When a collector lands on your website, your social media profile, or any online public profile, they’re going there because they’re interested in your work and want to find out more. But what happens as they click through your profile decides whether that interest turns into a studio visit, a purchase inquiry, or a closed tab.
As artists, we’re told to create a professional website, keep our socials active, and make sure our online inventory is up to date. But there’s a lot more that goes into a winning online presence than just setting these destinations up and calling it a day.
In this article, we’ll show you how to set up your online profile to make it easier for people to find your work and more exciting once they do. Plus, we’ll show you how Artwork Archive’s redesigned Public Profile feature makes it a snap to create eyeball-catching pages that show your work in the best possible light.
Create Your Artist Public Profile With a Clear Point of View
It's never been easier to customize your Public Profile to make it reflect the kind of work you make.
The layout, the fonts you use, the way you organize your artworks: all of these little choices add up to a clear point of view when it comes to your online portfolio. Include some of your story alongside your work, and you signal to collectors that you’re serious about how your work is seen and considered.
Artwork Archive’s Public Profile is one of the simplest ways to get your entire inventory online. And with a brand new redesign in 2026, there are now more ways than ever to customize this vital piece of your online identity.
On your Artwork Archive Public Profile you can now set a banner image at the top of your page (maybe a detail of one of your favorite pieces, or a photo of you work in your studio?). You can customize your navigation with a side or top menu. You can lay out your artwork in a grid with larger, single-column images or with a standard multi-column layout. You can choose between serif and sans serif fonts to convey just the right feel for your Public Profile. And you can turn on “infinite scroll” so that your visitors can explore more of your work without clicking through pages.
Want to learn all the new features we've added to your Public Profile? Check out our help doc Public Profile: What's New for You and Your Visitors.
Make Your Artist Public Profile Effortless to Browse
Collectors, gallerists, and art advisors often arrive on your page with something specific in mind: a piece under a certain size for a particular wall, a theme for a show they’re curating, a budget they're working within, or simply what's available right now.
If they can't easily narrow your archive down to match their parameters, they're left doing that work themselves by clicking, clicking, and clicking some more. And the sad truth is—no matter how good your art is—once you make it too difficult to find what your visitor is looking for, they’re moving on to the next artist.
You want to make it as simple as possible for a visitor to find exactly what they’re looking for. Picture a collector furnishing a new office who needs something under 40 inches wide and under $3,000. And they definitely don’t want to be wondering whether a piece is available or already sold. (Pro Tip: Embed your Artwork Archive Portfolio on your personal website to ensure that your inventory is always in sync across your platforms.)
With sorting and filtering turned on for your Public Profile, your inventory of over a hundred pieces can be broken down into exactly what they’re looking for. All you have to do is enable the Sort Menu and Filtering Bar on your Artwork Archive Public Profile, and your client can easily do the rest.
🔍 Let the Right Artwork Rise to the Top
Learn how to turn on the Sort Menu and the Filtering Bar in your Public Profile to make finding the right artworks a breeze →
Make It Easy for Art Collectors to Reach Out
The contact page on your Artwork Archive Public profile makes it easy for visitors to get in touch.
Ever navigated to an artist’s website and been hit with an annoying pop-up, or worse, no clear way to get in touch? By the time a client wants to reach out, you need to make it crystal clear how they can do that, without any obstacles in the way.
Put contact information in your social media bio, have your email or phone number on your business cards, and always make it easy to contact you on your website or Public Profile. You never know when a chance encounter with your work will prompt a client to reach out.
📬 Give Art Collectors a Direct Line to You
Picture a collector who just finished browsing a collection and wants to ask you more about a piece. Your Contact Page is always available in your Public Profile navigation menu (unless you turn it off!), and when the collector clicks to that page, they’ll see your photo and a clear contact form showing them exactly how to reach out.
The best part is that you control what’s public on your Contact page, so your personal details can remain private while still giving clients a way to get in touch. Set up your Contact page →
Make It Easy for Art Collectors to Purchase Your Artwork
That collector loves what they saw on your Public Profile, they were able to sort and filter your work to find exactly what they need for their current project, and now they want to make a purchase. Luckily for you, your Public Profile has built in features that makes the next steps clear: An Inquire button gives them a fast way to ask you about a specific piece, while a Purchase Request lets you now they’re ready to buy.
These smart features let visitors move from looking to buying without ever leaving your page or waiting on a slow email thread. You’re able to work out all the details and send them Invoices and integrated payment options that deposit funds directly in your PayPal account.
💳 Shorten Your Artworks' Path From Interest to Sale
When a collector finds a piece they love late on a Thursday night, they can send a Purchase Request right from your profile. You can send an invoice, they can pay through PayPal, and you can confirm the sale before the week is over. Find out how to connect PayPal to your Artwork Archive account and learn more about Purchase Requests →
Give Art Collectors Multiple Ways to Find Your Work
If you have a personal artist website, the only way someone will make their way to your site is by searching for you or clicking a link on your social media page. But once you set up an Artwork Archive Public Profile, you’re able to get it listed on Discovery, a publicly accessible platform where art appreciators from around the world gather to view artistic talent.
When you get listed on Discovery, your Public Profile allows that collector searching by medium or region, or the curator building a show around a theme, or a gallery owner scouting for their next season to stumble across your work. It’s a great way to get your work out there beyond your existing networks.
Give Art Collectors a Reason to Come Back to Your Public Profile
If your Public Profile hasn’t been updated in a year, collectors tend to think you haven't been active over that time, no matter how busy you’ve been in the studio.
Posting updates, new work, and the occasional behind-the-scenes insights will keep your profile part of a collector’s regular rotation. The newly refreshed News section of your Public Profile now supports richer styling and images, so every post can pack more punch. Plus, you can now save posts in draft form or schedule them to publish automatically ahead of time, so you can always be sure to have something new on your Public Profile every couple weeks.
Get Started With Your Public Profile Today
None of this replaces all of the time and creativity you put into your art practice. It just makes sure that people actually see your work after you make it.
If you don’t have a Public Profile yet, get started with a risk-free 14-day trial of Artwork Archive. You’ll see how easy it is to build your Public Profile, get listed on Discovery, and make it simple for collectors to browse your work.
