Name of your website?Aqua Metal Art
Your name?
Henry Vandyke
Your Location (city, etc)
Inverness
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Original Handcrafted Metal Art by Henry VanDyke utilizing Copper, Stainless Steel and Metal. Artwork is of Ocean Life and/or creatures found in and around our waterways.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I have worked in construction and fabrication all my life and have spent my free time sailing, cruising and scuba diving and wanted to do utilize my skills to promote and preserve our ocean life.
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
April 2008 and was to create a portfolio of my artwork.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
Solicited friends and family and finally a local fisherman and his wife who spend many hours on the Gulf came up with the name.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
There are many wonderful metalist that are creating beautiful art, much of it is western so I feel mine is unique as I try to create realisitic replicas of ocean life and spend much time studying the shape of the fin or the coloring under different light.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
Keep in and eventually bring in other artists or have my on Art Exhibit
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
I am just beginning and am refining my technique every day so I feel it is a success and I love doing it.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Would hire a photographer to better capture the detail and unique coloring of each piece
If your site got really big, really quickly, would you be able to keep up with the demand?
Hopefully
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Marketing and Advertising costs and website design seems to be the costliest aspect of the business. Headaches are dealing with the "art" world when you are a beginner and dont know the ropes. Finding a mentor is not easy so you spend money on things and dont realize they are scams or dont work.
What has been your biggest challenge?
Marketing seems to be the hardest aspect. I am not a computer guru and am also shy and have a difficult time promoting my artwork as I just want people to want it because they like it.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Havent found a successful method yet, most of my sales have been when they see the artwork in person, a picture in this case has not been worth a 1000 words. The best person I have dealt with is a web site designer I picked out of the yellow pages. His site is Samwilson3d.com and he is courteous and very helpful.
How has running your website differed from your expectations?
Expected once the site was up that I would have visits......very naive...on my part.....never expected to know about Adwords, and paid ads and click ads and scammers and optimization...etc.
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
3 months so far and I will keep it even if I dont get the traffic because it is the easiest way to have a portfolio, even if the traffic is from your private customers
Do you have to win awards to be considered a serious artist?
Dont know if this type of art wins "awards" as most of the sites I have visited for artists are painters or photographers and many of the sites are locked if you have not won an award? I love producing my art, especially the local species and would like it exhibited just to promote preservation. There are many sites out there now that will replicate a mold of "your catch" so the sea creatures are not killed and I can do the same but in metal so I feel I am a serious artist.
What is your website address?
Aqua Metal Art
