BUILD A 100% FREE ARTIST WEBSITE

DIFFICULTY LEVEL: EXTREMELY SIMPLE
TIME COMMITMENT: LESS THAN AN HOUR
WEBSITE QUALITY: PERFECTLY FINE 
PRICE: $0

You can’t beat free, but you also get what you pay for.  This option can be used to create a perfectly functional portfolio website that shows off your art in a minimal way.  There aren’t a lot of style options, and unlike a WordPress website, it doesn’t have thousands of available integrations, social media feeds, mailing list collecting pop-ups, template control, or any of the fancy moving elements modern art collectors are used to seeing on the internet.  Still, it’s a great way to plan out your future WordPress site’s layout and page content, and works well as a temporary portfolio if you’re short on time and need a quick site. 

Today, I’m going to walk you through creating your very own artist portfolio website for cheap.  (And by cheap, I mean free.)  Building an art portfolio website might sound pretty intimidating, but it’s actually quite simple with these easy instructions. Grab a glass of water, follow along with these simple steps, and you can get it live today.  As in you’ll wake up tomorrow and your art portfolio website will already be done.  Sound good?  Let’s go!  Just one quick thing first.  If you are following us on Patreon, you might not need to do these steps at all!  Check out the details below…

PATREON PERK ALERT: If you support Art Resourcery on Patreon, you may be eligible to get one of these artist websites premade by us.  We give these pre-made Google websites with the van Gogh template already set up as a thank you gift to all Patreon supporters at the $1 and up level.  Check your Patreon Rewards Tier, and if you qualify, contact us!   

Check your Patreon Tier, and if you qualify, contact us to claim your reward! 

You can just copy/paste this text into an email to get your ready-made website set up for you in advance:  


“Hi I’m supporting Art Resourcery on Patreon using this name: [fill in your name here] at the [tell us which] level, and I’m ready to claim my reward of a [let us know which you qualify for: Google Site or WordPress Site].  I can be reached at [your email address].  Thanks!”

Send your email to contact [at] ArtResourcery.com, or contact us directly through Patreon.

Due to the volume of messages we receive, please allow up to two business days for a reply, although most of the time we are able to reply within the hour.  Once we’ve confirmed that you qualify for the requested reward, we will contact you right away with your prize information.  If you chose the Google Site, we’ll transfer a completed theme with the sample data in it right away (just like you see on the demo site below).  If you chose the WordPress site, we’ll contact you to coordinate the next steps.

START TUTORIAL
This is an example of the free website you can build in less than an hour using Google Sites. Read on for step-by-step instructions.

To create a FREE artist's website, start here.

This is basic, but it can be done in 30 minutes or less if you have your content ready in advance.

For this method, we’ll be using tools that come with your free Gmail account to build a quick and easy portfolio website.  This method is pretty limited in terms of what you can do with the design, but it is a good option if you don’t have the budget to create a proper website at the moment.  This free website option will allow you to put up an art portfolio quickly and control your own content. 

Look at the demo art website before we begin
  • LOG INTO YOUR FREE GMAIL ACCOUNT
  • Go to sites.google.com.  You’ll see this open in a new window:
  •  Click the colorful plus sign.  You’ll be taken to a blank “Untitled Site” that you can now customize for your needs.  If you’re used to internet things and using Gmail, this may feel familiar enough that you can experiment from here, and create the website you want.  For everyone else, feel free to continue on to the next step.  Of course, at any point, you can choose differently.  These selections are just here to help you achieve quick results, and there are no wrong answers.
  •  On the right side of the page, click THEMES > DIPLOMAT
  • Click HEADER TYPE > TITLE ONLY
  •  Click where it says “Your page title” and replace the text with your page title (ex: Home, Paintings, etc.) You can hover over your name and drag the blue dots to get all the text on one line.  
  • Type your name into the top left-hand corner of the page. 
  •  INSERT > IMAGE CAROUSEL > Click the plus sign to upload featured photos of your art > INSERT
  •  Hover over the bottom of the page and click INSERT FOOTER.  Copy/paste this text into the footer and replace Vincent’s name with yours: Copyright © 2019 Vincent van Gogh.  You can click the centered lines icon to center the text.
  • Double click the space between the image carousel and the footer, then select TEXT, and type in any text you like about you or your art.
  • To add additional pages, click PAGES > +.  (See?  Putting this together is shockingly simple, isn’t it?)
  • The standard artist website has pages for BIO, STATEMENT, C.V., and CONTACT.  Feel free to add those and fill them in with your information.  In our blog, we’ll be covering how to write each of these for anyone who doesn’t already have it all figured out.  
  • You can create portfolio pages for more art by double clicking an empty space on the page, then IMAGES (instead of text: refer to the red icon in the image above).  To add captions to the images in your Google Site, click the image, then the three dots, and ADD CAPTION > type in your caption.
  • There’s a little computer and cell phone icon you can click to preview responsiveness across different size screens.
  • When you have everything the way you want it, click PUBLISH, choose your web address, and click PUBLISH again.

And that’s it!  You have your very own artist portfolio website, and you didn’t have to hire a web developer.  Well done!  

NEXT STEPS

CLAIM YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS

…and keep track of them on your Password Keeper.  You’ll want to do this fairly quickly before someone else thinks of the same idea and claims your name.  All of these are free.  You can just click through and claim the name that matches your domain name (without the .com). 
And while you’re there, feel free to like & follow us for more helpful tips and tutorials in your feed.
Instagram 
Facebook
Twitter

OPTIONAL 
Etsy (you only need this one if you plan to open an Etsy shop) – When you click this link and open your Etsy shop, you and I both get 40 free listings!  The catch: they only give us both the free listings if you click this link, complete the set-up process, and list your first item all in one sitting, so be ready with your info before you begin!  If you aren’t ready to do their whole setup process now, save this task for later.

Now remember to add a link to your website in your email signature line and in your social media bios! 
If you think this tutorial would be helpful for any of your artist friends, feel free to share it using these buttons: