How to Sell Art on YouTube

If you are anything like me, you may sit on the couch late at night surfing through all sorts of videos on Youtube.

Everything from hilarious clips of your favorite TV show to short instructional videos around specific tasks.
But, did you know that Youtube can be a hugely effective marketing tool for your art?

Val’s Art Diary – Alice in Wonderland

I’ve been following Val for years. Her videos are the best examples of how to sell your art with Youtube. They’re professionally produced, fun, and they show off her personality and her work.

Eleatta Diver

Eleatta and I met several years ago online, and I love the way that she shows off her work here in this video.

8 Tips for Selling Art On Youtube

1. Make a video that’s fun to watch. I used the Kodak zi8 and a simple lamp for directional lighting to get started. Smile, show some personality and show off your work. Your art is your passion, so let it shine through!
2. Make it easy to find your videos. Youtube is a giant search engine. More than 25% of all searches on the web happen on Youtube – that’s more than Yahoo, Bing, or any search engine besides Google. Search Engine Optimization rules apply. Pay attention to your video title and description, links, tags.

3. Put your art on your channel as a background image. This is rather self-explanatory. By clicking on the Edit my Channel link, you can upload images as backgrounds.
4. Calls to Action in your video – What is the one thing that you want people to do after watching your video? Join your mailing list? Bid on an auction for your art? Youtube has a web-based editor that allows you to add little notes at certain points in the video, as well as clickable links. If you’re showing multiple pieces of art in a single video, you could add links to each piece on your website.
5. Post a bulletin. People can subscribe to your Youtube channel. Be sure to post the occasional update and let them know what’s up.
6. Youtube ads. If you’re already making some money, Youtube ads are a great way to raise awareness about your work!
7. Leverage your friends. Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon and other sites are great ways to share your videos. Leverage your friends’ networks by asking them to share your videos.
8. Youtube analytics. The built in graphs and results will tell you which of your videos are most popular, where the traffic comes from, and which ones receive the most engagement.

Mari Smith’s Youtube Guide

Mari is one of the world’s foremost experts on Youtube and Facebook marketing. This video is worth a watch.

The Abundant Artist Channel

Follow The Abundant Artist Youtube channel, which I recently started, that has a whole series of how-to tips, like this one on How to Make Your Images Found Online.

Have you had any success selling your art on Youtube? Let us know what you did in the comments.
*Guest author Cory Huff is an actor turned Internet marketer who teaches artists to dispel the starving artist myth by using the Web to sell art.
**For more helpful art tip videos, please check out https://www.finearttips.com/videos/ I also hope to meet you on on Twitter and Facebook and Google Plus!  Click here if you would like to see  my paintings. ~Lori