It’s only been a few short weeks since we launched Imagekind and yet we have about 1,000 members already. The comments and feedback have been astounding so far and we encourage your ideas for improvement. Those of you have have submitted feedback can see how fast we can implement many of your change requests. In fact, have you seen the pages yet? The home page is new as is the Featured Members page and the Recent Galleries page. A new, easier to use artist admin area is next!

Marketing your work with Imagekind

Since we launched the website, we’ve learned a lot about how artists are using the site to expand visibility of their work. I thought I’d pass along a few thoughts that might be helpful to some of you based on questions received from other artists.

Question: How do I use “Tags” and what are they for?

Answer: If you look at our tags page you can see that many of the tags don’t make any sense. For example, one tag says “greenness”. Another says “circuition”. What a lot of artists and photographers don’t realize is that tags are really just keywords that are intended to help shoppers find your work. If you use words that are not real words a shopper would enter, then the use of that tag may not be effective in directing users to your ImageKind page. Think like a shopper! What words REALLY describe your work? Use real words that will be the best magnets to your art. Does it use a lot of blue? Maybe consider simply using “blue” as one of the tags. Remember, the more descriptive words you use the more options you are giving a shopper to discover your work. Using hyphens in your tags? Think twice! Would a shopper use a hyphen the same way you do? Now is the time to log back into your account and rethink those keywords for each image! If you use a word that someone else is NEVER likely to enter in a search box, then you’re not helping shoppers find you! Also, only use single words unless you think two word tags are required (for example “New York”).

Question: How can I use my artist bio page to make a difference?

Answer: There are A LOT of galleries with REALLY good images where the artist did not take the time to enter any information about themselves or their gallery. So, shoppers find their art but no (or little) information about the artist. You only have to enter biographical information about yourself once! Again, think like a shopper! The more information you can provide about you and your work the more likely you are to make a real connection with a buyer. Also, remember that you can use this area to market yourself! Got an upcoming exhibition? Put that in your bio! After all, you can update it whenever you want!

Question: I uploaded art but don’t see my images anywhere. Where did it go?

Answer: You may have noticed in your member admin that each gallery has a public, private and locked setting. Why? Well, for starters not every user of Imagekind wants their material to be viewable by every visitor – like a wedding photographer using the system to provide framed prints to customers. So, each gallery starts private. That means the gallery URL works fine! But, the material isn’t in the public site or search engine. That way, the wedding photographer can send the gallery link to customers so they can make print selections without that content being viewable by every other shopper to the Imagekind site. If you choose “locked” as an option, then you are simply required to enter a password but that gallery is also private. If you choose “public” as most members do, there is often a brief 24 hour delay before you can view your art on the site. Why? Some uploaded content intended for display on our site may be inappropriate material. Or, copyrighted material. Or, intended for an adult audience. You get the idea! If you don’t see your art on our site, then just be sure you have selected “public” and be sure you give us 24 hours to approve the content.

Question: What’s a Pro Account? A Platinum Account?

Answer: Everyone gets a free account which allows one gallery with up to 24 images. However, some members want to open more than one gallery. For example, maybe a “landscape” gallery and a “architecture and buildings” gallery. Pro and Platinum accounts are very inexpensive ways for artists to create multiple galleries and upload many more images. But the best part? Pros and Platinum members get 5% commission on sales of mats, frames and glass sold to shoppers with their images in addition to the mark-up for the print itself. A full review of the account types can be found here.

Featured Artists

Every so often, we’d like to tell you about great artists and Imagekind members.

Nate Owens: Nate Owens was an early Imagekind member who figured out that he could sell prints through Imagekind directly from his own website. He built his galleries on Imagekind and then links from his images on his own website directly to each gallery. He’s a fantastic western illustrator whose paintings are usually done in traditional media such as oils, acrylics and watercolor.

Did you know you can link to your art from your website too? In your member admin area you’ll see we added Imagekind “BUY MY ART” banners that you can use to put on your personal website. Just cut and paste the provided code snippet into the HTML of your website and you’ll have button which directly links to your Imagekind gallery.
Asbjorn Lonvig: This Danish artist is a relatively new pro member but his work is extensive. Check out his gallery at http://lonvig.imagekind.com/rome and you’ll see an amazing body of work that has a very unique European style. Asbjorn’s clean design, simple shapes and bright colors earned him The World of Art Award 2006 for best practice in art and culture.

Thank you!

Thanks for participating with us. This new art site really is a work of sweat and tears and we hope you enjoy it. We’ve got most of the big bugs worked out and we’ll be adding more shopper enhancements over the coming weeks. Let us know what enhancements you want to see! As you’re starting to see, this site is entirely about artists and photographers selling art prints…it’s about you!

Kind Regards,

Kelly Smith
Imagekind Founder & CEO
kelly@imagekind.com