Make your website

work for you

with Christina Balch
Artist workshop for Assets 4 Artists
September 27, 2022

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Agenda
● Intro (5 minutes)
● Artists and websites (25 mins)
● Site map activity (30 mins)
● Goals activity (40 mins)
● Q&A (15 mins)
● Conclusion (5 mins)

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 Intro

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Hi, I’m Christina Balch. I do a million things that are
important to me and often related to each other.

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Artists and websites

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Your website is your digital persona. It’s the easiest way
to control your presence on the internet.

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Your website is your digital persona. It’s the easiest way
to control your presence on the internet.

You’re not perfect. Your website will never be perfect.

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Your website is your digital persona. It’s the easiest way
to control your presence on the internet.

You’re not perfect. Your website will never be perfect.

Websites take time and/or money to build and maintain.

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Your website is your digital persona. It’s the easiest way
to control your presence on the internet.

You’re not perfect. Your website will never be perfect.

Websites take time and/or money to build and maintain.

Break up your website project into small, manageable

tasks.

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The most effective way to do it, is to do it.
- Amelia Earhart

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Website terms and slang
Artist website - a digital portfolio of work and curated information
about an artist or group of artists
*UX - user experience; how visitors to your website use your website
and actions they take
*UI - user interface; the design, architecture and hierarchy of your
website
*User - anyone that visits your website
*Navigation / Nav - the main links on your website; usually across the
top or in a menu that is revealed such as on a smartphone; should be
accessible on every page of your website.
Homepage - Landing page; the first page people see when they type
in your domain name
*Site map - a map of all the pages on your website; all the pages in
your navigation plus any additional pages that are not in your
navigation
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Wireframes - a blueprint of your website; a simplified representation
of your website layout without design or styles applied yet
*Social media - broadly speaking, any platform where many people
gather to view art and can communicate: Instagram, Twitter,
YouTube, Twitch, OnlyFans, etc.
Content - Text and media that will go on your website. Media includes
images, video, sound files
SEO - search engine optimization; different ways to write, tag,
organize and code content on your website that help your website
rank higher on Google and other search engines
Call-to-action (CTA) - Buttons, links and other clickable actions on a
website
Button - a rectangular-ish shape with action text inside it that links to
another page or triggers another response on your website. I.e.
“Contact Me” button that links to a contact page with a form on it
*Target Audience - the main people you want to visit your website.
These are people that will fulfill your goals when they perform certain
actions on your website.
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Website strategy for multi-disciplinary artists
Your job is to prioritize and edit

Pick your top goals for the next 6-12 months and
design around these goals and actions

Avoid too many links in your navigation

- no more than 5 or 6

More content > More pages

- better to load more content onto fewer pages
than vice versa

Know that your goals will change and your

website should change accordingly.

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 ACTIVITY #1
Lay out your site map
(this will be the main navigation on the top of your website)

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Start with this basic site map and update to meet your
unique goals
● Work*
● About
● Contact

*Work could also be Projects / Art / Portfolio / Writing (whatever word makes
sense for your practice)

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Update to meet your specific goals and needs

Additional page options: Link to specific event or fundraiser*:

- Events - Patreon
- Services - Kickstarter
- Featured - GoFundMe
- Book Me - Buy Tickets
- Writing - Watch Trailer
- Experiments

*Links to time-based events and fundraisers should be updated and/or removed when the event is over
or when the project is no longer a priority for you
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Friendly reminder to post your questions
in the chat

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You don’t have to do it all at once.

Prioritize and edit.

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 ACTIVITY #2
Define your unique goals
Link to worksheet

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Define 1 unique goal for your website
1. What do you want for your career over the next 6-12 months?
2. Write out each desire as an actionable and specific goal that your website can
help you with. It’s okay if it’s big or small.
3. Examples of a unique, actionable goal
a. I want 100 signups to my newsletter.
b. I want gallery representation in NY.
c. I want to be hired for a film editing job.
d. I want to sell 10 paintings.
e. I want to start a collaboration with a VR artist.
4. Examples of goals that are NOT actionable
a. I want to look more professional.
b. I want to show all the things that I do in a cohesive way
c. I want to have an online portfolio.

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Examples

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Take a minute to write down your top goal
(or choose the goal you want to work with if you filled out the worksheet
beforehand)

Add it to the chat!

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Define an audience for that goal.

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Goals & Audience
1. In marketing, measurable goals have a target audience.
2. Think about who is the ideal person who will take this action that will serve
your goal, or who do you WANT to take this action.
3. Examples
a. Type of person: I want to sell tickets to X performance that is geared towards
technology-based artists and gamers who are in their 20s
b. Type of person: I want to get freelance jobs as a film editor. The main people who would hire
me for this job are film directors creating low-budget arthouse films for film festivals.
c. Specific person: I want to be represented by Gallery X, and J. Lopez is the curator there.
4. You may have to do some research to figure out who your main audience is

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 Take a minute to write down the
target audience or person for your goal
(Add it to the chat so you can give others some ideas and inspiration.)

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Now let’s define the ACTION
You’ve got your goal and the audience to target to achieve that goal.

Think about what that person (who is in your target audience) needs to do specifically on your website to
achieve that goal for you. What steps will they take on your website to get to the action that you want them
to take?

Examples:

● Offer tickets for sale to my live-streamed performance geared towards artists and gamers in their
20s - actionable goal = sell tickets on my website, other actionable goal = sell tickets via X platform
that is popular or common with this audience. The action is selling tickets. You need a button on
your website in a prominent location that says “Buy Tickets” and links out to X platform.
● I want to get hired for freelance film editing work. The “action” is getting contacted by someone
looking to hire an editor. You need a contact page on your website, and a clear path to the contact
page from other pages talking about this work. On a “Services” page, add a button that says “Contact
me” or “Hire Me” that links to your contact page.

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 Take a minute to write down or draw the
action that your target audience or person
will take to achieve your goal
(Add it to the chat so you can give others some ideas and inspiration.)

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Example Goals & Actions
DREAD SCOTT (conceptual/performance artist and activist) -
Highlights important projects in a “Featured Art” section

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Example Goals & Actions
YARA LICEAGA-ROJAS (writer/educator/cultural manager) -
Prioritizes “Book Me” and “Support my work” in the main navigation.
Note: “Book Me” can link to a form similar to a “contact me” page.

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Example Goals & Actions
LAURIE ANDERSON (composer/performance artist) - Showcases work via
Calendar for events, News for press and lectures, and Store for albums and merch
for sale.

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 Use a button

HIRE ME BUY TICKETS

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 WEBSITE TIPS
(general tips to keep in mind when laying out and building your website)

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It doesn’t matter which website platform you choose
● There are a lot of options out there. It doesn’t matter which one you choose as
long as you can update your website yourself.
● There are pros and cons to every platform.
● Make sure the platform you choose adapts easily for mobile devices.
● I prefer Squarespace because it has clean design and easily adapts to mobile
devices.

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Make sure your site is mobile-friendly. Anywhere
from 25-75% of your website users will be on a
mobile device.

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Use buttons for major actions and an underline for
text hyperlinks

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Make sure all text is legible. The higher the color
contrast the better. The simpler the font the better.
Black text on white background is common for a
reason - it’s easy to read.

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MEDIA
All images and video and audio files should be high
quality and small file size. Find the balance.
Image recommendations:
Full page image: 1200 pixels wide, 72 dpi resolution
Half page image: 700 pixels wide, 72 dpi resolution

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Use compressed images.
All images should be less than 1MB, less than 200KB
is best.
Run your images through this free tool for the
smallest possible image file size:
https://tinypng.com/

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Use embedded videos and audio when possible.
Embedded YouTube videos are great because they’re
already compressed.
If you upload and host your own video file on your
website, make sure the video file size is as small as
possible without losing resolution quality.
(This is not always easy)

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Don’t add a Blog to your site unless you are
committed to updating it at least once a month, once
a week is preferable.

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 Q&A

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 Main takeaway Stay in touch
Web: christinabalch.com/
Manage your website
expectations and time by LinkedIn: /in/christinabalch
prioritizing smaller tasks that Instagram: @christinabalchstudio
serve your unique goals
Email address:
studio@christinabalch.com

THANK YOU
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 Appendix

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Website Tips (all on one slide)
● It doesn’t matter which website platform you choose as long as you can update your site.
● Make sure your site is mobile-friendly. Anywhere from 25-75% of your website users will be
on a mobile device.
● Use buttons for major actions and an underline for text hyperlinks
● Make sure all text is legible. The higher the color contrast the better. The simpler the font
the better. Black on white is popular for a reason.
● Use compressed images. All images should be less than 1MB, less than 250KB is best.
● Use embedded videos and audio when possible. Embedded YouTube videos are great
because they’re already compressed. If you upload and host your own video file on your
website, make sure the video file size is as small as possible without losing resolution
quality. (This is not always easy)
● Don’t add a Blog to your site unless you are committed to updating it at least once a month,
once a week is preferable.

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Website Platform Options
● Squarespace - I prefer Squarespace. It’s mobile-friendly and well-designed.
More about why I like it here.
● Wix - Tends to be easier for less tech-savvy people, but design not as good.
● Cargo Collective - my favorite smaller, artist-focused option. Somewhat
limiting.
● Other People’s Pixels - basic, clean, limited, but works well for most artists
● Wordpress - great option for people willing to hire a designer/developer to
build a custom website. Best for a lot of art that you want to categorize
and/or if you want to include a robust shop.

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More Website Tips for Tech-Savvy Artists
● Use an analytics service to monitor your website users (what device are they
using, where are they located, what sites are they coming from, etc…) - Google
Analytics is definitely the most common, but most website platforms use their
own analytics service.
● Check your page load time here: https://pagespeed.web.dev/
● Check if your website for accessibility issues here: https://wave.webaim.org/
● Check your website for legibility re: color contrast:
https://accessible-colors.com/
● Integrate with your most used social media and event platforms to avoid
duplicating your efforts across platforms

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Artist websites for inspiration
The following artist website screenshots and links are artist websites that I think
do a good job (generally speaking). They are not perfect (none of us are), but these
are good examples of different ways to prioritize your work and website content
based on different art practices and goals.

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