Name of your website?Visual Metaphors - oil paintings by award winning artist Liron Sissman
Your name?
Liron Sissman
Your Location (city, etc)
Park Ridge, NJ
When did you start your website and why?
Back in 1999 with the goal of reaching a wider audience
Please give us a short summary of your website, business model, etc
My website displays my oil paintings and my biography including awards, collections, and previous and upcoming exhibitions. It also offers a way to contact me and arrange for a studio visit.
What has been the most difficult part of creating and running your website?
An occasional, undisclosed, system update on behalf of my webhosting company that prevented me from being able to update my site.
What has been the easist part of operating your website?
My website was created with a program called Homesite which I found easy to work with. Despite not knowing html I can still maintain it myself.
What was your biggest mistake?
For a while there were some people who couldn't view parts of my website and it took some time to figure out why. It turned out that some browsers are more restrictive than others. Eventually these glitches got worked out.
Who maintains your website and why?
I do. It's easy enought and I'm glad to not have to rely on anyone else for that matter.
Tell us how your business has benefitted from your website?
Much larger exposure. In fact last month I reached 18,000 hits. I get to collect email addresses of people who are interested in my work and keep them posted of my shows. It helps introduce my works to new galleries since it saves on the need to send slides and/or CDs in the mail. And, of course it facilitates sales both online and in person.
What are your views on ecommerce and the future of the internet?
I think over time more people are only going to get more comfortable with it.
What are your views on Search Engines? Have they helped or hindered your website?
They've helped. In fact I recently put a new website together and made sure I submitted it to the various search engines.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
Probably my recent usage of Google AdWards which brings 25 new flower and landscape painting searchers to my website every day.
What method has been least successful for promoting your website?
Buying a mailing list and sending postcards to people residing in a certain geographic area.
How is your artwork unique?
My work is personal yet universal. My flowers are not really about flowers. They have very little to do with the traditional composition of a bouquet in a vase. There are often two on a canvas and they 'speak' to each other. In fact, it's a whole life-cycle portrayed via flowers. At some level I think of them as portraits except unlike traditional portraits they represent an image that viewers of diverse backgrounds can relate to. Overcoming superficial dissimilarities, they serve as portraits of universal appeal.
My landscapes are about the journey. Their compositions are quite unusual for landscape paintings. I typically paint a body of water seen through a screen of trees. I use both water and trees symbolically. The water like in antiquity represents life. The trees may either represent a barrier or they may yield to define a path. Most often they partially obscure, connoting a hurdle as they provide a glimpse.
What is your website address?
Visual Metaphors - oil paintings by award winning artist Liron Sissman
