How to support artists’ small businesses

With the holidays coming up, there are about to be a lot of social media posts about buying handmade and supporting small businesses… which is great! But most of us can’t afford to buy from every amazing artisan, as much as we would like to.

So, what else can you do to support small businesses, so we can keep creating the artwork you love?

1. Follow us! Most of us share our work and updates about our businesses on various social media networks as well as e-mail newsletters and/or blogs.
2. Interact! Liking or commenting on our social media posts helps us get seen by more people. Even sending a DM or replying to an e-mail helps us feel less like we’re just shouting into the void that is the internet. Moral support is important too!
3. Share our work! Click share on any of our posts, or if you have purchased our art, share your own photos of our work. Make sure to tag the artist! We love seeing our art in your space, and it will help people who like our art find us.
4. Browse our websites! Even if you don’t plan on buying, just clicking on our links and poking around our websites helps with search rankings.
5. Donations and subscriptions! Many artists use Patreon, Ko-Fi, or similar sites for donations and subscriptions. Some (like me) have “pay what you want” products on our websites to give the option to pay a few dollars if you want to – but it really is 100% OK to download for free too, the website activity helps and we just love that you love our art.
6. If you do buy our stuff, make sure to leave a review. Detailed reviews help other people make purchasing decisions, and also help our websites rank in search results. And if you’re giving it as a gift, be sure to include any packaging, tags or business cards that were included so the person receiving it can also find us online if they want to.

Thank you for reading and for supporting artists and small businesses. Happy Holidays!