Know-How Exchange : E-Marketing

As I mentioned in a previous reply, I really don't think you're getting the level of traffic that you think. I'd wager that you are not getting 5,000 unique visitors per month. I do agree, however, that you need to provide some indication as to what's in it for the reader. What should motivate them to sign up?

I would not do a giveaway of your work.

I won't comment on your specific pricing strategy, but would offer the following general observations:

1. Lower prices don't always mean greater volume. Pricing should support and reinforce your positioning. If you are positioned as a superior product, then you can't charge bargain-basement prices. If you're a value product, you can't charge top dollar.

2. Art is a very subjective purchase category. If people love it, they buy it. If they are not into art (as an investment or for personal pleasure), the price is irrelevant.

3. Anything you get free is worth what you pay for it. Giving your art away is telling the world that even you don't think it's worth much.

4. If you want to attract subscribers to your email newsletter, you have to give them somthing they want in the newsletter itself. If the information is self-serving, they'll figure that out quickly and run away from it/you. Deliver a quality newsletter that gives people information they find valuable, and people will subscribe.

5. The problem may not be as much with the value of your newsletter as with its visibility on your website. You have so much copy on each page of your website, and so much going on, that it is likely that people are missing the newsletter box altogether.

Do yourself a favor and get a copy of Seth Godin's book, "The Big Red Fez." It's about website design and how you need to focus very single-mindedly on one very specific goal on each page. If the goal is to get people to subscribe to the newsletter, get rid of all that copy and deliver a one-paragraph reason why people might want to get the newsletter. Then give them a big, obvious box to click in order to subscribe.

Side note: Your site has waaaaay too much copy and not nearly enough visual stimulation. It would be unreasonable to expect a high response rate to anything in that environment.

Hope this helps. I'm not trying to snipe; I'm trying to be candid and direct, in hopes that it will help you solve the problem you're obviously having.