What happens when you neglect your artist website?
During the course of my work, I look at many artists’ websites. Often, I come across sites that I refer to as an artist ghost towns. I’m referring to something other than the ones that have reverted ownership to the domain registrar or are no longer available. I run across plenty of those too. By “ghost town”, I mean an active website where there isn’t any evidence that the artist is still active. The website looks abandoned. Telltale signs include the site featuring the same artwork for six months or longer, the latest blog post entry being a year old, or a calendar page advertising events that have long passed.
I get why this happens.
Maintaining a website while creating art and all the other activities that go along with marketing gets to be a drag. You want to work in your studio without worrying about technical issues. Yet, you must avoid this fate for your site.
How to avoid turning your artist website into a ghost town.
Use a blog to frequently add new work, information about events, and any other relevant news about your work and business. Most platforms have a blogging function that you can activate.
Set a time in your calendar to review and update your site regularly. If you need to blog more frequently, try to add new work and check the site for updates at least once a month.
Ditch the Ghost Town. How to bring your artist website back to life.
Has your site become a ghost town, but you’re still a working artist? Here is what you can do to bring it back to life.
Make simple edits to make it current such as updating it with new work and information.
If you have a blog with outdated posts, start posting again. Don’t worry about the gap in time. Wait until you publish ten to fifteen new posts before sharing the site with others.
The good news about keeping your artist website current.
If your website is a current reflection of your art practice, that’s great! If not, use the tips in this post to bring it back to life. The good news is that if you have a site in place and are comfortable making updates, making it a current showplace for your business should be easy.
Make it part of your plan.
If you need help figuring out how to keep your web presence up to date, drop into an upcoming Art Marketing Roundtable, where we’ll discuss this as part of planning strategies for 2023.
For more tips on maintaining a blog-based website for your art business, join my Create! Sell! Newsletter.
