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Happy July, !
I’m back with another installment of our monthly email series, Inside the Art Brand Alliance. If you’ve been curious about ABA membership but need more detail about what our community provides, this series is for you.
Today’s issue features two conversations with one of our favorite returning guests, Arianne Foulks of Aeolidia. Over the years, Arianne has guided us on improvements to our e-commerce websites and our email marketing strategy. She’s joining us again, this time to share her expertise from the client-service side of things. Read on for details.
First, a look at one of our evergreen replays featuring Arianne…
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As artists, we of course want our websites to feel distinctive and expressive. Yet, as Arianne explained in this earlier presentation to the ABA, online shoppers arrive with established expectations about how websites work.
Using before-and-after examples from Aeolidia’s clients, Arianne showed us how her team analyzes and redesigns e-commerce websites, balancing creativity with ease-of-use.
With each example, she reminded us that building a successful online shop requires attention to both traffic and conversion. In other words, getting visitors to your site is only half the equation. Once they arrive, how effectively does your site help them take the next step?
To answer that question, Arianne walked us through several key metrics that many artists have heard of but don't always fully understand:
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Conversion Rate—the percentage of visitors who make a purchase
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Average Order Value—how much customers typically spend in a transaction
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Revenue Per User—a broader measure that combines traffic and purchasing behavior
She demonstrated how these metrics illuminate our websites as working systems rather than static portfolios. If sales aren't where we'd like them to be, the answer isn't always a prettier homepage, more beautiful photos, or a different color button. Sometimes the most important question is whether visitors can easily find and buy what they want when they get there.
Search was another major theme. Many artists spend significant time refining their homepage, but Arianne reminded us that visitors often arrive through search, sometimes landing directly on a product page rather than the front door of the website. That means clear organization, thoughtful product descriptions, and intuitive navigation matter just as much as beautiful design.
She also shared practical observations about some of the most important real estate on a website:
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The announcement bar, which should be used intentionally rather than cluttered with competing messages.
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The main navigation, which works best when it's concise, clear, and focused on helping visitors find what they came for.
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The footer, which is often overlooked despite being one of the places customers go when they need quick answers, reassurance, policies, contact information, and next steps.
The overall takeaway was this…
There’s plenty of room to create a website that reflects your unique style and presents your art beautifully. And a successful e-commerce site is ultimately an exercise in empathy. It’s about understanding what your visitors need, analyzing their experience of your shop objectively, and reducing friction wherever possible. Always be asking, “How can I make it easy for my site visitors to become happy shoppers?”
We wrapped up the event with time for Q&A. The lively discussion covered issues like traffic, visibility, SEO, email marketing, social media, and the constant challenge of deciding where limited time and energy are best spent. Arianne expertly addressed each question, always bringing us back to the fundamental question:
If someone discovers your work today, how easy have you made it for them to take the next step?
Join the ABA for on-demand access to this and our entire library of event replays.
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So many of our members are managing clients as part of their art business. Maybe you are, too? Whether it’s a licensee, a private commission client, an editor, or art director—when you’re working on deadline to scope out and create something new on behalf of another’s business, there are so many details and communications to manage. It’s a very different type of work than managing your e-commerce business, and it benefits from strong boundaries and solid systems.
As creative professionals, we may assume that challenging clients come with the territory. But Arianne’s going to help us see how such stresses can be prevented!
In this practical presentation, she’ll share the systems and communication practices her team has developed over more than twenty years of client work—processes that help projects stay on track, clients stay engaged, and expectations stay clear. Together we'll explore how to:
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Prevent scope creep before it starts
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Get feedback and information from clients on time
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Keep projects moving efficiently
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Set and enforce healthy boundaries
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Create better outcomes for both you and your clients
Many of us learn client management through trial and error. We figure it out as we go. This session offers a chance to learn from a business owner who’s spent decades refining her client-service systems intentionally and successfully.
Aeolidia has launched more than 700 creative-business websites over the last twenty years. Along the way, Arianne and her team have developed a reputation for happy clients, clear processes, and long-term working relationships—all while building a business efficient enough to operate on a four-day workweek!
As always, there will be time for live Q&A. Our members can bring their real-world questions and experiences and we’ll have Arianne all to ourselves to get her take on these specific examples.
We’d love to have you there, so we hope you’ll consider becoming an ABA member, to join us live on Thursday, July 23 from 11:00am–12:30pm PDT.
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Because the ABA is a private professional network, much of what makes it valuable—the trust, candor, and real-world examples members share—happens behind the scenes.
Inside the Art Brand Alliance is a monthly email series designed to give prospective members a better feel for what's happening inside our community, while respecting the confidentiality that helps make those conversations possible.
Each month, I share a glimpse into a recent ABA conversation, event, or discussion, along with an invitation to something coming up next. If you'd like to explore previous issues of this newsletter, you can find the archive here.
And if you have questions about ABA membership, simply hit reply. I'd love to hear from you.
Warmly,
Betsy
Betsy Cordes
Founder/Director Art Brand Alliance
betsy@artbrandalliance.com
Art Brand Alliance on Instagram
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