Hello, welcome or welcome back to the OLO Blog!
I know many of us artist and creatives use social media to share our work, promote products, advertise our services, and build audiences. You may even have a lot of traffic coming to your account. However, I’m here to share some very important information that you're still missing the mark on. You may have been unaware of this or didn’t feel it was necessary for you, but you need a website going into 2022. Social media is not your portfolio and in not having a website actually puts you at a disadvantage to others in your industry who do. If you’re an artist, photographer, writer, content creator, or someone who provides an independent service I want to share a bit of insight into how you can benefit from having your own online portfolio or website. Creating a website where you can share your portfolio, personal information about your brand, or business, elevates you and people's perception about your work. Social media is a great tool to help you reach new clients, network, and share your work but it is not the end all be all. You need to have more than just an account on a social media website representing you, and here's why.
OWN YOUR CONTENT
Sharing your photos on Instagram means that you must agree to their terms and conditions to do so. At any point if you share a post that does not adhere to the strict community guidelines of the platform, whatever that may be, it can be taken down on the platform. Another downside to this is you can be banned from Instagram depending on the kind of art or content you create and share. There are countless stories about people’s post being deleted and being banned from various social media platforms for this. Many artists and creatives have lost many of the content they worked hard to create even losing money from it. This greatly inhibits a lot of creative peoples work they could share on social media. A great way to combat this issue is to start your very own website. To create a place where you can share you work without harsh restrictions. I am an artist and creator who enjoys having free range to create whatever I like. So, starting a website allowed me to have just that, freedom and ownership. There are no restrictions to follow when you start your own website, you have full creative control to share what you like. Also, while most social media platforms say they do not claim ownership of your post you do, however end up granting very broad licensing rights to them in the terms and conditions many of us accept without reading. Meaning they can use your post in whatever way they see fit without paying for that right with very little to no legal repercussions. Let that sink in.
PROFESSIONALISM
Another advantage to having your own website is it looks more professional than a social media account. With a website you can share your professional bodies of work in more polished look. It also allows you to share more in-depth information about yourself than you can in word restricted bios and captions on social media. This is actually more important than you think. Creating a space where you can share your own personal message about your brand or business helps people connect with you and encourages them into wanting to work with you.
Professionalism and having a permanent place where people can find you is so important. Having a website to direct clients to see your work in a professional manner will always be more favorable than saying “check me out on Instagram" or whatever social media platform you are using. Everyone who creates art or provides a creative service has a website. When it comes down to it, every person who takes themselves seriously in the media world: celebrities, artists, musicians, photographers, Youtubers etc. all have websites or portfolios they send out when seeking professional work. Unless you are Beyonce or someone of that caliber, you need a website, period. Even influencers big and small have portfolios listing their previous work, they do not use social media platforms to solely represent themselves even if they have a very large following. You can verify this by looking at any of your favorite or popular influencers and celebrities to find they also have something more professional to represent that as a serious entity.
Impressions are everything in this world. Having a website will always be taken much more seriously to potential clients who are going to be paying for whatever service you may be offering than to those who don’t. If you were to apply for a traditional media or art position employers do not even accept applications from applicants who don’t have a portfolio to share. So, in simply having a portfolio online will set you above the rest who didn’t know how important it is to have one.
CREATIVE INDIVIDUALISM
Building a website is actually a lot more fun than you may think it is. When I created the OLO Photography website I loved that creative aspect of it. The ability to create it exactly how I wanted broadened my ability to make executive decisions and I learned a new skillset to add to my resume. If you were to create a website, or have someone build it for you, you would be the one to decide how it should look and what kind of feeling you want people to take away when they visit it. The freedom in being able to choose the layout, color scheme, tabs of information, what will be displayed, and won't is very exciting.
REACHING NEW CLIENTS
If you're still wondering if it is to your benefit to start your own website, then I'm sure this one will seal the deal. We all want more people to see our work and book our services. In creating a website your chances in reaching a new audience and clientele just got a lot better. There are plenty of people who do not use social media. You are missing out on an entire demographic because you overestimated how many people actually use Instagram, and how many people use it to find creative people and services. There are so many channels for adverting your website allowing huge amount of people to see your ad and getting you more traffic to your business or service potentially gaining more clients than you would have otherwise. Also, website builders like Wix or Squarespace provide records for all transactions, bookings, orders, and subscriptions made through your website that make record keeping so much easier. Another aspect of your business that you can watch grow.
MORE OPITIONS
Another bonus in having a website is the ability to have more options at your disposal for creativity. What I mean by that is, you can create a blog on your website where you write about whatever you want. Whatever inspires you can be shared with someone else and can now hopefully inspire someone else. You could also offer courses in whatever your knowledgeable and passionate about. Bringing more people to see your work and grow. This can be for free or priced how you see fit allowing you to have another source for financial revenue.
In 2022 if you are serious about taking your business or services to the next level, as an artist and business owner myself, I highly recommend that you start a website. There is so much more to lose and disadvantage yourself from by not having one. I want my readers to be successful and proud of the work they display and share with the world. You have so much to gain from this just as I did. Thank you for reading, and I hope you join me in the next one!
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