Exploring the Options (During a Deep Freeze)

Frosted Treetops
Letchworth State Park
©Mike Deuel Bronson Hill Arts 2014

Last week, I touched on the difficulty of finding an effective, and cost-effective, method to locate buyers for our works. And, a huge "Thank you!" for all the feedback and information regarding your experiences!

My experience with Etsy, Zazzle, and Fine Arts America was disappointing. I've been "developing" a website for 3+ years and have yet to find my stride with it, but thought that maybe, just maybe, I could fine-tune it & set up a PayPal cart. It would be simpler, right?

A couple of big problems with that: I am not technically proficient when it comes to coding & it is really kind of ugly once you embed the PayPal buttons/options next to your artwork.

Icy Sunrise
From Our Front Porch
©Mike Deuel Bronson Hill Arts 2007

Looonnggg story shorter: came up with as pretty a design as I could for the buttons & the "View Cart" button. Tested them. The cart button worked & the others did not. Ouch. Another couple of days wasted. Apparently, it has something to do with site verification and HTML coding into the site. Yea. I got this. Um, I got not a clue. HTML coding is on my list of things I'd like to learn, but this is needed now. The other probable issue is that, for some reason, despite the copious cost of using GoDaddy, I do not have a hosting service?!? So, back to the beginning. Again.

A Winter Viewing
Letchworth State Park
©Mike Deuel Bronson Hill Arts 2014

Then what is the next move? Do I keep the website & just try to find a different cart platform through a 3rd party site? Do I follow Crystal Allure's lead and upload the site to the blog? Would still need a cart option. So, do I simply drop the website & use a 3rd party site instead? 

This then comes back to being 1-in-a-million artists on any given site & keeping the fees under control, so as to keep the prices of the products under control. Print-on-Demand sites are out, so it also means keeping a steady inventory of inks, papers, mats, envelopes, shipping materials, etc., for any possible orders. And, again, how to reach out to the world?

Frosty Fir Fingers
Our Backyard
©Mike Deuel Bronson Hill Arts 2013

I thought that I'd have had more insight to offer this week, since I thought that the PayPal buttons would solve one major dilemma.

That being said, however, here's the intended plan, in no particular sequence:

1. Use Pinterest and Facebook for "advertising". Pinterest offers business accounts & I have switched my account over, but, I haven't had an opportunity to explore the details of the features & abilities of the business platform. I will keep you posted.

Winding Winter Way
Letchworth State Park
©Mike Deuel Bronson Hill Arts 2014

Facebook is threatening to become more difficult to use for advertising your products. Rumor has it that if you try to link back to your own commercial site, they will drop the post, unless you want to pay for advertising. I say "rumor" because I haven't tested it per se. However, I do know that if you want to link your page directly to your website, Facebook will charge you an advertising fee. Articles that I've seen indicate that Instagram, as a part of Facebook, will most likely follow suit. 

Pinterest, at this moment, is seemingly not taking this approach. So far.

2. Use a site, such as Square Market, as a 3rd party sales platform. They offer a lower transaction fee than any other, including PayPal, and do not take any other fees for the web storefront or sales. 

And, if I decide to ditch the website, the look of the storefront Square Market offers is clean and simple. They, most likely, do not have the following and exposure Etsy, Zazzle or FAA do, but that really is irrelevant, since those sites are overwhelmingly overloaded.

Alone at Niagara-on-the-Lake
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada
©Mike Deuel Bronson Hill Arts 2005

Part of my reasoning for dropping the website is that, while it's paid for the rest of this year, I've hated supporting GoDaddy since the beginning. I dislike their advertising for exploiting the female body and, recently, a tastelessly cruel ad involving a lost puppy and selling him. And, honestly, I haven't gained anything from using them for the basics. Again, like Etsy, I do the work and they reap the fees. Unless, of course, I want to pay for more features. Hmmmm...

3 Inventory: I am obsessive out of the gate. I have so much inventory that I've accumulated over the last 5 years of doing this, I sincerely doubt that I'll need a whole lot of anything for quite a while. But, that's me, the borderline hoarder!

So, for this week, this is the plan. Let me know what you think of it or any of your experiences!

Ice & Fir
Our Backyard
©Mike Deuel Bronson Hill Arts 2013

The next quest is finding my "brand" and what exactly is that?

Celebrating Discovery

It's a PuzzleAll Art Shown Done by
©BEDeuel Bronson Hill Arts 2014

In working to develop various marketing sites, there are 2 topics that have completely stumped me: my niche, audience, or market (whichever term you prefer) and defining my artistic style.

I can't even begin to find the first without knowing the second!

With such an emphasis on keywords, tags, phrases & SEO in online marketing, it's almost impossible to avoid the need for the singular description of something that is so intimately emotional.

For expediency, I'd used the term casual representative. This is one of the disadvantages of not having completed a formal art education. I knew that there had to be an universally accepted term for whatever my style has become.

After hours of reading art marketing articles, I was still stymied.

Then I struck the proverbial jackpot: Painterly. Breaking it down in order to visualize that term are the words Expressive Realism. It feels right. The definition I'd found of the title made it right:

"...it's not a style of painting where the end result is intended to look smooth & glossy...

"It's a style which (and here's the word that brings it home for me- BED) celebrates & shows off the materials made to create it: paint & a brush.

"The result is something only a painter could produce." (Italics added by me.)

Celebrates. Celebrates the beauty of paint and brush. Celebrates the painter's view; perhaps, even the painter's soul.

I could not have found a more perfect statement to convey how I feel about creating artwork.

Now, let's see what Google thinks of the term! To be continued...

After reading the articles that I've linked here, visit our Etsy shop and let me know if you agree or disagree with my selection of Expressive Realism.

How would you describe your artistic style? Leave a comment if you'd like!

Journey
6x9 Watercolor on 140# Cold Press Paper
©BEDeuel Bronson Hill Arts 2011

IF "New"

A New Position
6x6 Permanent Marker on Smooth Bristol
©2012 BEDeuel
 

Yes, it’s time for the dread New Year’s Resolution fiasco! Time to try something new, to stretch your boundaries, to turn your life around! Yay.

Oh, I mean, “Yay!!”.

One of the most stubborn tendencies we all struggle with is negativity. It’s a very easy trap to get caught in. Being weighed down by day-to-day details and frustrations, it’s easy to just throw your hands up and say, “It’ll never happen”.

Been there, too?

I know you have just by the support and encouragement I’ve received from this blogging/art community. Empathy and shared experiences help to keep the negativity at bay. Especially while learning to navigate the world of art and marketing! Not an easy challenge for certain.

That’s my goal this upcoming year: to bring a consistent thread of positive thought and action into other avenues of life. I wish I could say that this is the first year I’ve attempted this, but, it isn’t.

As we all know, though, it often takes several attempts to succeed. Sometimes, success never comes. But, yes, as we’ve all been taught, if you don’t try, success will never happen.

So, here’s to “new” (or not so new) efforts in the New Year! And, with some persistence, here’s to achieving success in all those efforts!

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For our neighbors, our friends, our heroes.

 

IF Stretch

Stretch
9x12 Permanent Marker on Smooth Bristol
©2012 BEDeuel/ Bronson Hill Arts

Yes, it’s been too long a “stretch” since I’ve done an Illustration Friday blogpost. It’s been too long since I’ve blogged about something other than shows and shops.

While this may look like an illustration of a couple of basketball players (yes, it is, I know), I’m looking at this IF metaphorically.

In this world of art, of marketing, of the home business, of computers, there are so many directions for which to reach. The dilemma is multi-faceted. If I take the time to create art, I don’t have enough time to work on the business. To work on the business, I need to work on the computer which is just one aspect of marketing. Another aspect of marketing is simply hitting the proverbial pavement in search of that one shop or gallery that will find the market for my art.

Arghhh!

Over the last several months, I’ve been trying the face-to-face approach with shops and craft fairs and galleries. While the work has been welcomed, there has yet to be that one big breakthrough. This is after a couple of years of trying the online marketing.

I’m still “stretching” for that ball. It just may be time to change the game plan again. To what? What will be next?

Will I ever reach it? Will it ever happen or will it always be outside my grasp?

I don’t know.

I do know that I still love doing what I’ve been doing. For now, I believe I will keep “stretching” to try to make the magic happen.