High-quality images of your artwork are essential, but large file sizes can slow down your site, leading to a poor user experience. TinyPNG is an easy-to-use tool that helps you compress images without sacrificing quality, ensuring your website remains fast and visually appealing. I am not happy with my site speed and am currently optimizing images. I thought it might help to share how to optimize images for your artist website with this tool.
According to Google’s official Search Central Blog, they prioritize faster websites as a ranking factor, stating that “faster sites create happy users” and “when a site responds slowly, visitors spend less time there.
Better User Experience
A quick, seamless browsing experience encourages visitors to explore more of your work.
How to Use TinyPNG to Optimize Your Images.
Step One: Prepare Your Files
Save your images in PNG or JPEG format. Make sure the dimensions are suitable for your website.
Step Two: Upload to TinyPNG
Go to www.tinypng.com and upload up to 20 images at once. Drag and drop your files directly onto the page for convenience.
Step Three: Download the Optimized Files
TinyPNG will compress your images while maintaining high visual quality. Download the optimized versions to use on your website or social media.
Step Four: Replace or Upload Your Images
Upload your new image or swap out the larger files on your site for the compressed ones to improve performance.
Bonus Tips
It’s Free
With a free TinyPNG account, you can compress up to 20 images at a time, each with a maximum file size of 5MB. While there isn’t a clearly defined monthly limit, most sources indicate you can compress around 100 images per month for free. To handle larger volumes or bypass these restrictions, upgrading to a paid TinyPNG plan is required.
Batch Compression
You can Optimize several images at once to save time.
File Naming
Use descriptive file names (e.g., bluegrass-musician-painting.jpg) to boost SEO.
Check Your Dimensions
Resize images to the maximum display size needed for your website before uploading them to TinyPNG. You can find this in the Help or Knowledgeable section of your platform.
Make an Impact with Your Images
By optimizing your images with TinyPNG, your artwork will look professional while your site remains fast and efficient. Use this simple tool to elevate an online presence.
Use this Target Audience Worksheet to Create A Buyer Persona
This week’s video overviews a target audience worksheet that will help you as you go deeper into researching your audience.
Weekly Video Recap
Create a Buyer Persona
A buyer persona is a profile of your ideal customer, including their demographics, interests, behaviors, and motivations. Completing one or more buyer personas for your current or potential audience is helpful in research and future marketing strategy.
Use existing client data if available or make educated guesses about your ideal customer based on what you’ve worked on in Identifying an Audience. The worksheet is a dynamic tool that can evolve as you go.
Stop! Before You Do Anything Else, Set up Your Art Inventory System
This week’s Art Is An Advantage video discusses the importance of an artwork inventory system and the options for setting one up.
Weekly Video Recap
Setting up a system to track your art inventory keeps you organized and makes you more efficient in the long run.
Options for Your System
Here are some options for keeping track of your artwork inventory:
Spreadsheets
Spreadsheets are the tried-and-true method of organizing data, and they can serve as a simple yet effective way to inventory your artwork. Programs like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets allow you to create customizable tables to input details such as artwork title, dimensions, medium, creation date, pricing, and location. While spreadsheets offer flexibility and familiarity, they may lack specialized features tailored to the needs of artists. But they are a great place to start quickly organizing your information.
Hybrid Platforms
Hybrid platforms such as Airtable and Notion are examples of cloud-based platforms. They combine a spreadsheet’s simplicity with a database’s functionality, allowing you to organize and manage data flexibly. It offers customizable views, real-time collaboration, templates, integrations with other apps, and automation features.
Art Inventory Software
If you seek a more comprehensive solution, art inventory software provides specialized features explicitly designed for managing artwork. Platforms like Artwork Archive offer robust tools for cataloging artworks, tracking inventory, recording sales, generating reports, and creating online portfolios.
Online Platforms and Marketplaces
Many online platforms and marketplaces cater to artists looking to showcase and sell their work while offering inventory management features. Websites like Etsy, Saatchi Art, or your artist website can serve as platforms for organizing your artwork inventory.
How to Choose
When considering options for inventorying your artwork, evaluate your needs, preferences, and budget. The best inventory solution for you could depend on factors such as the size of your art collection, your level of technical expertise, your budget, and your long-term goals as an artist.
The Bottom Line
Whether you opt for a traditional spreadsheet, a dedicated software solution, or an online platform, organizing and cataloging your artwork will streamline your administrative tasks, enhance your professionalism, and help you maximize opportunities.
Some of the links provided are affiliate links, meaning that I make a small commission if you buy through my link. For more info, check out my Terms page.
If you’ve attended one of my events or worked with me one-on-one, you’ve heard me mention Artwork Archive. It’s a tool I use daily for my artist clients. My enthusiasm for it grows more and more every time I use it.
This powerful platform offers many features to streamline various aspects of your art business, from inventory management and sales tracking to marketing and exhibition planning.
Here are some of the ways this tool can help your art business.
Inventory Management
Artwork Archive provides artists an intuitive platform to catalog and manage their artwork inventory. With features like customizable categories, detailed descriptions, and storage of high-resolution images, you can easily organize your art collection. This organized approach makes tracking each artwork’s details, location, history, and pricing simple, helping you maintain an accurate and up-to-date inventory.
Simplified Sales Tracking
Keeping track of sales is crucial for understanding your business’s financial health. Artwork Archive enables you to record sales, generate invoices, and track payments, all within the platform.
Streamlined Contact Management
Building relationships with collectors, clients, galleries, and fellow artists is integral to your art business’s growth. Artwork Archive offers a contact management feature that allows you to maintain a comprehensive contacts database. You can easily access their information, track interactions, and communicate directly through the platform, enhancing your networking capabilities.
Effortless Exhibition Planning
Planning an exhibition can be a complex process. Artwork Archive simplifies this by providing tools to organize exhibitions, manage event details, and keep track of artwork loans.
Online Public Profile
In today’s digital age, having an online presence is crucial for artists. It offers a customizable public profile where you can showcase your art collection, share your artistic journey, and connect with potential buyers and collaborators. This professional portfolio platform boosts your online visibility and establishes your credibility as an artist. I still recommend a dedicated website, but there are ways to use this tool to enhance your digital presence.
Data Storage and Backup
Your valuable art inventory, sales records, and contacts are stored securely on the platform’s cloud-based servers, eliminating the risk of losing important information due to hardware failures. Additionally, regular backups ensure your data is safe and accessible at all times.
Time-Saving Automation
By automating many time-consuming tasks, this tool frees up more of your time for creativity. Instead of managing spreadsheets and paperwork, you can focus on producing art and engaging with your audience. This improved efficiency allows you to balance artistic pursuits and administrative responsibilities better.
Give it a try.
In the competitive world of selling art, leveraging the right tools can significantly impact your success. Artwork Archive offers artists a comprehensive platform that simplifies inventory management, sales tracking, contact management, exhibition planning, and more.
Don’t take my word for it though. Give it a try for yourself. Artwork Archive offers a free 14 day trial with no need to give a credit card. If you like the trial, you can then purchase it at a 20% discount.
I am an affiliate and will receive a small referral fee if you decide to purchase Artwork Archive. But, please know, I only recommend things that I use or really believe in!
Send me your questions!
If you decide to try it out, send me an email at becky@artisan-advantage.com if you have any questions while you are using it.
Do you plan once for your year and then not look at it again for the rest of the year? If you do, you’re not alone. It’s not uncommon to make solid plans and then get so busy with your work that you don’t check back in to assess how things are going.
Or, do you not have a plan but rather roll with things, creating work and putting it out there on your website or social media, hoping something will happen? Again, you’re not alone. The good news is there is always time to start making a plan.
You may have a plan and want to be more productive and assess how to improve things along the way.
For all three of these scenarios, and everything in between, join an upcoming art marketing round table where we will talk about doing a mid-year review for your art business and sharing productivity and planning tips.
How to do a Mid-Year Review for Your Art Business
Planning is for more than just the beginning of the year. Artists should periodically take stock of how things are going and where they need to adjust their plans. Do this with a mid-year review. And, if you’ve never made a plan for your business, you don’t have to wait for the beginning of the year to start. Instead, learn strategies to get started with art business planning at any stage of the game.
This art marketing round table will focus on a mid-year review of your art business. We will discuss the review process and areas you should consider when going through this process. Discussion points will include assessing your performance, systems, and goals over the past six months. Then, take that information to determine areas of adjustment and improvement for the rest of the year. This comprehensive evaluation will guide your decision-making in growing a vibrant art business. Going through this process will help you to re-evaluate and clarify goals, optimize your practices, and foster a plan for business growth.
We will also discuss productivity and time management techniques.
Art Marketing Round Table: Mid-Year Planning – Wednesday, June 21, 2023
Email marketing has become an important for businesses, including art businesses. Sending targeted, well-designed emails to your customers and subscribers can help you build relationships, promote your artwork, and boost sales. However, with the wide selection of email marketing services available, how do you select the right one for your art business?
Identify your email marketing goals
Before diving into the selection process, assessing your art business goals and how your email marketing will support them is important.
Consider your budget
Email marketing services come in different pricing plans, from free to expensive. Starting with a free service should be fine if you are just getting started. Some services charge based on the number of subscribers or the number of emails sent, while others have a fixed monthly fee. Different services offer different features at various pricing plans, so you should be able to find one that meets your budget.
Evaluate the features
Different email marketing services offer different features. Some key features include email templates, list management, automation, segmentation, A/B testing, analytics, and integrations with other tools. List the features you need and compare them across different services.
Check the deliverability rate
The deliverability rate is the percentage of emails that reach your subscribers’ inboxes. A high deliverability rate is crucial to the success of your email marketing campaigns. Look for a service with a good reputation for deliverability and measures to prevent your emails from being marked as spam. This article from EmailToolTester reviews popular services for their deliverability rate.
Try before you buy
Most email marketing services offer a free trial or plan with limited features. Take advantage of this to test the service and see if it meets your needs. Make sure to test all the features you need and evaluate the platform’s ease of use.
Look for user reviews
Finally, look for user reviews of the email marketing service you’re considering. User reviews can provide valuable insights into the service’s strengths, weaknesses, and user experience.
Just Start!
In conclusion, choosing a reliable marketing service is important, but even more crucial is just starting. Use these tips as a guide, but avoid getting too bogged down with analysis. Searching online will find you many review on different services. I used Mailchimp for years and recently switched to MailerLite, and it was an easy transition. You can always do the same.
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