I'm finally getting around to another post with tips for those selling their artwork online. As a reminder, I've been buying clipart (and lots of it) for several years now, so I have plenty of thoughts on how to bring in more happy customers. This has to do with SEO, but also with the customer experience:
Please tag / keyword / label your art in your listing!
It seems obvious, and yet it's often missing from listings. Sometimes it has to do with a language barrier, or other times the artist just doesn't see a need and feels the listing picture will sell the package on its own. But how will it get found in the first place?
Depending on the platform, there are different places where you can get very specific about your content in a set of clipart. Etsy doesn't currently include a lot of the description in their search results, so you have to jam many of your keywords into tags and titles. Definitely do! Specifically mention some of the unique elements in the set that people may be looking for. And--of course--include the occasion, subject, and/or style.
Here's an example of how you might write a title and tags for your set. This is fictional, but let's say it's a set of graduation clipart:
Graduation Clipart Set - Hand-painted watercolor artwork. High school/college grad elements: caps, gowns, stage, diploma, party, students.
Then the tags could be something like this (obviously depending on what pictures were included):
Other platforms, such as Creative Fabrica, will read everything from the description when displaying search results (as far as I can tell). I believe the same is true for TPT and standalone websites. So please: list out the included clipart images. It would make it SO much easier to locate something specific.
A problem I run into...
There's a particular artist I shop, for example, whose website could use some help. It's very hard to search through the many clipart sets and get fine-tuned, accurate results. The listing descriptions don't contain specific information about the set, so I only have the title to go by. That may or may not include major information, like whether it's a Christmas set, for instance. Maybe the set is called "Jingle all the Way" or something along those lines, so unless I search those specific words (why would I?), I might miss it altogether.
Even the most basic keyword list would be helpful, such as: Christmas, winter, snow, decorating the Christmas tree. But even better would be to list out the objects in the set. Imagine how many more hits you'd have from people searching the web for just the right image.
On your own website, you can go further and properly categories listings and add them to collections.
I run into the same problem on Creative Fabrica. It's one thing to track down a set of graduation clipart, but what if I want pictures of caps and gowns? It's not always mentioned, even if those objects are there in the set. What if I'm specifically looking for a ceremony scene? It's almost impossible to find something like that with the desired art style and context, even though it might very well exist.
Here's the search result when I specify cap and gown watercolor:
Those aren't what I'm looking for. But if I search more generally, it's obvious that some of the art I'm looking for does indeed exist:
Recently, I was looking for watercolor clipart of school lockers. It was so difficult and time-consuming that I ended up having to paint them myself. I don't mind doing some of my own artwork, but it can be quite a time-suck between getting out my supplies, scanning the art, and doing the Photoshopping to prep the image.
The basic message is this: give us a way to find your art. Pictures aren't enough, and generalities aren't enough. Even adding just a little more info can work wonders for getting your products in front of buyers. Don't let customers get frustrated trying to shop around your site--guide them!