I get asked about ASF a lot, so I pulled together this handy list of FAQ's which I hope helps!

Do you like Art Storefronts?

Yes indeed. That's most commonly asked question! When I discovered ASF, I was making a large pivot in my business to include a better game plan for selling art and was doing a crap job of marketing myself. I've been an entrepreneur my entire life as a coach... but the world of selling art is a different animal. 

Thing is, if you want to include online art sales as part of what you offer,  you have to get smart about e-commerce, auto-fulfillment, marketing and automation. ASF is the only site I've found that makes it all possible. The big separator? IMO, it's their business education. It's unique and incredibly valuable. But make no mistake - making money as an artist still alot of work! Hear me on this: there IS no magic bullet, including ASF! 

My feeling: if I'm going to work hard... I at least want to work smart. ASF has really helped closed the gap on that and helped me focus on what's important. Art is its own silo, with it's own set of rules of engagement. Miss that part, and you're in a world of hurt. 

Here's another truth: people think of online sales as "passive income". It's a seductive notion. So let's be real about how much "active" goes into "passive", shall we? It sure as heck doesn't happen all by itself! There is a learning curve with any kind of business startup - or pivot. Again, it's why ASF's business education is gold. If you apply it, it just works. Saves you grief, time, tears. OK, you may still have tears. But it won't be because you don't know what to do - because the support and guidance is all right there. I don't know of another platform offering the breadth and depth of business education for artists. Again, a page from Entrepreneurship 101:  "Passive" only happens from being "Pro-active". ASF helps, bigly. 

SUMMARY:

My top 4 reasons FOR USING THE ASF PLATFORM:

1. Ownership. I could list my work on other "Pay to Play" art sites all day long, but I've ever been a fan. Thing is, I'm not especially fond of the "Pay to Play" model. Never have been. The problem? OK, let's say I build my online fine art shop on the fictional platform:  "Joe's Fine Art Store dot com". I put in the time, the hard work - and now am ready to set sail. Great! Now I'm one of thousands of other artists fighting for a scrap of attention in the gigantic pay-to-play ocean of Joe's Fine Art. What's worse: let's say someone manages to land on my art. #Winning! Well guess what? Also served up is a section called: "You might also love...", which shows a slew of other art that isn't mine, inviting you to head off to other parts of their website. AGH. 

There's more, but you get my point. 

The primary difference between that model and a site like this: your ASF is yours. Your domain name, your site statistics. Your results in search engines. No random algorithm changes to blow up in your face. You run sales when you want to run sales. You set terms. You OWN your space on the web. 

3. Auto-fulfillment, for both Merchandise and Wall Art. Huge. Major. Lifechanging. Your ASF site is automatically linked to a print lab that receives, prints, packs, ships, tracks and emails ALL your orders. Ditto Merch, all from one website. You can even add a signature to your wall art if you want to. 

3. Augmented Reality. Shopping tools matter. Augmented reality means that customers can preview your art on their own walls via their smartphone in real time. I used to spend hours making custom photoshop mockups for potential clients using photos they took and superimposing my art onto them. It's important for customers visual the art, no doubt about it. But now, I just send them a link to my site and they can play with all sorts of different sizes and styles on their own. It's a brilliant way to "reduce the friction" on making that sale and saving me time. It's also part of great  customer service. 

4. Support. Community. Education. Technically, that's 3 reasons. Truth: I've studied business. Marketing. Taken classes, done webinars, read books. All great - especially if you're a coach, which I also am. But it only got me 80% of the way there for the art world. That final 20% is 100% art-specific marketing. It's the make or break piece - and I was having a heck of a time find the right answers.

This was the clincher for me: ASF's marketing plans, playbooks, live workshops, business academy and incredible support. They've also got a robust Facebook community of other artists all on the same journey. Alot of knowledge there! They help each other + celebrate victories. I swear - with all the templates, instructions and incredibly smart people answering questions + helping you out? Let's just say that it makes the inevitable hard work of building an online art business WAY easier. 

Isn't it cheaper for me to do my own fulfillment?

Nope. And, more importantly, it's not scalable. That latter is key for me, because I'm a multi-preneur. I have multiple arms to my business, each quite demanding in time and effort. So an automated, scalable system backed up by a team whose specialty is fulfillment - that's key for me. Add up the cost + time it takes you to print, trim, package, ship, track and confirm every single order you receive. Ack! Now place value on your time - especially the time spent NOT making art (which should count double in my book). Even if you suck at math, it's not hard to figure out that you actual losing money (and sanity) doing it all yourself.  At least for me that's true. You may be different, so you do you.

My one exception: custom work. The nice thing is that you can still work directly with your higher-end, custom art clients and be on ASF too. 

Can you customize the site design?

Yes. There is a really easy drag and drop page-builder much like many of the other sites out there (wix, squarespace). It is very simple to add custom pages. 

How much does it cost?

There are a few different tiers and plans available. To find out the most current pricing, click the link below. 

Is the print quality good?

Definitely. I use Bay Photo on my site, who is one of ASF's vendors. They've been my online fulfillment printer for a number of years. I've always loved paper and printing... and have been working with high end print labs for over 15 years. Hence, a great print lab was one of the most important things to me when switching to ASF. All of their fulfillment vendors are fine art printers, which means higher quality - art that lasts. They create archival-quality prints – far superior to what you get from most of these pay-to-play sites. LOADS of options for other substrates too,  like canvas, wood, metal, acrylic, plus framing - all built into your site and the quality is excellent. You choose your own markup. 

Is it hard to set up?

Nope. ASF has the whole process laid out step-by-step. It definitely takes some time to do it, depending on the breadth of your art library (like if you have 10 pieces vs 100). 

Beyond that, the only part that can be complex for non-computer-savvy artists is sizing and preparing the photos of your art.  If you're a photographer - that part is MUCH easier. If you're an artist and aren’t comfortable with this process, I'd suggest working with a photographer to shoot your work and prep your files. It’s important to have very high-resolution photos to make the prints look sharp.

Can you sell custom prints & originals online?

Yup. As I mentioned, that's one of the things I really appreciate about my ASF site - the flexibility. If I choose, I can use the "Originals" gallery function  (also good for Custom Prints) in much the same way as my "Open Editions" galleries. There’s also a way to show your originals side-by-side with prints which is a great sales tool.

Bottom line, I can offer both the cool online fulfillment option as well as continue my beloved custom client/collaboration work, which I fulfill through Ogden Editions, my longtime custom fine art printing partner. 

How (and when) do I get paid?

When someone purchases a piece of art through your site, the transaction is processed via Stripe. (There are a few other processor options as well.) Payment is quite fast. Also good to know: for each order, the print lab charges you for the printing/shipping costs  (it’s all automatic) and ASF charges you (also automatic) for their %. It’s all turnkey, very automatic and easy. 

Some of my favorite things: 

• Email capture pop-up. Such a simple, no-brainer way to grow your email list. Back in the day, I used to resist this... but frankly,  it's one of the most powerful tools out there to grow your subscribers in an effort-free manner. Once I tested and saw the difference - I became a believer. 

• The analytics and data are incredible. It’s all built in to the backend of your ASF site. You can see where customers are coming from, where they’re going, how sales change over time. It's helped me determine what types of ad campaigns and marketing tactics give the most bang for my buck. I'm still learning - but this tool is KEY for gathering exactly the info I need to tailor my efforts. 

• Every order and customer is saved, and orders are easily exported. It is incredibly easy to see who has bought what and when, and to pull customer info. 

• The podcast: if you haven't yet, check it out here. There is an awesome catalog of marketing intel that is available and pertinent to any artist, regardless of whether they have an ASF site. If you've ever wondered about Facebook marketing, sales funnels, you name it. They get into all of it and I have learned so much.

HOPE THIS HELPS!

If this was helpful and you're interested in learning more from ASF, the link below will get you started. Thank you!  

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