subjects on RedBubble. Say you’re shopping for abstract art. RedBubble has a beautiful collection of abstract art in Groups. The abstract art group is flush with relevant text, fresh with a diverse art collection, and gets lots of Google love because of third-parties (you and me) link into the Group page. Here’s a free and easy way to help the last point – for any group. Group Hosts can enable a widget that shows Featured Work in a small and attractive slideshow. This widget can be added to personal websites, and as Denis Leary says, “bliggity blogs, facey spaceys and tweetie pages.” This Groups widget features the same format as the personal artwork widget that many members already use; found in the promote area of MyBubble. The opportunity for search engines to home in on a Group page is bettered when there are many links into that page from content rich websites, blogs, social media pages, etc. Why? Google’s magical black box of calculations factors links into a page as part of a website’s Quality Score, i.e., how well the search term matches the page content. If every member posted a link to their Group(s) on their blog using the Group subject as the link, e.g., Abstract art prints, calendars and greeting cards, along with the widget, there would likely be a measurable effect on Group page visitors via natural (organic and unpaid) search results – which is good for everyone in the group. The result is compounded when those links come from sites that already have a good PageRank on Google. Are you still asking why you should promote your Group in addition to your own work? The simple answer is that the collective power of Group referrals helps direct visitors (shoppers) that might otherwise never see your art. Simply put, a better Google Quality Score equals more search engine exposure, and more exposure is good. All of us are pursuing art for different reasons, but most of us want exposure, validation, mind-share, and sales. And in a collective, creative space like RedBubble, good karma, back scratching, collaboration, and referrals go a long way. To allow Group members to use the widget, Hosts need to go to the “Settings” area of their Group and tick the box next to the “Show promote tab?” text. Here are images of the Promote widget and the tick box. / Promote widget / Activate the Promote widget Final note: Hosts control the widget at this time; there is a simple on/off function. In the far future we’ll look to give members control of whether or not to have their work included in the widget. We researched this option after receiving feedback, but it’s a bridge too far at the moment. Thanks! Regards, / Jason
We recently read two great articles that feature RedBubble artists. Mindy McGregor Mindy McGregor is an artist and stay at home m…
We recently read two great articles that feature RedBubble artists. Mindy McGregor Mindy McGregor is an artist and stay at home mom. An art curator found her work on RedBubble. Since that connection, Mindy has displayed her work offline several times in Melbourne, and she now has a new solo show in Sydney, Australia. As part of the Sydney show, local and regional newspapers were sent information about Mindy and her upcoming show. Periodicals were also offered an interview with Mindy about her artwork. From the article: “Soon after joining RedBubble, an online artist group (www.redbubble.com), she was contacted by Andrew May, an art curator.” “The 30 photographs in the Sydney exhibit are mainly images from southern Saskatchewan, because McGregor loves to capture bits and pieces of province’s history.” More information: Mindy McGregor | The Leader-Post article Tom Baumker Tom Baumker is a respected US wildlife photographer who was recruited by an existing member to join RedBubble. Tom’s work was recently shown on his local CBS television affiliate as part of a story about the US holiday, Memorial Day. Tom also hands out “at least 20 business cards each day” in order to drive traffic to his RedBubble profile page. The local TV spot led to an article about Tom’s work in the TC Palm, a periodical focused on the coastal area of Florida, USA. From the article: “Baumker starting taking photos when he was 7 years old. His education in photography came mostly from the school of hard knocks and by reading as many books and magazines as he could get his hands on. Since then, he has taken thousands of wildlife photographs. Many of them end are on his Web site – redbubble.com.” More information: Tom Baumker’s RedBubble profile | The TCPalm.com article How can you secure press about you and your artwork? David Watts Barton, a 25-year veteran of The Sacramento Bee and well-known music and arts writer who’s currently the managing editor of SacramentoPress.com – a local online daily periodical that is mixing professional and citizen journalism, stated: “Start with the four Ws – who, why, what, and where. Beyond that, be sure to pique the writer’s curiosity. Most local publications want to write stories about local people. Just give them the hook and the basic information – don’t sell the subject. Just tell the story. If it’s interesting to the writer, they’ll bite. If not, no amount of hype will sell it.” Other tips include: 1. Make the information newsworthy by capitalizing on a trend, e.g., working from home, secondary income streams, networking online, etc. are hot topics right now. 2. Leverage events such as artwalks and current events such as holidays – tying them back to your work. 3. Provide thought leadership if possible. If your work documents a specific topic in which you have expertise, note that in your pitch. Offer an interview and be on time. 4. Build a relationship with newspaper and press staff. One isolated email won’t do most of the time. Send editors commentary, leads, feedback on past articles, etc. It’s easier to sell your artwork to a friend; the same goes for securing press. 5. Be consistent in both your tone and the frequency in which you write editors. Become familiar and there will be less hesitation on the editor’s part to engage. 6. And lastly, don’t send attachments without prior approval. Link to images whenever possible. Let’s conclude In Tom’s case above, you have a dedicated photographer whose subject matter matched the upcoming US holiday. With Mindy, you have an aspiring photographer who was “found” and whose work captures and space and place in the form of a collection. See how you go and let us know how you do. Also, if you were featured in a periodical or publication, please feel free to post the link and details below. If you already create articles about selling art, please point us to them below. More information about selling your art can be found under the Selling member name. Thanks. Regards, / Jason
Email marketing is a powerful tool that should leverage your existing relationships with family, friends, previous customers, clients, an…
Email marketing is a powerful tool that should leverage your existing relationships with family, friends, previous customers, clients, and acquaintances to create awareness and sales. You can also purchase email lists that are targeted to people that are apt to buy art or apparel (corporate art buyers, retail shop owners), however, the fastest way to lose credibility is to send a bulk email to strangers without providing context, purpose, and pointing out an immediate benefit to the recipient. Always ask yourself what job the email is doing for the recipient. What’s the benefit? OK, you’ve decided to send a mass (aka bulk) email. Now what? 1. Identify your mailing list / Your list can be your webmail contact list, an export of your computer’s address book, Apple or Outlook Address Book, Palm Contacts, etc. Members interested in buying lists should ping me via Bubblemail. Don’t be dissuaded by a small list of just a few people; email marketing works based on list quality and not the total size of the list. Email marketing can be as simple as sending an email to previous customers from your Gmail account. 2. Segment your list / Divide your list in order to test several groups. You can segment the list by sales potential, e.g., purchased from you in the past six months, inactive for six-plus months, new prospects (new to your list and never purchased art from you), etc. You could add a second qualifier if you have the patience, e.g., purchased a t-shirt from you in the past six months… or you could just go the full monty. 3. How will you mail? / This is the juncture at which you will decide if you’re going to send the email from your webmail, personal mail, or if you’ll send email using a bulk email tool. There are many free and pay-per-use bulk email tools online. A few names include Constant Contact, Campaign Monitor, Campaign Master, SubscriberMail, ExactTarget, etc. Look for a service that does not charge an up-front fee, little or no monthly fee, and that charges less than a cent/penny/pence per email sent. Why use a third-party email tool? a. You preserve your personal email address’ white label status (favorable view) with Internet Service Providers – making it unlikely that your address will be blocked due to an email blast. b. These tools provide templates that make email creation very easy. Some tools make adding content to an email as simple as “drag-and-drop.” c. The third-party will manage your unsubscribe and spam lists, so you won’t need to remember who wanted off the distribution list. Similarly, some services allow you and interested parties to add subscribers using a form; you won’t need to manually add subscribers. d. Third-party tools often include reports that will show you how many people opened your email, how many clicked through (and on which links), as well as unsubscribe and “spam” rates. 4. What to write? / Perhaps you dislike the “hard sell” and choose to send an editorial email that targets everyone in your list. The content of this newsletter could focus on: a. New work / b. Artwork in process – a behind the scenes peek at upcoming work / c. News about you and your work, e.g., recent shows, groups, charity work / d. Photos of you and your studio – or other personal images / e. A short, witty anecdote, etc. lead-in If you’re interested in creating a merchandised (sales-y) email, consider: a. Keeping the copy short and the calls to action obvious. Don’t make clicking through to your RedBubble page hard for the reader. / b. Capitalize on seasonal trends or life cycle events. Holidays are a great reason to talk about your work. / c. Readers love of collections, e.g., art for shared spaces, pop culture t-shirts, landscapes, etc. / d. Show lots of pictures, but keep the file sizes small. If you use Photoshop, use the “Save for Web” function and tweak the JPG quality so that images are small yet attractive. / e. Make any incentives obvious and put them in both the Subject line and at the top of the email newsletter. E.g., if you’re having a sale, offering a free item with purchase (free digital downloads are nice; e.g., wallpaper, printout), etc. 5. Subject line time / Subject lines make or break the number of people opening your email. You can get crazy and send the same email content – using different subject lines – to similar audiences and then measure the different open rates (the number of people that opened each email). My best advice is to include an offer in the subject line (if an offer exists). Otherwise, keep the subject line short and to the point. Humor and personality helps if it’s not obscure. Want to know if your email subject line is too obscure? Send a test to a few friends in the target audience and ask for their opinion. 6. Prepare and test / You’ve got your list, created your email message, and chose a distribution method. Next, paste your message into your email client. If you’re using a third-party tool, load your content into the template you’ve chosen. The only other note I have here is to send a test email to multiple email clients. For example, open a Gmail account, employ Apple Mail, Outlook, Yahoo Mail, etc. if possible. Send your test email to make sure that you like the way it looks in each email client. Some third-party tools will show you a preview of your email in multiple email clients (for a small fee). Here are the email clients used by RedBubble members: 25.0% use Yahoo! Mail / 15.0% use Outlook 2000, 2003, Express / 13.0% use Apple Mail 3 / 10.9% use Hotmail / 9.6% use Gmail / 5.8% use iPhone 2.0 / 3.1% use Apple Mail 2 / 17.5% use All others combined 7. Time to send / Good luck. Spell check, recheck, and check your copy again. Then push that send button and be sure to record the results. Basic stats include: / a. Emails sent / b. Emails opened / c. Clicks from the email to your artwork / d. Number of sales – both transactions and total dollars A next step would be to monitor the lifetime value of the customer, e.g., how many sales, dollars, etc. started with that one email. I’ve probably rambled on far too much, but I hope that this article got you started and provided a few new thoughts, tips, and tricks that you’ll test in the near future. If you use email marketing to sell your art, please Bubblemail me or add your anecdotes or pointers below. Oh, one last thing. If you have blog, you might want to look at FeedBurner.com as way to automatically email people each time you post a new blog entry. Feedburner provides the opt-in (sign up) form and automatically distributes the email for you. I can see that many members also use Feedburner through Blogger.com, and feature a link to these feeds and newsletters on their RedBubble Profile Pages and personal blogs, e.g., Jordan Clarke / thickblackoutline / and Stephen Mitchell among others. If you already create articles about selling art, please point us to them below. More information about selling your art can be found under the Selling member name. Regards, / Jason
For all of their pluses, there are plenty of confusing aspects of Facebook and Twitter. The biggest positive…
For all of their pluses, there are plenty of confusing aspects of Facebook and Twitter. The biggest positive is that Facebook and Twitter leverage your relationships with contacts. And we all know that relationships help sell art. Additionally, Twitter allows you to “follow” people that broadcast information and links that can broaden your understanding of topics, industries, etc. For example, I follow 100+ t-shirt designers via my Twitter account, and have found that the their tweets keep me “in the know” about seasonal and pop-culture merchandising trends. RedBubble has both a Facebook page and Twitter account. Back to Facebook. As an artist and designer, Facebook can be a great awareness builder and sales driver. Here are three easy ways to promote your art and design on Facebook. 1. Friends, and friends of friends, buy art / You may already have a growing list of contacts that Facebook defines as friends. Tell friends about your art and design via: Link to your RedBubble profile page or Bubblesite from your Facebook profile. Post new artwork in your Facebook status. This broadcasts an image, a link, and associated text to your friends. Create a collection (or collections) of artwork as a photo album. Be sure to note the artwork URL in the image description. Note: You might want to watermark your images or overlay your RedBubble URL on the image. While Facebook down-samples files to 72 dpi, expressing copyright is never a bad idea in digital public spaces… though one would hope that your Facebook friends would give credit where it’s due. Use Facebook Notes to tell the story behind the creation of your artwork. If you’re a writer, you can tease your work in the Notes section and link to your writing portfolio on RedBubble. You can also install the RedBubble Facebook slideshow found in the Promote area of MyBubble. Status update of an artwork and link. / Addition of a photograph / B. Groups contain focused, interested buyers / Join Facebook Groups where members share common interests related to your artwork content. By being active in Facebook Groups, you can subtlety migrate interested parties to your RedBubble profile and/or Bubblesite. It’s helpful if you can use your art and design to educate others and gather feedback, e.g., post “New images of Yosemite National Park. I’m interested in feedback about which images I should place on RedBubble.” You can obviously use this same technique on RedBubble. / / C. Use Pages to create fan clubs / Facebook Pages are separate from your personal Facebook profile and are also free to create. Think of your Facebook Page as a business page where you can give people a view of your studio, news of a recent exhibition, show work in development, etc. It’s also good to use RedBubble journal posts to do the same for those watching your RB profile. The distribution power of Facebook Pages comes from their ability to update “fans” whenever you post something new to your Page (like your status update, but for your business). However, note that your friends need to become a “fan” of your Facebook Page in order to receive updates. The Pages updates won’t duplicate nor conflict with your personal Facebook profile. You can also announce promotions on your Page. Here is a contest example created by Diesel Laws. Contest created by Diesel Laws / Advertising is easy, but demands attention / Facebook advertising is easy to set up, but not a “set it and forget it” exercise. You’re dedicating funds to this exercise, so consider the following when creating your ads: What images will capture the viewer’s eye best amongst all of the other Facebook page clutter? What designs sold best for you previously? What art or design is at a price point that will attract a first time buyer? What outcome would you consider a success – exposure and sales, simply sales, etc.? FB ads work on a pay-per-click basis, which means that you’re only paying for the clicks that you receive. You can cap the cost per day, so if you want to test ads at $5 per day it’s simple to do so. FB ads also feature demographic (age, location …) targeting, as well as psychographic targeting (interests, hobbies, career …). This allows you to show ads to people you know or estimate to be very good targets. You were once only allowed to create ads for businesses with websites outside of Facebook, but now you can create ads for Pages and Events too. Start simple / My advice is to try the free options first – especially if you already have a large Facebook friends list. Personal referrals will often convert (create a sale) better than a paid ad. That’s not to say that a targeted ad can’t work well if you present the right image, copy and URL. Let’s close / If you’ve found success with Facebook personal, business pages, events or paid ads, please add your comments below. We’re always looking for success stories or warnings about sales and marketing programs as they relate to selling your art and design. And finally, if you want to help other members sell, you can join our “You Can Sell Art and T-shirts” Group (by invitation). Bubblemail me with the topics you feel confident sharing. Thank you. Regards, / Jason BTW, click here for our Twitter tips and tricks. It’s also worth noting that Twitter integrates with Facebook; your tweets can be broadcast as your Facebook status. Janis also pointed out a great Twitter guide on Mashable.
*Your Profile page and Bubblesite are your consumer-facing galleries (some would say shops or storefronts). Here are some simple ways to …
Your Profile page and Bubblesite are your consumer-facing galleries (some would say shops or storefronts). Here are some simple ways to make them both visually appealing and sales focused. A brand called you / Your Profile page should contain an image of you. Many artists dislike this idea, but a happy, smiling image of you helps buyers connect. A photograph, painting, etching, drawing, etc. all work. People are naturally attracted to faces. . . . . . . . The elevator pitch / Tell buyers a bit about yourself. Where you live; your location as it relates to your artwork; your influences; your USPs (unique selling points), etc. For example, Ron Moss wrote: “I have been deeply interested in Eastern art and philosophy from an early age. I have pursued this interest through extensive reading and through the study of Japanese writing forms including haiku. [-] My poetry work has been translated in several languages and is widely published in journals and anthologies. I have won numerous awards both within Australia and overseas (including Japan). I enjoy using visual media and poetry in combination.” For anyone interested in Eastern philosophy, Ron’s description is spot on. The application / What have previous admirers and buyers loved about your work? E.g., “My work looks great in baby nurseries, shared spaces, etc.” You can also let this story be told through the pitch above, e.g., “My work features super hero characters from the 1940s – 1960s, and features an aesthetic reminiscent of the unbridled optimism of yesteryear.” Categorize whenever possible / If you have works that can be bundled by theme, location, application, subject, etc., you can fudge categories and link to them from your Profile page. For example, Scott Ward created categories by tagging work with key words, e.g., “Africa,” and then creating category URLs such as: http://www.redbubble.com/people/membername/art/everything/tags/keyword-tag/ Karin Taylor did the same, but augmented the strategy by creating categories for both topics and themes, e.g., “new baby” and “relaxation.” You can also categorize by holiday or event. See holiday calendars for the US, Australia and UK here. Be smart and efficient with these categories. Too much is, well, too much. See categories that art buyers search for often. RedBubble is a safe place to buy art / RedBubble repeatedly states that the website uses 128-bit encryption and that all sales are “Satisfaction Guaranteed.” This is good for members, as RedBubble carries the burden of complete satisfaction. I added this body of text in the Sales & Marketing Forum, but you could shorten to say “Safe and Secure checkout featuring 128-bit SSL encryption.” “My art sales are powered by RedBubble.com. Since February 2007, RedBubble has shipped more than 240,000 premium-quality works of art and t-shirts to over 70 countries worldwide. RedBubble offers a simple money-back guarantee, gold star customer service, and assures safe online transactions by using 128-bit SSL encryption – an industry standard. RedBubble accepts five different currencies including USD, AUD, CAD, EUR and GBP, and accepts credit cards as well as PayPal.” Kudos / It’s always a good idea to feature any kudos and awards that you’ve received, as well as a testimonial if possible. Causes / If you represent a charity or donate a portion of your earnings to a charity, your Profile page is an excellent space to feature your cause. Melinda Kerr has done a great deal of work in this area, and features calendars and cards. The real thing / I’m not one for cluttering pages with lots of large and heavy images that slow page load. However, there is something to seeing artwork and t-shirts in the real world. You can feature work on your Profile page as well as individual artwork pages by capturing an image of the work after configuring it on RedBubble. You can also add images to the Buyers’ Booth and link to them from your Profile page. ! My recommendation is to note the configuration details near the image, e.g., “Here is a large work X in a bright white mat and cherry box frame. You can buy this work here.” You can also show works that would make good diptychs and triptychs (pairs and threesomes) by showing them together and noting the links (URLs). RubyRed features a t-shirt of the month on his Profile page, as well as an image of the t-shirt on a person. I like both of these techniques, as they encourage repeat visitors. What’s the weather? / If your country is currently in the fall/autumn or winter seasons, note on your Profile page that your t-shirts are available in a long sleeve version (if you chose to reveal that option). The same goes for “girly fit” – which is a must for some buyers. Give buyers the idea to personalize their purchase by choosing a color, size and style. Develop fans / If you have Facebook Page, Twitter account, blog, or other resource that you use to communicate details related to your artwork, link out to them. These resources are a way to capture mind-share and leverage other communication channels – directing people back to your RedBubble Profile page or Bubblesite at a later date. Be sure to link from those sources back to your RedBubble Profile page or Bubblesite too. Let’s wrap / The formatting “code” for making links, displaying/linking images, etc. can largely be found here. Here are a few more resources. Rhana’s guide to making links Karin’s detailed Profile page tutorial Webgrrl’s unofficial RedBubble cheatsheet Before we go / We’re always looking for success stories big and small, so send them our way here. And finally, if you want to help other members sell, you can join our “You Can Sell Art and T-shirts” Group (by invitation). Bubblemail me with the topics you feel confident discussing. Thank you. Regards, / Jason
The Optimize Your Profile Page for Sales a…
The Optimize Your Profile Page for Sales article proved that customization is a popular topic. Today, let’s apply customization and optimization hints to the “show work” (your art and t-shirt) pages. First, let’s look at what a show work page should do. show work page example 1. Honor the art by displaying it in a clean, gallery-style environment 2. Enable the viewer to see the work at a distance and close up 3. Allow the visitor to learn about the work/have enough information to envision the art print or t-shirt in their space or on their body 4. Share the work with friends, family, others via email 5. Inspire/start the order process And for websites like RedBubble: allow the visitor to find other art and design that interests them; a next step rather than prompting an exit. Other ideas are welcomed. Simply list them below in the comments area. RedBubble addresses numbers 1, 2, 3 and 5. You can benefit greatly by sharing information about your work – #4. This helps you on two levels: 1. Relationships sell art – even a newly formed understanding about an artwork or design. 2. Search engines love to be right. Their job is to match a query (search) to a result (content), so any relevant information that you can supply on the show work page can help search engines find your page(s). E.g., if your browser title says that the image is of St. Kilda, and the title of the work is St. Kilda, and your show work page description is about St. Kilda, and the tags include St. Kilda … well, you have a pretty good shot at ranking in web search for St. Kilda. You could do even better by noting the medium (canvas, print, t-shirt) if possible. Here are a few “extras” that can help you merchandise your show work pages. Remember that you’ll need to use RedBubble formatting to make many of these items appear. You can show a detail of the artwork or t-shirt design. / Matt Simner placed a detail of his t-shirt design next to a full view of the design here. You’ll want to save the image for Web (making it lighter weight) with a width of no more than 335 pixels wide. How to? You can upload the detail image via MyBubble and choose not to publish it. After the image is uploaded, right-click (option+click on the Mac) and “copy the image location.” Paste the image location into the product description using the “!” mark at the beginning and end of the URL. See the RedBubble formatting cheatsheet here. Small images of the finished product. / We noted in the previous Selling article that examples of the real product help shoppers envision it in their places and spaces. Luxquarta also noted on their show work page that the image would look great as a “Laminated print, Mounted print or Canvas print.” And another example of the product in real life. Like this? You might also like … / RedBubble members can show small thumbnails of similar products on show work pages. Yanmos does this very thing here. The design for sale is also available as a free iPhone wallpaper too. With enough views of the iPhone image the shopper might just buy the shirt! You can also use the search category trick that we discussed in the previous post to provide visitors with category links that show a broader assortment of similar work. Small touches make visitors feel at home / It’s always the “little things” that make the difference – like RedBubble packaging, t-shirt inserts, swing tags, etc. Along these lines, Definatalie extends her design aesthetic to hand drawn headers and other visual touches that relate her Profile page to her show work pages. Added protection / Some members opt to manually place a copyright on their show work pages. While RedBubble adds a copyright to all pages, you can add a line reminding visitors about copyright. Rupydetequila added a softly-worded note, while boilerplate copy is available via Creative Commons or other reference websites., e.g., “This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.5 Australia.” or “All rights reserved. Copyright Rupydetequila. Please do not use my images without permission. Feel free to convo me with any questions about this item. Thanks for checking out my work With love Rupydetequila.” Building your audience / RedBubble allows visitors to email a link to their friends. You can go a step further by asking visitors to: Subscribe to your newsletter Follow you on Twitter Become a Fan of your Facebook business page Matt Simner does this in his Stay in Touch section on each show work page. Building your network / We’ve all been beat over the head about Facebook and Twitter, so let’s just say that your profile and show work pages can include links to your Twitter profile page and Facebook Pages (fan pages or your personal profile). Go forth and personalize / I should reiterate that the goal is to show the work in the best light possible whilst not burdening the page load time with tons of heavy images. There are many other customizations that members have made to their show work pages. Feel free to share links to your ideas and pages below. Also, if you’re interested in helping all RedBubble members sell their work, hop on over to the Sell Art and T-shirts group here. Regards, / Jason
You can reach a lot of people using the Internet, but creating personal and lasting relationships is a more difficult task. It requires a…
You can reach a lot of people using the Internet, but creating personal and lasting relationships is a more difficult task. It requires an openness and reciprocity that doesn’t come easily to most people. Not that we artists don’t have the ability, but exposing ourselves emotionally outside of our art takes practice and a thick skin. There’s also a tension between wanting to sell our art and not wanting to be too salesy nor abuse others with self-promotion. So, how can we promote ourselves using a ‘soft sell’ or ‘no sell,’ yet create sales? Here are a few ideas that members have shared in the Selling Group. 1. Share information, help others, and give encouragement on RedBubble It’s easy to get mired in the minutia of everyday life. No one can fault you for addressing personal priorities and work, but it only takes a moment to comment on an artwork, t-shirt, or a bit of writing. Share your expertise or give another member an encouraging sentence or two about how their work made you feel. These activities help elevate your profile – and work – on RedBubble. The more people that view your work, the better your chance of receiving a personal referral. If you’re interested in sharing ideas or have questions about selling art, join the Sales/Sharing Group here. We don’t judge and we don’t bite. Also, check out the RedBubble site and individual group forums. 2. Network web-wide with kindred spirits Track yourself and your interests with Google Alerts and Google Blog Search, among other tools. Alerts and Blog Search help you find websites that have content related to your artwork, t-shirt designs, interest areas, etc. A practical example would be for the Game of Kings to track websites that talk about chess. Chess destinations and fans would surely be interested in learning more about a stellar collaboration featuring artwork about chess. Track them, and then contact them with a friendly head’s up about your work. 3. Add people to your RedBubble Watchlist, Favorite work, and Comment on work Here’s a case of quality over quantity. Discover new kindred spirits, curate your Watchlist, and make insightful and positive comments that spur conversion and relationships. These relationships can bring helpful advice, collaborations, and again, referrals. There have been a number of times that my work didn’t suit a friend’s aesthetic, so I referred them other RedBubble artists. I sent a quick Bubblemail to these artists to note my referral. It’s good karma, and the artists appreciated my thinking of them regardless of the outcome. 4. Publish a blog or website about your subject matter, geography, technique, etc. The key to a blog is updated content. Ask yourself if you can commit to updating at least once each week – if only to post a quote and a link to relevant resources. Readers can visit your website directly or subscribe to a feed of its content. Did you know that you already have a RSS (Real Simple Syndication) feed in your RedBubble profile? Just go to your Profile page, click on Journal, and then find the “RSS” button in the address bar of your browser. You’ll see a page like this one: Simply copy the RSS URL from the browser bar and add it to your iGoogle, MyYahoo, Feedburner, or other newsreader account. Outlook and Apple Mail accept feeds too. Here are a few members that have used their blogs and websites to drive sales on RedBubble: Matt Moylan and Lilformers Helen Nehill and Bowerbird Blues As well as, Ron Moss, Bryce Casselman, Diesel Laws, Soniei, among many others. Please post your blog/website below. 5. Develop a rapport with industry websites Giant caveat – DO NOT simply email a thought-leading website with a generic note and URL, e.g., “please highlight my t-shirt.” Try to develop a rapport with the author first. Start by reading their website. Make sure their content matches your artwork. Ask what it takes to be featured on their website. Send them occasional links to related articles unrelated to your artwork. You’ll make friends in no time. We previously discussed tactics for contacting periodicals, magazines, etc. here. RedBubble can help you find the best press contact for your announcement; learn more in the Sales Group PR forum. 6. Give a little, get a lot Everyone loves freebies, chotchkes – whatever you want to call them. Email a digital postcard to a friend or contact. Embed you message in your artwork and subtly note your URL in the email body copy. Create business cards or product cards. Here’s an example from the always-giving Nuh Sarche. Another way to share is to show works in progress. Sam Dantone is painting a wall mural. It’s not for sale, but I loved that he shared his progress on RedBubble. Whenever I think of costal scenes, I’ll return to this mural and then browse through his portfolio. I could go on forever, but I’m interested in the things that members have tried. Add you comments below, or join the conversation here. Thank you. Regards, / Jason
Firstly, what is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? When you edit (fine tune) your web pages to accurately describe the content on th…
Firstly, what is Search Engine Optimization (SEO)? When you edit (fine tune) your web pages to accurately describe the content on the page, you’re optimizing for search. Search engines will scan your website, index the content, and use it to deliver [what they feel] are the best results to the searcher – hopefully your web pages! Why is this important? The better you rank in Google, Yahoo, Bing, etc., the more “free” natural (aka organic) web traffic you receive. And we’re all hoping that those shoppers convert into buyers. WWGD – What Would Google Do? Google is clear about the steps that website owners should take in order to rank highly in natural search results. And while search engine optimization isn’t hard nor scary, it’s a marathon and not a sprint; building your website or webpage’s online credibility takes time. RedBubble keeps pace with the changes being made in the search engine optimization arena, however, it’s important to note that RedBubble – and your own – organic search engine rank will fluctuate due to the searcher’s country of origin, season, competition, and a variety of other factors. Credibility One of the elements that factors into your website or Profile page organic search rank is credibility – your content’s relevance as related to the shopper’s search query. E.g., does your St. Kilda artwork page have a descriptive title, page content, and tags that make it a relevant match for the shopper’s “St. Kilda photograph” search query? Another factor that determines page credibility is the number of links into your page(s). Known as “inlinks,” these are links from credible (content-relevant) websites to your RedBubble pages or to your personal website. If I had to choose one, I would choose quality links. Quality links mean that prescreened customers are clicking from a related piece of content to your artwork – which increases the chance of a shopper converting into a buyer. How can we increase the number of inlinks to our RedBubble Profile and artwork pages (as well as our personal websites and blogs)? Start with directories Google, Yahoo, Bing, DMOZ, and other directories allow website and page owners to submit their website URLs. There’s almost always a free option, so if you see a pay-for-placement option, look around the page for a “basic,” free option. - Google Add URL / - Yahoo Site Submit / - Bing / - DMOZ.org You can also list your art business as a local business with these websites. - Google Local / - Yahoo Local (choose the Basic listing) / - For larger US cities, Yelp.com Reach out to friends and contacts You can trade links with friends, contacts, or other willing website owners. If you approach third-parties, take the time to review their content, relate to the owner, and explain the benefits of reciprocal linking. There are far too many link exchange scams online for an unsolicited and unsubstantiated request to pass muster. Write and distribute articles, press releases We chatted about writing for press here, but you can start by posting your writing on RedBubble. If you’re not confident in writing about yourself or your art, start by writing about a local event, an art opening, museum visit, or another topic that’s important to you. Be sure to link keywords (anchor text) in your articles to work in your RedBubble portfolio. E.g., if you’re writing about Yosemite National Park, link to your images of Yosemite. Commenting creates conversation Comments on RedBubble encourage fellow artists, and they prompt members to view your profile and artwork. Take that same idea and apply it to websites outside of RedBubble. You can use Google Alerts to find websites that talk about topics related to your artwork. If the topic applies and there is a space for a comment, be sure to add a relevant note with a link back to your work or Profile page. Become the expert and share You have a lot of valuable information stored in that head of yours. Now is a good time to share your expertise in a journal entry, articles on friends’ websites, etc. “Test the water” with a RedBubble journal entry; be sure to solicit feedback. Then paste the amended story as a Facebook Note or blog entry. Ask friends to pass along the article to others that might enjoy it. Again, pepper the article with links to relevant artwork (anchor text) and add a small “by line,” biography, and website link in the footer of the article. Smart tagging with anchor text In short, when you or someone links to your artwork or Profile page, it’s exponentially more effective if the link text – the anchor text – relates to the headline and body copy on the destination (landing) page. E.g., if you link from text that says, “tiger photograph,” link to a page that includes text, art, and other content related to a tiger. Search engines interpret this as a relevant link and therefore worthy of higher placement in search results. If many websites link from “tiger photograph” to your page you’ll rise in search engine results. Never give up Don’t get discouraged if you receive little to no feedback or results from your first efforts. It takes time to build an audience, and there are rewards to be found in the maturation of your writing and in the discovery of new websites, resources, and in meeting new contacts. And remember, even the world’s most successful artists are bad at some things. Ideas come from you RedBubble members always have great ideas, so please comment below. If you can relate the content to your work, be sure to add a link! :-) Thanks. Regards, / Jason
A merchandiser’s goal is to make shopping easier – often resulting in more sales. If you’ve bought an item from a store mannequin displ…
A merchandiser’s goal is to make shopping easier – often resulting in more sales. If you’ve bought an item from a store mannequin display or purchased an item that was featured on an aisle end (an “end cap”), you’ve experienced a merchandiser’s work. The same goes for those of you that have added a suggested item to your online shopping cart. Here are a few ways to merchandise the art and designs on your RedBubble profile page. The first thing a merchandiser does is to think like a customer / How do you search for art or other products online and what elements of the process guide your buying decision? E.g., which keywords would you use to search for an (you can insert a term here) image or a t-shirt? Jo has a good, quick example here. What information would help you bond with the image? What price point will help the customer decide to buy your art or t-shirt? Be unique / Your images and designs are yours alone, but your written voice has a lot of power in terms of making the shopping experience more fun, or educational, or simply pleasing to the spirit. If there’s a story behind a term or regional colloquialism, be sure to explain it. Show the shopper what else you have in store / Show a print next to a greeting card as a way of up-selling shoppers from a greeting card purchase to a print. Better yet, pair the print and the card and suggest that the shopper purchase both. Learn how to post an image in the description field here. “Approximately 30 percent of category buyers also made purchases in the past year of items where art and illustrations were a prominent feature of the item. The most frequently purchased other art item were calendars and stationery items, bought by just over half of those who made other art-related purchasers. T-shirts (44 percent) and mugs or glasses (40 percent) were the second and third most popular art-related items purchased.” / Source: UM Study, 2006 Rearrange the display case as you add new work / New artwork pushes down older work on your profile page. Carefully curate the first six designs on your profile page with a mix of best-selling and new designs. Press the selling designs and test the new ones. You can change the order of your images by clicking on the Art tab in your MyBubble; use the up and down arrows on the far right-hand side of the page. Tell the shopper why to buy / Where would your photograph look great? Is it a seasonal work? Is it reminiscent of a place or space? Much like a Realtor’s open house, shoppers want to envision themselves in your space and frame of mind. “Most art buyers are willing to spend more for a piece of art that really ‘speaks’ to them. They are highly value oriented and want the art they purchase to represent a good value for the money. At the same time, the majority of art buyers are not particularly motivated by owning an original or one-of-a-kind piece of art. In most cases a good quality reproduction works for them, as long as the buyer really likes the picture.” / Source: UM Study, 2006 Have a sale / Create your own promotion by lowering margins for a period of time. Tell your customer base, friends, and family – if only to have them spread the word. Use holidays as a reason to hold a sale and reach shoppers when they’re in a buying mode. See holiday calendars for Australia, the UK, and USA here. Use the Buyers’ Booth to expose testimonials – written, spoken, and pictorial – as endorsements of your work. / There is an odd psychology around both wanting to discover something new and wanting what others already have. If you can allot the time, create a buyers’ book or collection of your work in offline settings as a way of helping buyers to see your work in their space. Overall, tee artists have done a very good job at this. For print artists, you might find interest in this statistic: “In terms of the size of art bought, a majority (49 percent) reported that their most recent art item purchased was medium sized, or approximately 20-24 inches by 28-36 inches. The next most popular size was small, approximately 16 by 20 inches or smaller, bought by 27 percent of art buyers most recently. Large-sized art, approximately 30 by 40 inches or poster-sized, was bought by 20 percent of art buyers most recently with only 5 percent reporting their most recent art purchase was over-sized, or approximately 40 by 60 inches or larger.” / Source: UM Study, 2006 Tag accurately / Use the Google keyword tool to help identify tags (keywords) that are searched for often. Accurate tagging is the best way to ensure that your work shows up as part of both RedBubble and search engine query results. We can’t emphasize this enough and mention it frequently in the forums. Until next time / There’s your Merchandising 101 primer. Merchandising is both an art and a science. We could teach an entire course or curriculum about using metrics to guide merchandising decisions, but the idea above is to start small, keep the process personal, and to measure – albeit simply – the improvements that an extra bit of marketing polish can make. Have a success story to share or a question? Please comment below. Regards, / Jason Enjoyed what you read here? Join the Selling Group on RedBubble.
The Art/T-Shirt Club! Want your art sold? We all feel your pain but in these harder times w…
The Art/T-Shirt Club! Want your art sold? We all feel your pain but in these harder times we have to come together! So this is the best way we can do just that… / To join us in getting your art sold … You simply need to make a purchase, whether it’s a Card, T-Shirt or Wall-Art from anyone on Redbubble but after the first artist makes a purchase then all the following artists need to buy something from one of the artists who have made a purchase below! / You can also join by listing what you’ve bought in the past but for those / who haven’t bought anything please consider when you have the money to buy something from someone who has posted or buy something that they post. This way everyone will / get something sold! This is how I see it… / We shop in stores like Wal-Mart and the mall which are all run by millionaires and raise prices while under paying most of their workers. / So why always give your money to them when you can spend with the truly / creative people like on RB? You can post a comment to this but to join post something that you purchased from anyone on Redbubble but if someone’s posted already shop in their gallery and join our movement! Thanks to everyone who makes RB a great website to display and sell / on! Currently there are no purchases of someone who posted here, why not be the first? When you leave this message without favoriting it….Let the force be with you…because you’re on your own baby! :)
Next week marks the beginning of November and in online land, this means people are already starting to think about what they’ll be placi…
Next week marks the beginning of November and in online land, this means people are already starting to think about what they’ll be placing under the tree. We can expect an official announcement on the shipping deadlines in a few weeks, but in the past, the cut off has been around the second week of December to allow the RedBubble elves enough time to ensure your products are sent off in time for Christmas morning. With that in mind, we thought it would be a good idea to start thinking about some ideas for maximising your sales at this time of year. The methods we’ve discussed in the past are all worth revisiting but the holiday season offers up some unique opportunities. Tidy up your profile. Just as department stores are preparing Christmas windows and your town is putting up festive light displays, think about how you might rearrange your profile page to appeal to Christmas browsers. bring more seasonal or festive images to the front of your art pages think about producing some new works that tie in with the season check your tags to make sure they’re relevant link to related works from your description field (see mikoto’s work for an example) Add an email signature to your personal email with links to your best sellers or more festive images. This is a great way to get your work in front of friends and family. Make something festive and free that features your artwork (and your contact details or links back to your work) and distribute it to friends and family. Free downloadable gift cards featuring your art, table place name cards, wrapping paper patterns … useful and beautiful things that someone may like to forward to their contacts. See here for some ideas and inspiration. Blogs and websites will be preparing festive posts, 2010 calendar wrap ups and seasonal stories. As it’s nearing the end of the decade, you can expect to see some big features on ‘the naughties’ too. Have a think about how you can creatively approach them with content. take some great photos of your cards, calendars, wall art or t-shirts write a wrap up of your favourite festive t-shirts (a top 5 from RB) if you have images from big events that have happened during the year (the Sydney dust storm for example), make sure they’re well tagged for search Get your calendars ready. If you haven’t got around to making up a calendar yet then get your skates on. They’re selling like hotcakes at this time of year! Let your friends and family know they’re available and offer to put together bespoke or personalised calendars if you have the time. Have your own Christmas sale or promotion. Some great ideas include reducing your markups for a limited time or offering customers the chance to win something when they buy an item from you. These are all great ways to make it easier for you to spread the word about your work. If you have any hints of tips of your own, or your planning any promotional activities leading up to the festive season, we’d love to hear about them below. Nat
Hello, Over the weekend we ran a survey of 583 sellers on RedBubble – asking them what they did to help generate sales. The response …
Hello, Over the weekend we ran a survey of 583 sellers on RedBubble – asking them what they did to help generate sales. The response rate was terrific – just over 46% of folks have responded with more responses still rolling in. So I think the sample size is large enough for us to draw some meaningful conclusions. We divided the responses into two categories – t-shirt sellers and art sellers. Heres’s a summary of the top 30 responses (note that the respondents often listed multiple tactics): What conclusions can we draw from this? I’d be interested in your reflections. For me it highlights that: / - Sellers are active at promoting their work (RedBubble doing all the work accounted for less than 20% of the respondents) / - Sellers often sell to people they have some connection with (hence the prominence of the broader social networking sites) / - Quality of the work is important to generating sales Cheers, Peter
(For all the artists hard work please favorite this before you read, Thanks so much!) / *We our proud to present www.OrderMyArt.com...
(For all the artists hard work please favorite this before you read, Thanks so much!) / We our proud to present www.OrderMyArt.com / This is a collection of rb artists who pre-ordered and were listed in…....... “Life is Art” The Great Book of Amazing Artists / (Note :All art on ordermyart.com redirects to RedBubble checkout to help artists) We are currently working on new book which will give artists exposer from our website and the finished product will be published and promote each artist with / full details on 3 pages. Our last book contains 33 artists and categories such as Photography,Paintings/illistraitions,Fractal Art,Digital Art and Mixed Media / Along with T-Shirts and Greet Cards. The Book will serve as a catalog book / and makes a great gift for friends and Family. This new book will have more / artists then the previous book. Before we go on we would like to thank the following members of Redbubble / for submiting their work to us and their gratitude! Thank You! / (note if you were in the first book you can contact me for a listing at a discount rate without pre-order) - Esther Johnson / - Alex Preiss / - Pam Moore / - Donna Huntriss / - Carlos Ramos / - Matt Roche / - Sean Jansen / - Vanessa Anderberg / - Sue Wickham / - Dream Vision Images / - Carlotta Peacock / - Anne Marie Bokslag / - Kim’s Kaboodle / - Paulette Wright / - David Humphrey / - Monica Scanlan / - Photography by Nadya / - Andrew Paranavitana / - Aisha Diandra / - Rachelle Dyer / - Christine Amstutz / - Richard Tuvey / - Hilary Morden / - Skye O’Shea / - Elijah J. Sanders / - Lisa Brugger / - Rosalie Scanlon / - Terrence Russell / - Eleni Hadjikiriak / - Gail Douglas / - Mark Walker Information about our Book : Artist Exposer – Each artist will have 3 pages of art in our up and coming book. / The listing includes a 3-6 paragraph introduction of you as an artist along with a few urls where you sell your art, 12 images (you can choose the images or allow us) Quality – It will contain 80 pages on High Quality Black Paper (with white writing) Beauty – All the colors are brightly displayed with no loss of pixel or clarity. Promotion – Our book will be donated once per month to a library so alot of people / will have the chance to see each artists art. Keepsake – Your listing will be forever and so will our book. We will continue to promote it and it will promote each artist. The book makes a nice gift for friends and family as well. Website Preview – This is the chance to see the book and there are order options / along with links to pre-order and get your art into the next book. / (We also have prices without pre-order) Thanks everyone for reading and we hope your as excited about the book release / as we are. Don’t forget to check out www.OrderMyArt.com Our direct site to get a listing is here If you’d like to support artists and their work you should add this journal / to your favorites. Thanks for reading and God Bless.
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