Why Nobody Is Buying Your Digital Art, and What You Can Do About It

Selling digital art is a dream for many creative entrepreneurs, and at first glance, it seems easy. Just post your art somewhere, sit back, and wait for the sales to roll in. But if it was that simple, every artist would be rich.

Making money from your digital art is definitely possible, but it will require significant effort over extended periods. Several roadblocks could stop you from making the money you want from your art, and identifying these is an important starting point toward changing your fortunes.

However, knowing what’s holding you back is just one part of the jigsaw. Once you’ve identified these limitations, understanding how to tackle them is equally vital. Today, you’ll learn how to do both.

Why Nobody Is Buying Your Digital Art

1. You Aren’t Promoting Your Art Enough

When learning how to sell digital art, one of the biggest mistakes you can make is to think that people will just find your stuff without any effort. Digital art is technically “passive income” in the sense that you can sell it without trading your time for money, but that’s as far as it goes in this respect.

Without promoting your art, your target audience won’t find you – or at the very least, they won’t for a long time. You don’t need to be the stereotypically pushy salesperson, but you absolutely need to learn how to persuade others to invest in your digital art.

Besides not promoting your art enough, you might also not be on the right platforms. Knowing where your audience tends to congregate and then getting yourself in front of them is vital if you wish to be a successful digital artist.

2. You Haven’t Optimized Your Website for Search Engines

Having a strong online presence is important for selling your digital art, and this includes having your own website. Doing so will give you more control over interacting with your audience, and you’ll also mitigate the risks of social media algorithm changes impacting your reach.

However, once you’ve established your website, you then need to learn about search engine optimization (SEO). One common misconception is that SEO is just about keywords; these are important, but off-page and technical SEO are just as vital. For example, if your website speed is slow, your rankings could suffer. Small aspects, such as your fonts and hosting server, can make a bigger impact than you might think.

3. You’ve Not Given Things Enough Time

The world around us loves to push the idea of getting everything you want straight away. Many startups emphasize “growth-hacking” and fast results, and overnight success is often also glorified within the media and popular culture.

But the harsh truth is that most of the time, you’ll have to wait for the results you want. It’ll probably take you months, if not years, to see any kind of traction. Before others recognize your work and start buying from you, setting up the right systems is very important.

Spend the early stages of building your business for success later. For example, besides improving your website and promoting on social media, you should integrate WordPress eCommerce plugins so that you’re ready to handle orders.

4. You Haven’t Identified Your Unique Selling Point

Your digital art is probably unique because it’s yours. But even if you know this, would-be customers won’t see the value in what you offer unless you make it very clear to them.

Another common selling mistake is to just describe your art without going deeper. People aren’t just buying something that looks good; they also care about the story. For example, your competitive advantage could be that you were inspired by a particular person or region.

Look at other digital artists and determine what you offer that they can’t. Create a rough message thereafter and refine this as you get more feedback.

5. Limiting Beliefs

Even if you learn every sales skill and optimize your website perfectly, you might still not achieve the success you want. Many artists don’t realize that their limiting beliefs hold them back, and you might be one of those.

One very common limiting belief is not actually thinking that you can make money from your digital art. Most of your thoughts are probably instilled by others projecting their insecurities, such as that one family member who once told you that you “can’t make money” from art (without ever even trying to themselves). It’s very important that you question your beliefs and ask yourself whether they’re true or not.

Another limiting belief could be your mindset around selling art. Creatives are often told that they’re “selling out” if they start making money from something they’re passionate about. This is not true; you only “sell out” if you go against your values. Getting financial recognition for being good at something is the least you deserve.

What Can I Do About This?

Once you know why you may not be selling as much digital art as you want, look at the different action points below and implement the relevant ones.

1. Consider On-Page and Off-Page SEO

Take a well-rounded approach to SEO, looking at on-page elements and technical aspects. For the latter, make sure that you’ve covered each of the following:

• Choose a hosting provider with fast server speeds and excellent resource scaling.

• Check Google PageSpeed Insights to audit your website’s site speed.

• Make sure that your website pages are easy to crawl.

• Pick a responsive website theme.

On-page SEO, meanwhile, involves image optimization, using the right keywords, your internal linking, and other aspects.

If you don’t yet have the budget for an SEO expert, learn the basics and focus on the most pressing concerns for your website. Your knowledge will improve over time, and you’ll find it much easier to build on your existing skills.

2. Be Consistent

When trying to achieve big goals (like making money from your digital art), it’s very important that you have patience and determination. Set clear timescales for what you want to achieve. Then, work backward so that you know which actions will help you reach your goals.

Using remote work tools like calendars and project management tools is essential for ensuring that you stay on track. Set aside time each day to work on your digital art business and focus on getting better each day. Your results will eventually compound, and then, you’ll be that 10-year “overnight success”.

3. Understand What Your Audience Wants

Selling digital art (or any art, for that matter) requires critical thinking and humility. Many artists blame others for not buying what they create, and their negativity deters people who would otherwise have been customers.

Dropping any sense of entitlement and thinking about what someone who’d buy your art wants is important. Understand the problem you’re solving for them; if you don’t know where to start, observe conversations on social media and read feedback for similar brands.

Build an ideal customer persona with as much information as possible. Identify their hobbies, age, income levels, and more. When you have this information, write a product description that appeals to them.

4. Challenge Limiting Beliefs

If you identify limiting beliefs that might be holding you back, challenging them will help you sell your digital art more confidently. For example, instead of saying that people who sell their art are bad, look at the benefits. You can create even better art for your fans in the future, and you could even make a difference by donating to a cause you care about.

Another good exercise is to write down every limiting belief that comes into your mind. Find evidence that proves it isn’t true. For example, if you think you can’t make money from selling digital art, find artists who are; if they can, so can you.

Start consuming content from positive influences, too. Look for artists and entrepreneurs with inspiring messages and who encourage you to make something of yourself rather than people who belittle you.

5. Build Up to Your Launches

Psychology is a key part of sales, and building up excitement is an excellent way to potentially make more money from your digital art. For example, you can build an email list and offer discounts to your subscribers. You may also want to let people pre-order.

Before launching your product, it’s also a good idea to share posts on your social media channels and count down to the big day. Create a clear message and push this multiple times. People often need to interact with you across multiple touchpoints before they trust you, and this is one way to do that.

Assess your success after each launch and figure out what you can do differently next time. You’ll soon become an expert if you keep a growth mindset and make data-driven decisions.

6. Be Proactive

Being proactive is one of the most important things you can do to become a successful digital artist. Rather than uploading your art and forgetting about it, regularly promote your work online. For example, you can write blog posts about related topics and push your art in your call-to-action (CTA).

Sharing your art in your newsletter is also a good idea, and use social media to your advantage. Show the behind-the-scenes for your art creation and pin images of the end product so that users know what you sell.

Make sure that you research to find out where your audience is and meet them there, too. It’s also a good idea to pick two marketing channels at most, to begin with, so that you can allocate more energy and grow them faster. From there, you can diversify.

Summary

Selling digital art is daunting if you’re a beginner, but it absolutely is possible. Think about where your audience is and the types of messages they’d like to consume. Once you’ve done that, be sure to leverage different platforms – and their features – to your advantage. Having a clear message and tackling limited beliefs you may have are also important.

Frequently Asked Questions