Next up in my series of articles about setting up an ArtFire.com studio is editing the appearance of your studio. So log into your account and select MyArtfire. On the right-hand side of the page under Manage My Artisan Studio > My Studio, select Edit My Studio. There are 12 options to choose from.
First, read the Help Guide. The guide has hot links at the top to take you to various sections. Ignore the hot links and read the guide from start to finish. Remember, I'm setting up a basic studio (free) so all the options won't be available as some are reserved for only verified studios (the $12/month version).
1. ArtFire Studio Colors and Themes
Basic studios don't have the ability to customize the appearance, but you can pick from the top three predefined themes. Beige with orange, blue and blue or gray and gray - use the radio button or click the FONT hot link in the colored square to make your selection.
You can bring up a preview of how all the colors look by clicking the FONT hot link inside the other colored squares. You just won't be able to save them in your basic studio - these are for verified studios only.
See which one of the three you like the best. Make sure you consider the colors in your avatar and banner when selecting a color theme for your studio. Click SAVE THEME!
2. ArtFire Studio Layout Options
This controls your picture column width. You can have either three or four columns of items in your studio. Click the radio button to make your selection. Then SAVE LAYOUT!
3. ArtFire Featured Gallery
Featured Gallery is for verified studios only. It allows you to enable or disable the ability to have up to four items from your inventory show at the top of each page in your studio.
4. ArtFire Studio Categories
Also an option available for verified studios only, this option lets you organize your inventory into sections. For example, if you sell arts and crafts supplies all your wire could be listed in the same category, seed beads in another and so on.
As basic studios are only allowed to have up to 12 items in their inventory at a time, this is a superfluous option for a basis studio.
5. ArtFire Studio Banner and Studio Avatar
Both are good for branding your company and adding some visual interest to your studio. The banner goes across the top of your studio pages. The avatar is a square image on the top left-hand side of your studio. Basic studios are only able to use the 760 x 100 pixels banner size. Your avatar must be at least 140px by 140px - square in shape appears best in your studio.
Check out the ArtFire Studio Setup Overview Fire Guide for more info on how to select and upload a good banner and avatar for your studio and for your entire web-related image.
6. ArtFire + Add Widgets and My Widgets
Only verified studios can use widgets. Accountants use the term widgets a lot when giving examples of how data is presented in accounting records. But your ArtFire widget is a web widget - something totally different. An excellent example of a web widget are Google ads you'll see placed on monetized websites. They are also used to "Digg it" or allow voting in polls.
Verified studios can add text, HTML or flash code to the bottom or right-hand side of to their ArtFire.com studio pages.
7. ArtFire Custom Gallery
Also only for verified studios, this option lets you display items no longer listed for sale in your studio. The equivalent of an art gallery with the Sold stickers on pieces of art - it shows your potential customers your range of work beyond that which you currently have for sale.
8. ArtFire Sticky Cart
Ok - you have a potential customer select an item to purchase. Sticky Cart leaves this item in their shopping cart indefinitely until the user buys it or removes it from their cart. One caveat, it keeps anyone else from being able to purchasing it for the following 30 minutes. This option is also only available to verified studios.
9. ArtFire Help Guide
The last hot link contained in the Help Guide is the option to convert your basic studio to verified status. As you can see after working through this tutorial, many of the Edit My Studio options are available only for verified studios.
Do you need them enough to pay the extra $12/month if you only want to market up to 12 items through ArtFire.com? It's all relative. You need to consider your own personal circumstances.
