While I’m addressing common artists website mistakes in no particular order, you may wish to read this blog series starting with Part I. In it, I list the first three common wesite mistakes many artists make. I will continue from there highlighting some additional ‘opportunities’ technology gives us that many artists fail to take advantage of.
Are you one of these artists?
4) No good statistics on how people are finding YOU
If you are not getting any statistics, or if you are getting insufficient statistics, then yes, you too are falling into this category! Let me explain. Good statistics give you valuable feedback that can help you better attract your target audience. It is far easier when collectors, art consultants, galleries, or retail buyers are finding YOU through your website than when you have to go out there knocking on their doors, trying to introduce yourself. Getting good website statistics will help you do just that. Good statistics will tell you what phrases people are using when they are finding you.
Are you attracting your target audience?
Let me give you an example. I put up my first artist website in 1999. At the time, I was getting some statistics and knew my site got decent traffic. BUT, I didn’t know how people found me. What keywords they were searching on when they stumbled on my site. When I re-did my website in 2004 I upgraded my statistics to Google Analytics which for the first time showed me what keywords people where using when finding my website. I realized most were searching on ‘Artist Portfolios’ which happened to be an unintentional keyword carry over from my first website. Many were probably other artists looking for a physical portfolio, you know, the kind you’d buy at an art supply store. My site, wasn’t attracting the right traffic. Knowing it has allowed me to correct it.
Do you know how people are finding you? Are they your target audience?
If you are unsure, then you are not getting good enough statistics. Good statistics will help you answer questions such as:
- How are people finding you?
– What keywords are they using? And
– What other sites are they coming from?
- Are they finding what they are looking for?
– This is measured by actions they take having found you like: Making purchases, contacting you for opportunities, or signing for your newsletter. And by
– How much time they spend on your site
- Do some of your artworks routinely attract more hits and more interest? If so, which ones?
- Which social media site drives most traffic, or most serious traffic, to your website?
- How engaged is your audience?
– This is often measured by how much repeated traffic vs. new traffic does your site generate. And by
– Actions your visitors take having found your site.
- Is your audience, local, regional, national or international?
- How many of those who found you searched for you by name vs. how many people have ‘discovered’ you online?
Would these be helpful to know? By knowing your statistics you can better tweak your keywords to attract your target market. Which brings me to the next common mistake many artists make.
5) No good keywords
Luckily Google provides some great tools that can help you with much of this. Not only does Google provide free statistics through Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools but it also provides a keyword utility to help you determine which keywords are most commonly used in searches by people looking for art like YOURS.
If these tools are unfamiliar to you, or if you are not sure how to apply them, you are not alone. That’s why in my workshop: The Art of profiting from your Art, I teach participants how to identify their best keywords and how and where to apply them to their websites.
Do you know how people are finding you? Are you attracting your target market? Please share your experience!
Copyright 2014, Liron Sissman, ArtistAdvisory.com. All rights reserved.
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