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Dear Barb:
Because you're moving, and your current client base is local, changing your
focus at this time makes sense. You will want to have samples of your new line
of art ahead of time, to use for promotion on the Web and changing before the
move will help you accomplish that. Leverage your past customers for sales and
referrals.
Internet marketing is not easier or harder than traditional marketing; it's
just different. You may choose to develop your own Web site as an online
gallery for your art. Or you may want to advertise on an existing,
well-trafficked Web site. Think about the key phrases your clients might type
in when searching for your product. Make certain that your site (or a site you
advertise on) comes up high on the search engines for those key phrases. You
may want to consider key phrase advertising (where you pay for click throughs
on specific key phrases) to begin with.
If you choose to develop an online gallery of your art, be certain you have
quality photos to begin with (if you're not a good photographer, find one) and
know how to reduce the file size of those photos. Photos and other graphics
are memory hogs and if your visitor has to wait a minute or longer for a page
of photos to load, you may lose a potential customer. Think about the tradeoff
between quality representation of your work and download time.
Most people won't buy on the first visit, so change your art frequently and
give visitors plenty of reasons for returning to your site.
Check into user groups for art lovers; there you can network and possibly
promote (make certain promotion is allowed, however). And get hooked into the
Internet artist's community. You may be able to exchange links or small ads
with another (non-competing) artist.
Best of luck, Barb. Please let us know how it goes.
About the PowerHomeBiz.com Guide:
 Yvonne
Buchanan is a 20-year veteran of public relations, marketing and advertising.
She teaches public relations courses online for career changers, freelancers
and students through The PR Academy www.learnpr.com
and is co-founder of Real-World PR www.realworldpr.com
, a public relations information provider for small businesses. Real-World PR
offers public relations toolkits (manual/CD combinations) that allow small
business owners to create and maintain their own public relations programs.
The opinions expressed in this column are those of the
author, not of PowerHomeBiz.com. Users should not treat the Guide's response as
legal, accounting, or professional advice as all answers are intended to be
general in nature. Such advice can only be properly given by qualified
professionals who are fully aware of a user's specific geographical areas or
circumstances, such as an attorney or accountant.
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