3 Ways to Build a Spectacular Online Presence with Your Art
In the world of short-term and long-form content, the online space is getting crowded than ever before. Adding on to the fact that social media algorithms push for content on their own terms, the space for you to put your work out there is tightening. It may also become hard for you to even share your work in front of your own audience on certain social media platforms. On top of this, there are creatives in your industry with SEO-driven blogs and high monthly site traffic - all well connected and set-up over a long period of time and have established themselves as a reliable expert online.
As an artist, it is already competitive in the real world. You are competing against other talented peers in your local network in a niche industry you are in. It can be frustrating when you aren’t recognized for your work, especially when you are competing against the best. You put so much effort and time to put you and your work out there and it feels like it was done all in vain.
On social media, while it can be easy to be visible, it can be hard to stay visible, especially if you aren’t making content consistently. This can easily lead to burn-out and potentially a creative rut. Plus, with AI-generated art on the rise, the attention to work made by real humans become even less.
It’s not all grim though! The good news is that people continuously crave for online content and use the Internet for resources, ideas, entertainment, and more. What it means for artists is that the work you create must be unique, eye-catching, and worthy for the viewer to take a pause and be curious about you and your art.
Essentially, the online content you make with your art must be shown in a creative way, engaging for the audience, or both. Though, if you are already super talented and can make beautiful, one-of-a kind art out of a specialized craft, that in itself can be enticing to watch. You may not need these tips moving forward, so do put out content for the world to see your incredible art! If you are an artist who needs a bit of strategy to put you and your art there, this is definitely the place to be. Let’s dive in!
Why do you need a strong online presence as an artist?
A strong online presence provides you visibility and validity, building your reputation in you and your work. Online users, including potential customers and brands, can perceive people differently from those with a strong online presence and those who don’t. For instance, if someone only has a website with items for sale, it would be hard to identify if the person behind the website is legitimate and credible. On the other hand, if someone has a website, a blog, multiple social media accounts, an online shop, testimonials, and more, then this person becomes a bit more trustworthy, even to a complete stranger online.
Having a strong online presence will also help drive traffic from Google and other search platforms to your website. It can not only be a free marketing tool that works while you sleep, but also exponentially increases the chances for you and your art be seen over time. If you keep creating quality and engaging content consistently, any algorithm will leverage your content more.
It is key to not only show up online, but to show up to create credibility and, more importantly, quality experiences for the online user. This will involve creating content that is valuable to online users, in order to build trust in you and your work.
As an artist, it is important to build a strong online presence because this can leverage you as an expert in your craft and can allow you to reach audiences beyond your physical location. There are many talented artists and creatives and competition for views, work, and attention remain high. So, the more you are able to show up a stranger’s feed or searches, this increases your opportunity to not only show your work, but also get opportunities for your art, including art licensing, commissions, brand partnerships, and more.
How to build a strong online presence
Building a strong online presence is very possible, even when starting from scratch. Here are four ways to build a strong online presence!
1.Build a Strong SEO Strategy
Having a strong online presence means being visible to many people online and being able to reach audiences throughout the internet. A huge part of this is to rank high on Google searches. Search engines are typically how people find information, resources, and ideas. It is a major source for people online to find you and your work. In order to rank high on Google and other search engines, it is key to direct traffic to your website by creating useful, relevant content which are often in the form of blog posts.
On top of optimizing your website with SEO, it is important to build the habit of creating valuable content consistently. There is no way around this because it does take time for Google to recognize your website as a reliable source as you create content. However, I believe I have found a mini-hack to try to leverage your website faster.
My website went from being in the bottom of rankings to now in the top 20 with this method. I share much more details about this strategy in the video below. I also have a worksheet you can download right here.
2. Participate in Art Challenges or Competitions
Participating in local, online, or social media art challenges can help strengthen your online presence. The online and social media art challenges may make sense in this effort, but you may be wondering why and how a local art challenge can build your online presence.
The reason participating in a local art competition can be effective is because if you are recognized as a top contender and/or become the winner, the potential for the hosts, spectators, and other contenders to share your work online will be high. Also, your work will be displayed in front of people, whether it’s just the host or the public during this process, which is a great marketing tool in itself. Even if you don’t win, you are increasing your exposure to your local community and, in turn, can improve your online presence.
If you are a local artist, many people are generally supportive of you and your work. As you become a part of the local community, you can be recognized for your craft. This will help increase eyeballs to your work from a local scale and then can ultimately lead to referrals and more organic traffic to your work and your website.
Online art competitions includes those offered by brands, art galleries, magazines, and more. Some have free entries and others have a submission fee. I recommend starting with whatever you are comfortable with and what you have the bandwidth for. If you create illustrations and digital are, here are a couple you can browse through:
I have personally participated in several online art challenges over the past few years. In 2022, I participated in SHEIN’s Home is Where the He(Art) is and I was one of ten winners! I am also actively participating in design challenges by Minted and will share more about my experience in a later blog post.
You can also consider participating in social media art challenges, especially the ones on Instagram. There are ongoing opportunities to participate in Draw This In Your Style (a.k.a. DTIYS) hosted by other artists, along with collaboration challenges by notable brands like Procreate, Canva, and more. Participating in these social media art challenges can not only increase your exposure in front of brands, but also your online presence if you are selected as a winner or top contender.
While being a top contender or winner is not guaranteed and many of these design challenges are highly competitive, it is still a great way to build your skills and see other submitted work by other talented peers. You can also use your submitted artwork and experience to create content on your blog and social media.
3. Create Consistent Content Across the Online Space
A huge part of building a strong online presence is to create content that inspires, educates, entertain, and so on. In order to be visible, you need to be found by audiences who are able to access your content in different ways including blogs, podcasts, online tutorials, and social media.
You do not need to start everything all at once, but I encourage you to start with one that you can keep up consistently and then expand to other platforms. To help minimize burn out, you can also consider creating a piece of content that can be in the form of different mediums, such as blog, a reel, and a Pin.
It is very possible that if you stick to one platform alone, such as blogging, this can help drive traffic to your website. However, I have found that people find and follow me because of another platform, such as a blog post or a YouTube tutorial. Being on different platforms also helps make it easy for people to find and follow you, which contributes to building a strong online presence.
If you need content ideas, start browsing 30 Captivating Instagram Ideas for Artists and Creatives to help kickstart your creative juices!
What did you think of this blog post? Also, I would love to hear where you are with your art journey and how you are building your online presence.
Happy creating,
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If you are looking to build a strong online presence with your art, you are in the right place! Here at ChubCatArt you will find resources that will help you stand out and be seen in your art journey. Take the leap and let’s get creative together! Read more.
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