Bluto- I agree with you but....

>
I do sell in a local art gallery, and the owner is my biggest client,lol. Like I said this is a small town that does not appreciate hand made art. I use to sell at a craft mall and one day I was there to check my stuff and a women beside me bought a wind chime made out of Miller Lite cans, while my booth had several very nice glass wind chimes. The beer cans were 5 bucks, mine were 20. No accounting for taste. I degress, I have joined a art club and recently put items in a local decorating shop, they sell primitive and country items. No sales yet, but it has only been a week.

I do try to make for the masses, like small suncatchers, but it is the more espressive art that I enjoy. I understand the business end of my craft, I am capable of doing it, but i'd rather be creating instead of on my computer. Oh well, we can't have it all--all the time.

I am lookiing for craft or art sites that allow you to link to them as well. Thank you for all of your input. I have many things to consider. I have considered traveling but I have 2 dogs that I would not want to drag around. They have a very good home in the country, it's my job to care for them. Thanks again, Carla

I saw a post on DataEntryPro here not too long ago. the person basically
> said that it was marketed to make you think that you place ads for other
> companies and get paid for it. However, that is not really the truth. The
> truth is that you place ads on PPC engines like Google Adwords in an
> effort to make people buy products through your affiliate links, like
> clickbank. In other words, it's just the "googlecash" method
> rehashed and reworded to make it sound like something else. Nothing wrong
> with this type of business model but you can actually make money doing it,
> but if you are a novice, you could literally lose your shirt placing PPC
> ads.

> As far as marketing your site to get more traffic. 2 things.

> #1, you are talking about internet marketing. Not only are there great
> Internet marketing courses out there but i also have a link to a free one
> below, in case you have not noticed. You might want to take a look at that
> site. I say that because you say that you are not a business person but
> rather an artist. Well, then, you can buy all the internet marketing
> courses you can find and you might never get anything from them, for
> successful marketing is usually only achieved by those with some sense of
> business. So I think it is a good idea to take a look at the site behind
> my link because you can see what is involved in internet marketing before
> you shell out your hard earned dollars on a course that isn't going to do
> the work for you, no matter how good the info in said course is.

> #2, You have a website but I am afraid to tell you that you won;t get much
> done with a free site like that. What you need is your own hosting and
> your own domain. At the very least, you could just buy the domain and
> redirect it to your Earthlink site. That would be a good start.

> My advice to you is to NOT follow the money. Rather, build a business
> around something you love. That way, the business aspect is less boring
> and can be less of a challenge that way. Maybe you could build a site
> about stained glass and have a newsletter. How to make money, well, that
> might be hard but might be doable. You would have to sell stuff through
> your newsletter. Like through affiliate links or even selling your art
> (depending on who your newsletter subscribers are. If they are just other
> artists then you might not do much selling of art at all).

> But what about offline. Have you tried selling your art at arts and crafts
> shows and even flea markets? There are many arts and crafts shows and
> festivals all over the country, especially in the summertime.

> I have a friend who is a potter. He personally does not make much money
> because his stuff is not usually what people are looking for, he refuses
> to make stuff just to cater to the populous (yet he complains that he doe
> snot sell much) and he does not do as many shows as he could because he is
> lazy. Actually most of the time he ends up losing money.

> But other potters and artist he knows make a good living just selling
> their stuff at arts festivals and galleries all year long, especially in
> the summers as far as the arts festivals go. Bottom line is that even
> though you are an artist, you have to be a business person to a certain
> degree if you want to turn a buck. You cannot be some snotty artist, make
> only what you like and not what others are looking to buy, and then expect
> to make a living at it. It just does not usually work that way. So be
> realistic and perhaps you could actually make some money selling your art
> offline at shows and festivals. But be realistic. (I try to tell my potter
> friend this all the time when he comes around complaining that he did not
> sell enough to turn a profit at the festival, but he gets irritated. He's
> not a very realistic person at all and he refuses to believe that he must
> be somewhat of a business person in order to make a living selling his
> stuff. (One example is that despises the artists who have merchant
> accounts set up to take credit cards. He thinks it's wrong and they should
> not do it. But he does not realize that we live in a largely cashless
> society and if you sell something and do not take plastic, you are losing
> business). He thinks that somehow one day things will change and that
> he'll all of a sudden start selling a lot of his pots and make good
> profits. But he's dreaming. Don't let this be you.

> BTW, I am not saying that your stuff is not what people are looking for. I
> have no idea. I'm just pointing out something i feel is very important for
> someone who claims not to be a business-oriented person yet wants to make
> money in their own business.