EASY STEPS GUIDE TO SETTING UP YOUR ARTSPAN WEBSITE

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The Easy Steps are simple instructions to help you build your new website. These Steps follow the Express and Advanced Setup instructions you can access on your Control Panel. There is additional documentation available in the Resources section and you can also view video tutorials. Because of the changes in the Control Panel in June 2012, some documentation and video tutorials may not correspond exactly to what you see in your Control Panel. But they can still be of use. If you have questions, contact our Help Desk by clicking on the Help Desk button or by emailing ask@artspan.com. If you feel you need it, you can also arrange for a personal help session over the phone. Email Denise to set up a time, ask@artspan.com.

Note: we have thousands of members, most with very limited computer expertise, and almost all have learned to work with our tools without problems… so don’t be worried that you will not “get it.” Just be a little patient. Anything like this will have a learning curve. Our experience tells us that the learning curve for this process is NOT a steep one. And again, please remember, we at Artspan are here to help you… so don’t hesitate to ask for assistance when you need it!

Easy Steps Guide Table of Contents

Easy Step #1 Site Info

Easy Step #2 Images

Easy Step #3 Galleries

Easy Step #4 Website Pages

Easy Step #5 Design Themes

Easy Step #6 Setting up a Shopping Cart on your website

Easy Step #7 Enabling the Prints-on-Demand feature

Easy Step #8 Social Settings

Easy Step #9 Optimizing your website to draw traffic

We thank you for the opportunity to work with you in marketing your creative work.

Your Artspan Team

Easy Step #1

Let’s Get Started! First, whenever you want to edit your website, begin by logging in to your Control

Panel in the top upper right hand corner of the Artspan homepage, http://www.artspan.com.

.

Step 1: Basic Site Info

We know you want to get started on your site, but first let’s enter some information to make sure your

website is found on the Internet (and on Artspan.com).

1. Under My Account, click on Site Info.

2. Under Site Contact Info, enter only the information you want to appear on your Contact page

(e.g. you may not want to enter your address and phone number). You should, however,

highlight your Country and State/Province. Artspan needs this information so that your website

shows in the proper Regional directories which are popular with visitors.

No other fields need be filled out in the Site Contact Info Section.

3. In Site Settings, the Site Name is usually your name but can be whatever name you identify

yourself with.

4. For other fields, click on the ? prompts for explanations. The most important fields are

Description of Work for the Artspan category directories and Default Browser Title. The

Browser Title will have a few words, probably no more than 5 or 6, to sum up what your website

is about. The Title shows on the upper left hand corner of your browser (Internet Explorer,

Safari, Firefox or Chrome). It is VERY important in dictating how Google and the other search

engines index and rank your site. It is probably the single most important factor, so spend a little

time with this and make it specific as possible, not general. If, for example, you are a California

landscape painter, then ‘California landscape paintings’ should be in the browser title rather

than simply ‘landscape painter.’

Note: it can take a month or more for Google to index and rank your website. This is an automatic

process and you can do nothing to speed it up. You do not need to “submit” your website to Google

as some people would like you to believe (and would like you to pay for).

Easy Step #2

Step 2: Images

In this section, you will begin to build your site. It’s not complicated. You can have a basic site up and

running in 30 minutes (and then take your time making your site the perfect vehicle to showcase and

market your work).

So, let’s get some images up!

Click on Images under Website Tools.

1) Click on Add More Images

2) Drag & Drop an image from your computer. Or, if you use Internet Explorer, Browse your

computer to find and upload an image. The largest dimension (h or w) has to be 600+ pixels.

(Larger for Prints and Zoom).

3) Enter Title.

4) Click on Zoom and Watermark checkboxes, if desired.

5) In Artwork Description, enter the info you decide is important - perhaps the medium and the

date the work was completed.

6) Enter keywords, separate each with commas. Think of keywords that someone looking for this

kind of work might use to search for it.

7) In the Alt Tag box, enter your name and the title of the work.

8) Highlight the appropriate category/medium/subject drop-down choices.

9) Under Purchase Options, enter dimensions (either inches or cm)

10) Click checkboxes: (1) Show in Search (up to a total of 15 images for Professional Plus members)

and (2) Member directory thumbnail (1 image total only).

11) Click Save Changes.

12) To add another image, click Add New Image. If the image details are the same for the new

image (keywords, categories, etc), you will not need to enter them again. Always remember to

Save changes.

Easy Step #3

Galleries can be important in presenting your work. You can separate them in a number of different ways: by subject category, by medium, by year completed, even by works that are for sale and those that aren’t. Step 3: Galleries Click on Galleries to place your work into distinct galleries. 1) Click Add Gallery. 2) Enter Gallery Name. 3) (Optional) Enter brief Gallery Intro Text. Appears above or below index images. 4) Set the Display Order for the galleries: you can (1) drag & drop or (2) use the up/down arrows. Or (3) you can enter a value in the field provided. Click Save. 5) Click Edit. 6) (Optional) Slideshow. Remember that most visitors like to view work at their own pace, so this feature may not be something you want to add). 7) In the Image Library, click on the Add to Gallery checkbox for each image that you want to add to the gallery just created. 8) Drag & drop to set sort order or click on the up/down arrows or enter a value in the Update box 9) Click on the radio button for the image you want to be the primary gallery image. 10) Click Save.

Easy Step #4

All pages that are not gallery or image pages are grouped in the section called “website pages.”

These include the home page, CV/bio, links, contact and any other pages you want to add. We use

the Home page as an example here, but you can rename this page or work with any website page

you like. If you opt not to have a home page, make sure the home page Active checkbox is

unchecked. Your main Galleries page will become your Home page.

Note: the Contact and Gallery pages are predefined. You can only change the name of the page.

Step 4: Website Pages

1) Click Page Settings next to Home. What shows right now for Browser Title is what you entered

in the Browser Title field in the Site Info section. You can leave that or change it to something

more specific to this page.

2) Click on the Active checkbox so you publish this page when it has been saved , then click on Edit.

3) Enter text in the Put Your Content Here field and format using the Tool icons. (If you have a

Word doc, click on the Word icon and paste)

4) Add an Image. (note: the website pages images are not the same as those in your artwork images section.)

i. place your cursor in the text field and center it using the center align icon

ii. click on the tree icon, bottom row, third from right.

iii. In the pop-up that opens, stay in the General tab and click on the Browse icon towards the

upper right of the pop-up.

iv. In the new screen that opens, click on the Upload link, top row, second from right.

v. Click on Browse and find the image file in your computer.

vi. Double click on the image file and click Upload. Click close (upper right).

vii. On the new screen, see the image file in your list of images, then check the checkbox to the

left of the image name and click Select.

viii. On the new pop-up that opens, click Insert.

ix. It is best to resize the image to approximately the size you will want to use ( a working rule of

thumb would be 300 pixels or less as the largest dimension) before uploading it. Then you can

make some final adjustments by grabbing one of the image corners to resize the image.

x. Preview the page and then Save. (Note: see Tutorials under Resources for a video tutorial on uploading website images).

5) Here is an exercise to familiarize yourself with tables and to see how they can be used to format

text and images on a page.

i. Click on the table icon (lower left) and start with a simple two cell table (1 row): enter 2 for

Cols (columns) and 1 for Rows.

ii. Enter 5 for cell padding.

iii. Click on Insert. Then expand the cell walls a bit by dragging the corners.

iv. Place cursor in the left cell and click on the tree icon to insert an image (see above). Align left.

vii. Place cursor in the right cell. Enter sample text. Align left.

viii. After previewing, Save. (Note: see Tutorials under Resources for a video tutorial on tables)

Easy Step #5

You currently have a default site design. You can leave that as your site design, at least for now, or you

can select another of the Ready Made Designs by going directly to that Tab. Click on any of the Ready

Mades to see how it looks in the preview window.

In the future, you may well want to spend some time customizing your site design to make it uniquely

yours and to better showcase and market your work. It is the variety of options offered and ease of use

that makes these template websites unique.

Step 5: Design Themes

part one

1) Click the Website Template tab. Select the basic structure for your site name, and the navigation

and content areas. You can preview each layout variation. (Remember you can come back and

make changes at any time. Click Save Changes

2) Click on Layout Variations. Here you can fine-tune the layout by changing alignments and

navigation bar position. Click Save when done.

3) Click on Gallery Display Options. Review and change where necessary your choices for the

display of galleries and images. Click Save Changes (Note: click on Tutorials under Resources for video tutorials on working with the Design tools.)

part two

1) Click the Custom Styles tab to customize colors, fonts, background and more.

2) In the Name This Style field, enter a name, e.g. “Blue 1” to save the design theme you are

working on.

3) Under Site Background Color, click on the Background Color field & select a color from the

wheel that appears. If you have a HEX color code from an image file, enter that in this field

preceded by #.

4) (optional) To place an image you have chosen in the background instead of simply a color, click

on the (advanced) add a background image or logo box. Click Select File to upload your image

which should be at least 1400 pixels wide by 1200 high, and under 200KB in size. Or Tile a

smaller image.

5) Customize colors for other site components. (Note: as you mouse over each section title, the

corresponding area in the site preview window becomes yellow).

6) To copy a color to another section, click the double-page icon to Copy, then click on the

clipboard icon to Paste where you wish to apply it.

7) Select font styles , sizes & colors for text areas. Click Save Changes. (Note: click Tutorials under Resources for a video tutorial on working with Custom Styles.)

Easy Step #6

To set up your site for ecommerce, you need a PayPal Premier or Business Account. Visit paypal.com

and sign up using the same email & billing addresses listing in your Artspan Billing Info.

If you already have a PayPal account, make sure the email & billing addresses match those you have on

file with Artspan - essential to ensure you receive payment for sales.

Step 6: Shopping Cart

1) Click on Shopping Cart then Yes, Let’s Get Started.

2) Review the Terms & Conditions, click I Agree.

3) Make sure the email & address listed here are the same as your PayPal account.

4) Check your email for a verification code from us.

5) Return to Shopping Cart setup and enter that code.

6) Configure Sales Tax following instructions on page. Click Continue to enable your shopping cart.

7) Configure Shipping Options. For details, click Show Instructions. When complete, click Save.

8) Click on the main Images link. Click the Edit link under the work you wish to sell. Scroll down to

enter price and check Enable Add to Cart Button.

9) Click Save Changes.

10) Repeat for each work you wish to sell.

Easy Step #7

Before setting up Prints on Demand you must have the Shopping Cart enabled. If you have questions

requirements for print images, see the Prints on Demand FAQ. [http://www.artspan.com/PoD.html#]

Step 7: Prints on Demand

1) Click Prints on Demand under the E-Commerce heading.

2) Prints you have enabled for Prints on Demand during image upload will appear on this page. To

add additional, click Add More Images in Images, and click the Enable Prints checkbox.

3) Return to Prints on Demand & select Modify your inventory of frames, mats, &

paper/canvases to define the options you want to offer.

4) Complete your selections, click Save and Continue.

5) For each image enabled for prints, you may click Customize Print to narrow down options & set

a default display view. This is your chance to present your work in the best light possible, so we

urge you to take advantage of this step.

6) Click Save and Continue after each image.

Image requirements for Prints on Demand:

Resolution: Our programming will accept 150 dpi (dots per inch) but we strongly urge 300 dpi. Only in cases where the image file is of really good quality should 150 dpi be used. File type: JPEGs (our recommendation) or TIFF format (RGB). Actual size of the image file: the print size is determined by the digital image file size. That is, the height in pixels divided by 150 multiplied by the width in pixels divided by 150 gives the largest possible print size for that image file. You can see the digital image size Properties by right clicking(on a PC) the image file in your computer. Again, 150 dpi is the largest possible size but may not give you a good print. 300 dpi is a much safer bet.

For example, 3000 pixels high X 3600 pixels wide gives you a print size of 20 X 24 inches ((3000/300) X

3600/300) = 20X 24 inches).

Again, the Prints on Demand FAQ are found here http://www.artspan.com/PoD.html#

Easy Step #8

Complete this section to enable visitors to easily follow you and share your site on social media sites.

Maximize the reach and impact of your website!

Step 8: Social Settings

1) Click Social Settings.

2) The first section will set up links for visitors to follow you on social media. Select an icon size and

accompanying text (e.g. “Follow me”), then enter your ID names/info in the fields for each social media

site. If you aren’t sure of format, click the ? button.

3) Click Save Settings.

4) Select whether you’d like to include a “Pin It” icon next to your images to encourage sharing via

Pinterest, and click Save Settings.

5) Under Allow Visitors to Share My Pages, select which display format you’d like to appear on your

page for people who wish to post a link to your site via social media. Select OFF if you’d prefer not to

give this option.

6) Click Save Settings.

Easy Step #9

Step 9: Social Settings

We hope you are pleased with the way your website has developed. Remember though that a website is not something can be left alone. It's important to keep your site fresh by adding new images and text on a regular basis. This is critical not just for your visitors, but for search engines like Google - if a website has not been touched in a while, it can be penalized in search rankings.

The following email is a brief primer on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) - namely, how to ensure that your site shows higher up in Google and other search engine rankings. Your Artspan site is specifically designed to make SEO easier and more effective.

First, let's dispel one myth right away - you do NOT need to submit your site to Google. Search engines will find your website on their own as they automatically "spider" through the web following links. Your site will be indexed (categorized and ranked) according to the elements that make up the algorithms of Google and the other search engines. A numerical weighting is assigned to each element and these often change. However, the major elements will not change a great deal and these are the elements we need to pay attention to.

What to optimize your site for:

Think of a key word or phrase that someone looking for your kind of work might use in conducting a search, whether it's on Google or using the Artspan search functions. For example, you may be an impressionistic landscape painter in Sonoma County, California. Two key phrases that might be used in searches are California impressionist painting or, perhaps, Sonoma County impressionist painting. These can be the phrases that you optimize your site for. They should be fairly specific and detailed but they still need to be phrases that a lot of people might use. Don't try to optimize for a very broadly used word such as Impressionism. There are simply too many people competing for high rankings for a term like that.

How to optimize your site:

The most important elements in search engine rankings are the Meta Title (browser window title), the page URLs (that's the page's Internet address, i.e. www. website.com/index.html), content (frequency and location of placement), images (alt text) and links to your site.

Let's get started.

Meta Title The Meta Title is the browser title that appears at the far upper left hand corner of your browser window, whether the browser is Internet Explorer, Firefox , Safari or Chrome. You can find the field for the default browser title in the Site Info section of your Artspan Control Panel. This title will appear on all the pages of your website except the individual website pages if you choose to have different browser title(s) for those pages. For your browser title, try to incorporate your choice of key terms and possibly variations of the terms in the title and include your name.

For example: The #1 Google result for "California Impressionist Painting" (at the time of this writing) is http://www.derusfinearts.com/Calendar.htm . The browser title shows as Fine Art Paintings In California Impressionist Paintings California Art Gallery CA Impressionist Paintings. This is for an art gallery and you can see they included every key word except the gallery name, which they should have made room for. Still, it's not bad, and it's the #1 result. Note that this is not intended for reading by visitors – only for search engine ranking.

Here is the #1 result for a Google search for "Sonoma County Impressionist Painting": http://www.davidjensenartist.com/ . The browser title reads: David Jensen - Sonoma County Artist - Impressionist Oil Paintings - Landscapes & Still Lifes for Sale - Wine Country - Napa. Now, that is good! Everything is in there, including the most common search terms for Sonoma County, "wine" and "Napa."

For future reference (you don't need to do this now), you can also enter different browser titles for your interior website pages. You can use this to help you rank well for secondary terms (you will need to add some relevant content in the copy on the page also - which is why we suggest doing this later). To see the fields for these Browser titles, go to the Website Pages section of your Control Panel. Click on Change Page Settings next to the Page Name. The field corresponding to Browser Window Title is the one to fill in for that page's browser title. If you don't enter anything, the default browser title will appear for the page.

2. The Page URL For your homepage, this will be your domain name, www.YourSite.com. Once you have chosen a domain name, you will stay with it (unless it is too long, too jokey or otherwise not suitable for a professional). Most people choose a variation on their name, i.e. YourNameStudio (assuming their name alone is not available). This is fine, as it will help your site come up in the #1 position in searches done for your name.

For your image pages, Artspan page URLs incorporate the name of the image gallery the image is part of, as well as the categories and subcategories you have highlighted for that image. For example, the enlargement page for an image that is a portrait color photograph could have a page URL like this: YourDomain.com/Portraits/Photography/Color/Figurative.html

Search engines really like this approach to naming pages and you should take care when highlighting categories and subcategories for your images. It's also a good idea to create separate galleries for different kinds of work, as in this example: "Portraits." Google images and Google.com itself will see all of the images related to that search term. The Alt text for each image is also important. This is the text you see when you pass your mouse over an image. Alt text will increase the visibility of the image as well as your name and categories for Google images and for searches. Artspan automatically creates Alt text for each image which include your name and the title of the work.

a) Content Use key terms frequently on the site. Homepage placement is the best and the upper part of the page is even better. If you incorporate a key term in a page header, large and bold, then Google will see it as more important. Don't overdo the frequency though. If you stuff the page with key terms over and over to the point of excess, Google will read it as spamming. Remember that you can use your interior pages to highlight key terms (whether the same terms or other ones) both in the copy and in the browser title.

b) Exchanging links with other art sites will further help your rankings. Ideally, these should be highly ranked art sites. Non-art websites will not do you much good. The higher the "page

rank" assigned by Google for the site that is linking back to you, the better it is for your site. If you exchange links with an art site that has a good page rank, chances are good that your site will at least rank very highly for your name and may also rank highly for other terms that are important in identifying your work. Many larger sites have a page where you can submit your site.

c) Meta keywords and Meta Description These are much less important now than they used to be. You can find the fields in the Site Info section of your Control Panel. Keywords should be separated by commas. The Meta Description should be a sentence with your name and the type of work you do.

There are of course many tactics beyond SEO that you should employ to drive traffic to your site. Traditional marketing is important and using blogs and social media sites such as Facebook are increasingly critical for attracting traffic. We discuss social media and other marketing tactics in the ample Marketing documents section found in the Resources column. Any suggestions as to how we can improve these Easy Steps or other site management documents, please let us know at ask@artspan.com And remember we are always ready to help with any questions at ask@artspan.com Your Artspan Team