SEO Basics for Artists

Art and SEO?Here are three things I've heard from my artist friends about SEO:

• I don't need it.
• I'm not sure what it is.
• I know what it is, but I don't think it can help my website.

I’m not an artist (unless crude stick figures count), but I do understand SEO and I know that good SEO can help an artist’s site. Actually, I believe SEO benefits any website, but for this post, I’m just focusing on SEO for artist websites.

Before we start, this isn't meant to be a comprehensive list. My goal is to make SEO more accessible to artists and creative types.

You should also know I don't handle SEO in a typical way. I happily blur the lines between:

• Strict SEO - the technical & analytical stuff
• Good content - do you want to read a boring or confusing website?
• Important website manners - I believe a website should be easy to navigate and I don't think I'm alone
• Marketing - Your art? I want people to see it and love it and buy it!

Now that you know where I'm coming from, let's get started.

Imagine the internet as a giant ocean, websites as little islands in the ocean, and a search engine as a plane flying high above it all. Think of SEO as a way to send signals to the plane that say “Hey! Hey! Over here!! Look here!!”

For this post, I'm going to use an imaginary artist named Sally who's passion is painting miniature pet portraits on duck eggs. I don't know if that's a thing or if there is a real Sally, but that's the example I'm using.

The most basic of SEO basics or The Five Things You Can't Skip

Part Two, Title and Description Tags

Part Three, Keywords and H1 Tags

Part Four, Images

Part Five, Social Media and More

Part Six, Wrapping it All Up

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