Have you ever dreamed of becoming a paid artist? Do you have paintings sitting around you'd like to sell but don't have a clue how to do it? I used to feel the same way until I started to research different avenues available on the web. The internet has opened the doors and made that dream a reality for many artists to become paid working artists. I too have successfully sold many paintings online and I thought maybe other artists would like to hear about some of the things I've learned.



Let me first state that the following information is directed toward anyone who wants to sell his or her artwork and doesn't care if it is done through a gallery or not. This is more of a 'do-it-yourself' technique.

You can start off by creating a personal website to showcase your artwork. Nowadays, you can build it yourself with custom template sites (such as Names Direct.com or Go Daddy.com) or you could hire someone to do it for you. I suggest you do it yourself, that way each time you want to add new content to your site you won't have to pay someone else to do it.

In order to build a website, you will need a personalized domain name. To find a company that sells domain names just do a google search for 'domain name availability' and you'll find hundreds to choose from. Try to pick something that sounds like you. For example, I have two domain names; GaylesPaintings.com and GayleEtcheverry.com. I decided to use two domain names because often people have a hard time spelling my last name.

A second option for showing off your artwork is by starting a personal blog. There are many companies available for this free service - two most popular being Blogger.com and Wordpress.com. This is probably the easiest way to display your artwork. In addition, a great feature blogs offer is an RSS feed. RSS feeds keep your fan base in the loop of all new content added to your blog. For example, once you upload a new painting to your blog, anyone who signed up for your RSS feed will instantly know about it!

If you don't already own a digital camera, you might want to do some research and purchase one. You can find a great camera for under $300. It is the perfect tool for uploading pictures of your art to your computer and then to the web.

A couple of options for places to sell your artwork on the web are EBay and Etsy. These are favorites for many because of the massive number of hits they receive from buyers each day. Buyers from all over the globe search for & purchase artwork for a range of prices and styles of art. This gives them the ability to buy original artwork no matter where they live. To use these services you will be charged service fees, but they are much lower than the 50% commission charged by galleries. And, you can use PayPal for quick credit card transactions. To help with traffic, be sure to add links between these listings and your blog/website.

Some artists just sell their artwork directly on their website and go without sites like EBay or Etsy. I've personally tried both. Mostly, I sell paintings on my site, but sometimes I do list paintings on the other sites. But if you are new to all of this, starting out on a site like EBay or Etsy will make it very easy for you.

Another point I would like to make is in order to become successful at anything, you'd better become a great networker. If you are unfamilar with the term 'networker' then read on - a networker is a connector, one who builds business relationships on a win-win basis. Zig Ziglar is one of the worlds leading sales experts who said it best, "You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want."

No matter where you go, you should always be prepared for networking either on the street or on the computer. The first thing to do is tell everyone in your life that you are selling your artwork online and you'd appreciate them helping to spread the word. If you should meet new people, kindly ask what kind of referrals they could use for their business and then tell them the types of referrals you would like to receive. Not sure of they type you are looking for? You want referrals of people who like to buy art, especially one-of-a-kind pieces created by you! Don't forget to always have business cards on hand with your blog/website domain name, and contact information so people can get a hold of you to buy your art.

Now that you'll be on the computer promoting your blog/website, you should join some of the free social networking sites available on the web. You can find thousands of options with social networking, Myspace and Facebook being two of the most popular. I'd like to suggest you also join groups that specifically allow business networking, groups like JasonsNetwork.com. Once a member, upload photographs of your artwork with links to your site. Being a part of groups like these will give you access to unlimited new paying fans!

One last piece of advice I'd like to share with you is to never give up. Just keep plugging away at promoting yourself and your art. Collect email address of those who want to stay current of your new works and email everyone each time you make a new post. Ask those on your email list to forward it to others so you can find new fans. It may take a little bit of time to build you fan base, but you'll begin to see the exponential potential in selling artwork online in no time!