Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully.

On websites and promotion by artists

MyArtClub: Thank you very much for sharing this information Jane. Would you have any closing thoughts?

Jane: Here are my summary tips for artists:

• "Present yourself as a serious artist but don't be too serious"
• "Keep your emails informative and brief but slightly personal and fun"
• "A little goes a long way! - Use what ever feedback you get to motivate you to do more - even if it's criticism."
• "Make an effort to get feedback: Show your work (framed and unframed); talk about art in general; send out emails even if they are not regular; just do it!"
• "Have as many business cards as you can manage: home, pockets, wallets, and car but do give them out and make sure they are where your paintings are so people have access to them. It takes many business cards to get one contact. It's money well spent. Sometimes I have given the same person a dozen cards because they lost it or what ever but I may still offer another to them. Also include your website address (link) with every email you send with your signature (This can be added to a signature by clicking Insert then signature).
• "Talk with a lot of people and ask what they do and tell them what you do". It only needs to be brief: " MyArtClub.Com" says it all!
• "Hang to show to new people as much as possible but also keep past admirers included, or at least updated"
• "Pat yourself on the back once in a while - even if it's just to let someone know what you do or have just done."
• "Believe in yourself and others will too."
• And lastly, "Good Luck!"-because I am sure that's also part of it!

Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council.

About Jane Appleby
Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council.

Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article.

This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9

Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since the spring of 2000. Jane's site has consistently attracted high numbers of visitors each month. So we sat down with Jane for an in-depth discussion on her approach to her website, and her thoughts generally about promoting her art successfully.

On websites and promotion by artists

MyArtClub: Do you have to spend a lot of time working on your website to have these levels of visitors?

Jane: No - Only to put new images on it and a few shows or classes that come up. Again, a little goes a long way!

MyArtClub: What are the main benefits to you of having your site?

Jane: An Internet gallery is the main benefit. I believe it adds a certain degree of professionalism and enables some feedback.

A belief in taking what I do seriously while maintaining the Internet gallery is also a part of this: it makes me feel more business savvy. Whether that helps I don't know. However "if you believe in yourself then so will others" - that's the motto I go by. It helps with sales too.

As a side note the site has been more useful as a gallery than a chat room and that's what I prefer it to be. Even though no sales have been ordered through the site by email I must say it helps people make decisions on their art purchases; whether they are mine or not.

Further it helps not to only judge your worth by the amount of sales you do. And if I am contributing to influencing people's perspective on visual arts than that in itself is satisfying.

MyArtClub: You show 30 artworks on MyArtClub.Com. You have included some links to other sites. You are often in the MyArtClub.Com "Calendar of Events". Are there some things you do that you find create interest in your art more than others?

Jane: I would say having more than 10 art works adds to the site as it gives a fuller range of what I do.

The links help show the validity of belonging to an organization such as the Federation of Canadian Artists or a certain Gallery and that helps people know you are for real and not just a Cyber Being of some sort. Whether the links from the other sites help bring viewers I am not sure but again even if its one that's better than none.

The "Calendar of Events" is there for those that come across it so it should be up to date however I think it's the mostly the art that keeps people coming back. So I guess it helps to have new work and photos that represent the work properly. I take the digital photo straight on, and then I crop and edit colours so that the painting looks as good as possible. If the painting is good but the picture is poor I get a better picture.

For example: "Angels Among Us" was taken on slide film and then transferred to a disc by London Drugs. Even though they did a good job, the image worked much better taking it digitally in the first place. So I did not include the image till I got a better digital image from my camera. "Get the picture?"

In Part 4 of the article, Jane provides a summary of her tips for artists.

About Jane Appleby
Jane Appleby has been an artist on MyArtClub.Com since spring 2000. She is program coordinator and past president of the Burnaby Artist Guild, as well as active member of the Federation of Canadian Artists, Artfully Yours and the Burnaby Arts Council.

Our thanks to Jane Appleby for her valuable contribution with this article.

This article was first published in the My Art News Letter #9