Work smART Artists details information relevant to the business of being a commercial Internet Artist.


Article writing: A method for creating one way links to your web site, and increasing your presence on the Internet.

Client trust: It is essential that artist's web sites cultivate trust, and encourage visitors to become clients. Customer confidence can be gained through appropriate web site content, thoughtful design, and taking steps that show you are responsible.

Copyright: All Artists need to be aware of the copyright laws, and know how to safeguard opportunities to maximise commercial gain form their artwork.

Data protection: If you hold information about customers, whether it’s on paper, in data files, or on a web site, the Data Protection Act 1998 applies to you. This article provides an overview of the Act, to help you better understand your legal obligations.

Distance selling: Artwork purchased on the strength of a small digital image seen on a PC screen can look very different life-size and in the flesh. It is wholly reasonable to anticipate that some customers might change their minds about their purchase once they have received the goods. The purpose of the distance selling legislation is to give consumers confidence where there is no face-to-face contact with the seller, and the right to change their mind.

Google: Are you getting the maximum possible benefit from Google?

Health & safety: No regulations, just common sense advice to preserve your physical and financial safety.

Image licensing: If you produce any form of artwork on paper (canvas, etc), you might occasionally have the opportunity to sell copies your images for use in printed material, or as a digital graphics. This article provides and overview of licensing options, and pricing hints.

Internet protection: This article is not specific to Artists, but details other types of protective measures that should be taken by web site owners.This article details why you need in-bound links, and some methods of gathering them.

Link exchanges: This article details why you need in-bound links, and some methods of gathering them. Add your site details to Work SmART Artists; links to artist, links to art related sites.

Marketing: Read any information on marketing and you will find it to be a highly bureaucratic process, peppered with jargon and buzz words. The aim of this article is to describe marketing in uncomplicated terms, pertaining specifically to artists.

Networking: The work of an artist is generally solitary, and anyone engaged in this occupation should consider the occasional need to network with other artists.

Pricing artwork: Deciding how much to charge for your artwork is one of the thorniest problems an artist can face. There is no magic answer to the question, and the following article merely aims to provide food for thought.

Pricing commissions: Selling is all about tuning into the customer’s desires. What customers want is artwork produced with dedication and skill, and they will expect to pay for those talents. If they are simply looking for something colourful to hang on the wall, they go to Ikea! The aim of this article is to help you decide whether you are selling goods or services, and determine your payment terms for commissioned work.

Simple image protection: The Internet makes the theft of images very easy. Artists using the web as a marketing tool need to know how to defend their artwork from unauthorised use.

Societies: Unlike most professions, which have Associations, Federations, Guilds, Societies (etc) that govern the standard of their work, in art there is no measure of quality: what is good and what is poor is a matter of personal taste. It is therefore difficult for artists to establish credentials to support their work as being of a meritorious standard. Joining a society can be a method of gaining a credential, and this article aims to describe some of the art societies that exist.

Tax & NI: Anyone deriving an income from artwork should declare this to HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC). This article provides an overview of the self-employed sole trader's obligations, and tax liabilities.

Web site SEO: There is little purpose to developing and maintaining a web site if it is invisible to search engines, and never found by the surfing public. Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines. Typically, the higher a site appears in the search results list, the more visitors it will receive from the search engine. SEO takes account of what people search for, and how search engines rank web sites. Optimizing a web site involves editing its content and coding to increase the relevance of specific keywords.

WSA Blacklist: under development