How do you sell your art and how to make it better?

I work from my home studio. It's a nice little set up in the Florida room. It opens to a lush green backyard where I can watch my kids play, watch birds do their thing, and find some natural inspiration. It's great- and I honestly love what I do. The question is, how can I do it better?


I have been a seller on ETSY since 2011. It's been great, until 2 years ago, when they switched all the search methods around.  In 2014 I had 17,000 views of my shop. That's a lot of people looking at my art, which made me so very happy. But last year I only had 7,816 views. That is a terrible jump! It downright makes me angry!

 

In order to make up for all those lost views, people who could have been potential buyers, fans of LuckiiArts, I have been searching for other sites to sell my fine artworks on.  It's tough combing through all of the sites out there that promise customer reach, great exposure and low fees for artists.

They all kind of promise the same and all fall a little short. So, I have moved on to sites such as Redbubble and Society6 and Zazzle. These sites allow me to upload my artwork and place them on dozens of products. They are really a great alternative and I can scan my original pieces of art into the computer and use them even after I have sold the original pieces.

This little guy is one of my best sellers on Society6.  Blue Manatee can be found on techy things as well as T-shirts, housewares and totes.

 These super cool high-tops are a new product on Zazzle.  I am in the process of adding images to high and low tops on this site! It's really fun creating products with my art. I can't even imaging what I'd do if I ran into someone wearing one of my images!

I have been checking books out at the library too.  There is so much free information out there on how to make your business grow, organize and just be better! This has been a great book to read through, as it has info on pricing artwork, how to make a profit and how to handle taxes. All things I thought I knew, but have learned I really could improve on. I recommend taking a trip to your local library and just see what they have...you might be pleasantly surprised!

My latest find is a blog called: by Regina. She has some great- and I mean great ideas on making your business successful. I particularly love that she has a creative action plan instead of your typical business plan. I don't know about you, but I have tried more than once to write an understandable business plan- and all I end up with is a bunch of terms and direction that has little to do with art. Regina has a nifty 10 page free download that is all about the creative side of business...how to engage, and really draw possible customers in. I am on #3 and am having lots of good ideas and fun brainstorming and thinking of ways I can up my social game and improve clicks, customers and fans!

That's all I have for now. What places do you sell...and how do you find new venues? How do you plan on upping your social game? It's a good discussion to have with fellow online sellers don't cha think?

Cheers
~Casey