How to Sell Ceramic Art on the Internet
The Internet helps artists market their wares to every corner of the globe. Most Internet sales options are available at a lower cost than the entry fee at an art fair, but reach exponentially more potential customers. There are several ways to sell your art online, and though it takes a little time to get everything up and running, your virtual gallery will be open 24 hours a day.
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Instructions
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Decide what each piece should sell for. If you are just starting out, this should be the absolute minimum price you will take for each piece. If you already have some name recognition, you have a little more leeway, but if you want your art to sell, avoid overpricing. Set a price range rather than a fixed number, since different sites appeal to different customer bases.
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Set up your own website featuring a gallery of your art with options to buy. There are many blog sites like Wordpress or Blogspot that have templates you can customize for free. You could also pay a professional, of course. Either way, be sure your contact information is clearly stated. Use keywords frequently in text and in alternate text for pictures.
Prices on your personal site can be toward the top end of your price range, since people who seek out and visit your page are already interested in your ceramics.
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Join an online store site like Etsy that allows you to create a virtual gallery. The advantage of using a site like this is that you'll see increased traffic. Many customers browse within the site itself, and most individual pages link to other pages within the site. For instance, a customer may be browsing a page featuring handmade pillows and notice a picture of your work at the bottom of the page. She'll click that link to your page--and you just got a potential customer without even trying.
The prices you post on these sites should be mid-range: not too high, because there is more competition, but not too low, because these customers are looking specifically for handmade crafts and are willing to pay for it.
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Set up an auction on Ebay. Set a reserve price for items you can't bear to part with for too little money-- otherwise, your item could sell for less than you had hoped if your auction does not get much traffic. Artists have mixed results with auctions. They're a good way to get rid of pieces that aren't selling anywhere else, but because the average auction customer is looking for a deal, the selling price is generally low.
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Set up accounts on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Post frequent updates and include pictures of works in progress and newly-finished works. Post links to your different sites in case people are interested enough to buy. These sites are very effective for generating traffic for your sites.
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Ship sold items promptly, and pack securely. Ceramics are notorious for breaking in transit, so use lots of bubble wrap and foam, and mark the box "FRAGILE."
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Always be honest and fair in your transactions. A happy customer is a repeat customer, and you never know which customer may turn into a collector.
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References
Resources
- Photo Credit ceramic art,two sitting women image by spectator from Fotolia.com
