Senior Seminar
fine arts/art education/art therapy

Web Posted Portfolios

Portfolio Content & Preparations | Print and Digital Portfolios | Web Portfolios | Sample Portfolios & Documents

Web Site/Portfolio

Artists need to market themselves online. A web site will not solve your marketing problems, but is usually a part of your solution. Web-based portfolios make it possible for clients, dealers and potential buyers to see your work without traveling to a gallery. Web sites can also be updated quickly so that your latest projects and exhibits are included. Active social media can keep viewers aware of your work.

Excellent Resources/Articles on Starting an Artist's Website

Site is well organized and thorough, however — as is the tendency with most technology resources -- some topics are out-of-date. There is, for instance, no mention of the various CMS options that are available and popular for first-time web users.

What does a web site cost?

Well, somewhere between free and several million dollars.
It depends what kind of site you need, how much info and images will be on it, how often it needs to be updated, who will be designing and maintaining it, and how much traffic your site gets.
Here are some sites that (claim to) offer free sites/pages to artists:
AarikiAart | trueFresco | Artistarium | thePauper |ArtPromote | ArtistHelpNetwork | MesArt |
Be cautious about free web sites. Often they are worth what they cost. Ask yourself... is this a site I would go to to explore artwork or shop for art? If the answer is 'no', I would not spend time setting up my web site there.

Web Site Design: concieve of the site's look and feel. Collect and prepare all of the content (images, text, music, video, etc.). Put all the pieces together into a working site.

Domain Name:

This is your web address (e.g. "www.GreatestArtistGallery.com") Most web hosts will give you at least one free domain if you are paying them for web space. If not, for $5-15/year you can purchase your own. At the very least, select and buy your domain name so that it is yours and only yours.
Selecting a domain name is tricky. If possible, use your own name and keep it simple. ( "BruceMcClarty.com" ) If thats not an option...or you are not Bruce McClarty...try combining your name with a helpful term. ("GanusWatercolors.com", "BurksPhotography.com" , "BensonNaturePhotography.com")
If that doesn't seem to work, you might explore a simple but non-sense turn of phrase...something that doesn't really mean anything, but sounds interesting. ("Flibertygibbet.com", "Zulucreatives.com", "Bozzingham.com." "Google.com"     wait. no. that nonsense word is taken.)

You'll have to do some, or many, searches on existing domain names. Basically, you have to see if someone else has beaten you to that address and so it is no longer available. ( A really quick search engine | Search on domains and see who owns them (WhoIs)
At some point you'll start comparing prices for domains. There is no set price. Recall that most web-hosting services will include at least one domain registration. However, your web site host and your domain registrar do not have to be the same business.
( Price Comparison | Google | GoDaddy | NetworkSolutions |

Web Space: Space on a web server's hard drive provided by your web host. What does it cost to buy "space" on the web? There are free options, but they usually have some compromises -- such as banner ads, very limited size, etc.
Here is one of many sites that list and compare web hosts. (I've used HostMonster for several years... I've been pleased.)
Can I get web space cheaper? One of the best ways is to find other folks who want to post their own web site -- or, better yet, already have. You can usually post several sites on the same server, because most web hosting accounts today allow multiple domains to be directed to the same web hosting account (its abit like a group of designers renting a floor of an office building and dividing that floor into separate offices... everybody has their own office, address, phone number, etc. But there's only one building to lease.)

Updating and Maintaining the Site:

If you're not a web-savvy designer, you've got two options:

a) Get someone else to set up and maintain your web site: hire a designer, find a friend who's a web designer, or barter services with a web designer

or

b) Build your website on some Content Managment System (CMS) or use a "web site builder" application that makes it easy(easier) for non-designers to create and maintain their own site. (fyi: If you've seen a university course that uses Moodle, you're seeing a CMS designed for education and course managment. Your professors are probably not competent web designers, but they can use Moodle. Well, there are a whole lotta free competitors to Moodle that are great for simple web sites. And, for that matter, Moodle is free... you can install for no cost to your own web space. Really.) Many web hosts provide you with easy and free access to CMS tools, such as those provide by simplescripts.com.

Marketing and Promoting the Site:

Just because you've got a web site, don't expect people to find it.
While you market your artwork by your website, you have to market your website so that the right people are likely to visit it. This can involve some web-techy matters like keywords and such for your web pages. But you also can market your web site the old-fashioned way -- sending out mailings, postcards, businesscards and such. The idea is simply to tell as many folks as you can, where they can see your work.

Creating a Web Gallery

If you are not a genuine, experienced web designer, Content Management Systems (CMS) offer a great middle ground. The right CMS system will allow you to create, update and manage your unique web site with little or no prior web design experience. Some CMS systems are designed with drag-and-drop-onto-a-webpage-template capability.

Content Management Systems are a category of web "programs" (using the term loosely). They enable custom web sites to be built and maintained by non-web-programmers. Some are quite simple, others are very extensive and powerful. The most basic web design tasks often require no web-programming/design experience. More elaborate sites will usually require familiarity with web programming. But our goal, for now, is to get a custom site created without programming.

CMSs offers powerful site management so that you don't have to keep track of hundreds of files and folders. Diverse templates are available so you can create a look and feel to fit the mood of your site. Little or no need for HTML, Javascript, PHP, Sql or all of those other techy acronyms that you're hoping to stay away from. You may need a web-techy friend to get your setup installed, but many web space providers offer one-button installation. (e.g. HostMonster, GoDaddy)

Web Photo Gallery Management

There are a lot of programs that aim to help photographers and artists keep track of the many images that they post online. Most of these are basically CMSs for images.
Listing of Web Gallery Alternatives | Alt2_PHP | Comparison/Review |

Resumé/Vita the purpose, essential content, optional content, style/expression/impression

Print/Book Portfolio
book/binding, selections, intro/cover, shooting, printing, mounting, labeling, ordering/grouping

Web Portfolio
the purpose, non-web-techy-options, home page, organizing, file prep, hosting

Business Card & Invoice

( Web Site Promotion Plan)

Professional Plan
the purpose, 24 month plan, goals, concrete steps, resources needed
grad schools, priorities, research, timeline, applications
galleries, commissions, juried shows, marketing, accounting, business coorespondence, record-keeping, documentation (photos of work, esp.)

Sample of Individual Artist's Web Sites

Michael Dudash: Realist painter, varied subjects

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