I have always been transparent when someone asks me where I get this or that from, about my processes, or anything at all concerning my art business! Tools and materials are some of the topics I get asked about the most by beginner artists or people who want to do something similar.
In today's article, I will be going through all the digital and online tools I use to maintain my online presence and my shop. I hope to have a physical studio space and shop one day, but for now, my online shop and Art Fairs are working well enough!
*None of this article's content is sponsored!
Website and Shop
For your website, you would need a platform and a domain. I wouldn't recommend using a platform, because it doesn't look professional and there aren't many customizable options!
Buy a domain
Once you know what your website would be called, you will need to buy a domain. My social media handles everywhere are @clementinedraws, so naturally, I decided to name my website like that too, in order to make everything the same and easy to remember. I went to domain.com, but there are many other domain-selling websites you could go to.
Web-builder
You need to choose a platform to build your website on. Wordpress has a great reputation and is one of the most preferred options out there. Squarespace and Wix are even easier to use, although not as customizable as Wordpress. I am currently using Wix because I was familiar with it when I first created my website, but I might switch at some point, although I am happy with its performance for now.
*You will need to manually connect your domain and website if you bought them separately
Newsletter
Wix has an integrated e-mail marketing tool that I use to send out the newsletter to my subscribers. I would let them know if there is an exciting sale going on, whenever there is a new post, or sometimes I would make discount codes exclusively for my subscribers. It is a way to keep your audience engaged and drive more traffic to your website.
I use Pinterest daily for two main reasons. One is to share my website and blog images, in order to drive traffic to my shop or blog post. I would use it for inspiration or painting references, I love creating boards and filling them with content. Almost like free therapy. For me, Pinterest is what google image search should be.
Social Media
I use social media to both share my process and some more personal aspects of my life, and also to drive traffic to my website. I use Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. I don't post the exact same content on all three, but I try to adapt it to each platform and audience.
Facebook - I use it to share more about my shop and website. I have noticed that my Facebook audience is most interested in my products and shop. I also share my finished illustrations on there, even though they don't get many interactions I still do it because I don't want my page to be exclusively shopping-related.
Instagram - On Instagram, I love to share works in progress and insights into my processes. People are interested in how things are made, how screen-printing works or how I make my stickers. I love sharing that with my followers! It is more personal, especially when I share photos of my super-messy work area, but I feel like this is something that makes us a little bit closer.
TikTok - I go to TikTok to watch funny videos, I admit. That's why my content on there would often be humorous. I would also use it to make educational videos since a lot of my audience there is younger and eager to learn.
Canva
I love Canva! I use it literally every day for my social media and website. It is super easy to use and has a lot of pre-made graphics and fonts, and it is easy to resize posts for each platform. I've got the paid subscription, but there is a free version too! If you are having trouble when it comes to graphic design, Canva has many templates that you could tweak and use for your brand.
Google Analytics
I use google analytics to track insights about my website visits and statistics. You could see where your traffic is coming from geographically, which of your platforms brings the most people, what your audience is most interested in etc. It is necessary information you would need in order to make your website or blog more successful!
Grammarly
Grammarly is a grammar checker that highlights your spelling, grammar and punctuation mistakes, and even gives suggestions on how to improve your sentences. Although I feel quite confident in my language proficiency, English is not my first language after all. I use Grammarly for a piece of mind, and it is quite useful for my blogs especially. If you do write your own blog, I would recommend you use either Grammarly or some other grammar checker.
Scheduling tools
There are a lot of apps and platforms you could use to schedule your content and newsletters. I personally haven't gotten into the habit of using an app for this. I would plan my content using physical sheets and calendars and post my content when the day arrives. For example, every Monday morning is when I post a blog article. I would have my draft ready in advance, and when Monday rolls around, I would post it. The same goes for my SM posts, although I rarely make drafts for those.
VSCO/Lightroom
VSCO and Lightroom are the apps I use to edit my pictures.
When I use my DSLR camera to take product images, I would use Lightroom to edit the rough images and adjust the settings and colours, so they would be ready to use. DSLRs create .raw image files, that need to go through some sort of editor in order to export them into a jpeg or other ready-to-use format.
Whenever I take pictures with my phone for my Social Media, I would edit them in the VSCO app since it is much easier to edit directly on my phone, and VSCO already has all the options I would need.
In both softwares, I have created my own presets to optimize the time I would put into photo editing.
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