Are you trying to drive traffic to your artist website, and keep finding the results from your efforts less than desirable?
In this post, you will discover tips on how to increase search engine rankings in 10 months.
How Artists Can Increase Search Engine Rankings in 10 Months
I look back over the past fifteen years and realize how much I learned about selling art online.
Most online marketing strategies have come and gone, but a few strategies will be around for the long-term.
I call this the foundation of digital marketing.
Once you have a solid foundation, everything else you do will show you positive results.
So, where do you start?
A solid foundation starts with understanding how people will find you online.
It all starts with SEO.
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) optimizes your artist website, art blog, and content for the search engines.
The solution is simple.
The better your sites are optimized for the search engines, and the better your content is, the higher you will rank in the search results.
The higher you rank, the more organic traffic (free traffic) your sites will receive.
The more traffic your art website generates, the higher your chance will be to land a sale.
It sounds simple, doesn’t it?
That is because it is simple.
You just have to learn what you need to do and to it.
In time you will start to see your traffic and sales increase.
Success begins with planning.
I have developed a ten-month plan that will help you to optimize your site, art blog, and content.
I want to disclose that SEO is not a quick fix. You will not see instant results. Instead, you will see steady growth, and in time the amount of traffic your sites will receive will be eye-opening.
Let’s get started.
Month 1 – Learn the SEO Basics
To start, you will want to become familiar with the basic SEO terminology.
SEO can become very complicated.
The good news is, all you need to learn is the basics.
Your main goal is to optimize your site and content, so Google, Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines can understand what your site has to offer to refer you to the correct people.
Here are some sites and articles that will get you started.
The Beginners Guide to SEO by MOZ
This free article has been read over 3 million times.
Why?
Because it covers everything, you will need to know to get you started.
Here is what you will learn:
- How search engines operate
- How people interact with search engines
- Why search engine marketing is necessary
- The basics of search engine friendly design and dev.
- Keyword research
- How usability, experience, and content affect rankings
- Growing popularity and links
- Search engine tools and services
- Myths and misconceptions about search engines
- Measuring and tracking the success
Yoast
If you have WordPress, you might have already heard of Yoast.
Yoast is known for it’s SEO plugin.
What most people do not know is Yoast offers much more.
They offer a blog filled with valuable information as well as eBooks and courses.
JM Internet Group
JM Internet Group is another site you will want to become familiar with.
Jason McDonald makes SEO learning fun and easy.
Jason also offers eBooks, free blog posts, YouTube videos, and courses.
I have read and recommend Jason’s book, SEO Fitness Workbook: 2017 Edition: The Seven Steps to Search Engine Optimization Success on Google.
How do you get started?
The best way to get started is to read MOZ’s article.
When you have gone through Moz’s article, start reading more information from Yoast and JM Internet Group.
Bookmark these sites. You will be visiting them regularly.
I do want to disclose, some SEO content is challenging to grasp at first.
Do not get too involved with complicated SEO tactics.
Like Jason says, “You do not need to be an SEO expert, you just need to know more than your competition.”
To learn easy to understand, usable tactics, I recommend getting SEO Fitness Workbook: 2017 Edition: The Seven Steps to Search Engine Optimization Success on Google.
Month 2 – SEO Tools
Once you have learned some of the SEO basics, you will want to grab some SEO tools to help you maximize your efforts.
Month two should be dedicated to learning more about the tools you will need to help you with your SEO strategy.
Here is a list of tools I use for my SEO strategy:
WordPress
Yoast SEO Plugin (Free)
Related Resource:
Keywords
SERPS (Free)
Keyword Tool (Free)
Ubersuggest (Free)
LSI Graph (Free)
Related Research:
- Keywords 101 – How To Generate More Traffic To You Art Gallery
- How LSI Keywords Can Help Artists Rank Higher In Search
- How To Use Keywords Effectively In Art Blog Posts
- How To Optimize Your Art Blog Posts With LSI Keywords
- Art Marketing 101 – Free Keyword Research Tools
Rank
SEMRush (Paid)
Site Health
Google Console (Free)
Analytics
Google Analytics (Free)
Related Resource:
How To Use Google Analytics To Sell More Art Online
If you purchase Jason’s book SEO Fitness Workbook: 2017 Edition: The Seven Steps to Search Engine Optimization Success on Google you will get a free SEO Tools workbook filled with all of the tools you will need for SEO.
Month 3 – Keyword Research
Month 3 is time for you to get serious about driving traffic to your artist website.
It is time to start blogging.
Writing content will drive much more traffic to your site than everything else combined. In time search traffic (traffic generated from search engines) will be the number one source for your traffic. In fact, most websites that have a blog generate up to fifty percent or more search traffic after blogging on a regular schedule for two or more years.
For more information on the benefits of blogging read:
How Content Marketing Can Benefit Your Art Business – Infographic
6 Blogging Benefits You Can’t Ignore
When you are writing content for your blog posts, you will want to focus on keywords.
Keywords are words or phrases that people put into a search bar to find the content they are interested in.
For example, If you sell oil paintings of horses, you will want to focus on the keyword phrase “Horse Oil Paintings”.
The list of keywords you are focusing on should describe your artist website, art brand, art blog, and what you sell. These keywords will help search engines like Google and Bing understand what your site has to offer.
Here are some articles to help you with your keyword strategy:
Sell More Art Online Keyword Research Introduction
Keywords 101 – Generate Traffic to Your Art Gallery
Month 4 – Submit Your Site to Search Engines
This month is going to be easy. All you have to do is submit your site to a couple of search engines.
At this point, you should already have some keyword-rich content. You want to let the search engines know that you are out there.
Just visit Google and Bing and submit your site.
Google – http://www.google.com/addurl/?continue=/addurl
Bing – http://search.msn.com/docs/submit.aspx
You will not see instant traffic. You are just letting Google and Bing know that you have a website.
Your goal now is to provide quality content regularly, so Google and Bing will start to rank your site higher in the search.
Month 5 – Links
Rich keyword content alone will not drive a ton of traffic to your site.
Search engines want to provide the best content to their audience.
That is why you have to write high-quality content.
For more information on high-quality content go to:
- Art Marketing Basics: Pillar Content Generates Traffic
- How to Write Pillar Content and Why it is Important for Artists
- How To Increase Art Sales With Great Pillar Content
How do search engines know if your content is high-quality or not?
One way Google and other search engines know if the content is relevant is by people referring to your site. This is also known as link building.
When someone links to your site or blog posts, it is like giving your site a thumbs up. The link is telling Google that your content is good enough to be shared by readers. In Google’s mind, the content that is being linked is quality content.
There are two types of links you will want to become familiar with.
The first is outbound links, that is when someone outside of your site links back to your site. This can be done on blog posts, social media posts, or other sites.
The second is inbound links. This is when you link to posts within your site.
Let’s say that you are writing a post about a horse you just painted and you are talking about some supplies you used. If you already have a post about the supplies you use to create your art you can link to that post.
For more information on inbound links go to:
Use Internal Links To Increase Art Blog Traffic (This is an inbound link.)
Links alone, just like keywords, will not be the only reason your site will rank higher. You have to work on all of the areas if you are interested in being ranked on the first page.
Month 6 – Join Forums
At this point, you should have a good amount of blog posts published and you should also be blogging on a regular basis.
Before I talk about forums, I want to suggest developing an editorial calendar.
An editorial calendar is a way for you to be focused on what you are going to be writing about. Not only will you know what you will be writing about in the future but you will also know what you have already written about.
Another positive to having an editorial calendar is you will be able to assess what posts are performing the best for you. I will be talking more about assessing your efforts later in this post.
Now that you have your content planned out it is time for you to build an online presence. One way to do this is by joining forums.
Forums are places where people learn and share ideas on a topic they have a passion for.
Go to Google and do a search for “Art Forum”. You will find hundreds of forums that you can look into.
Visit each forum and find a couple that fit your niche. WetCanvas is a very popular forum you might want to start with. A couple of other places you might want to look into are Quora and Yahoo Answers.
After you have a few forums you would like to use, start to become familiar with them. Learn what some of the struggles people are having. If you can help them out, share your advice. Most forums will allow you to add a link in the signature line. If people are finding your advice valuable they will go to your site to learn more about you.
I did this for the first six months and saw some great results. Now because of how busy I have become, I can only visit the forums every couple of months.
Month 7 – Networking
Bloggers and artists are just like you and me. We are all trying to build an audience.
Take some time to get to know some people who are in your niche. Find some artists that you like and follow their blog.
Take some time and comment on their posts. You might even want to share their posts with your audience.
In time they will start to get to know your name and they will start to visit your site to get to know more about you. Most artists and bloggers are very willing to help others out. The key is not to expect anything in return. Comment on blog posts because you find the content valuable not because you want them to share your content.
Your goal is to build a tribe of people you can build relationships with. Building relationships is all about to give and take.
Month 8 – Social Media
Social media sites in the past have not been a large influence in SERP (Search Engine Rank Page) but some people argue that it plays more of a role today.
Besides getting extra traffic to your site from social media, Google will also notice that people are enjoying your content if your posts are being shared.
Google wants to refer the best content to its audience. If people are sharing content that must mean it is high quality and it could help your rankings.
For this month decide on one or two social media platforms you will want to focus on. Any more than that will become difficult to manage.
Develop a schedule for when you will be sharing your blog posts.
Be consistent with your schedule. Decide how many days a week you will be posting and how many times during the day.
Below is some helpful article to help get you started:
- Choose One Social Media Platform to Focus On
- How to Create a Social Media Marketing Calendar
- How to Create a Social Media Marketing Plan – Sell Art Online
Month 9 – Asses your Efforts
This month is all about seeing what is working and what is not working for your audience.
If you want to rank higher in search you need to produce content your audience will want to read.
This is why you will want to know what content your audience is reading and sharing.
If you have not already, sign-up for Google Analytics. It is free and will provide you with all the information you will need.
This video will show you how to set-up your Google Analytics if you have a WordPress site.
Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase by clicking on an affiliate link, Nevue Fine Art Marketing may earn an affiliate commission at no additional cost to you. Affiliate relationships include, but are not limited to, Bluehost, Tailwind, Skimlinks, SareASale and StudioPress. To learn more visit Affiliate Link Disclosure Policy
This video will walk you through Google Analytics so you can become familiar with the software.
Month 10 – Plan
This month you are going to plan for the next ten months.
Success comes from planning.
By now you have a solid foundation about how to increase search engine rankings.
Take the results that you got from last month and develop a plan that will help you to continue your growth.
Final Thoughts On How To Increase Search Engine Rankings
Increasing website traffic is something you will be working on for as long as you are selling art online.
It takes time to see real results.
Stay focused and know that your efforts will eventually pay off.
Every day take some time to focus on how to Increase Search Engine Rankings.
You might also be interested in:
- Is SEO Important for Artists Selling Art Online
- WordPress SEO: Optimize Your Artist Website for Search Engines
- SEO Checklist for Artists Selling Art Online
- SEO Basics – What Artists Need to Know
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