MAKER-SELLER SALES OPPORTUNITIES

There's a great deal of readily available sales space on the Internet even without developing a website of your own, and much of it is offered at very low cost or even for free. There are a lot of websites that offer some amazing display features to Artists including people working in the so called Applied Arts, that's people producing Functional and Wearable Art such as teapots, furniture, handmade cloths and jewelry. A list of some of the best sites for artists to list on is further down this page. 
 
Selling over the Internet doesn't have to mean an implicit commitment to ship long distances. Many Free Listings for Artist sites offer regional search functions to potential buyers and allow sellers to state limitations to shipping. Adding an Artist's profile and other information is generally easy.

Of course, having your own personal artists website allows much greater flexibility and control over the business image you wish to project. Whether you are hoping to supply a major company with handmade office furniture, or simply advertise your local market focused craft activities, (www.freshsilver.com) website pages can be built to craft the appropriate impression. 

A single artist site will not get attention without being promoted. It will need to be submitted to lots of directories to get credibility with search engines and begin showing up in search results. You should not need to pay to be included. There are several mega-all-encompassing free directories. 

More useful are directories set up to promote artists from a particular region, state or country like trulycanadianmade.com, an excellent site for Canadian artists and craftspeople. Also useful are regional tourism promoting websites like British Columbia's GoBC that list artists studios with links to their websites.

Few Maker-Sellers find that Internet based sales come close to matching sales that can be made at a Craft fair or a good Farmer's Market where people can touch the items and meet the Artisan. However the promotional aspect should not be overlooked. There may not be much willingness to buy Artists work on line but more and more people are using the web to research products and locations before they go shopping. Many Maker-Sellers list their items on a lot of sites and by using their name and physical location prominently are able to be found on searches aimed at their region which in turn brings buyers to their door.

Here are some sites where artists can show work for free in 2012.

ArtWanted.com  This smoothly functioning site allows each artist to add 50 listings of artwork items per year to a personal portfolio with a free membership. ArtWanted.com be searched regionally using the advanced search function. This site deserves to be top of the list. Artists can sell directly from their portfolios on the site and place links to their own website.

ArtsCad.com is a huge site with a very international feel and following. It offers an amazing and somewhat overwhelming set of promotional tools for setting up an Artists gallery even on the free account. You can sell directly from the site without commission fees. The free portfolio account allows 20 items to be listed. No local search function.

The Saatchi Gallery On-Line provides a gallery service that is free to both buyers and sellers. Predominately Fine Artists but the site also accepts submissions from Designer-makers of Functional Art.

Fineartamerica.com This substantial site is mainly set up to reproduce prints from paintings and drawings. Original artwork including functional art is welcome but cannot be purchased directly from the site. Links out to Artists sites are allowed. The search function can deliver the artists that are most local to the viewer.

Etsy.com   Not free but very low-cost, Etsy encourages local sales with two variations of regional search functions on the main page. This site is designed to sell artwork to the public. Etsy does not allow links out to an artist or craft persons own website.

Artatoo.com  A nicely international free site for Artists that makes it easy to search by country so buyers can find local artists. No direct selling from this site but links to artists websites are allowed.

Redgage.com  Not exclusively for Artists, and not a site you can sell directly from. However Redgage accepts, and indeed pays for (see article) images and links to other sites making it a great compliment to free listings elsewhere.