We spoke to talented wildlife artist Gary Hodges about his experiences setting up http://www.garyhodges-wildlife-art.com to promote his art using our Instant Website Pro Package.

Firstly, what made you build the website?
My wildlife pencil art has been sold all over the UK and around the world for twenty years. My support base includes celebrities and other artists as well as a loyal group of fans and collectors. Most of my limited editions have completely sold out and increased in value many times – the most extreme being a Green Turtle print which originally sold for £8.50 and resold on the secondary market for £3,500.00!

It has become clear over the years that internet sales have affected gallery sales and it was time to get in on the act. My wildlife drawings are very detailed and I have always been suspicious of the quality of images on the web, but I am very happy with the outcome.

It looks like yours was already a flourishing trade in some wonderful artwork – how would you say the internet has made a difference?
My business has been successful over the years and I have kept in touch with a loyal group of supporters by mail, which is costly and very time consuming. It became apparent that I needed a new way to communicate my art to my supporters, and also to gain new support. The internet allows me to do this as well as expand my UK support to other countries. Clearly the web is extremely competitive but I believe that my established market gives me a useful boost.

Can you talk us through the evolution of your website?
My partner did the work on the site with my considerable input. It has been three months of deciding what to say as well as learn how to say it. My support base already asks certain questions so I knew what people would want to read. We started with the biographies and then the galleries. Each stage took time as we learned the process using Instant Website Pro. One of the problems were that the templates were quite complicated – and my art needs simplicity. So we stripped out some of the layouts and built each page separately using the text editor.

What was the biggest challenge you faced in getting your site to where it is now?
I am not used to the web or even emails, but my partner has been using it for over a decade. It took a lot of time for me to be convinced that it was the way to go, although now we have the site up and running I’m really excited about the possibilities. Once we’d decided to go for it, we had to decide how to build the site since neither of us had this experience. Instant Website Pro gave us an affordable option which overcame the technical challenge of website building. The mental challenge has been overcome by the passing of time!

So what’s next?
The site is simply a portal for my art and a way for people to buy limited edition prints. I have already notified my support base and early response has been really encouraging – including sales! In the future, the website will be regularly updated with news, new art, and even new thoughts. With the use of Google Analytics we can see how successful it is and react to the data provided. I want it to remain a friendly, warm place to visit for those who like my wildlife art.

What measures do you take to promote your site?
It is early days but we’ve already filled in all the search engine optimisation data on the page provided by Instant Website Pro and started to look at Google Analytics. We’ve submitted it to the search engines but understand that it will take time to appear. It has been promoted to people who already receive a printed newsletter from me and they have been asked to tell their friends. At the moment we’re contacting web directories for free inclusion and creating web links with charities I have donated to over the years. We may soon offer a promotional deal through some of our connections linking back to the site. It is still a learning process.

What attracted you to Daily.co.uk?
We found Daily through a search engine when buying domain names. We then found the site fast and easy to use and the Instant Website Pro package seemed to be a feasible option to learn how to publish a site. It turned out to be the case. I’ve found Daily responsive to questions and the site loads really fast, so I’m very happy.

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