Copy Examples

Services page examples for artists

A services section has two jobs: help the right person recognise their problem, and stop the wrong enquiry before it reaches you.

Ten of them follow, written for artists rather than filled in from a template. Your customer is a collector, a curator or someone who has just fallen for one piece, and what they are weighing up before they get in touch is buying work they will not still like in five years, from someone who may not still be making it.


Straight list with a lead-in

## What I do I am an artist working across [your area]. **Original paintings** — [one line on what this involves for you] **Commissions** — [one line on what this involves for you] **Prints and editions** — [one line on what this involves for you] **Exhibitions** — [one line on what this involves for you] **Teaching and workshops** — [one line on what this involves for you] Not sure which you need? I start with a note about the piece you are looking at, or a studio visit if you are nearby.

Use this as the default. It is clear and it ranks.

Organised by the problem

## What I can help with **[The problem, in their words]** → Original paintings **[The problem, in their words]** → Commissions **[The problem, in their words]** → Prints and editions **[The problem, in their words]** → Exhibitions **[The problem, in their words]** → Teaching and workshops If what is wrong is not on this list, ask anyway. I will tell you honestly whether it is mys to fix.

Use this when people describe a symptom, not a service name.

With prices

## Services and prices **Original paintings** — from [$X] **Commissions** — from [$X] **Prints and editions** — from [$X] **Exhibitions** — from [$X] Prices are starting points, confirmed in writing before any work begins. I show where the work has been exhibited.

Use this if you will publish prices. It filters out the wrong enquiries before they reach you.

One flagship, then the rest

## Original paintings This is most of what I do, and it is what I am best at. Saying what the work is actually about without reaching for art-speak is the difference between doing it and doing it properly. **I also do:** commissions, prints and editions, exhibitions and teaching and workshops. I start with a note about the piece you are looking at, or a studio visit if you are nearby.

Use this when most of your revenue comes from one service.

What is included

## What is included Every piece includes: - I show where the work has been exhibited - I say what the work is made of and at what scale - I keep prices and availability visible - [one more thing you always include] **Services:** original paintings, commissions, prints and editions, exhibitions and teaching and workshops. If something is not included, I say so in the quote rather than on the invoice.

Use this where customers have been stung by things that turned out to be extra.

For each customer type

## Who I work with **[Customer type one]** — original paintings and commissions. **[Customer type two]** — prints and editions, exhibitions and teaching and workshops. I am an exhibiting artist. I start with a note about the piece you are looking at, or a studio visit if you are nearby.

Use this if you serve two clearly different groups.

Process-led

## How it works **1. Get in touch.** I start with a note about the piece you are looking at, or a studio visit if you are nearby. **2. I agree it in writing.** Scope and price, before anything starts. **3. I do the work.** Original paintings, commissions and prints and editions — whatever the piece needs. **4. I finish.** I keep prices and availability visible.

Use this when the how matters as much as the what.

Short

**Original paintings** · **Commissions** · **Prints and editions** An exhibiting artist. I show where the work has been exhibited. See available work.

For a homepage strip — Use this where services sit as three cards on the homepage, not a page of their own.

With the limits stated

## What I do — and what I do not **I do:** original paintings, commissions, prints and editions, exhibitions and teaching and workshops. **I do not:** [the things you turn down — be specific]. If that is what you need, [name someone who does it well] is who I would call. Saying so up front saves us both a phone call.

Use this to stop wasting time on enquiries you will only turn down.

Emergency and scheduled split

## Emergency [Response time], [hours]. Original paintings and anything that cannot wait until Monday. ## Planned work commissions, prints and editions, exhibitions and teaching and workshops. Booked in, quoted in writing, done on the date I agreed. I am an exhibiting artist for both.

Use this when urgent work and planned work are genuinely different offers.

Writing for artists: what actually matters

What should an artist’s website say that a generic one does not?

Three things, in this order. That you are exhibiting and collected. That you understand the thing people are actually worried about, which for artists is buying work they will not still like in five years, from someone who may not still be making it. And what happens next: a note about the piece you are looking at, or a studio visit if you are nearby. Everything else on the page is decoration by comparison.

What does a collector, a curator or someone who has just fallen for one piece check first?

The credential, then the proof. For artists it sounds like this. I show where the work has been exhibited. I say what the work is made of and at what scale. I keep prices and availability visible. Put at least one of those above the fold rather than on a separate page nobody opens.

What is the most common mistake on an artist’s website?

Writing about the business instead of the customer. "We have been established since 1998" answers a question nobody asked. "I start with a note about the piece you are looking at, or a studio visit if you are nearby" answers the one they are actually holding. If you only fix one thing, fix that.

How long should the copy be?

Shorter than you think, except where trust is being built. An About page of 120 well-chosen words beats 500 vague ones. The exception is anything explaining buying work they will not still like in five years, from someone who may not still be making it — there, specifics earn their length.