Selling artwork on the internet is a complex game, full of exciting possibilities and tricky pitfalls. It also puts you and your artwork in the center of almost infinate competition!
The first thing to remember is that it will take time for you to build up a following, a group of people who truly love your work and will purchase it from you through their computers. Patience is key, as is the willingness to try new things.
Now there are a number of different tactics, each with its own positives and negatives, and you will most likely want- and need- to utilize more than one of them in order to really grow and get the attention your artwork deserves!
1) eBay
Need I say more? Simple, user friendly, huge audience, getting your money is way easy, not too expensive... and there's about five million other artists on there trying to sell their work as well. And another five million scammers out of China or wherever dropping junk and clogging up the searches.
Don't get discouraged if you don't start selling the pieces right away.
It helps to start things off cheap, for bids- but don't let it hurt your feeling when some pieces sell way too low. You're just not "there" yet.
Paying extra for borders and being at the top of the page will help you to get attention- only you can decide if it's worth the extra expense.
Posting regularly means that if someone comes back to maybe buy another piece, they'll have something fresh and exciting to look at. Do it!
Put the vitals up so they're easy to read at first glance. Then put up some fluff to make people feel like they "know" you, and like your work has a "story". It helps sell the piece.
There are other websites out there you can sell through- probably the next biggest one is etsy.com. Great site, just not as well known as eBay, and with no auction option.
2) blogging
Free through blogger.com, or typepad.com, or wordpress.com, and extremely useful if you're going to be good about keeping it updated regularly- it gives people something prtty to look at, and a story to follow. It also can pick up a lot of hits from search engines if you utilize the keywords feature.
Pick something simple- ideally yourname.blogspot.com. You want people to be able to find you!
Use links. If you're selling on eBay, link to where they can buy. If you're in a gallery, link to the gallery site.
3) your own website
Again, pick a good name. You want people to be able to find you.
Setup can be as simple or complicated as you want. Go through sitekreator.com for the site layout and godaddy.com for the domain name, and you can come out at about $10 a month for something good looking and dummy proof- not bad.
Be clear. Say what you do. Show sizes, prices, and mediums. Provide an artist statement.
Once again, updates are key. People need a reason to come back.
Have an "available works" page. Ideally, have little paypal buttons under each piece that's for sale so that people can go ahead and buy from you.
4) artists sites
Pretty much, no good for sales. There are exceptions, there are people who get enough attention that it doesn't matter- but honestly, I've been selling for a while and in a variety of venues. but have never made a sale through any of them- fineartamerica.com, deviantart.com, artscuttlebutt.com....
That said, they're great for getting feedback and making friends with other artists. That's valuble all on its own.
5) mailing list
Perhaps your most effective tool. Every sale you make, every person who sends you an email that might be interested- get all of their little email addresses in a pile somewhere.
And then, at designated intervals (once a month, every other week, whenever you start a new series, something) send them all nice, grammatically correct, freindly emails, complete with pics of your recent work.
This keeps you on the radar of past customers, which is really really really good.
And if it's a really wonderful newsletter, well, you might get lucky and they might send it to all of their friends as well. Even more eyes seeing your work!
Beyond that, TAKE GOOD PICTURES. Show details. Make people believe in the beauty of the work. Be willing to show potential buyers multiple shots of your work under different light, hung in your living room, whatever. This is the ONLY WAY to alleviate the justifiable fear many people have of buying a work of art that they have never seen in person.
Follow all that5, give it time, and you have a lot to look forward to in your art carreer. Best of luck!