The Shameless Art of Self-Promotion: What Every Artist Should Do Right Now

Promotion takes time and effort. Here are three things every artist can do right now to get
the word out about his or her work. Each of these tasks can be accomplished with a very small time investment.

1) Add a signature with a link to your portfolio. Whether you use a web-based service or a stand alone e-mail client for managing your emails, crafting an electronic signature is quite possibly the easiest method to let others know about your work. So, what are all the necessary ingredients to an email signature? At the very least, I recommend using your name, title, and a link to your portfolio website. Your signature may also include your Twitter ID.

Keep your e-mail signature simple and clean. Avoid logos and images; they’re generally ignored. Fun fact: many people have their email settings set to hide/ignore images by default. For this reason, I recommend going with a text-based signature.

Here’s mine:

--

Krishna M. Sadasivam, Sequential Artist. Designer. Illustrator.
about.me/krishna_sadasivam | kms007@gmail.com

2) Set up an About.Me page. About.me serves as a landing page. Think of it as a summary page that lets people know who you are and what you’re about. A typical About.Me page also includes links to places where people can see your work and interact with you. Best of all, you can include tags to help people discover your profile. The biggest advantage to About.Me is that it opens yourself up to a much wider audience. I’ve received several freelance offers from this service alone.

Check out my About.Me page for an example. I’ve found the service so beneficial that my Twitter page links back to my About.Me page. And because About.Me has a very strong search ranking, having a profile on the service makes it easier for people who are searching for you to find you. Win, win.

3) Make a website. There simply is no excuse NOT to have a portfolio site. Making a website is incredibly simple. Start off with Tumblr. It’s free and very easy to set up. Pick a template (many free and pay versions are out there). Then upload and tag your work. My Tumblr page displays images as a grid, so I made a conscious decision to format all my images to the same dimensions (1000 x 1000 px). The added advantage of Tumblr is that you can tag your illustrations with descriptors, making it easier than ever for other Tumblr users to discover and share your work. (i.e. Free Exposure)

Another good option is SquareSpace. There is a monthly fee (starting at $8 a month), but you have a wealth of gorgeous pre-made templates to start off with. No coding experience necessary. The added benefit to SquareSpace is that it includes a custom domain name (i.e. johndoe.com) and e-commerce tools (so you can sell products).

That about covers it. What are some additional promotional tips that you’ve had success with? Let me know by posting your favorites in the comments below.

-Krishna