Back to: Free Course: Tips for starting your own online art and digital products shop
You CAN do this!
No matter where you are in your business journey, taking on the task of building your own website can be immensely overwhelming. But owning your own piece of real estate on the internet is incredibly empowering, allowing you more control over your business, your earnings and your brand.
Focusing on the project in its entirety is paralysing. Instead, break it down into phases and smaller tasks. Your phases might look something like:
- Phase One:
- Register your domain name
- Find a hosting company
- Decide on the website platform (which might be the same as the above point)
- Design a logo
- Phase Two:
- Create a Home page and link your Shop menu item to an existing marketplace you sell on (if you have one)
- Create an About and Contact page
- Go Live!
- Phase Three:
- Create a subscriber giveaway
- Find a Mailing List Service Provider
- Integrate the subscriber sign-up form into your website
- Start a Blog and pin your posts to Pinterest
- Phase Four:
- Build your Shop
- Set-up payment gateway
- Upload your digital files
- Test
- Make Shop live
- Phase Five:
- Tweak/Improve website design
The above is by no means the only way to approach building your own website, but I’m hoping it will help you understand how you can break tasks up into more manageable jobs which will be less overwhelming.
The early days of tackling any new software, platform or tool is always going to be challenging. But if you can approach it with a positive attitude and get through the growing pains, all the hard work you put in is directly benefiting you!
You’re making an impact on the future of your art and business. And that’s definitely worth the effort!
I wish you great success! xx
Explore other “Artists Advice” articles here.
Hi Lisa!
After reading your blog post I put my head down and built my own website. And no lie it was kind of a daunting task but it’s done now and it’s something that I feel like in build on great advice by the way! So thanks!
I think the most difficult part of starting my own website though, is I have to fight the feeling that I want to be eight years in to my career in my first year. lol! Thank you once again for this valuable resource I always enjoy your work very inspiring.
Next, I could use a little advice on how to organize my time around developing new products 🙂
I’m SO happy to read the blog post gave you the nudge! It is a daunting task indeed, but definitely achievable and now you’ve done it! Congrats! As you said, you can now build on it as you grow.
I completely understand how you feel! My first two years were fairly stressful because I made them so! I kept thinking I was too late and “behind” everyone else. But it turns out, I was exactly where I should be Which I’m pretty sure you are too xx ❤️
That’s a great topic! I’ll definitely add it to my topic list
oh my goodness Lisa!
Thank you for posting this for everyone,
I am like many other people here, wanting so much to take the next step and being excited and all “I can freakin do this!!” …….and then just as quickly, being paralysed by the immense mountain and then creeping back into my dark safe hole again. haahaa!
I am currently on month 5 (probably many more than that if I’m honest). of trying to decide whether to go with squarespace or WordPress or WordPress with Shopify button, which is a little insane it’s taken me this long.
Everyone has a different opinion!
As much as I feel WordPress is the answer in the long run, it’s super scary and I have heard so much about plugins and security risks and kind of feeling like you’re on your own if you something bad does happen, especially if, like me, your budget is teeny tiny and you won’t be able to pay for assistance for a while.
Do you have any advice for us on this one?
Hi Caz,
It is indeed soooooo confusing to choose!! I also went back and forth FOREVER deciding! It’s so difficult to know which is the right route for you upfront. You could try both (as you mentioned). Build your website pages using WordPress, then use an external ecommerce provider like Shopify or Ecwid.com to run your shop and embed that into WordPress. That way you are essentially getting a feel for both options. After some time, you might get a better idea which solution works for you, and if you need to transition to one of the options 100%, like have your site and shop 100% on Shopify, or have your site and shop on WordPress, the transition should be much easier than if you were starting from scratch. The great thing about this option is you’ll still have your shop up and running while you transition, then make the switch when you are ready. Using both means you’ll learn whether you can handle the “scariness” of WordPress or the “restriction” of Shopify or Ecwid. Which should make it easier for you to decide. OR you might end up with this option forever! The bottom line is, don’t let this stop you from taking action. You can always transition to another platform if you realise you prefer another one. It’s okay to do that if you have to!
Thank you so much Lisa!!
You are so amazingly supportive and I’m very grateful
So yes,I’m guessing the answer like you said, is to just try it and I can always change things,
I just need to get brave and do it! And repeatedly say to myself every day
“For goodness sake brain, just do the thing!”
Thank you so very much for your kindness Lisa,
tomorrow, I shall begin ❤️
Caz x
Thank you for this informative post. I was wondering, do you recommend a print on demand company ? I was looking into having my art prints sold and printed elsewhere and shipped to the customer? Still very new at this.
Hi Kimberly,
So glad you found it useful! I’ve never used a POD company myself so I can’t vouch for any. But one of the most popular is called Printful, many artists seem to use them. Hope that helps!
Lisa, Thanks for the process and encouraging ideas to get started. I already use WordPress, but .com with my own domain. I’m going to have to take the dive into a site upgrade so I can add the WooCommerce plugin. I’m going to read about Shopify too.
I appreciate all the details to consider, like tax/VAT info. That’s another area that will determine my next steps.
Thanks again for the quick course. ~ Sheri
Hi Sheri,
It’s a great pleasure! Best of luck with your research, I’m sure you’ll find the best solution for your website and shop xx ❤️
This was really insightful but im so clueless about the shop part… I just know how to paint and I already have a website that I upload my latest works onto…but have no idea about the steps involved to sell digital products…. is Etsy a good place? I dont know how to do this WooCommerce thingy =D I wish there was a step by step tutorial to set up shops on different websites…Im a SAHM so I dont have an income…its very scary!
So glad you found it helpful! It sounds like you would benefit more from looking at a pre-built shop platform like Shopify or Etsy. The best would be to look at all the different pricing structures and decide what suits your situation and budget. Etsy is great for testing the waters, however I do find them quite expensive, but you don’t pay anything to open a shop and a small fee to list an item. It becomes pricey when you make a sale. There are lots of great YouTube tuts on how to open a shop on Etsy and Shopify and other shop platforms. Hope that helps!
Thank you for sharing this and your article on not being too old! I’m over 50 and have wanted to do this since my 30s but due to life I’m just now pursuing it! It all feels overwhelming but this breakdown makes it seem slightly more doable! And your work is delightful!
Congrats Jennifer!! You should be proud that you’re taking steps towards your creative goals despite feeling overwhelmed! Many people give up at this stage so push through and just take one step at a time. You can do this!!