15 Minute Craft Website Tips  

Art portfolio services and craft sales sites like Etsy , Artfire, Fine Art Studio Online, and Artspan are a great way for an artist or crafter get an online presence quickly. But is it better use one of these services or is it better to create your own website from scratch? I'll discuss the pros and cons of each and how to decide what's best for you.

Using an art website service- pros

• Setting up a website can be quick and easy
• There's built in traffic for those on these services
• Most services have ecommerce services built in

Using an art website services- cons

• You're competing with other artists using the same services
• In some cases you might not be able to use your own domain name
• What you can do with your website is controlled by the service

Building your own website- pros

• You have complete ownership of your website
• You have the ability to design your website exactly how you wish
• You won't have to worry about whether changing rules, changing fees, or whether the service will out out of business

Building your own website- cons

• You're responsible for getting hosting, design, and ecommerce for your website
• You have to build up traffic for your website over time
• You'll responsible for all of the maintenance for your website

What should you do?

• Have both. You should always have some presence on the web that's under your control, plus you can also use the service as another outpost where people can find you
• If you're new to the web, start off by using one of these services and then build your own website later
• If you already have a website, use one of these services to help direct more traffic to your own website