According to one artist, because art.com registers some 3 million visitors per month as opposed to relative newcomer ImageKind.com or other “sell-your-art-here” websites,

“there is no ball game besides art.com for decent traffic.”

Well, let’s look at what I consider to be one of the best online artist’s services website on the Internet, ImageKind.com.

Considering that ImageKind started at zero in May of 2006 and, as of May 2007, is approaching 45,000 per month for an 20240.2% increase in traffic…and climbing, I’d say, ImageKind is a pretty up and coming good prospect for artists.  This is especially true when you consider that ImageKind has integrity and treats artists very well.  And an artist sets their own prices and retains control of their artwork.

But, then, let’s go ahead and look at the numbers, then, shall we?  Using the same service that EmptyEasel did, a site called compete.com, we do a comparison of the websites available to most artists, namely: picassomio.com, boundlessgallery.com, ImageKind.com, and artistrising.com.  We’ll throw in Sistino.com for good measure. And just for fun, I added in my own site, zentao.com, even though it is not a “sell-your-art-here” website. 

So here are the numbers according to compete.com which, by the way, cut my traffic down to unique visitors only, not return visitors, nor any traffic that comes in from the major search engines using entrances to this huge, very old, and very messy, eclectic website.  How do I know this?  Because I run extensive stats, and verify them with an independent source which I choose not to name.  (Don’t want everybody and their doggy knowing my ways and means, you know. )  I’ll list these statistics from compete.com from highest to lowest traffic.

art.com 3 million unique visitors per month

ImageKind.com 42,511 unique visitors per month

My website: zentao.com 24,806 unique visitors per month

boundlessgallery.com 23,839 unique visitors per month

sistino.com 19,500 unique visitors per month

picassomio.com 14,309 unique visitors per month

artistrising.com 9,903 unique visitors per month

 Our distressed artist quoted above claims that:

“there is no ball game besides art.com for decent traffic…. the other sites dont even register basically…..  art.com…. [has] basically a monopoly since traffic is the game.  Without traffic no admin tools, excellent layout or search functionality really matters…..  you can not multiply or divide by zero”

Well, I beg to differ.  First off, 10 thousand to 50 thousand quality visitors is divisible and multiplicable, and are nothing to sneeze at, even if half the number are artists looking at the market…which is true for any “sell-your-art-here/buy-your-art-here” website.  And I’d CERTAINLY rather have 25 thousand visitors looking specifically for my website and its content.  Much better to have quality visitors, all of them looking for and at my content than to have art.com’s 3 million who number:

• “other artists” checking out the stats and competition
• other competing websites seeing what they’re up to now
• and generic visitors who are just looking for “anybody’s content,” and mostly looking for CHEAP content, at that. 

And that is what art.com offers — cheap prints by anyone dead or alive whose work will turn them a profit at their set prices, where the artist gets 15% of a sale of a low priced print, art.com setting the prices.  I’m sorry, but the usual is for the gallery to get 15% and the artist 85%.

What’s my point?  My point is, develop your own presence, artists.  People who are looking for YOUR art need to come to YOUR website.  Brand your own name, then use services like ImageKind to sell your art to them. 

Remember, it’s not traffic VOLUME; it’s the quality of traffic — traffic that wants to look at and maybe even buy YOUR art.