Marketing Art Online Search Engine Optimization expert Aaron Wall recently published an article discussing how he would go about marketing art online over at his SEO blog. He talks about how he marketed an artist's site when he was first learning the ropes in regards to SEO, and how he would do it now that he has a few more years experience.
Not so long ago it used to be very easy to trick the search engines into sending you more traffic with all kinds of black hat SEO techniques, but they're getting smarter now, which means webmasters have to look for different ways of getting visitors.
One suggestion that Aaron comes up with is to start a blog. That way you can please the search engines with regularly updated content (they love that), and you can build a relationship with those that are interested in your art.
I think it's something that has to be thought about carefully for an artist. I agree that getting to know an artist influences your opinion towards their art, but it can also be a negative influence. I haven't really seen many artist blogs that made me feel closer to the artist. That doesn't mean it's not possible though.
This blog here by Audrey Kawasaki works really well I think. She doesn't use it as a boring personal diary, but shares enough of herself to let her visitors/collectors feel some kind of connection, she shares her new works, and creates plenty of discussion (feedback, criticism, or praise) about her art with the comments that visitors leave.
It's all about Feelings
"What I am saying is that story telling matters. Giving people a reason to come back and learn more about you and get to know you matters. Letting people feel they can know you and trust you and know what your motives are is really just about the cheapest for of marketing you can come across.
In the same way that SEO as a standalone bolt on product has largely died and is dying I think walls blocking off distribution to artwork will prevent many artists from succeeding." SEO Book
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