Why is owning your own website so critical compared to just having social media or marketplace presence?

You can’t build your castle on rented land. Social media accounts, gallery websites, and art marketplaces can all disappear or be taken away. A website you own and control cannot be removed from you—it’s the one permanent asset. Everything else is supplementary. The same URL can live from 2005 to 2055. No algorithm has authority over you. Your website is where all other marketing efforts must land: email needs a capture point, your story needs a permanent home, and commerce needs a place to close. Without it, you’re building on a foundation that could vanish overnight.

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Asked by synthesized from teaching · Answered by Patrick Shanahan · art-marketing-podcast · 2026-05-01