Wouldn’t you love to have your crafts in a gallery that’s open 24 hours a day, seven days a week — one that doesn’t take a large percentage of your selling price? Then consider an online gallery at your own Web site.

What you’ll need is a computer with a modem, and a variety of software: Web Browser, HTML authoring package, graphics editing program, and an FTP utility.

To design the pages on your site you must have a Web Page Authoring program. There are many good ones available — FrontPage and DreamWeaver are among the most popular. Both allow you to work in a graphic mode, without needing to fiddle with the actual HTML code. Some of the Web Hosting companies provide authoring programs as part of their packages.

The whole point of the site is so people can see what you do, right? So you’ll need to get some digital images of your work.

Carolyn Lee Vehslage’s Web site contains many photos, so it’s important to keep files to a manageable size to allow viewers to load and view pages quickly.

The easiest way to do this is to use a digital camera. Don’t have one? Then you can use a scanner to scan in regular pictures. No scanner? Bring your pictures to a graphics service store like Kinko’s, and they can give you scans for a very reasonable price.

Once you have your images, some time and effort should be spent on preparing them for the Web. On the Web, size matters, and smaller is better. Files that are too large will take too long for viewers to download. If your page takes too long to load, viewers may just move on to another site.

While the dimensions of electronic images are important, the resolution has an even greater effect on the file’s size. Try to limit the resolution to 100 dpi, with dimensions small enough to fit on a page without requiring scrolling.

File size for individual graphics should be kept to less than 100kb, and half that size is a good goal, especially if there are a number of pictures on a given page.

Once your site is built, it’s time to publish it on the Web. This is where the FTP software comes in. With this utility, you can copy all your files from your computer to your Web Host. Once this is completed, people can see your artwork across the entire world using a search engine.

A search engine is a site on the Web where people go to look up information. Search engines constantly scour the Internet to look for sites, but you can greatly increase your chance of being seen by submitting information about your site to the search engine. Being higher on the list will help bring more people to your site.

After the author’s main page, there are choices to view items such as commissioned pieces. This part of a Web site can allow buyers to watch the progress of pieces they’ve commissioned.

Creating a reason for repeat visitors

On my Web site, www.clvquilts.com, I added individual pages for commissioned artwork beyond the gallery pages of artwork that I created for direct sale to the public.

Since it often takes several months for me to complete a quilted wall hanging, and many of my clients are across the country and around the world, I use my site to keep them informed on the progress.

Sometimes I even use a page as a design tool to get input from the client by posting color, fabric, or element placement choices.

When I contract for a new commission, I create a new page on my site for that piece. Then I place a thumbnail image of the sketch or photograph showing the inspiration for the quilt on my Gallery page with a link to the new page.

Under the thumbnail image, I list the title of the piece, the last date the page was updated, and the position it is in the queue of commissions.

There’s always a story behind each quilt to go along with the in-progress images. So I write a paragraph or two to go with the new images and end with a sentence about what’s coming next. On a number of pages, I have detailed explanations of my various techniques.

Personalized sections of a Web site can be created by providing buyers with access to password-protected portions of the site.

When a commission page is updated, I send out an e-mail announcement to the commission client, the other clients in the queue, and other prospective clients and gallery contacts who are interested in my artwork.

The Web hosting service I use provides me with weekly statistics of which pages are visited and by how many viewers, so I can easily tell that my method of marketing works well.

While I let any viewer see the progress on the various pieces — it’s part of the in-trigue that brings me more commissions — it’s possible to password-protect pages in a variety of ways.

The quickest method is to post a page on the Web site without linking it to the viewable pages. Then only provide the client with that direct URL. For example: everyone can see www.mywebsite.com, but only the client knows to type in www.mywebsite.com/specialpage.htm.

Generally I allot about four hours each weekday morning to my computer and Internet work. That includes e-mail correspondence, updating my site, entering competitions, updating my promotional materials, writing free-lance articles, and doing volunteer publicity work for “ArtQuilts at the Sedgwick,” an annual, nationally juried exhibition in Philadelphia.

I also keep the site fresh by changing the artwork images on my welcome page monthly and updating my résumé page whenever I’m accepted into exhibitions, win an award, or publish another article.

My site has brought me clients whom I would have never met any other way. It’s been featured in a number of magazines dedicated to the type of artwork I create.

It’s also connected me with cyber friends who work in the same medium and struggle with many of the same issues of pricing, production and promotion. As a result of these connections, I’ve been asked to curate the exhibition “911: Las Artistas Reaccionan,” which will tour Costa Rica. Even if you never make a direct sale off your Web site, as a crafter there are many marketing benefits to having your work on one.