As an unknown artist, I’ve tried to utilize a number of the free online tools available to me to get my name out there. Plenty of pay-per-use services are also available, but here I’ll highlight the free services with which I’ve had experience.

1. Deviant Art - Pros: ability to make prints of submitted art, ability to comment on other artists’ images, Creative Commons license possible, social networking, tagging possible, Cons: Does not support RSS, Batch uploads not possible, upload process takes too long: uploading one image required 6 clicks, Title limited to 30 characters, checkboxes behave as radio buttons in the Fullview Size section, if dropdown menu option is changed in Fullview Size section, checkbox becomes unchecked/cannot add watermark to fullview/original size, ads present on free accounts (not sure about paid accounts), did not use other features enough to make a judgement
2. Flickr - Pros: supports RSS feeds, 3rd party application/add-ons supported, ability to print supported, Creative Commons license possible, social networking, ability to link photos externally without repercussion if done properly, ability to easily add notes to photos, ability to moderate comments, ability to comment on others’ photos, social networking, batch editing, flagging photos as safe, moderate or restricted, ability to flag photos as photo, screenshot, or art/illustration, ability to hide photos from public searches, ability to add HTML descriptions to photos, ability to geotag and tag photos Cons: tied to Yahoo! account, unlimited uploads require a paid Pro account
3. MySpace - Pros: supports RSS feeds, bulletins, social networking, ability to comment on others’ sites, ability to moderate comments Cons: No nudity in the photos section. No batch editing/deletion of photos. UI not at first intuitive to move photos between albums
4. Montana-Artists.com - Possibly the least friendly of all sites reviewed here, which is a shame, as it has the potential to be something great.
   • Cons: submitting artwork is completely un-intuitive, the first step being to “submit artwork”, but there is no option to upload an image until after submitting details about the image being considered. The message that displays after the first step in submitting a piece of artwork for inclusion on the website is: Your new artwork has been submitted, and will be reviewed by one of our Quality Control Specialists to verify that the information entered is appropriate and acceptable. If their [sic] is a problem with the information, you will be contacted by our staff to provide a more suitable substitute. You must also upload at least 1 digital image file to the web site manually. Please send us the highest quality material that you can. The web site will resize the artwork. If you are sending a photo, slide, negative, diskette or CD please send them to: (no address is listed) Once this has been completed, one must upload an image, and even when the image has been uploaded, it does not display on the site, but must be approved by an admin.
5. Picasa - Never used, not enough information to make a judgement, though it seems somewhat useful. Support for direct export from Mac’s iPhoto seems to be a benefit.
6. Missoula Cultural Council Artist Directory - Pros: free directory listing, easy interface to post listing, anyone can suggest an artist Cons: One admin responsible for approving all submissions, submissions are not immediate
7. Digg - Used infrequently, not enough information to make a judgement. Supports RSS.
8. Facebook - Used infrequently, not enough information to make a judgement
9. Blogger - Pros: friendly and intuitive interface Cons: yourname.blogspot.com instead of yourname.com

Have others of you had similar or different experiences with any of the above sites? Can you warn us against sites not listed here? Can you recommend sites not listed here? Give reasons, rants and raves in the comments.