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Working on SEO is a task many artists put on the backburner.
But SEO is crucial if you are trying to sell art online.
Your target audience will not find you online if your website is not optimized for search.
Implementing the SEO tips outlined below will improve your SEO and art sales.
SEO Tips For Artists
By the end of this post, you will know…
- What keywords are
- Tools to help you discover keywords
- On-Page SEO
- Best platform for SEO
- Importance of writing High-quality content
- Internal links
Fine Art Keywords
Before you can start working on SEO you will need to take a few moments to think about your target audience.
A target audience is the demographic of people most likely to be interested in your product or service. (Source: The Balance Small Business)
The more you know about your target audience the easier it will be for you to create a list of keywords.
Keywords are ideas and topics that define what your content is about. In terms of SEO, they’re the words and phrases that searchers enter into search engines, also called “search queries.” (Source: Moz)
Your target audience will be people who like the same stuff you like.
For example, if you paint nautical scenes, your target audience will like the beach, boats, islands, etc.
If your art style is more rustic your target audience will like the country, woods, camping, wildlife, etc.
The keywords that you are trying to rank for should describe your artwork and what your audience is searching for.
For example, if you painted a Cape Cod scene, describe where the inspiration came from, and what makes that place so special.
People who are searching for a nautical painting of Cape Cod will use those keywords in the search bar.
Below are some free keyword search tools I use for my keyword research:
These tools will make it easy for you to build your art keywords list.
On-Page SEO
On-page SEO is the practice of optimizing individual webpages to rank higher and earn more relevant traffic in search engines. On-page refers to both the content and HTML source code of a page that can be optimized, as opposed to off-page SEO which refers to links and other external signals. (Source: Moz)
Below are some easy ways to optimize your post for search.
Add Keywords To:
H1 Tags (Title Tags) – An Hi tag is the title of your post. Try to keep your keywords at the beginning of your post title.
H2 Tags – H2 is a subheading that separates the key point of your post.
H2 tags are bold, larger font and it is beneficial to both your readers and search engines.
H2 tags make it easy for your readers to scan and find the information they are searching for.
It also tells Google what your content is about so Google can index your posts.
Click on the Paragraph drop-down menu in your WordPress editor to change the H tags in WordPress.
The next step is to add keywords to your image alt tags and image descriptions.
This is important because Google can only understand what your images are by image alt tags.
You can do this by adding your keywords to your image name when you save it on your PC or you can do it when you upload images to your WordPress site.
Artist Website
An easy way for you to get your artist website ranking on Google faster is by using a credible platform like WordPress.
Bluehost highlights the benefits of using WordPress in a post they published:
- Open source and always free
- Easy to install and use
- Always Accessible for authorized users
- Mobile-friendly with responsive themes (I use StudioPress Themes for WordPress)
- Versatile and scalable for the life of your business
- Complete customizable and control
- A built-in business blog
- SEO friendly features for higher rankings
You can read more by visiting the Benefits Of Using WordPress For Businesses.
Bluehost is an affordable hosting service for WordPress that allows you to purchase a domain name and have your artist website live in just one click.
With Bluehost, you can build the artist website that will separate yourself from all of the other artists using third-party websites.
Write High-Quality Content
You can have the best-looking website that is built on a credible platform that receives no traffic.
The real work begins after you have launched your website.
If you want to rank on page one in search you have to help Google.
You have to write content that describes your art and your art business.
Google wants to provide the best content available to their audience.
Publishing the best posts that relate to your art and art business is how to get your art on google
How do you write the best blog posts that relate to your art?
The first step you will want to take is to take the list of keywords you created and do a search on Google.
Take a look at what google ranked for those keywords.
- What do the top three posts have?
- What can information can you add to make the posts better and more valuable for the readers?
- How many images do the posts have?
- Is there a video?
- Do they separate the content with H2 tags?
- Is the content easy to scan?
Use the top three posts as a draft and make it more valuable.
Do not copy the posts. Instead, ask yourself how can you write a post that will be more valuable for the reader.
What would make the reader want to dive deeper into your artist website and share your site with their friends?
Related Post:
How Long Should Your Artist Blog Posts Be For Best Results
Internal Links
Now that you have a website that is built on a credible platform, a list of keywords and you have researched the top three posts for each keyword on your list it’s time to talk about an easy way to make your posts more valuable.
What is valuable content?
In Google’s eyes, valuable content is content that people read, engage with and share.
Google analyzes how long a person stays on a page if they leave comments on the post and if they share it on social media.
Your job is top write posts that keep your audience on your site.
The longer a person stays on your site the better.
An easy way to do this is by linking to other posts you have already written, as long as the posts related to what you are writing about.
Inbound links benefit you in two major ways. First, they provide an opportunity to receive more visitors, called ‘referral traffic.’ Secondly, Google can identify how many inbound links your site receives, and will put more value on your site over another website with less. (Source: Zero Gravity Marketing)
Related Posts:
How To Insert Links On WordPress Blog Posts
Benefits Of An Outbound Link Post And How To Write One
Use Internal Links To Increase Art Blog Traffic
Be Consistent With Your Blog Posts
The last thing I would like to talk about is being consistent with your blog posts.
Most people are catered to instant gratification and fast results.
SEO is will not give you instant gratification. Instead, SEO will provide you long term growth.
Unlike Facebook, a post you write today will continue to drive traffic to your site years from know.
What would you rather have?
10 people visite your site from Facebook after you published a post.
Or would you rather have 1,000 people discovering your posts over a year in Google’s search?
I would rather have 1,000 people visit my site.
How can you enjoy continued growth from SEO?
The answer is simple.
- Be consistent with the tips outlined above.
- Publish your posts on a regular schedule.
- Use keywords that relate to your art and your art business.
- Update old posts.
- Link to older posts.
- Be patient.
Conclusion:
The artist website tips outlined above will help you to drive a tremendous amount of traffic to your site.
Keep in mind that it will take a few months before you see any results.
But in time your traffic will continue to grow.
Related Resources:
Optimize Art Blog Posts for Search eBook by Dave Nevue
Stupid Simple SEO by Mike Pearson
I have taken many SEO courses and I have found Mike’s course to be the best around. Mike makes SEO easy to understand and his course is filled with valuable content you can start implementing immediately.
Popular Art Marketing And Sales Tutorials
Are you ready to take your art business to the next level?
Investing in marketing courses and tutorials will maximize your profit and speed up the growth of your business.
Below are some of the most popular art marketing courses that will grow your online art business:
Most Popular – How to Make a Living Selling What You Make by Megan Auman
Most Popular – Build a Successful Creative Blog by April Bowles-Olin
How to Build a Business While Learning Your Craft by Megan Auman
Pinterest Marketing for Makers & Designers by Megan Auman
28 Day Blogging Challenge for Visual Artists
Are you ready to start building an online presence?
Available on Amazon or Download your copy today.
The Productive Artist How to Live Your Dreams
The right mindset and time management skills are essential for any business. These topics are often not talked about but are key elements for your success. You will learn how to have a winning mindset and time management skills necessary for operating a successful art business.
Available at Amazon or Download your copy today.
Get More Done in Less Time The Part-time Artist
Proven strategies that will help you to get more work done in less time so you can sell more art and earn more money.
Available at Amazon or Download your copy today.
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