Online art studio name ... suggestions please

[SFM in KY]

I am planning to go on-line this year with my artwork, work on a print on demand art gallery site, FB art page, blog and perhaps eventual gallery website. I need the most 'buyer friendly' studio name possible before this goes up. For years I worked under "Timberline Studio" in MT but that doesn't work for KY ... no mountains and there would be no name recognition at this point anyway.

I do primarily horse and dog portraits, plus equine/western/farm related images. I've had an art page on my farm/horse website and a blog under "Old Grey Mare Art Studio" the last several years but haven't been 'working' at getting the work and name out there so I don't think I would actually lose anything if the name changed.

At this point, wondering what the *best* options would be. Possibilities I've considered include the "Old Grey Mare Studio" name ... "Pony Tracks Studio" ... also just "Sharon Michael: Equine and Fine Art".

Which do you think would be most appealing and/or easiest to search? Any other suggestions?

[||Downhome||]

As far as online goes the name recognition vs location has no bearing.
So you might as well stick with your namesake.

One suggestion I have is Deviantart, it may be a good venue for you.
They will showcase your art,someone wants a print they have many choices to choose from.
DA handles all of that,printing,billing,shipping,web site.
At first I was not impressed with the commission but after taking all things into consideration, I figure its pretty close to what I would end up with after all is said and done.
They also have a option where you set your own price.

[sisterpine]

Personally I would stick with timberline studio, when I left MT for AZ I kept Montana Sticks & Stones as my business name and business has not suffered because of it. sis

[SFM in KY]

Downhome, thanks for the suggestion. DeviantArt is one of the POD sites I'm considering, Fine Art America is another and other artists have had good luck with Zazzle and Red Bubble, both, I think, particularly with images imprinted on things like mugs, T-shirts and things like that, which may be an option with some of my work but not all.

One of the suggestions from another site was that I do a search on all three names and see what comes up. Both Timberline and "Grey Mare" come up on a Google search with one or more pages of art galleries/studios and "Pony Tracks" has a metal art and leather art site. A search on my name actually bring up my name on FB close to the top and no other artists with that name, which tends to make me think that might be the way to go.

Not sure if there would be (eventually, at least) more name recognition with the name or with a 'catchy' studio name.

[frogmammy]

Since you do horses and dogs, you could call it The Dog & Pony Show

Mon

[SFM in KY]

Had an interesting conversation with the lady that has done my farm website for the last 12 years and she did some research for me. Apparently the "Old Grey Mare Studio" comes up on a search with both Yahoo and Google on the first page ... both the blog, which I haven't kept up well, and from the art page that she has incorporated with my farm/horse website.

Her suggestion was to keep that and build on that ... perhaps add "Art by Sharon Michael" in a line under the studio name so that a search under the studio name or my name would bring up the listing ... plus the usual search terms (can't think what they are called right now) people would use looking for that kind of art ... the mediums used, portraits of dogs and horses, etc.

Since she will be doing the website, if what I have planned at this point generates enough income that would justify the investment in an actual website, I'm thinking she's a better judge of what will work than I am. She has done a very good job with the farm/horse website over the years when the horse business was active ... a lot of my traffic/sales came from the website rather than advertising. So we'll see.

I was encouraged to make the effort, finally, because of two commissions I got late last year and early this year just from postings I did on FB and in a couple of forums ... not really 'advertising' my artwork. Both were things I hadn't done before ... totally via Internet rather than personal contact at shows ... and both worked, so it gave me the incentive to try it. At this point, I do know a lot depends on how hard I work at this and how consistent I am so will see what happens over this next year.

[Molly Mckee]

I like the idea of using your name in the title. You have built a good reputation as a breeder and I think the combination is a good idea. An artist that knows horses well will, IMHO, do a better job of portraying my special horse, or dog.

[SFM in KY]

Originally Posted by Molly Mckee

An artist that knows horses well will, IMHO, do a better job of portraying my special horse, or dog.

I expect some of my initial commissions may well come from ... or through ... some of my contacts in the horse and dog world. I'm working on a portrait of Weltstern, as a matter of fact, the original will go to Carolyn Miller, who made his last years both tremendously successful as a sire and who provided him with an absolutely ideal home the last 8 years of his life as well. I will keep a print and I wouldn't be surprised if there are owners of Weltstern offspring who may be interested in a print as well. Another plan is to donate work (probably prints) to some of the horse shows ... many of the Connemara and Welsh breeders I know are active in the breed shows and can perhaps suggest where my donations would be most appreciated.

My farm 'webmaster' checked with the hosting site she uses exclusively and they had the "Old Grey Mare Studio" name available as a domain name so even though I'm not planning on a website immediately, I went ahead and reserved it. Figured $15 was pretty cheap insurance to have it available if I do decide to go ahead. The originals need to be up on the print on demand galleries, the farm art page and blog updated and a FB page up for just the art ... will then see what happens this year and make the decision about the actual website a year from now.

It will be a more significant investment ... cost of actually designing the website plus about $150 a year to maintain/host it ... which actually isn't a lot when I compare it to what I was investing in professional framing and the cost of booth space when I was doing actual art/dog/horse shows years ago.

I was talking to a friend of mine who used to do some of the shows with me years ago and we were laughing at the changes technology has made. Now, I could do a show with a card table sized table, one picture on an easel, one on a drawing board to work on during the show and a laptop with a slide show!