EDITOR’S NOTE: Prices and information below may be out of date. Since launching our own art website service for artists at Foliotwist.com, we no longer feel unbiased enough to continue updating or reviewing other art website services. Visit the website below for their most recent information.
If you’re selling artwork on Imagekind or BoundlessGallery, then you should know there’s an option open to you which could make you a little more money.
What am I talking about? Affiliate programs.
If you’re not sure what those are, keep reading and I’ll explain.
(Note: BoundlessGallery is no longer in business. Learn why they closed down.)
If you have heard of affiliate programs before and you’re thinking that this is some scheme where I make money by getting you to sign up for something, that’s not it at all.
I just realized there was an opportunity available for artists, and thought you’d all like to know about it.
But first, just to clarify—you’re already trying to sell art online with Imagekind or BoundlessGallery, correct? And you’ve been sending people to see your art, whether through a blog, an email list, or a networking site like MySpace or Facebook. . . right?
Because that’s the first step. And the most successful artists online are the ones who know how to make internet traffic happen, rather than waiting for people to just find them.
Assuming that you DO send visitors to see your art, then you’ll probably be interested in these affiliate programs.
You see, affiliate programs are made to reward people who send traffic to an online company, whatever company it may be.
With BoundlessGallery and Imagekind, they’ll essentially pay a referral fee to anyone who sends a paying customer to their site.
All you have to do is place a special link in your art blog pointing towards BoundlessGallery or Imagekind. When someone follows your link and buys some art, you’ll get a percentage of the sale.
It’s actually pretty easy.
Imagekind and BoundlessGallery are slightly different in how they manage the whole affiliate process, but that basic idea is the same for both.
If you want to be an affiliate for BoundlessGallery, they’ll give you the exact html code you need and let you place it in your blog or website. You can choose a banner link or a plain text link, and that’s about it.
Currently BoundlessGallery only gives out links that point to the main homepage of their site, which is too bad, because that actually limits how you can use the links.
For instance, if you had an art blog and wanted to review both your own artwork and another artist’s work, you wouldn’t be able to link directly to the artwork on BoundlessGallery—at least not with the special affiliate link.
Also, BoundlessGallery won’t let you earn an affiliate fee from the sale of your own artwork.
Imagekind, on the other hand, uses ShareASale (a big affiliate company) to manage their affiliate program.
As a result they’ve got a lot more options. They still have pre-made banners and links that you can just drop into your website as is, but if you’d like to link directly to certain works of art, you can do that too.
As far as I know, you can earn an affiliate commission on your own art with Imagekind in addition to all the other member art and museum art that’s available.
Just think about the possibilities. Sure, you could build links yourself to your own work and earn a little extra each time you make a sale, but you could also get a group of artists all reviewing and linking to each others’ work—and everybody wins.
I don’t want to give the wrong impression; like anything online it’s probably not as easy as it sounds. At the very least, it will probably take some time to see the results.
BUT—if you’re already building links. . . Why not make them worth something? I can’t think of any reason not to.
Check out the BoundlessGallery affiliate program or the Imagekind affiliate program for specific details.
This post may contain affiliate links.