Three Common Lies

Selling online is a good thing. But I constantly hear and read three misconceptions (i.e. lies) about selling online. I thought I would share them with you ...

1. If I Build a Store I Will Get Sales
There are over a billion websites online. So just because you build an online store doesn't mean you will start selling the minute you publish your site. You have to market your art. You need to promote your store on social media, through your blog, newletter and everywhere! You need to tell everyone. All of the time.

Once you promote your online store then you will get sales. That's just how it works. I promise.

2. I Don’t Have Enough Product to Sell, So I Can’t Start a Store
Seriously? All you need are 5 - 10 paintings to open your online store. And every artist reading this blog post has five or ten paintings. You do, however, need five or ten good paintings to put in your store. Paintings you really like and paintings you think are good enough to sell. Don't panic. I think most artists reading this have at least five good paintings to sell. They are probably hanging on your walls right now.

3. It’s Expensive to Sell Online and I Can’t Afford It
Sorry, but this just isn't true. A website costs about the same monthly cost as a few cops of coffee. It used to be really hard to get a website built to sell your art. But there are a lot of great online web builders and most of you can build one yourself. (Or you can take my webinARTs class. Just click the link above to learn more.)

If you don't have an online store (or you have one that is outdated and you can't modify yourself) then you need to think about making this one of your goals for 2017. And don't pay atttention to the three misconceptions (lies) mentioned in my blog post.