Traffic to a website is important. Without traffic, there's really no reason to have a web site...but what's the best way to get traffic to your site? And who are the visitors that you're attracting?
In the art marketing arena, I'm becoming concerned about the tendency of artists to focus almost
exclusively on search engine strategies and particularly on Google as their primary, and in many cases, only marketing strategy. In fact, I covered this not long ago in my post
Google Alone is Not Marketing.
When I visit online forums where artists discuss online marketing, this seems to be the focus of the discussion -
how to get more Google traffic.
Which online service should an artist use to show his or her work? A valid question, but the question inevitably becomes, "Which service gets the most traffic?" To the exclusion of (more important) questions like, "which service gives me the most features? Which service gives me tools to market myself? Which service has the best support? Is there someone I can call if I need help? Which service has real marketing, practical marketing ideas that I can use?", "Which service has people with art marketing backgrounds providing solid advice?" Nope. Just "which service gets the most traffic?"
And worse, it's really just "Which service gets the most overall traffic?" - But none of those services with huge traffic numbers can promise that YOU
specifically will get traffic.
So what if Google went away?
Or more specifically...what if you're Google results disappeared? It does happen. In fact, here's a quote from Matt Cutts, senior Google engineer:
[Google] also counsels that sites shouldn't become overly reliant on traffic from searches and should find other ways to get visitors,
such as by setting up user forums. "We have to keep improving our
algorithms and giving the best search results," says Google software
engineer Matt Cutts. "We can't promise that if you're No. 1 today, you'll be No. 1 tomorrow." (emphasis added)
There you have it - straight from Google's "mouth" - you shouldn't become "overly reliant" on traffic from searches and
should find other ways to get visitors.
Here are just a few strategies. Please comment and add any others that you have found to work:
- Review the work of another artist whose works would appeal to the same audience, approach that artist and ask him to provide a link to your review.
- Cross-link with other artists.
- Write articles that appeal to art collectors - allow other sites to republish with a link to you.
- Engage in a systematic program of nurturing your prospects
- Email your prospects on a regular basis
- Engage in a systematic referral garnering process
- Advertise your web site offline with a special incentive for visiting
- Post new artworks consistently - and announce your posts
- Offer an RSS feed for visitors to subscribe to new content
- Make marketing a habit - just like painting
- Know how many contacts you must make with a prospect to make a sale (hint it's more than you think)
- Post your art on every free service that you can - and link back to your site you should garner a bit of traffic from each one that could add up
Sincerely,
Clint Watson
Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic
PS - Don't misunderstand - Search Engine traffic is great but it's not the end-all be-all. The good news is that many of the other traffic-building strategies (like getting inbound links to your site) will help with search engines too!
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