Why I Spent My Weekend Convincing SuperCon Artists They Need a Website

Never thought this would be the pitch. But here we are.

I went to support close friends yesterday who’re exhibiting at SuperCon Miami, and walking that floor, something kept happening that I couldn’t stop thinking about.

The talent out there was insane. Illustrators, sculptors, graphic designers, people who could draw and paint and build things I couldn’t dream up in a hundred years, selling their work with whole cult followings built almost entirely off Instagram and TikTok. Many of them didn’t have a website, or a business card, or anything at all outside the app.

My dad found a piece he loved, and it was sold out, so he asked the guy, well, can I order it when you get it back in stock? And the guy said, oh, I won’t be displaying again until Orlando Comic Con, March 2027.

Twenty twenty-seven... Sir. Seriously? That’s a $600 sale and you have no site, no way to sell it again until spring 2027?

That’s not a business decision, that’s just nothing. No website, no email list, no way to even say hey, I’ll have more soon, here’s how to find me. A fan standing right in front of him, ready to hand over money, and no bridge at all between that fan and the next time this artist would have anything to sell.

And here’s the thing, it wasn’t just that one guy. I kept seeing it booth after booth, and that’s what really got me. I think I’d assumed that out of anybody, digital artists and graphic designers would be the ones who already had a locked-in online presence, and that’s what made it so surprising. It wasn’t that they didn’t know how, a lot of them just hadn’t thought that far about it. They had so much passion for what they made and so much passion for the fans who’d found them through Instagram and TikTok, but it hadn’t gotten to building a home outside socials.

(I do want to say, a few of the artists I talked to had a different reason entirely. Some of them had run into licensing issues, hand-drawn pieces close enough to existing IP that they’d either been taken down before or they were wary of putting themselves out there again, and that’s its own separate problem, not the same as just not having thought about it. But that was only a handful of people out of many I came across. Most of them simply hadn’t gotten there yet.)

So I fluctuated between baffled at these talented people not having other portals to sell and handing out my information and telling some of them how much they were leaving behind by not having a website. It wasn’t that their Instagram wasn’t working, because it clearly was, it’s more that Instagram is just one lane. If that platform ever changed direction, or the algorithm buried them for a season, their entire business would go with it. And on the flip side, a website is what actually lets people find you, through SEO, through AIO (the AI answers you get from Claude or ChatGPT when someone’s asking who makes something like this), through anything other than hoping the algorithm shows their post to the right person that day, or catching them in person at one of maybe four cons a year.

I’ve spent six-plus years working specifically with wellness brands, and walking that floor surrounded by people who weren’t wellness anything, I realized the mission I’ve been on this whole time was never actually about wellness at all. It’s about the gap between talent and business. You can be the most gifted person in the room and still lose money and fans simply because you haven’t built out the structure that catches them when they want to come back.

Never thought I’d be passing out my info to comic con artists at SuperCon Miami for website design and email newsletter setups. But here we are.

If you’re building something and don’t know where to start, or you’ve got the talent but not the infrastructure, that’s exactly what I help with. Find me at themaxwellmethod.com, or follow along here for more.

xo, Natasha

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Hi, I’m Natasha Maxwell. I’m a brand and marketing strategist, and I’ve spent years helping founders, wellness brands, and personal brands turn what they already have into something people understand and buy into. I started in fashion marketing, moved into wellness, and now work across brand strategy, content, and digital business.

I’ve also been laid off three times, which is why I believe everyone should have something of their own, even if it starts as a bridge. Since then, I’ve built my own business, worked remotely, and lived in international places like Lima and Madrid.

Website: www.themaxwellmethod.com

Work with me: www.themaxwellmethod.com/lets-talk

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