Search Engine Optimization for Visual Artists - Use Text

JeBas — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 10:00:00 +0000

When I started working on my gluten free website, I had very little problem getting it listed in the first couple pages of a search engine result, but my art site is completely different. It rarely appears before page 10. So I have been doing some research on how a visual artist should approach Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The first thing that I learned was to use text.

This may sound obvious to several of you reading this, but I am surprised at how many artists have beautiful websites consisting of flash animations and glorious paintings, but does not use one word of text. If you go to these sites, and select View Page Source, you might see some copyright information and the script that calls the animation. These sites are not listed well in Google.

The problem that all search engines have is they are all built on computer, and computers are very poor at pattern recognition. A four-year-old child can be taught what the letter 'E' looks like, and that child will have little problem recognizing the letter 'E' in a different font. The computer however will just recognize the one letter 'E' that it was originally taught. If a different font is used, there is a good chance the computer will not recognize the new letter 'E'.

Though computers are poor at pattern recognition, they are excellent at calculations and statistics. They can quickly count the number of times a word and its synonyms appear in a page and come up with a number. That number can then be used to rank that page with other pages using the same words and synonyms. This result is then indexed into a server that waits for someone to do a search for those words.

This means that any artist that wants to be listed in a search engine, needs to add some words to the pages with his pictures. He should also add alternate text to each picture because it gives the search engine more words to use. But what words should be used? That will be covered in the next section entitled “Key Words.”

Part of Branding is Figuring Out What Does Not Belong

JeBas — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 10:00:00 +0000

A common topic on ProBlogger is branding. There is constant talk about determining what your brand is, how do you present it, and most importantly, keeping it consistent. Because of these discussions, I am dropping one of my blogs.

My Stories blog was the fist one I ever created. I made it so I could learn about running a website, and the actual blogging process. It has been extremely useful and fun, but now it is inconsistent with the rest of the websites that I have created.

All of my other websites are instructional and serve a purpose. On this website, there is a discussion on how to run this website and the lessons learned. Gluten Free discuses feeding a family gluten free meals. Art not only shows my latest artwork, but will also discuss marketing the artwork on the Internet. groupGTD is an open source time and project management software.

Unfortunately stories is just a group of entertaining stories. It does not belong with the rest of the websites that I have created. It does not fit the brand that I am trying to create for JeBas.US, so it is being removed.

Branding is not only about choosing what to show, but choosing what not to show.

For those of you that still want to follow my personal exploits, I have a LiveJournal Page that you can follow. There you are expected to put up personal stories and opinions, and that works with their branding.

www.JeBas.us - marketing

Search Engine Optimization for Visual Artists - Use Text

Part of Branding is Figuring Out What Does Not Belong