A note on the importance of writing descriptions of your art
If you want people to be able to find your art when searching the net you have to figure out what phrases they will use when looking for art such as yours.
If you have for instance a green abstract painting, no one will find it if they search for "a green abstract painting" unless you have written something like "This is a green abstract painting" beside your work.
To just publish a photo with a fancy title such as "Green abstract No. 7", or even worse; "No Title" will cause none or very little attention.
Search engines can not see images very well and rely almost solely on what text they will find when they go through a site.
These were the most popular search phrases including the word "art" in July 2005. The list will probably change rather little in time.
Note that probably more than 70% of these searches are made by people checking on their own SERP (Search Engine Result Page) placement compared to their competitors.
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1 art gallery
2 martial arts
3 digital art
4 poster art
5 met art
6 wall art
7 art schools
8 comic book art
9 fine art
10 fantasy art
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11 framed art
12 body art
13 art supply
14 fine art photography
15 art print
16 landscape art
17 nude art
18 art history
19 arts art
20 art bell
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21 erotic art
22 tattoo art
23 art museum
24 space art
25 cat art
26 computer art
27 wildlife art
28 antique art
29 inspirational art
30 fine art print
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The number one key to attracting visitors to your site is good text content. Text hidden in JavaScript or Flash is currently useless in terms of searchable content since most of the search engines bots can't read, or due to all abuse rather just ignore, such content.
It's a tempting tactic to hide text, make it in the same colour as the background of your site or make programs which display certain texts and links to search engine bots only, and not to your human visitors, in order to improve favourable search results. You should absolutely NOT act in that manner. Staff at the various search engines are using more and more improved and refined methods in their constant hunt for cheaters, and when - not if- your so called "black hat" behaviour eventually will be discovered, the worst case scenario is that your site will be completely erased from the search engine's database - so called "black listing". If so almost none will find your site.
Because of the importance of textual descriptions, if you are an Art Link Swap member with a portfolio, a lot of space is reserved for you to describe you and your art - use it.
Keep in mind that the most successful self-made artists are those that can speak about their art and themselves in the same manner an old fashion car dealer speaks about his (just slightly - as good as new!) used cars.
Work yourself through this checklist when writing your description, and when done, do check your spelling. If it's possible let someone with a gift for language read through your texts before publishing them - no matter how great you consider your own linguistic talent:
- What kind of materials and media have you used for this piece?
- What are the copyright conditions?
- Is it for sale, and what should a buyer do in order to purchase it?
- What kind of environment is it meant for? Walls, gardens etc.
- Does it have a frame or foundation, what kind?
- What colours and shapes are dominant?
- Describe the scene of your artwork. Things, animals, people? What are they up to and what is the past and future of the scene?
- What did you think, feel, where and how did you create this piece of art?
- And that horrible question: What inspired you to do it?
Painting A
Green Abstract No. 7
1997
160x210 cm
Exprimental painting on canvas.
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Painting B
Green Abstract No. 7
1997
160x210 cm
This is an actually mostly white abstract experimental painting, although green is as I see it the dominant colour.
For this particular piece of art I've selected a matt silvery aluminium frame which does not intrude on the motif.
The painting is mostly painted with oils on canvas and the motif is made up of violent fiery patterns, though softened or blurred as seen through a camera out of focus.
My life really was in turmoil when I made this and the violet/red flame I feel represent... etc.
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Some of the words above which might in this case be of importance for someone searching the net are written in italics. Also move the mouse over the pictures - the importance of the
alt-tag should not be neglected.
Which of the paintings above do you think will be..
1 ..seen by most people?
2 ..most talked about?
3 ..sold first?
4 ..completely ignored?
Answer: 1 B, 2 B, 3 B, 4 A.
© Max Magnus Norman 2005
Marketing your art