That's why I made that
number one item on the list in my previous post
How to Sell Art.
Google is Not the Foundation of an Online Art Marketing Strategy
I broach this subject now, because another art marketing blog that I sometimes read posted the following statement a few days ago, "Google is the foundation of your online art marketing strategy." (Update 11/4/2009 - the other blog has posted a reply
here. Their original article is
here, and our follow-up post is
here.)
I don't agree. Google is NOT the foundation of an online art marketing strategy for the vast majority of artists - making great artwork is the foundation.
(The information the other blog provides is good, I just don't want artists to misunderstand such a strong statement and focus on Google to the detriment of other activities that have a much, much bigger payoff when it comes to selling art)
"Oh, come on...you nitpicker" you're probably thinking. Because, technically, making great artwork is not an online activity. Well, frankly, Google is not even the second (or third, or fourth) thing to focus on in an art marketing strategy.
Focus on Your Fans
The second thing to focus on is
building relationships with your fans. If we're talking about online marketing that means
telling stories through the most effective online sharing mechanism I know of -
email newsletters.
Don't get me wrong, I do understand why people get so excited about search engine marketing. Most people who focus on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are excited because they've had success at ranking on Google for keywords that help drive traffic and business prospects to them.
However, think about this: there are a lot more artists googleing "how to sell art" than there are buyers googleing "how to buy art"
Search Engine Marketing Does Have a Role
Google
can be the foundation for online marketing for
some people and businesses, just not most artists. For example, our sister company,
FineArtStudioOnline, sells website hosting to artists. When artists google things like "How to sell art online", "art marketing online", "artist websites" etc. That
is an important part of marketing for
US. The nature of our business is that artists go to Google and search for what we offer.
But, as I've discussed in the past,
people don't buy art that way. People find art through "serendipitous stumbling." Most people "
just know it when they see it."
I'm not saying google doesn't play a part in an artist's marketing efforts, I just don't agree that it's the foundation.
Search Engine Marketing (SEO) does have it's place for most artists. Although it's not the foundation and you should never let yourself become obsessed with it (to the detriment of more important activities), there are many simple things that can be done to make sure you show up in search engines. Mainly, you want to rank well for your own name. That's because, since people find art through "serendipitous stumbling", they usually go "Google" the artist they've just discovered for more information. Fortunately, unless your name is really common, ranking for your own name is pretty easy.
What we've done at
FineArtStudioOnline is put systems in place to basically "automate" as much of the SEO stuff as possible so you don't have to worry about it. Here is a short (but not exhaustive list) of the things we do
automatically for every FASO site: No flash, automatic XML sitemaps on every site, automatic alt and title tags on images, short, friendly URLs, keywords in URLs and title tags, every FASO site gets inbound links from our years-old, authoritative domains. The main thing we can't do for you is get a whole bunch of other inbound links to your site from other websites. Fortunately, if you focus on building relationships with people - those links will come (especially if you remember to ask).
So please, while SEO can be very helpful, please don't get obssessed with it. Remember, the foundation of an online art marketing strategy is making great art, next develop a list of fans usually starting with people you know, after that be authentic with those people, tell them your stories and they'll buy your art. You'll become a "social object" and they'll tell their friends about you and the cycle will continue.
Sincerely,
Clint Watson
Software Craftsman and Art Fanatic
via fineartviews.com
"Plein Air," "animal subjects," "alla prima," "figurative works," "landscape," "watercolor," etc. Do otheres think this could be useful?