I still remember the moment when the art market where I worked every week closed. One after one all my art shows and galleries planned before mid-summer were canceled and sent me e-mails of apology and warnings.

So began my COVID-19 small art business quarantine.

No one thought that it was all real, and would last for months.

People continued to support me by buying my works, and I didn't worry until closer to the end of the March this trickle of money dried up.

Everybody was depressed around me, and one night I sat on the porch of my apartment building and thought: What should I do next?

The obvious solution for me was one - I have to launch my website with my online store, blog, portfolio, and more.

I have to put my brand together and online.

I want my business cards with only one address where you can find everything about me and Twocatsandpossum.

If I no longer have access to people in my city, then I will find access to people all over the world.

Even if postal servisies stop working, anyone who wants to can easily find me and my work online.

The next morning I got down to business.

“You never fail until you stop trying.” ― Albert Einstein

I had a little confusion with the website - some day I will find the time to talk about it.

At the end of all my trials and errors, lost time and effort, I decided to go with Square.

Yes, Square's website builder is more complicated than website builders from other providers but it allows you to have all the good professional website features without knowing how to code.

You can have your online store, portfolio, blog, events, appointments, donations, etc. in one place.

No more jumping between Patreon, Instagram, Medium, and Facebook. The website is yours and your brand home now.

All your social media posts go from here and all your creative entrepreneur passion goes to the development and strengthening of this house.

So do I.

I already had my Twocatsandpossum brand logo and colors.

I started thinking about people who might be interested in my art and what should I do to reach them.

One morning I saw an e-mail from "Make art that sells" offering a free course for art entrepreneurs.

With no doubts, I took this course and you can do it, too.

There will be no affiliate links so you can safely try everything that I'm writing about. 

MATS MBA 2020 (self-paced course)

Learn the secrets of success from top art agent Lilla Rogers and award-winning entrepreneur Beth Kempton, who have created brands and businesses with millions of dollars in revenue.

They share their very best advice, tips, and assignments for career and financial success.

This is a self-paced crash course in making money doing what you love and building a thriving business.

This course will motivate and inspire you, give you actionable and concrete tips, and help you create your formula for success.

Having finished this course, I realized that I need more understanding and knowledge about how to build my brand and my online presence.

Not just random posts on social media, but a strategy, tactics, and plan.

I realized that I need books.

As libraries become unavailable due to the New Orleans COVID-19 lockdown, I found a very good and convenient alternative.

Hoopla

Here you register using your library card and get access to all digital material of your local library.

Books, audiobooks, etc. on your computer or mobile device now.

I felt like a child in a candy shop. Here I found all the books I needed.

This is what I found useful and sincerely recommend that you read:

• All of Gary Vaynerchuk books

• From Mopping Floors To Making Millions On Instagram by Ronne Brown

• The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur by John Jantsch

• Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords by Perry Marshall

• Ultimate Guide to Facebook Advertising by Perry Marshall

• No B.S. Guide To Brand-Building By Direct Response The Ultimate No Holds Barred Plan to Creating and Profiting from a Powerful Brand Without Buying It by Dan S. Kennedy.

• Seducing Strangers by Josh Weltman

  I am sure that you will find many more useful things just for you, and in case if you want to share your finds you can leave it in a comment under this post.

The next really big and frightening part that I had to face while building my small art business strategy is SEO was search engine optimization.

There is no way to get away from SEO by organizing your online presence because SEO helps search engines find your product, and then search engines help you find people who are interested and need your product.

I know this looks like a long and difficult road through the forest of information that is not always clear, but I found a solution for you and me.

MOZ - SEO Learning Center

There’s no better way to begin your SEO education.

It is free and has educational materials and guides for all levels from beginner to advanced.

At this stage we have a website, online store, we read books and study SEO.

Hooray, we are present online and all that remains for us is to push our ship from cozy shallows into the big water.

And here comes the Advertising time.

Frankly speaking, even after reading three books about advertising I still puzzle over every Ad campaign.

Because advertising is the experience and analysis of what works and what went wrong. Heaps of statistics and graphs.

Boring and complicated? But it is worth it.

Yes, it requires investment but without advertising your art business ship can't reach the big water. You need to hang your work in front of people like you do for the art show. Remember?

You paid for the booth and made your presentation. The same thing happens online. You pay for your place along the path that people walk on.

And here comes my favorite Square benefit - they give you $100 credit for Google Ads. Woot! Woot!

You are starting off with an advantage.

At this time I tried advertising on Instagram, and it brought me absolutely nothing.

So, I don't recommend using this method.

There are other strategies for growth on Instagram, and you can find the best way in this book, which is available on Hoopla too:

• One Million Followers by Brendan Kane

I haven’t started advertising on Facebook yet, because I want to concentrate all my efforts on the website now.

I launched Google Ads and I promise to write all of my useful impressions as soon as they appear.

I believe that we will all be able to successfully transition into the new reality of our small art businesses.

Because even dark times have their own inner light.

Did we have time and confidence to start this long journey earlier?

So, now we are forced to start it, and I'm sure that this path will be successful.

Anyway, we still have nothing to lose.