The term “artist” means different things to different people, but it can loosely be defined as a person who practices any of the various creative arts. With our sister company being a music label, we usually work with the music producer artist types. We have also worked with various visual artists, photographers and all types of creative professionals over the years.
After experiencing the industry from all angles, we’ve come to realize that a web presence is no longer an option for any type of professional artist. We’ve also discovered the key attributes and features that every artist website needs to serve the artist in the most functional way possible. If you consider yourself any type of artist, we highly recommend creating a professional website and including the following things in order to establish a strong, virtual fan base.
An Updated Bio
If you consider yourself an artist of any type, you should have an updated bio on your artist website that expresses your artistic passion and communicates what you have to offer. People usually want to know who you are and what you’re all about after seeing your work. If you find a little bit of self-bragging and writing about yourself too difficult, then hire someone to write your bio for you – just make sure to update it as you continue to grow as an artist. Your bio can also be used on more than just your website, for things like press releases, and business proposals. It’s worth the investment.
Portfolio of Work
Every type of artist should have an online portfolio of their work on their website — this means you! Just like in “real life”, the work you choose to showcase on your website should be the work you are most proud of and excited to show off to the masses. There are many different ways to display an online portfolio– just make sure your work is on there and that it’s impressive.
Contact/Booking Information
We can’t stress how important it is to make it as easy as possible for people to get in contact with you to either purchase your work, book you for an event, or reach out to you for a new opportunity. What’s the point in having your most impressive work displayed for the world to see, but having no way to contact you for opportunities to make money? If you’re not comfortable making your contact information public, then include a contact form on your website instead. If you have an agent or manager that handles that side of things, make that particular person easy to contact. Don’t miss out on an opportunity, because someone can’t figure out how to reach you.
A Blog/News Section
As an artist, you want to include a blog or news section to share big announcements and updates. This section also serves as an outlet to share opinions on your industry and open up the conversation. Give people a reason to keep coming back to your site by keeping it interesting. Blogging can be a great way to get more people to your site to discover your work, especially if SEO is used efficiently. If you aren’t comfortable doing this then it is definitely worth hiring somebody to do it for you instead.
Links to Social Media Accounts
It’s just as important for you to have social media profiles for your artist persona as it is to have an actual artist website. Your social media accounts are typically easier to update than the blog/news section of a website, and allow your fans to easily keep up with you and your work. We suggest updating your main social accounts a few times a week (if not more). We know that it can be a bit overwhelming to keep up with multiple accounts, but thankfully there are apps like Buffer that allow you to integrate all of your accounts into one and schedule out posts. If you’re not into social media, you can always hire someone to do this part for you. Trust us, it’s worth it.
Testimonials/Reviews
This part looks a little bit different depending on what type of artist you are. If you’re a performing artist or musician who has had positive reviews published about your work, it’s a great idea to use a few sentences from those articles. Always credit the source, and choose the most credible publications to quote. If you are the type of artist who works with individual clients, like a portrait photographer, we suggest asking happy former clients to write a few sentences on their experience working with you. Regardless of your art, it’s always a good idea to have some type of third party review on your website.
A Show/Tour Schedule
This is mostly applicable to touring artists, because fans need to know where to find you and how to support you. If you aren’t a traveling artist, a calendar could still serve you as a way to list when you will be showcasing your work and any other artistic related appearances you will be making. There are many different methods of showing your tour schedule. There’s no right or wrong way. Just make sure its there.
Extra Credit: A Merch Store
If you want to be extra on point with your web presence, build an e-commerce store on your artist website. Selling branded merch out of your own site can help you gain extra income and not have to pay fees to an outside website.
We love working with all types of artistic and creative professionals to execute properly branded websites. We’ve worked with many different types of artists over the years and have learned the ins and outs of what works and what doesn’t. If you’re interested in our services, get a free quote here.
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