In a previous blog Building your email list we discussed how to create and maintain your email list. Also discussed on our previous blog Loading your art images on the web we discussed how to properly size your images for loading on your web site. In this blog, we discuss how to bring the two events together.

When you have loaded your image to your website, we present you with the opportunity to send out an email to your email list touting your latest accomplishments. By clicking on the link presented, you can send out an predefined email with links back to your site as well as to the image you just loaded.

You can also add your own message to the email inviting folks to view your image or using it as a marketing email to invite folks to your latest exhibition or an art show, perhaps referencing the art image as one of the pictures that will be included at the event.

'Content is King' they say on the Internet, so be sure to keep your site up to date. Go through your pages to remove out of date content. Why not display some of your more recent art? Will you be showing soon? Use the MyArtClub.Com email tool to send your fans a link to your latest works and invite them to your show. Selling art cards for Christmas? Send an image to your email list with your order information. Create some interest with your clients!

This article was first published in the My Art Newsletter #8

Size Matters
The size of the art image you want to display on your website is of some importance to artists.

As digital cameras become more prevalent and produce images of larger size, it is necessary to resize your images so that:

1. The images are easily loaded.
2. The images can't be used to reproduce your art illegally.

In spite of the fact the speed of the internet is increasing, visitors will not stick around on your site if it takes minutes to show your works of art.

As well, if you are loading a large image, it increases the opportunity for your image to be copied and used to produce it illegally. The computer screen typically requires only 72 dots per inch to view your image correctly and loading images of greater density doesn't increase the capability to view the image, only to be able to print it.

Our recommended size
MyArtClub.Com recommends a size of picture between 50 KB and 140 KB for best viewing results. If you load a picture between 50 KB and 140 KB, then it protects your art picture from being copied since the work looks fine on the screen but will be grainy if someone should try to print it out. If you try to load an image file that is greater the 2MB (2,000KB), MyArtClub.Com will reject the file being loaded.

What do Pixels do?
Your art image is measured in pixels. Your camera may download images that are 2000 pixels by 1500 pixels. However when MyArtClub.Com displays your image, it is displayed as an image that is 550 pixels wide (if the image is a landscape format image i.e. wider than it is tall) or as an image that is 450 pixels tall (if the image is a portrait format image i.e. taller than it is wide).

Therefore when you load your art images, MyArtClub.Com will automatically resize your image file to fit these dimensions.

If your image is taller than it is wide, it will resize your image pixel dimensions to 450 high (and less than 550 wide); or if your image is wider than it is tall, it will resize your image to 550 wide (and less than 450 high). It will then save your resized image in order to obtain an image file size between our recommended size of 50 KB to 140 KB.

Don't touch that pixel
To prevent MyArtClub.Com from resizing your art images or adjusting the quality (compression), save your portrait format images with 450 pixels EXACTLY high (and less than 550 wide) OR your landscape format images with 550 pixels EXACTLY wide (and less than 450 high).

Replacing your picture with a better image
In order to replace one of your pictures with a better image, simply go into the maintenance for the current picture and upload the new image (it will be loaded over top of the old one).

If your picture looks grainy
MyArtClub.Com recommends a size of picture between 50 KB and 140 KB for best viewing results for visitors who come to view your art. If your art is smaller (under 25 KB) it will look fine in the thumbnails but grainy when you look at it on the art page.

If it is bigger than that (over 200 KB), it will take a long time to load (especially for people who are looking at it on lower speed lines). If you load a picture between 50 KB and 140 KB, then it protects your art picture from being copied since the work looks fine on the screen but will be grainy if someone should try to print it out.

Replacing a picture with a new picture
To replace the current picture with a new image, simply upload the new picture over the old one and then go into the art basic information and replace the existing descriptions with the description of the new art.

Delete a picture from your site
To delete a picture from your site, simply upload a new image over the old one and then go into the art basic information and replace the existing descriptions with the description of the new art.

However, if you don't have a new work of art to replace the old one, you can use the delete function to remove the art work from your site.

Later, when you are ready, load a new work of art in place of the deleted old work, and it will automatically show the new art image. Don't forget to update the description of the art image.