Website information

I think I am going to have to charge a small monthy fee of 5 dollars a month to have a space on the website to help pay for the costs. The money will go toward paying for the hosting and domain. Any extra would go toward development of future features including e-commerce so we can have a show going 24 online. I have not worked out all the details yet ( any extra giving will be greatly appreciated and will benefit everyone.) I have a lot of hopes for are online presents but I have it a point where funding is needed to get this going. Please email me if you have any questions Jake

Has anyone considered the possiblity of selling ad space on the site?

I'm on several art sites that get hundreds of hits every day, and it doesn't cost the user anything out of pocket. These sites typically have sponsor ads - usually art-related (supplies, books, educational things, etc.). It is also highly possible to get a grant. It just takes talking to the right people, coming up with a plan, and writing a great proposal.

On the topic of e-commerce:
I have sold about 30 original paintings on Ebay this year, and 9 outside of Ebay. And I can tell everyone with complete certainty that the internet does not sell art - you do. You as the artist have to produce good work and be able to communicate with interested buyers, even if it's indirectly (blogs, myspace bulletins, etc.). You have to set your pricing appropriately and be accessible & honest. There are no shortcuts. If everyone wants to put up e-commerce on the site, go for it (I will not be participating) just don't get your expectations up too high.

Steve,

I have considered that option and it is a goal of mine. The problem right now is we do not have enough hits to sell any ad space that is wroth anything. We need more content , interactivity and SEO. That all cost money. I have a plan of attack I am very serious about this goal I think it will help everyone.

Jake

You could contact Staci Nevinski at the Iowa Arts Council about getting a grant for the website - maybe enough to cover all the building costs and a year of hosting, etc.

Her work # is 515-281-3293 and her e-mail is staci.nevinski@iowa.gov

She'd be happy to talk to you about what is available and what steps are needed to get it going.

Thanks Steve I will contact her.

I would like to see the website stay an informational site only. If there was a way for each member to update his or her own page, that would save you a ton of work. I like the idea of having our group's mission statement, list of members with an icon of their work that links to his/her own page on the site that shows 5-6 images of their work - plus a link to his/her own personal site, calendar of upcoming events, photos from past shows, guestbook, link to the forum, and a link to the merchandise page on the Art-A-Holics website.

I would also like to see a yearly $10 membership for members to be part of Art-A-Holics. I'd like to see that money go to Jake for his time spent on creating and keeping the website up-to-date. Then, if we have shows, members would only pay the fees associated with the show. If a non-member participates in a show, he/she would pay an additional $10.

Any thoughts?

i just want information also but have a once a year fee to be ib the group to hekp pay for things.

Hi Everyone,
A reasonable membership fee, on an annual basis, would be just fine by us.

As a local website programmer and artist, I agree with Brad & Liberty that the site should be informational only. For my two sense worth, I'd break it down to have these five areas, "about/home," "shows/calendar," "forum," "join," and "faq." That way you cover all your bases.

The about/home page could have a small bio, so when people use Google to find us, the search bots will find that information.

The shows/calendar can simply be a link to the calendar that should be maintained in this forum.

The forum, of course, will just link to the forum.

The Join, can also be a link to register to the forum.

And the FAQ, can be generated by the admin again to help search bots find us.

So basically the only two new pages that need to be created and maintained are the about/home page and the faq page, everything else is done within the forum and can be more member friendly that way, meaning that people get to update their own information.

Hope that is helpful... and Jake if you need any help with this, please don't hesitate to ask. I would be glad to give my time and efforts for our great group!

I would love help! I have million things to do. please feel free to email me at jakedx6@gmail.com

I agree with Brad on this one as well. Considering I already pay $60.00 per year to have my art for sale on Yessy, I would prefer just to have the Art-A-Holics site as an informational hub for our 'fans'.

With that said, I greatly appreciate all of the work you put in, Jake. I think we do need to collect an annual fee, which in part should go toward your time maintaining and updating the site.

I would concur. Let's settle that up at the next meeting. I would still like to collect a call list of everyone who is signed up to be in Art-A-Holics so the all can be contacted and made aware of changes and to weed out the tire kickers.

Shawn

I agree. I deleted everyone who has been inactive on the forum, except for Stephany. The memberlist of the forum is a pretty solid list of members who have been active with our group.

Yes, I agree that we discuss this at our next meeting. Should we plan a meeting for the second week of January?