FREE Backlink Opportunity for Artist

Attention All Artists... FREE Backlink Opportunity

A great SEO tactic is to work on increasing the number of backlinks you put out in the World Wide Web each day, so today I invite you to include a link back to your online storefront or artist website in the comments section of this post.  (This opportunity is for ARTISTS only and all other links will be deleted).

This should help you build your link portfolio and give the readers of my blog a list of artist’s websites to visit, so… link away!

I’ll start with my Original Perspective Zazzle Store which is home to my collection of artistic gift ideas for the holiday season!

Be sure to post live links... There is another post on my blog about how to post links that explains how...
The Importance of Links and How They Work

Creating Products for Sale & Using Keywords

Once you've selected a venue for creating your online marketplace, the process of uploading your image files and creating your product pages begins.

As you go through this time consuming process, you’ll need to start thinking ahead… about promoting.

While you must create this online storefront before you can promote it, be mindful of keywords as you create each product.

From this point on, you MUST THINK LIKE A CUSTOMER!  For each product you create, think about what keywords you would type into a Google search in order to find it online if YOU were in the market for this item.  Then use those keywords repetitively in the product title, subtitle, description, category listing, and keyword tags.  That’s the first step towards having your products found by potential buyers.

Here’s an example…

I recently created an iPhone case on Zazzle with a skyline photo of Seattle.  If I were searching for this product online, I would type in “Seattle skyline iPhone case” into a Google search.  THESE became my keywords, which I used repetitively in the title, subtitle, description, category, and keyword tags.  Click on the phone to bring up the product page and notice how many times you find those keywords repeated.

Seattle Skyline iPhone Case by OriginalPerspective

Choosing an Online Marketplace

Once all of your files are digitized and organized, it’s time to begin uploading them, but first you have to choose an online marketplace.  Eventually, you’ll want a portfolio of artwork on several different sites, but since building an online marketplace to sell your art is very time consuming, start with one, develop it, then branch out to others.  I have an account on all three of the sites listed below, but the one I've had the most success with is Zazzle.  Granted, I have spent more time promoting my Zazzle store than any other, but that’s only because I feel that Zazzle offers the widest variety of available products on which you can sell your art, while still protecting your original artwork.

You can, of course, create your own site to sell your artwork, but the following online marketplaces allow you to simply upload images, which can then be sold on a variety of products.  These companies do all the production, shipping, and billing, while making the processes of designing and promoting your online store much easier than starting from scratch:

Cafepress.com – Free to sign up, sell your art printed on a large variety of items, site does a decent job of advertising itself to new potential customers, does very little, however, to protect your original artwork from being downloaded.

RedBubble.com – Free to sign up, mainly used to sell high quality prints, posters, and wall art (including canvas) – although recently branched out to iPhone cases, a GREAT online community of international artists, options available for protecting your original artwork from being downloaded, site does NOT advertise itself well.

Zazzle.com – Free to sign up, sell your art on a large variety of items, site advertises all over the internet in order to attract new customers, protects your original artwork by not allowing images to be downloaded AND places watermark over hires views of your images to prevent screenshots being taken.

There are lots of these types of sites on the internet.  If you have had a good (or bad) experience with any of these sites (or any others), please share your story with us by commenting below.