Create an Artist Website: Make Your Mark With a Top Site

Millions of people work in culture. Competition is high, not just in real life, but also online. A high-quality website can help you set yourself apart, but how to make one?

In this article, we'll let you know why artists need websites, how you can make one, and what sort of content to include.

Whether you're a musician, an actor, or a painter, you probably don't have enough time to learn how to code or program. You also might think that art speaks for itself. Or maybe you have a YouTube account and are confident that's enough? While all of these are good and true, in the digital age, you'll need a website for the following reasons:

Broadly speaking, your imagination is the only limit on what you can put on your website: After all, as an artist, creativity is your job. With that said, there are a few elements that you should include:

Your homepage determines whether visitors take a look around or navigate away. Website bounce rates (the percentage of visitors who immediately leave) range from 26-70%. This is significant and has much to do with a visitor's first impression.

Make sure that the following information is clearly visible on your homepage:

What makes your art unique? How are you different from your peers? Try to answer these questions with images. We recommend investing in a professional photographer.

In addition, you can also use your homepage to briefly introduce yourself, so that visitors know a little bit about who you are and what you do. Don't load your homepage with long biographical narratives though.

In the "About Me" section, you should detail your life, accomplishments, and career highlights. It's possible to list these, however, make sure that it doesn't look like a tax return or long-winded resume. Don't include each and every engagement or exhibition you've participated in.

You also might want to consider explaining what motivates you here. How did you get involved with painting? Or why did you start learning guitar? Which actor inspired you to pursue a stage career? Try to strike a balance between intriguing your audience without boring them. Including too much jargon and text will work against you.

As an artist, you're defined by your personality and ability, but most importantly, by your art. For that reason, show off what you've done! You can display your newest painting, a scene that you're proud of, or a song that your band recorded for your new album. Writers can include samples or chapters of their work.

If you've been around for a while, your portfolio can easily turn into a huge archive: Remember, less is more. A website can never fully replace a piece of art or adequately depict an artist. Instead, try to make a good first impression. Five carefully chosen, high-quality images can do more to impress your visitors than a vast gallery with hundreds of photos.

If you'd like to invite visitors to step into your world, give them some food for thought, or explain your work in greater detail, you might want to consider including a blog. When using a website builder, it's easy to integrate an artistic blog onto your site. Thanks to the number of templates available, creating new posts is intuitive.

Keep in mind that a blog only increases your reach if it's regularly updated and includes high-quality content. Managing such a blog takes time. Should the amount of value it returns not be enough, it's better to stick with social media, like Instagram.

Artists, like most people, enjoy receiving positive feedback and suggestions. More important than that, potential clients or customers should have an easy way to book your services or purchase your creations. For this reason, a contact form is an absolute must for any artist's website.

Website builders and WordPress offer standard contact forms that include spam protection.

Alongside the essentials like a homepage or portfolio, you can also think about adding the following to your site:

Once you've decided to create a website showcasing your artistic skills and abilities, you'll need to figure out how you're going to do it. The answer depends on the amount of time and money you're willing to invest, as well as your technical skills. Below, we'll show you four different options.

Dynamic websites with graphics, buttons, and forms are typically programmed with PHP or JavaScript. By writing the code yourself, you'll enjoy maximum flexibility.

Lots of graphic designers have dabbled in web design. However, programming an entire website requires quite a bit of time and expertise. If you always wanted to learn more about coding, this could be a great learning opportunity. At the same time, if your skills aren't up to the task and you don't have time or energy to improve them, chances are that one of our other methods will be more feasible.

If you're fine with someone else programming your website, there are several freelancer portals like Upwork and Freelancer.com where you can find and hire pros. Such experts will then handle technical aspects like coding and hosting, as well as make suggestions about your website's design and layout. In comparison to the results achievable with website builders, your site will be truly bespoke albeit, cost much more.

A typical artist website with 6-8 subpages will anywhere from $2,500-3,500. Should you have special requests, the price can quickly increase. Since freelancer platforms generally take a cut of any project fee (from both sides), you'll also find freelancers at lower rates on social networks. If pursuing this variant, make sure that the quality is up to your standards and that the individual you're working with is reputable before paying.

In the event that you don't have any budgetary constraints, you can get in touch with an agency that specializes in websites. These generally consist of graphic designers as well as backend and frontend developers and cost more than freelancers.

A content management system allows anyone to create a website using ready-made elements such as text blocks, headers, image galleries, menus, and widgets. Since you'll visually work with all of the elements, you'll be able to build an entire website without writing a single line of code. Once satisfied, you can customize your site's layout in the platform's editor, where you'll immediately see all changes.

WordPress, the most popular CMS in the world can be downloaded for free at Wordpress.org. It comes with thousands of free themes, many of which are designed specifically with artists in mind. Among its seemingly endless plugins are apps that enhance the platform's capabilities or add new ones. One of the most popular of these, Yoast, provides detailed statistics and analysis of your website's traffic.

If using WordPress, you will have to take care of hosting separately. This requires signing up with a separate service and purchasing a domain. Also, keep in mind that you'll need to set aside some time to familiarize yourself with WordPress so that your site doesn't look amateurish.

Website builders are even more user-friendly than WordPress, which can overwhelm beginners with its numerous menus and options. Solutions like Wix or Squarespace allow even the most technically unskilled user to put together a professional-looking website with a minimal investment of time and effort. Such platforms also feature free templates, however, be aware that your design options will be limited compared to other methods.

One big advantage website builders have is that their premium subscription plans include a domain and hosting. This makes it possible for freelance artists to visually create and host a website containing lots of images and videos for a very small investment.

We tested 12 of the leading website builders. Below, we'd like to briefly introduce you to our TOP 3.

Thanks to its multitude of templates, Wix* is one of the leading website builders and our top pick. Artists can look forward to plenty of designs that will help accentuate their work.

You can easily create image and even video galleries with nothing more than a few clicks. Or, maybe you'd like to add an event calendar or social media widgets to your website? If you offer lessons or meetings, you can integrate the "Online Booking" module to help visitors book appointments with you online.

Taken together, Wix has everything that's needed for an artist's website. As if that wasn't enough, its rates are fair and can be scaled to your needs. For around $15 per month, you'll get a domain as well as the ability to host videos.

Second place on our list went to Squarespace, which offers artists (and everyone else) high-quality templates. Just like with Wix, you'll design by dragging and dropping ready-made content blocks in its editor. These include options for text, videos, calendars, newsletters, and plenty of other elements.

Choosing between Wix and Squarespace is mostly a matter of taste. Wix is easier to use, however, if you're intending to blog, Squarespace offers more options, particularly for those who are artistically or creatively minded. For example, posts can be planned in advance, while podcasts and newsletters can be integrated.

Jimdo was among the first website builders on the market and still has a few tricks up its sleeve. One of these is its simplicity: In comparison to Squarespace and Wix, templates and options are slightly limited, however, this makes it possible to create a professional website in a matter of minutes.

Image galleries, events, and media files can all be easily integrated into a Jimdo website. Should you have a limited amount of time and want a straightforward, no-frills website, Jimdo offers a great alternative to Wix and Squarespace.

These days, there are hundreds of different website builders on the market. If none of the platforms in our TOP 3 was particularly appealing, you'll find lots of other options in our comprehensive review series. My Website by IONOS, for example, offers a nice variety of design options, while Weebly, noted for its device-friendly nature, impressed us with its creative templates.

Below, you can see the full ranking of all services from our sample:

There's no reason why an artist shouldn't have their own website these days. A professional web presence showcases your achievements and skills while informing potential clients about what they can expect from you. To effectively promote yourself and your art online, be sure to include a short bio, portfolio of your work, high-quality photos, well-written text, and a calendar of your upcoming performances or appearances.

Even if web programming isn't one of your skills, you can easily create a website with a CMS like WordPress or a website builder. Should you rather leave the job to the pros, expect to pay around $2,500-3,500 for a bespoke website, however, this is just a rough estimate.