One of the benefits of being an NDA member is the opportunity to upload your artwork to our online gallery. This a permanent exhibition space where visitors from all over the world can browse, search and filter your artwork.
While some website visitors are content to swipe and browse their way through the gallery, others may be looking to buy artwork and may be looking for inspiration or something specific.
To help the website visitor find your artwork, you need to add as much information as possible to the gallery post. This will benefit you in the NDA gallery, but will also boost your gallery post’s chances of being found on a search engine search such as Google or Yahoo.
The process of searching and filtering is based on the information you add when uploading each piece of artwork.
Searching
The search function looks for keywords in your gallery post’s title and description.
This would be used by a website visitor who may be looking for something specific, for example ‘a beach scene’ or ‘a painting of a dog’.
We would not suggest changing the title just to be found in a search, but you could ensure that your description gives as much detail as possible in order to contain as many ‘search words’ as possible.
Imagine you were describing your artwork to someone over the phone.
Include the size, the colour, the materials, the mood, the inspiration. Perhaps a comparison to another piece or artist’s style.
Filtering
Filtering is another way of searching but is less specific than keyword searching. A website visitor may use filtering if for example they were looking for ‘photography’.
The filtering options are available on the post form when creating a new gallery post.
Tags
The third way to find gallery images is to search by ‘tag’. These are simply words that can be tagged to an artwork.
Tags are used to suggest ideas to a website visitor.
Lets say, for example a website visitor is looking to buy some art, but doesn’t really know what they want. They can’t search or filter because they don’t know what they are searching or filtering for.
Present them with a list of tag words and something might suddenly jump out and appeal.
‘helicopter’, ‘polar bear’, ‘deckchair’
You will find a whole load of keyword tags available to choose from when you upload your artwork, but you can also create your own.
Summary
The more information you add to your post, the easier it will be for people to find them. You don’t have to do it all at once. You can revisit and add more information and keywords at a later date if you choose.
Get creative – think about the type of person who might buy your artwork, or where you artwork might go and include that along with your description. For example ‘perfect for a child’s bedroom’, or ‘would suit a house by the sea’ etc.