How to Optimize your Site With Keywords

The first step is to decide on the key terms that you want to optimize your site for. Imagine someone sitting at their computer wanting to buy a painting, what words would they enter to find your work rather than that of any other artist? Choose words specific to your work as well as some broader terms. Just to say “Painting” or even “Oil Painting” would lead a visitor to any number of artist websites or galleries. You have to add terms specific to your painting, which make your work unlike anybody else’s. You can also add your name and your specific regional location, or the subjects you most like to paint or draw.

Also, don't forget to optimize for your name. It's an obvious starting point for anyone who already knows you or has heard about you. 

Once you have a set of keywords and phrases chosen, you can add them to your website.

Site URL. This the domain name for your home page, i.e. www.YourSite.com. Once you have chosen a domain name, stay with it (try to be brief and avoid excessive humor or other names not suitable for a professional). Most people choose a variation on their name, i.e. YourNameStudio (assuming their name alone is not available for the domain). This is fine, as it will help your site come up in the #1 position in searches done for your name. 

Content. The most important use of keywords is also the simplest. This is the content on your site itself: About, Bio, and Artist Statement pages. Talk about your influences, your subject, your geographical area, your training, your technique. As they advance, search engines are evolving to recognize natural human language. Keep your content conversational, but be sure to use plenty of keywords. Don't overdo the frequency, though. If you stuff the page with key terms over and over to the point of excess, Google will read it as spamming.

Remember that it's important to keep your site fresh by adding new images and text on a regular basis. This is critical not just for your visitors, but also for search engines like Google - if a website has not been touched in a while, it can be penalized in search rankings. 

Keywords. This one is fairly self-expalnatory! In site settings and for each image in your artwork library you can add keywords. Use variations of the phrases you’ve chosen, and vary the keywords for each image. Remember to hit return between each word or phrase so that they don't all run together in an unsearchable clump

Descriptions. In your Artwork Library you can add descriptions to each work. This is another place to use natural language and plenty of keywords. You can speak about your inspiration for each piece, the materials from which its made, or anything else that brings the item alive for a potential buyer.

BUILT-IN SEO OPTIMIZATION ON ARTSPAN SITES

Image Pages. When you click on an image in your gallery and the larger version pops up, your website page URLs incorporate the name of the image gallery the image is part of, as well as the categories and subcategories you have highlighted for that image. For example, the enlargement page for an image that is a portrait color photograph could have a page URL like this: 

YourDomain.com/Portraits/Photography/Color/Figurative.html

It’s important to thoroughly fill out all the information for each image in your artwork library. It's also a good idea to create separate galleries for different kinds of work, as in this example: “Portraits.” Google images and Google.com itself will see all of the images related to that search term.

The Alt Text for each image. This is the words you see when you pass your mouse over an image. Alt text will increase the visibility of the image as well as your name and categories for Google images and for Google.com. Our system automatically creates Alt text for each image, which will include your name, the title of the work and the type of work. So, once again, be sure to fill out all the boxes and dropdowns in your Artwork Library