Online presence for shoedesigner

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I am a footwear designer and maker, focussing on artistic footwear. Taking it from concept to final product, using traditional techniques of shoemaking.

How effective is your website? What goals does it achieve for you?

Most of my website’s visitors come through my social media. Even though it gets significantly less traffic, the majority of visitors are coming because they want to know more. They looked through my Instagram feed or LinkedIn page and want to understand the story behind a project or my background. So it plays a crucial part to further introducing myself to that specific and relevant group of people.

Do you communicate your WHY? If yes, how?

I promote my why through showing ‘How’. Nine out of ten pictures on my Instagram are process-oriented. Shoemaking is a dying craft, and people often don’t realize how intricate it is. Those who choose to follow my work enjoy seeing all the steps that go into footwear design and making.

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Online presence for visual artist

Can you briefly describe what you do?

How effective are your websites? What goals do they achieve for you?

In the past, when Instagram did not exist, my website was more effective than today. Today it serves mainly as:  a source of information and the sale of Fine Art Prints.

At the moment, I get the most benefit, by far, from my presence on Instagram. That’s where the “most important” processes like building business relationships happen. The initial contacts with galleries, collectors, curators, clients and buyers. The presence and constant maintenance of my Instagram account I can call the most effective and important of all promotional presences on the Internet. My statement on that would be: that’s where I’m found first. If interested, customers then go on to the website to get more detailed information.

What pitfalls did you experience when starting to sell online?

From the moment you sell art on the Internet, it is essential to think about shipping the artwork. Because from that moment on, the paintings are sold beyond the country’s borders. The whole process of shipping is complicated, time-consuming and always different depending on the country. Practice makes perfect! Experience, practice and always be well informed about all the shipping details of different countries.

Thank you for sharing your recommendations.

1. I recommend being digitally present. However, I think an oversaturation of the brand (especially in art) is bad.
2. Beware of fraudulent institutions or those that pretend to be institutions that want to promote artists.
3. People are always looking for personal contact with the artist. This should never be lost in the big digital world.

Articles on Online Presence

First-hand insights from creative professionals — on how they build visibility, express presence, and create meaningful connection online.

Online presence for author

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I tell stories. In many different ways.

For my copywriting clients, I tell the story about their business in a compelling way so their websites attract and engage their potential customers. I convert their story into compelling content for newsletters, blogs, ads, anything they need to tell the world about their business and what they do for their happy customers.

I help clients in my communications training tell their stories in a way that drives impact and convinces others.

And as an author, I tell stories about love between demons and angels and humans

How effective are your websites? What goals do they achieve for you?

What I’d like them to achieve? For my author website, it needs to be the place people can find more about me as an author and an overview of my books. Ideally, it would lead them to sign up for my newsletter (through offering exclusive content they can get by subscribing). I know exactly what it should look like – now ‘only’ to implement it.

For my copywriting website, it needs to give prospects a sense of who I am as a professional and what I can offer them. It should lead them to reach out for the first conversation about their project. In reality, all my work comes from word-of-mouth, but the website is a good complement, even for clients who’ve already heard about me and just want to learn more.

Do you communicate your WHY? If yes, how?

My WHY is often a core part of what I share about myself in my first conversations with prospective copywriting/communications clients. It’s important for me that they hire me for the right reasons and know what my values are in the work I’ll do with them.

In my author’s business, my why is part of the conversations I have with my readers e.g., on Patreon and in the afterword of my books.
Do I truly promote my WHY beyond individual conversations? No. But it will be part of my websites once I rewrite them.

What pitfalls did you experience when starting to sell online?

Learning how to set up my books on Amazon was a steep learning curve. Mostly solved by just doing it for the first time, and supported massively by learning from experienced authors (including my editor and the people in the 20Booksto50K indie author FB group).

Pirated works are another problem. I don’t necessarily care a lot about my books being available for free – the people who read them there are not the people who’d pay for a book anyway. Unfortunately, Amazon does care and can kick my books out of Kindle Unlimited if they find out. I’ve learned how to send out DMCA takedown notices to the websites, their hosts, and to Google. Let’s see if I can contain the problem.

Thank you for sharing your recommendations.

1. Build a personal connection: in your work with individual clients, FB groups, newsletters, live, Discords, anything you can think of. Even when your work is a ‘mass article’ like my ebooks, that personal connection, those sneak peeks you offer and the personal side you show is what turns people from casual readers into actual fans.
2. Experiment. I thought Instagram would be big for me. It’s not. I didn’t think I’d ever set foot on Tiktok and I’m starting to love it and starting to see actual sales results. Gather your courage and try things, even if they scare you. They might surprise you.
3. Be you: I’m not a huge fan of the word ‘authentic’, but that’s what it is. Be yourself. For a long time, I tried to forcefit my social media presence into what I saw work for others. I hated every second. I’m slowly starting to show myself and having so much more fun. It means I actually become more consistent in my presence and that in turn is having good effects. Just be you. You’re perfect.

Articles on Online Presence

First-hand insights from creative professionals — on how they build visibility, express presence, and create meaningful connection online.

Online presence for writer

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I’m a writer and maker – a writer primarily, but writing is about more than words; it’s about conceiving a journey that you want to take another person through. I use language but also visual and performance media (e.g. illustration, video, theatre sets and installations). Bringing those into the world is part of the creation too.

How effective is your website? What goals does it achieve for you?

My website and social media presence aren’t, for me, massive distribution channels. Most of my commissions come through organisations that bring their own platforms, and that’s mostly how the work goes out: e.g. publishers for books, or theatres and festivals for shows.

My website is more for people who want to look me up for whatever reason, which may be commissioners or funders or just people who are interested.

— The primary goal is to provide an online portfolio for professional purposes.
— The secondary is to promote work to a wider public.
— The other aspect of websites and social media that’s valuable is communicating with other artists and collaborators. This can be for sharing ideas, letting other people know what I’m interested in, or if I have a specific question or need, the online creative community is great for sourcing. I.e. it’s not just a megaphone, it’s a forum.

Do you sell your (art)work online? If so, through which channels (gallery’s site, own website, art-site…)?

Books are available online via publishers and amazon; tickets for shows via websites of wherever they’re showing. I don’t handle a lot of sales directly or sell fine art via galleries or my website.

Thank you for sharing your recommendations.

1. Know good people – and not necessarily powerful people, but interesting people. They tend to know other interesting people, and if you can move fluidly through these networks, interesting things will keep surfacing for you.
2. Don’t burn others – if you’re an asshole, word will get around. And if you start working with assholes, you’ll fall out and they’ll say the asshole was you. This is a natural law.
3. When building an online presence, think about what users need over what you want to express. In artwork it’s often the other way around, but something like a website has a utility. Don’t be a mystery and expect people to pore over you – they won’t.

Articles on Online Presence

First-hand insights from creative professionals — on how they build visibility, express presence, and create meaningful connection online.

Online presence for jewellery designer

Can you briefly describe what you do?

I design and make jewellery whereby the overarching theme is transformation. I use mostly old materials such as scrap metals like brass or recycled precious metals like silver from old jewellery. My aim is to never use anything new when the old is available. Not only with sustainability in mind but also from a conceptual design standpoint and a deeper conviction to honour the ‘old’ and to give every piece a story. In both the design process and in the making, I try to stay ‘off-the-grid’ where I can, using mostly hand-driven tools and preferably working outside… I also make larger objects as well as drawings, paintings and photographs, mostly inspired by nature and organic forms.

What do you do for your online visibility?

So far I have used only Instagram professionally, and sometimes I post something on my (personal) Facebook.

My work is mostly visual and IG is perfect for that. I do think I would benefit from having a website that people could go to once they have seen something on IG, to facilitate the sales and also to be able to go more into depth regarding the why & how etc.

Do you sell your (art)work online? If so, through which channels (gallery’s site, own website, art-site…)?

No. People can’t buy my things directly online – via IG clients get in touch with DM and then we sort it out.

The most successful way for you to get into your client’s sight?

Offline, by wearing what I make 😄 and then by word of mouth. I have made my best sales & orders straight off my hands/arms/ears.
Online, definitely via IG and understanding my own (aspired) ‘niche community’ there… (in my case e.g. ‘modernist & art jewellery’) as well as connecting there with supportive friends who then get their friends to follow etc.

Articles on Online Presence

First-hand insights from creative professionals — on how they build visibility, express presence, and create meaningful connection online.

Online presence for painter

Can you briefly describe what you do?

After recently graduating with a Bachelor of the Arts at Central Saint Martins in London, I have continued to develop my artistic practice within the realm of paint and clay. Moving to Antwerp has allowed me to focus on finishing my studio setup and to start working on some very exciting projects, locally and abroad. I explore the intrinsic and earthly qualities of my chosen mediums: paint and clay. My work is a continuous study of materiality and a detailed investigation of texture. My paintings are characterised by expressing the power of natural materials, which is a guiding aesthetic in all my works. I try to demonstrate my understanding of movement through an alchemy of process, creativity, and technique.

How effective is your website? What goals does it achieve for you?

My website is perhaps less effective than my platform on Instagram. The aim of my website is to summarise my artist statement, share images of my work as well as include my contact details, all of which can also be found on my Instagram.

A website however allows the creator to express themselves as they truly wish, allows your individual charm or quality to show. You have a lot more freedom to play around with your website’s layout and design than you can on Instagram, which can sometimes be a limiting platform for artistic expression. My website is still a work in progress. I am grateful to have a partner who is very skilled in HTML, Webflow!

Do you communicate your WHY? If yes, how?

We are often intrigued by understanding the reason why you do things the way that you do, so I find it important to verbalise my practices’ ethos as well as showing it visually within the artwork. That doesn’t necessarily mean that I am doing a good job of that! This is something that I continuously need to remind myself to improve on.

What pitfalls did you experience when starting to sell online?

My artwork can be fairly large in size, therefore shipping internationally can be a challenge. Shipping paintings safely and having the works insured in case something goes wrong during transit, can be costly and can often make me feel like I am asking a lot from my clients. I think the only way to properly avoid this, is that if you love an artwork so much that you wish to be with it regardless of its origin, then you won’t feel as bad spending a little bit more to ensure the work gets with you safely.

Thank you for sharing your recommendations.

1. Is there an exhibition you’ve been wanting to see, and the ending date is soon in sight? Go and see it. And bring your mother along with you.
2. Allow yourself to feel as natural as possible. Allow yourself privacy. You do not need to show your presence online every single day. People will appreciate your authenticity.
3. Enjoy spending time with likeminded friends and people that support your creative path. Many wonderful opportunities may rise from this simple thing.
4. And a fourth, even if your practice isn’t digitally formatted, always have everything backed up safely in the cloud. You will certainly thank yourself in the long run!

Articles on Online Presence

First-hand insights from creative professionals — on how they build visibility, express presence, and create meaningful connection online.