If you're an artist, you should create a personal website to promote your works. You might hire professionals to build a site for you — but it would be cheaper and easier to create a site using dedicated software with templates. From this article, you'll get to know how to select the best website builder for artists if you have no coding skills. Most solutions that we recommend have either free plans or free trials — but you should be ready to pay to access their advanced functionality.
Why Do Artists Need to Build Websites in 2022?
Some might say that in 2022, an artist doesn't necessarily need to have a website. To save funds and effort, you can start promoting yourself through social networks. Such an approach has the following shortcomings:
-
Social platforms don't belong to you. What if your accounts get closed one day? It might happen by mistake, or because the account was hacked, or because the administration of the platform doesn't share your viewpoint. In this case, you risk losing both the connection with the audience and the funds that you invested in social media promotions.
-
The algorithms of social networks might hide some part of your content. Your fans might miss important announcements, or the dates of your upcoming releases, or your new tunes… You can't fully control your own content on a social platform.
-
In any social network, people's perception of reality is distorted by likes, shares and comments. They might pay little attention to content that has failed to collect a lot of likes. They might misinterpret some news pieces because of misleading comments.
-
It's not that easy to find a certain piece of content on a social platform. When a visitor opens your site, they immediately understand which sections they should check.
-
Social platforms lack customization opportunities. All artist profiles look identical. Only if you create your own site, you'll be able to showcase cutting-edge technological solutions and innovative designs there. That would be an excellent way of showing your fans how much you love them.
If you rely only on social networks and don't build a personal site, your audience might start to take you less seriously.
Your site should be mobile-optimized. It should nicely adapt to compact displays of all sizes while remaining fully functional. Make sure to pay attention to this aspect when selecting the best website builder for artists.
A good artist website should feature the following sections:
-
About Me page where visitors can read your bio and find out about what makes you stand out from the rest
-
Contact page that managers can use to get in touch with you and invite you to join their labels or events
-
Online store (optional) where you can sell your works and merch
-
Calendar (optional) to inform visitors about your past and upcoming events
These four sections should be enough to produce an excellent impression on your audience. Plus, there should be a lot of pictures of very high quality.
Let's repeat what we have already said: you don't need to have any coding or designer skills to use the best website builder for artists! Most likely, you'll be able to work in an intuitive drag-and-drop editor.
You should avoid overcluttering your site with all your works. For instance, if you're a photographer, you've probably made thousands of pictures during your life. Instead of uploading all of them to your site, you might want to select a few dozens of your best shots. Such an approach has the following benefits:
-
Visitor won't get bored or tired when checking your portfolio
-
They will remember your unique style very well
-
They will see that you know how to organize things and promote yourself
If you ever create works that are not too typical of your usual style, you might want to keep them away from your site. You should show only such works that reflect your personality and that you can repeat or recreate sometime later.
Below, we'd like to share a selection of software solutions, each of which deserves to be called the best website builder for artists in its specific niche.
Bitrix24
|
Target audience
|
All artists
|
|
Primary advantages
|
|
|
Main shortcomings
|
A lot of excessive functions
|
This is probably the best website builder for artists that you can only dream of. It enables you to build any type of site and contains a lot of templates that are suitable for artists. Whenever you need to add a picture to the site, you can choose it from the free image bank. Bitrix24 is available as a cloud or on-premise solution as well as a mobile app for iOS and Android.
You won't need to pay anything to benefit from the following features:
If you decide to upgrade to a paid plan, you should be ready to pay $49 per month. The main reason why you might want to do is to get more online storage space: with the free plan, you'll get only 5 GB.
The Bitrix24 prices might seem a bit too high for some users. But they are justified by the fact that this software features over 35 useful tools: project and task management, time management, contact center, email marketing and so on. The tool that might be the most useful for artists is the CRM. You can customize its cells and it can store an unlimited number of records. You'll need the CRM if you're planning to sell your works and merch on your site. This tool will save all the information about your customers and your interactions with them in a well-structured format.
The block-based editor of Bitrix24 is very easy to use. You don't need to have any coding skills to make the most of it. This solution is famous for its top-notch training courses and the highest quality of client support. You can find a lot of educational videos on its YouTube channel.
Squarespace
|
Target audience
|
Any artists
|
|
Primary advantages
|
-
Stunning templates
-
Useful ecommerce tools
|
|
Main shortcomings
|
It will take you some time to learn how to use this software
|
This is the best website builder for artists who would like to organize the space on their site as visually impactful as possible. It's a spot-on solution for portfolios but its capabilities are not limited to this type of site exclusively. Squarespace stands out from its competitors thanks to its beautiful templates. Plus, this software allows you to add a blog to your website and an online store to sell your works and merchandise.
The drag-and-drop editor is very intuitive but the overall interface might require a bit of learning. The good is that the builder can display informative pop-ups on those parts of the screen where you hover the cursor.
On the flip side, Squarespace lacks a free plan. Its cheapest plan costs $12 per month. You might want to begin with a 14-day free trial without sharing the details of your credit card.
Wix
|
Target audience
|
Users with a limited budget
|
|
Primary advantages
|
-
Affordable pricing
-
Ease of use
-
Decent free version
|
|
Main shortcomings
|
It was not tailor-made for artists
|
It's the best website builder for artists who can't afford large expenses right now. It's a generic software solution that was not tailor-made for artists. Its primary target audience is small businesses from all industries. Yet creatives can benefit from it too because it's very easy to use.
The drag-and-drop editor features 800 templates, including a lot of art-focused ones. You can find templates for art galleries, illustrators, photographers and so on.
If you lack the time or are not confident enough about your site-building skills, you can resort to the Wix ADI. The platform will ask you a few questions and then it will automatically design the site for you.
Wix is one of the most affordable builders that you can find. The cheapest plan with a custom domain costs $14 per month. If you don't need the domain, you can stick to the Free Forever option. You won't need to pay for your site at all but you'll have to put up with ads as well as restrictions on storage and bandwidth. Plus, there will be a large Wix banner at the top of the site — if you want to remove it, you'll need to pay.
Shopify
|
Target audience
|
Artists who launch a digital business
|
|
Primary advantages
|
|
|
Main shortcomings
|
Pricing
|
This is the best website builder for artists who want to turn their sites into online stores where they can sell their items. Most likely, you've come across Internet shops built on this platform many times and have ordered goods from there. Now, it's your turn to see how it all looks and works "under the hood"!
Shopify can boast an easy-to-use interface and a nice collection of templates. You'll need to pay to use most templates and the cheapest Shopify plan costs $29 per month. But if this platform enables you to boost your sales, you'll be able to afford such expenses. Plus, you can start with a 14-day free trial.
You'll be able to flexibly customize your store. The Shopify support crew is highly professional. Even this site builder might not be the most obvious choice for artists, it might be wise to give it a try.
Looking for the best website builder for artists?
Create a personal website to promote your art works. Among all the site builders that are available on the market, you might want to choose Bitrix24. Its basic functionality is available for free.
Try Now
Voog
|
Target audience
|
Users who love the maximum control
|
|
Primary advantages
|
|
|
Main shortcomings
|
It might take you some time to get used to it
|
The template collection of this builder is not too extensive — but each template looks stunning on any device. You can flexibly customize the templates, enjoying maximum control over your site's looks and content.
A site built on Voog will be available in multiple languages. You can enable visitors to pick the language manually or let the site detect their location and suggest a language. That's a very useful feature for creatives who would like to promote their works globally — and a meaningful reason to call Voog the best website builder for artists.
If you have coding skills, you'll be able to work with database and API tools to make your site even more stunning. Whenever you need a consultation, you can reach out to the support crew 24/7 via live chat, email and phone.
The cheapest Voog plan costs €8 per month. All plans come with a 30-day trial.
Bluehost
|
Target audience
|
Professional artists
|
|
Primary advantages
|
-
WordPress plugins
-
No in-built ads
|
|
Main shortcomings
|
No free plan or trial
|
Bluehost made a name for itself as a web hosting provider. Then, it released its own website builder — and it turned out to be the best website builder for artists.
Unlike many of its competitors, Bluehost doesn't offer an all-in-one solution. Instead, it runs on top of WordPress, the open-source content management system. At the initial stage, you can use an intuitive drag-and-drop editor. Then, you can choose from thousands of WordPress plugins to add extra functions to the site.
You'll need to pay a minimum of $11 per month to Bluehost. It's not the cheapest option — but your site will look very professional. Its domain name won't be clunky and there will be no annoying ads.
Jimdo
|
Target audience
|
Those who are not too fond of technology
|
|
Primary advantages
|
|
|
Main shortcomings
|
|
Some artists postpone building their websites because they are not too good with technology. In this case, they should try Jimdo. You can start with a free version without sharing your credit card details. The system will ask you a few questions to find out which kind of site you're planning to create. There will be a series of prompts that you can either dismiss or respond to. The prompt will show you how to edit the content of your site, such as adding a text or changing its font. If you have coding skills, you may try to install widgets that will enable you to modify the HTML and CSS of the templates.
As often happens with the easiest-to-use solutions, the template library is limited and the templates are rather basic. Nevertheless, Jimdo deserves to be called the best website builder for artists. It's an excellent starting point for newbies.
Please mind that you won't be able to reach out to the support crew by phone or email. The only way of submitting a query is using the fill-in form. If you have purchased the most expensive plan, you can expect to receive a prompt answer. Otherwise, you should be ready to wait.
New users can start with a free plan. To get rid of ads and get a domain name, you'll need to pay $9 per month.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, you found this article informative and now you know how to select the best website builder for artists. An ideal software solution should have an affordable price tag and be easy to use. It should feature a lot of templates that are relevant for artists and enable you to flexibly customize them. You should be able to add extra features to your site, such as an online store to sell your words and merch. Among all the site builders that are available on the market, you might want to choose Bitrix24. Its basic functionality is available for free. You'll get a domain name and hosting free of charge. The site that you build with Bitrix24 should help you to attract a large audience and make yourself seen or heard.
