5 reasons why you need a website

You may have put your work on deviantart or Artstation. You may be on behance or instagram or linkedin. All of those sites have benefits but none of them are as good as having a professional looking website. 

But why?

1. Credibility & Professionalism

Any 8 yr old can join most of those sites with no skill whatsoever. Being on the site by itself has little to no credibility. Having your own website shows that you either can make one on your own, which immediately ads value, or they know you are at least smart enough to want to look like a professional.

2. Would you want to have a job interview with all the other applicants in the room with you?

Everyone else on an art site becomes your competition. 

Behance is owned by Adobe and was made as a way to get creatives more active and using their products. Everyone on there is a creative of some kind. So they aren't your clients or customers but rather your competition. At any moment your potential client is one click away from looking at someone else. The same thing goes for Artstation and Deviantart. It's a great place to get inspired, or to get feedback from other creatives. I tend to think about these sites like local taverns for creatives. You talk art with artists, you show off, you get feedback often without asking, and you might work out collaborations or deals. This isn't the office or the studio though. 

3. Think of your website as if it were your own store.

You decide what it looks like on the outside and the inside. You want to invite a client or customer in to your store and have their full attention. You want to take them on a journey through your portfolio or store and give them the tour. Invite them to sit on the extremely comfortable couch and stay a while. 

4. Data collection-for both you and the search engines that direct people to your site. Have you ever typed in your name in a google search? When someone types in your name in a search engine they will likely come up with a social media site because that is where you have been focusing your efforts. Driving them to your site instead will allow you to collect all sorts of data about your visitors which social media sites take from you which is why they show up instead of you.

5. Full control

Design it how you want it.

No content control, no algorithms. No shadow bans. You can pretty much do or say what you want on your website. Instagram makes your gallery in square format. You can make your gallery circles if you want to. 

Each semester I teach my students how to make their own site on squarespace. It’s not the only way to make a website but it’s quick and it’s what I use so I know it. If you would like help on making your website feel free to reach out to me on the contact page for a consultation.