by Carolyn Edlund
Online sales are a dominant force in the art market, and a huge opportunity for entrepreneurs. Driving traffic to your art website should be an essential part of your art business strategy.
One of the most common business problems artists face is getting their art in front of the right customers. Potential collectors must become aware of your art begin the important customer journey. Online, this means that you must find a way to regularly send visitors to your art website to start that process.
What types of traffic are there, and where do website visitors come from? I interviewed marketing expert Daniel DiGriz, founder of MadPipe on this topic, who helped break down the sources of traffic and how artists can generate them. Below is an excerpt.
AS: How would you define traffic?
DD: It’s human visitors coming to your website, and your audience taking a looking at your primary sales collateral. It can also be thought of as a variety of types. You have social traffic, i.e. people coming in from your social media sites. There is local traffic, which is people coming in from local searches or a given region. And search traffic, which is people looking in Google, or Bing or what have you. Repeat traffic—that’s people who have been to your website before, but they’re coming back. Often, people take multiple times to make the decision to engage with a given brand. And referral traffic, which is where somebody told somebody else about you. For instance, most often email is an example of repeat or referral traffic.
There are other ways to think about traffic. For example when somebody comes to you, what mindset are they in? You can think about selective traffic; that’s the right buyer or the right kind of person to consider your work. Then there is relevant traffic, which is the right person in the right mindset. And timely traffic—so they’re the right person in the right mindset at the right moment to make the decision you want them to make.
AS: So artists need the right kind of traffic, and need to cultivate people in the right mindset to view their website and maybe purchase art?
DD: Let’s be explicit. I think we need to view traffic as a sales funnel. Sales funnel is a traditional phrase which reflects the mindset of people when they come to you. They enter through the top of the funnel, which is a wide open area where they are thinking about lots of things. They might not even know for sure that they’re going to buy art. But at the bottom of the funnel, they are making a decision, and it is a decision you would like them to make. The bottom of the funnel is where people are not only considering buying art – they are considering buying your art. Driving website traffic places people at the top of your funnel.
Watch the entire video interview here.
Artsy Shark has partnered with Madpipe to offer a comprehensive art business learning series titled Drive Massive Traffic to Your Art Website. The master course begins with the first module Powerful Strategies to Generate Social Traffic, which includes 3.5 hours of video training, with extensive examples and specific techniques that you can put to use when planning your own social media marketing.
The master course, priced at $250, will include modules, added monthly. In addition to the Social Traffic course, you will receive:
- Why You Need Local Traffic and How to Get It
- Secrets of Search Engine Traffic
- Generate Repeat Traffic and Increase Sales
- How to Get Referral Traffic and New Customers
Each module will also be available as a standalone course for $50, as they are released.
I have just started this course and am already so impressed. After listening to 2 of the modules, the ideas to expand my social media presence started to flow. Moreover I have found an energy to pursue this that has been lacking this year.
Anyone wanting to improve their art business needs this course. The investment in money is minimal and well worth the rewards.