With the number of slick art magazines on the stands today, it's easy for your work to get washed away in the homogeneous art school world. It's not easy to be truly original and yet still make your mark. With your own website to showcase your art, you don't have to deal with the trendy cliques that make up both the 'legitimate' art world as well as the 'underground' art world.

Here are just a few things you can do with your art website through a reputable web host:

• Show samples of your work. Or show everything you've ever done, starting with preschool finger painting. A few digital photographs of your work, whether you specialize in beadwork, painting, weaving, sculpture, or origami, is all you need to create an online portfolio.
• Showcase different styles. An issue that many artists come across is the need for the world to pinhole you into one particular style or discipline. With your website, you can designate a different page of your website to the different artistic techniques that you enjoy.
• List hours and services and prices. Are your services for sale? Do you have paintings or prints, mini versions of your most popular sculptures, or blankets that you have made? If you have something to offer, let people know. There's no reason that you should be slaving away at some 9-5 job when you could be paying the rent through your art. However, if your 9-5 position is important to you, be sure to list on your site that you're only available to paint portraits at night and on the weekends.
• Special deals or discounts. Though you will list your prices on the services page, you may offer a discount or a special deal to those who make multiple purchases across your various disciplines, come back often, or refer other customers to your work. If so, this is the place to outline the details.
• Offer a subscription service. If your art is small and something you turn out by the hundreds every month whether or not someone is waiting on the other end, waiting to take them off your hands, then a subscription service may be an idea for you to consider. For example, a 'Scarf of the Month' club for knitters or 'Flash Art of the Month' for those who draw tattoos or other graphics. Giving people a reason to come back will not only increase your exposure but help you to create a budget that you can depend on.
• Commission order forms. Whether someone wants to specify the yarn, weight, density, size, color, and pattern for a tapestry or if they have some vague idea that perhaps they'd like to get a painting for their brother, it's easy to design an order form for your art website that will help you understand what exactly it is that they want from you.
• Contact info. Include everything from your cell phone to your email address. They already have your website address, but list it here anyway, in case they copy and paste their information.
• Art newsletter. Whether you focus just on what's new with you and what new services you have to offer including where you'll be showing next and new discounts you have to offer or instead write a newsletter on the history, news events, and interesting facts about the type of art you're interested in, an art newsletter is a great way to remind people who you are and how to find you.
• Part of the community. Offering a link page to fellow artists, framers, and art supply stores may not only earn you a few link-backs on their pages but will make you a source of information in the art community worth book marking.

Above all, be creative when designing your art website through your web host. You will sell yourself and your style through example rather than words alone.

Madison Lockwood

Madison Lockwood is a customer relations associate for ApolloHosting.com. She brings years of experience as a small business consultant to helping prospective clients understand the ways in which a website may benefit them both personally and professionally.