New Year, Fresh Start: How Artists Can Grow Their Website in 2024
Hey there! It’s Izza—a fellow creative and artist. The New Year is the perfect time to give your artist website a refresh! Your online space is your portfolio, your storefront, and your gateway to new eyes on your work. Here’s how I’m sprucing up my artist site for 2025, and maybe you’ll find some inspo here for your own website refresh:
1. Refresh Your Content and Tweak Your Design
I love starting with a clean slate! I take a good look at what’s on my website:
Does my portfolio showcase my best and most recent work?
Is my bio still accurate?
Swapping out old pieces and adding recent projects keeps everything feeling fresh and true to where I am now. And if you haven’t updated your artist statement in a while, now’s a great time to do it! A few design tweaks can also breathe new life into your site:
Simplify your layout—whether you’re a minimalist or a maximalist, make sure it’s easy to navigate.
Update your colors or fonts to better reflect your artistic style and make your website feel like you.
Add playful animations for a little extra movement and interaction. I like adding gif photo elements to bring playfulness and interest to my website.
Even small changes like these can make a big difference in how visitors experience your art!
2. Boost Your SEO
If there’s one thing I always tell my artist friends, it’s this: give your website a little SEO love. I know, SEO (search engine optimization) can sound like another language, but it’s actually simple. It’s mostly about making your content easy for people (and search engines) to find. When adding new images, remember to:
Include relevant keywords in your descriptions.
Write thoughtful alt text that describes what’s in the image.
Update page titles and meta descriptions to reflect your current focus.
For a deeper dive, I’ve got a blog post all about how to write alt text—trust me, it makes a difference over time!
3. Streamline Your Online Store
Got a shop on your website? Make sure it’s as polished as your art! Here’s what I check:
Are my product descriptions clear and detailed?
Are my photos high-quality and showcasing each piece beautifully?
Is everything working smoothly with payment options?
For those of you starting a new online store or adding prints for the first time, I’ve got a guide on how to ship prints with Squarespace that you might find helpful.
Artist websites I’ve redesigned!
4. Organize Your Portfolio
I like to start the year by curating my portfolio. I go through everything I made last year and pick out my best pieces—those that truly represent where I’m headed creatively. Then, I organize them by series or theme and add short descriptions for context.
Pro tip: Look through your social media (IG, TikTok) and highlight your most engaging posts in a blog or a portfolio section. It’s a great way to fold in your other platforms and give visitors a fuller picture of your creative journey.
5. Set Goals and Push Forward
Ask yourself what you want from your website this year. More commission inquiries? More sales in your shop? A bigger email list? For me, it’s all about finding those connection points with my audience. I adjust my homepage to highlight the stuff I want visitors to see first, and I make sure there are clear calls to action (like "Contact me for commissions" or "Shop new prints"). It’s about guiding your audience toward what you want them to do next.
I know that being a creative takes up a lot of mental space, but think of your website as another piece of your creative expression. Writing a blog post here and there about what you’re working on, or even sharing some behind-the-scenes thoughts, can make your website work as hard as your social media. Plus, it’s all content you own—you have control over how your story is told.
Are you ready for 2025?
A little time spent refreshing your website can set you up for an amazing year. Let’s make our sites true reflections of our creativity, and who knows what opportunities might come our way? Here’s to a 2025 full of art, new connections, and endless possibilities! Happy New Year, fellow creatives and if you feel like you need a big website overhaul, reach out for a complimentary consultation! 🎨
