Time to Update Your Artist Website?
How long has it been since you updated your artist website? If you are like most artists, you probably needed to redo and refresh your site last week, if not last year. Let's take a look at not only what should be on your artist site, but what you should be updating much more frequently.
What Should Your Artist Website Say About You?
Three seconds. That's all we have. Three pitiful seconds...
- Someone lands on your artist website and if something doesn't capture their attention in 3 seconds, they are gone.
- If images don't load quickly, they are gone.
- If they cannot find the info they are seeking, they are gone.
- If there is more text than artwork, they just are NOT reading all that text.
Strive to keep the visitor on your page for as long as possible with new art and engaging content. You want them to get your visitors to (1) stay, (2) click, and (3) engage. Most importantly, the site must quickly (1) load, (2) pique curiosity, and (3) easily show where to go for more.
Engaging the visitor is the goal as soon as they land on page ONE. They must immediately understand WHO you are, WHAT you do, and WHAT will the art you create DO for them. And how will your artwork look in a living room?
There are certain things a visual artist must have on their website to relay that your wonderful art creations are exactly what they need.
Top Navigation
1. Home Page
Your Artist Name, Logo (your branding), and your BEST images, EASY navigation. Your Home page guides the visitor toward quickly understanding your purpose. Home pages should be welcoming, and should clearly identify what you do as an artist. This is most often your first impression online.
Your URLs - should be clear and concise reflecting your ArtistName.com or Brand.com. Your URL is your digital address.
2. Portfolio Page (Gallery, Body of Work)
Your artworks should be in a well organized gallery or album, broken into various categories by medium, by subjects, or products as needed. IF they want to learn more about that image, they can easily click on it to make it larger and to read more about the piece at their leisure. Make it their choice to read more (and get the clicks).
Do include context, much like a label on your artwork when its hanging at an art show. You will need for each artwork:
- Art Title
- Artwork Dimensions
- Art Medium
- The Price (if you are selling it)
- A brief description. These days the art story is an important piece to include.
- I think you should also include a picture of the framing as well or at a minimum, include a description of the frame.
3. About Page
Your Bio, your resume so to speak, where you introduce yourself to the visitor and tell the story of you. Sure this is text content so keep it to the point and not too "flowery", if you know what I mean here. Some artists use a lot of highbrow language to describe what they do, and it may not be necessary.
Include a headshot or a studio shot.
Your About page will include your bio, your artist statement (why you create), your CV (where you have been), and some images of you with your work. Your strongest and best artwork in decent high-quality images.
4. Contact Page
Make it easy for anyone to contact you.
Do you have a studio that people can visit? Let them know where/how to find it and include your visitor hours.
5. Legal Page
Consider a Privacy Policy if you are collecting and sending emails, selling artwork originals, dealing with browser cookies, need disclaimers, worried about copyright and plagiarism, you might need this Legal page and a Terms and Conditions (T&C) page.
Bottom Navigation - Additional Pages, Links to Add as Needed
6. Shop Page
Make it easy for someone to purchase from you, in as few clicks as possible. Make it as secure as possible too.
7. Services Page
Do you offer commissions? Do you offer murals? Pet portraits? Child and family portraits? SAY SO!
8. Press Page
Are you starting to build some noteworthy press? Document the news articles, magazine articles, etc. here.
9. Blog(s) Page
So many things can be on your Art Blog! Your creative process, videos, interesting things to share about your art journey. Include announcements, in the studio photos, behind the scenes looks at art shows, a day in the life of an artist.
Going to an art store to buy supplies? Share your treasures. Art supplies delivery coming in? Unpack the new toys on a video. Shipping artwork? Create a video showing how you pack your work.
If you are a good writer - by all means WRITE about what you do and what you know. Share images on things you do and places you go. The world is your oyster.
10. Courses Page
Do you offer courses? Archive those classes/courses here.
11. News/Events Page
As an artist, your news, events (potentially Press) will be documented on this page. Updates on your exhibitions, art shows, upcoming art events, announcements, what you are up to in your artistic journey could all be reflected here.
12. Exhibitions
You'll need a way to let your viewers know what art shows you are featured in with the dates, times, locations.
13. Podcast
If you have podcasts, archive them here.
14. FAQs
Everyone should have a Frequently Asked Questions page. No business or artist is awake 24x7 and monitoring their emails in order to answer incoming questions at the drop of a hat. FAQs handles quick answers to visitor and client questions.
And there is the added benefit of your site's Search Engine Optimization can also be enhanced with relevant keywords and phrases, which are beneficial to your site. Think "feed Google".
15. Newsletter / Subscription Sign Up - have a way to encourage and capture emails and archive your Newsletters.
16. Testimonials - keep track of those and use them!
17. Social Media Buttons - have them but don't be too "loud" about it - more low key links. You want to keep the visitor ON your site and not send them out elsewhere.
Just Remember on Your Artist Website...
- Keep it professional, yet reflect your personality.
- Know your target audience and who you are catering to.
- Art Collectors
- Art Enthusiasts
- Art Galleries
- Designers
- Potential Clients
- As you can, as little text as possible, that's where all those images of your artwork comes in handy! You can have the image clickable so that IF the viewer wants to learn more, they have the option to learn the title, medium, size, and price when they click for a larger view.
- Keywords - when you do have text, make it easy for anyone searching for your kind of art to find you. What would they search on to find the type of artwork you make?
How Often Should You Update Your Website?
- Did you know that it is recommended to update your artist website page content at least once a month? (Keeps your site interesting and feeds Google)
- You should plan for a major new sign design/structure every 2 or 3 years? (Same ole - same ole is OLD.)
- And that you should tweak the SEO and technical elements quarterly? (To adjust to algorithm changes and security updates.)
Websites that are not frequently updated become stale. It becomes a ghost town. Visitors, whomever they might be, gallery curators, art fans, other artists, art jurors, art judges, designers - when they see the same artwork and old dates, nothing new, they'll go to the next artist.
Maintaining your artist website goes a long way toward building trust, reliability, and relevance.
The search engines know when there is updated content, so that new content helps them understand that your site is active, is growing, and that builds their confidence that it is important.
Remember, it is NOT always the best artwork that sells. It is the artist that is often the most recognized, seen, viewed, out there, noticed...
For more info please see How Often Should You Update Your Website?
What Should You Spend Your Time Updating?
As an artist, you are always creating - I would hope! That's new content that you need to let your followers and would-be searchers/lookers and finders to learn about you and food for the search engines.
Here is a list of what you should or could be updating on your artist website, web page, and/or blog:
- As you go through your art career, dates, places, and additions will need to be updated in your art bio or other documents to keep them accurate.
- You can update your artwork images, especially if you are constantly creating new artwork.
- Update artwork images that are now sold and no longer available. If art has sold, it may be ok to keep some of it on your website, but a sold out page is ultimately rather discouraging to the viewer if they can't buy any of it.
- Are limited giclee prints or open prints available for your artwork?
- Have you received any new accolades, ribbons, honorable mentions? Those are resume updates, my friend.
- Have you taught a new class? Got pictures?
- Have you taken a new art class? What did you learn?
- What new projects are you working on?
- What new art tip can you share?
- What new art tool have you started using and can you write a review on it?
- Update your show exhibitions, dates and times, your gallery pages
- Update your art show pictures, showing you in galleries, art receptions.
- Update your news, events, press releases.
- What new studio pictures have you taken?
- Update your marquees, your current shows, your upcoming shows.
- Preview your upcoming body of work.
- Update your blog with your art world!
- Update your Copyright year in your footer.
- Watermark your images. Although you want high resolution images for collectors, curators, buyers to see, you may want to reduce your resolution slightly for online posting and promotion to discourage image theft.
- Compress your images if needed.
- Archive your Newsletters.
Why Update your Blogs
The frequency for blog post updates is at least weekly to monthly. Well written art blog post articles are the kind of content search engines feed off of. Blog articles are good for ranking your site. If you have a blog you have to feed it, regularly.
Try Your Artist Website Out Advice
- Periodically go to your website and navigate, click, and wander every page of your website. Click on every link, button, form - try everything to ensure it is still working. Fix anything that doesn't do what you expect it to do. Make notes on what needs to be updated and work that list! Look for ways to improve as you go.
- For various reasons over time, links, slow page loading, any errors or broken images may break. Updating and correcting these errors need to be fixed, ASAP.
- Ensure your visitors experience on your website is great - clear, easy, and not too wordy.
- Keep your fonts clean and easy to read. Most people are using their smartphones to view websites these days so make sure your fonts are not too fancy nor too small, especially for older eyes.
- Use the ALT Text on images so that Search Engines know what the image is about.
- Could you improve your navigation? Try to have any important page available to your visitor in 1 to 3 clicks.
- How does your website look on a mobile phone - especially if a LOT of your users access via their phones.
- Give a call to action - to buy (Add to Your Collection!), need a customized artwork? (Commission Your Piece), to like, to comment, to contact anywhere appropriate.
- Invite friends, family, art fans to your shows and events.
- If you have an art page on your art group's website, periodically update that as well. You have to look current and BUSY!
- It also pays to keep your Etsy Shop, your social media, anything that has an about you and what you do and sell updated too.
- Tweak your profiles, improve your readability, ensure clarity.
- Remove content or images, that no longer serve a purpose or adds value.
- Look around at other artist's websites, especially artists that you know are doing well, and see how their art site is set up. You don't have to reinvent the wheel, just see what works.
- It is also important to understand that your visitor may not be computer savvy. Guide them to when necessary to do this or that to find where to go and do this for that. Example: Click for more information.
@2026 Donna Liguria. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use or reproduction is prohibited without permission
Author: Donna Liguria is the Blogmaster for Donna's Cave Paintings and an artist member of the Prince William Art Society (PWAS) in Woodbridge, VA. Donna specializes in acrylic paintings of landscapes, seascapes, historic locations, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com and her Donna's Esty site to shop her art.
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