Well now that the 'Ning Thing' is happening, it is giving me a chance to go over all the things that I have been developing on this website that is geared  to help you all as artists to be able to better present and promote your art online.

 

My idea when I opened this site was just to share what I have learned about posting pictures, editing them to provide needed info for interested viewers, promoting them, getting them into search engines & ultimately selling art online.

 

Initially I planned on continuing by developing my own art business as an example for others to follow, using my site as a model for members to copy and then go and make their own artsites.

 

I made SuperGroups from my favorite bookmarks of sites I had found good for showing & selling art online in the least expensive way. I actively seek out viable free sites and ones where I could post art without out of pocket expenses or with low out of pocket expenses. Then I also list sites where I have actually had sales at, so I know that they will work for others as well.

 

Supergroups were links to those websites  that I can honestly recommend or warn about to any artist starting out online.Sites that I have tested and tried and found to be suitable for all artists along with some of the downsides of some of the PODs I have had dealings with.

 

Had I stuck to that intial plan, you would see this site contain only my own artworks.

 

After my husband died, I didnt feel like painting but instead developing the printing side of my art sales, sticking to my auctions & stores selling framable prints and cards that I print  myself and that I have listed on some of the more popular POD sites

 

I was helping to administer some other art social networks and began to put in small blog tutorials on sites I recommended for artists to sell at. I also began to give out more information on how to set & their own websites but many artists simply either cant do it or dont have time to learn & do it.

 

As a result I made some alterations to my site and invited artists to join and show their art here while it was still known as "Ave Hurley Illustrations" As more artists began to upload art, my photo section which is called Gallery here, began to get a bit chaotic. I knew that on other art social sites, that pictures when newly posted get exposure but within a few days they get lost in the photo pool, which seldom gets viewed.

 

I decided to 'organize' and asked everyone to make their own 'albums' or 'galleries' by running a contest and giving out prizes last summer 2009. This helped start albums which helped to organize by artists, all their works. I didnt want people to upload their art and for it to get lost on site, which would be a waste of bandwidth & time.

 

The name was then expanded to be known as :

Ave Hurley Illustrations ~ Featured Artists Network which was shortened to AHI-FAN and can be found in Google Search under each variation of the name.

 

 

I then bought the domain name of : www.ArtRave.com which brings more traffic to our art from search engine inquiries. By owning the domain name, if Ning were to close, I could bring this site to a new host~ so we will not be lost!! I also have set up back up satellite sites for every artist to join any and all of them to cross promote their art online.

 

Next I began to make Directories, which is an expansion of SuperGroups, so that artists as they listed their other sites, could be placed into a directory for each site, so that viewers who for example wanted to see which members here have a Zazzle shop, could simple go to our Zazzle Directory and click on any link of any participating artist and instantly be brought to their Zazzle shop. This enabled a birthing of cross promotions for each artist who takes the time to join any of our Directories where they have other member sites. It has grown into a resource for viewers wanting to check out art.

 

Since the Ning network didnt have an easy access alphabetical order for members, I began to make an Artist Directory with links to each artists galleries on my site. They do have those links on the profile pages, however often visitors come here and dont know how to search by profiles, so I began to catch up the Artist list and later on use that list to create Artist  ID#'s that when placed in front of the titles of their art, would identify their tiny thumbnails and also end up in Google search engines, providing advertising and promotions for each artist.

 

Having been an Ebay seller for years, I know how important search methods are on Ebay and since they had a Category search and a Search by Price seach, I created similar features here, that each artist can use for free to promote their art and sell direct to the public without paying any site commissions.

 

Up to this point I thought, once expanded and resources set in place, that each artist should use this site to upload their art into the right categories and put their info into the directories and edit their artwork descriptions which will also get their art into Google Search [FREE] and thus provide a way for viewers to contact them concerning buying their art. 

 

If members did this, I could run the site free [up til Ning began to charge  me fees to do this] and we all could make sales through cross promotions.

 

Instead however, once artists heard of what I was doing here, they began to join, but not really participate.

 

Most members would just come only to their own profile pages, upload their art and leave to go on to the next site, often without adding titles or descriptions and basically be what is referred to as  "Dump & Run" members~ [ those who go from social art site to social art site and upload their art and do nothing more]~

 

Such members either are not aware of what a waste of time and space this is or never read updates or forums and may be oblivious to what they need to do to make sales. Instead periodically might write to  me, complaining that they cant sell online.or that they want me to do their work for them, not realizing it is their own fault!! Art online is competitive.Millions of artists are on line worldwide and when viewers seek to buy art, they look for information to find and consider the art they are looking for. If they cant find your art, it wont be seen or sell~!!

 

I then started making tutorials in the Forum to show members how to post their art and of those who have edited their work properly and posted into all the Directories and Categories, they are having an increase of traffic to their own sites now as a result and reporting sales~!!

 

So my system works, but it will only work if  used properly which takes time and effort.

 

As the site began to gain more viewers it became necessary to start an inventory of art so that art could be searched by :

.Artist Name

.Artist ID#

.Category Topic

.Category Price

.Directory Listing .

 

All these features are unique to ArtRave and I have been manually created them, taking 100's of hours a week in editing in the background of this site, to make it work.

 

I began editing individual artist works and adding their newly created Artist ID#'s & Names to their Title bars of their art along with Tags that would place their art into Google search engines.

 

This is more work that I alone should have to do and was taking me up to 100 hours a week, just working on members art and not having time to do my own art promotions!

 

I keep asking everyone to edit their work and now make it mandatory, but still  many have not done so. For a while and still selectively I began to edit the first 20 pics of many members artworks and tell them in comments to continue editing as they added art to the site, so it can be organized and serve the public as an art promotional & sales site~.

 

Still  for whatever reasons, many artists here still not edited their work!!!

Those who did, did  great jobs of it like Nan Wright, Jacquei Essex, Robin Copper,Nydia Dominguez, Keith Hook, Peter Bastaja [to name a few], which is why their art makes it to the front page frequently while unedited works do not get shown on the front page here.

 

When I began the Topical  Art Categories, I let everyone know they can post their art directly into the Categories by using the comments features there. I told everyone to edit their info so viewers can contact them concerning their art, especially since it is supposed to be for sale.

 

While most want to sell their art, if they have not included titles, descriptions and contact info, in effect they themselves are posting their art~ not for sale to the public and their art then gets overlooked.

 

Some of these same artists may complain to me that they aren't getting sales~

Imagine going into a store that is disorganized and has no price tags!

Such a store would fail~ You need order, information and price tags to sell art online!!

 

Editing has become such a time consuming part of this site [due to lack of cooperation], that I initiated  Membership Services ~ options where members who want to promote and sell but dont do their editing can pay to have their work edited for them, as well as pay to have their art advertized and featured and blogged onto other sites. These ,membership options are very inexpensive, when considering the time involved in doing the work personally for each member.

 

APAS members get an average of 10 hours worth of computer time done on their behalf every month.

GOLD members get more than 10 hours and are featured in all the areas of advertising I now have offered.

Premium Members can have more than 60 art uploads on site and also get some promotional services and editing tips.

Each membership has also received free banners [that I custom make per artist] to use on any other sites they belong to,  as well as pay buttons for viewers to purchase their art through Paypal or whatever method chosen by the artist.

 

Then the NING THING~ While the platform and hosting of this site and others like it were initially free social websites, there were no fees to each network creator, although all the labor had to be done by each network owner.

 

Most just use the given platform and may have it initially decorated but put less than 2-4 per hours a week on their sites regarding individual comments and features & let them go automatically as is.

 

I have put in an average of  over 100 hours a week for over a year dedicated to members art~

 

It began consuming all my waking hours and in April this site made it to the top in Google searches ~ above some of the larger artsites such as Fine Art America~ Per member each member here receives more 'hits' than they would % wise on FAA~ This means the promotional development is working~ For an average of 276 members we have had ober 28,000 unique visitors in less than 1 year~ Compare it to FAA that has 1/2 million artworks and over 50,000 members and divide the their hits and you will find more here per person~

 

Continuing with the NING THING an announcement was made that as of July 20th all sites were no longer free. That means I now have to pay for this site and the amount of members and the features and bandwidth used~

 

Since these costs have now gone into effect, I opened new satellite sites, where members can continue to post art online free [as  long as those sites remain free that is] while to keep all the art here on ArtRave, I have to pay so I can not pay for everyone else. I need help in paying for this site and maintaining it.

 

You will see a "Support ArtRave Networks" by making a Donation, button on the Main Page of this site. Please consider helping to support this site~!!

 

Also there is advertising slots for Artists on the front page in the Spotlight & with  our  rotating Banner Slideshow~

 

You can advertise in either one for as little as $3.50 a month, which will help sponsor this site as we continue to grow~This will help keep the Gallery bandwidth paid for, enabling art to remain here for those artists who cannot afford to pay for upgraded memberships.

 

ArtRave is a 'member supported' network~! Click on any Membership buttons on the right side of the page for more details on the types of memberships available here at ArtRave~!

 

Thankyou~!

 

Ave