Web site value
 

There has been some talk recently regarding the value of a web site. Here's a recent good news story.

About two weeks ago I got an e-mail from a man (stranger) in another city. This man got the idea to give a portrait of his wife and granddaughter to his wife on her birthday. He searched the web and came upon my site.

He detailed that he had compared my paintings to others he had seen, checked out my prices (according to him they were all pretty close), and decided to present his wife with the idea on her birthday, which was in a few days. In a subsequent phone conversation I assured him that we could work through the distance barrier and make this happen.

In a few days I got a call from his wife, we arranged that I would travel to their home and take photographs of herself and their granddaugher.

I have since accepted the commission, made the trip, took the photographs, and collected the check. All this from a stranger in another city who found my website. I have yet to meet this tasteful, enlightened man.

Too Cool!
 

Mike, what wonderful news! I am so happy for you. May many more commissions come from this job!

Mike, that's great news. I had wondered if anyone actually contracted off only a web site and not in person at all - guess this answers that!

They absolutely do, Kim. Though I wouldn't expect your phone to ring off the hook. But, the cost of a web site in relation to one commission is usually quite small. And, Stroke of Genius aritsts have even been contacted by the White House, the US Supreme Court and the US Senate. There have been CEO's, university presidents and all kinds of portraits from web sites.

Cynthia,

Just out of curiosity, what are the average visits to the SOG websites? Do you know say - how many Mike had last month or do you just know how many the whole site had? I had over 14,000 hits last month on mine and 1600 visits. I'm linked from lots of places, I spent some time doing this and am always looking for new ways to promote it, but in the 9 months I have had it I have not had one serious inquiry from it. Do you suppose my mother could be visiting that often?

It's been beneficial in other ways like galleries looking at my work, but no commissions.

I had an awful unprofessional site about 7 years ago and that landed me work back then - I killed it after a year though, it was just awful.

Kim,

The whole site gets 100,000 - 130,000 unique visitors a month. I look more at visitors rather than hits. Hits for my site is about 2 1/2 million, but I don't think that tells me as much.

As far as individual artist statistics, I don't have access to all of those. There is a panel that shows "most accessed" and for the month of February those go from 53,453 hits / 2,934 visitors down to 19,32 hits / 1,326 visitors.

Doing the things you're doing are definitely worthwhile.

Cynthia

I've gotten one commission cold from my website. The person did a Google search for "New Jersey portrait artist" and found me, among others. Interestingly the portrait was for the 40th birthday of the CEO of a small lawn furniture business whose products we've bought over the years, so their connecting with me was quite a coincidence. This contact actually resulted in a completed commission; there have been other times when people have expressed an interest in commissioning a portrait from me after having visited my site, but when they discover that I'm in southern NJ they seem to cool quickly, even when I suggest that the distance doesn't need to be a barrier.

Mostly I use my site as an online portfolio that I can send people to so they can show my work to whomever else is involved in the portrait decision. I do get some visitors through SOG, as evidenced by my site meter, but thus far have gotten no commissions from any of them.

Aside from the obvious value of being able to show your portfolio, I think the biggest value is the ability of your web site to communicate and negotiate your fee in a detached and matter of fact way. This to me is a huge benefit, it's professional, and it takes the pressure off of both parties.

...and it's a lot easier to update than a printed brochure.

When you do a four-color print job it gets very expensive, plus postage, and you may have to print 500 or 1000 copies -- and then be stuck for a few years until you get rid of them all! With my website Cynthia has my new images and price changes up in just a couple of days.

Mike, how could I have forgotten about that benefit? That's a major use I make of my site. I often refer people there to look at my procedures and price ranges, with the suggestion that they get back to me after reviewing them. That way they don't have to be presented with a fee that they're embarrassed to admit is more than they expected to spend, in a face-to-face situation. So many people think a portrait is going to run them a couple of hundred. The sticker shock can be severe! Thanks for bringing that up.

It's great too for separating serious shoppers from browsers. I refer all cold calls to my website first, and send the portfolio only to those who indicate they want a serious discussion. It's kept me from schlepping the book to the post office for nothing so much, like in the old days. Some have made the decision straight off the site, with no hard copy portfolio at all.

I've not gotten a lot of actual commissions from the site, but they've been juicy. The most recent, a commission to paint the past president of the Naval War College in Newport, RI--a quite distinguished admiral.

Plus, imagewise, it's just a must-have now.

Best--TE

You've been holding out on me! I love to hear about things like this, Tom. Though I only rarely do a newsletter, I collect things like this and include them whenever I do the next one.