Promoting online is tricky~even difficult

[Ave]

I have joined many sites over the last year as well as auction sites such as Ebid. I include links in my sig bars in email, post occasionally to Word Press, Technorati, Digg , MySpace as well as some art gallery clubs but for all the time I spend and urls I have amassed in the search engines, if some one isnt searching for 'me' they never make it to my auctions .
On ArtWanted.com since Feb I have had over 68,000 viewings and over a 1000 comments~ but still see that doing little to affect my sales.
Sales are down, yet those who see my artwork, say its good.
I found local.com, oodle.com, craiglist to advertise on, but still no results...
I would love to find out some secrets for promoting and advertising my artwork as I really need to work from home, living on permanent disability and trying to establish an online business that isnt in the red... [breaking even would even be nice!] BUT I am aspiring hirer,hopefully, just getting bummed out when auctions come and go unnoticed.

Before Christmas I was selling 2 out of 3 auctions. After Christmas it was 1 out of 5-6 and later 1 out of 7 on ebay which led to my monthly fees eating whatever profit a sale may have brought, so now it is over a month and I have not listed on ebay but am hoping to see some sales here.

Good luck to us all!
Ave

[kengillam]

Hi Ave, firstly I would have a quick check of the links in your About page, taking people off eBid to other selling locations is a no no. On the marketing side it is just a case of plugging away, art is very subjective and it can sometimes take a long time to find a buyer for a particular painting. Adding a signature link to your posts would be a start so have a look at this thread. http://helpdesk.ebid.net/showthread.php?t=100959

[heatemyfather]

I think the most powerful tool you have at your disposal in this respect is Google, so make sure you offer Google Checkout on your auctions and that they all qualify for inclusion in Google Products listings, as they are uploaded several times a month from eBid. I think the qualifiers are that it must have a Buy It Now price and have either 8 days left to run and / or is On First Bid start time (on eBid), if these criteria are met then I'm told it will be uploaded. Now it's up to you to use attractive wording in your item title, not necessarily your name or generic words such as 'painting', be cunning! But not misleading, that's the key.

Next Google Products upload is on the 28th, so make any alterations before then to qualify as many listings as you can. I have been pleasantly surprised as one of my listings came in 3rd in a general Google search, and my items appear in Google Shopping listings pretty well too. It's great to see them appearing next to stuff from Am.zon and the like, especially when my prices are cheaper!