Chances are, after awhile of art shows, exhibits, donations, volunteer work, frustration, insanity and bliss, your name will pop up in different documents all over the real local world, as well as the world wide web. When writing the entry about trust on the internet, I Googled myself and found that my failed (thank God!) attempt at elected public service was still showing up in news releases. Thankfully, so was ArtofJohnFrench.com!
You can use this new-found searchablity to show trustworthiness to your site users. This can be great back-up to any claims of legitimacy. If they can find you in other documents and articles, they may feel a little at ease about doing business with you.
This assumes of course, that someone has found you by searching your name. What if they find you through a general artist search? Your website is on their screen, they like your art, but how do they know you're for real? Make sure your site represents someone who is serious about delivering quality art.
Alan Bamberger is an art appraiser, art consultant, and general art guru. His website is chocked full of articles for both artists and collectors. I suggest you read both groups of articles. He wrote a book called "The Art of Buying Art". This book was written for inexperienced art collectors. Remember: It's always great to know what your prospects are thinking!This is our dream!
There is an entire chapter devoted to buying art over the internet. What I found is that buying art online is a touchy and scary thing to do because people are worried about getting ripped off. After reading this chapter, I gave my website a little overhaul.
First: I wrote a biography and installed it on my Guestbook page. In the biography I linked to most of the organizations' sites that I've been involved with. People can click on the link to the MSO and see my name on the Board of Directors list.
Second: I publicized my street address on the site. This was a little scary because of privacy concerns. However, I am trying to run a business, and people are comfortable with businesses that have actual street addresses. A prospect can even look at Google Maps and see my neighborhood, my old red minivan, and my massive pink house.
Third: Throughout the Guestbook page, I added pictures of me (in my suit coat, of course!) and my work at different events. This shows people who are shopping for art that I'm a real person doing real things with other real people.
Fourth: I offer a seven day viewing period. I don't like this idea. It scares me. However, art does not always show up well on a person's computer screen. Even if my pictures are accurate, a viewer's screen might have something wrong with it. The colors might be adjusted differently. It might be darker. So I let the customers hang their painting up and look at it for a week. If they don't like it, I get it back, minus the shipping charge. So far, I haven't had to do this! This will help ensure a prospective collector that they won't be throwing their money away. At least not all of it.
More recently, I've slowly started adding testimonials to my 'Art In Collections' page. This is my 'sold!' page. I put a photo of a beaming client with her new painting. This shows prospects that there have been very happy customers and clients.
After some hard work and patience, your life should be wonderful. Now when someone finds you online, you can show them how wonderful you are!
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