Tag..You're It!

One of the chores of selling art online is identifying tags, the purpose being to make it simple for collectors to find your art.  Every online market place has them, Etsy allows you 13 tags.  You start with “red, apple, fruit, food……….um……….., oil painting………………um ………….still life, “OK time for coffee!”  And you live with the six tags you managed to squeeze out.


Tagging was one of the least favorite tasks for me, as a creative person I felt so unimaginative when having to describe my art in 13 well-chosen words, that is, until I stumbled across the idea of “What are you really selling?”

Let’s take my awesome artist friend, Beth, because she said I could.  She sells these amazing little whimsical clay houses and clay tiles.  My old thinking would have been “clay, house, red, purple, um…”



Clay House Heart Home in Purple and lime green
Click Here to Purchase

But when you shift your thinking to how might these adorable creations be used, here are some new thoughts – Beth is selling a magical and whimsical experience:

Garden Accessories
Fairy Houses
Terrarium figurines
Shelf Sitters
Shelf Décor
Whimsy (or bit of Whimsy)
Diorama Accessories
Magical Houses

And this list could go on, but I’m overdue for a coffee break.

Now let’s go back to my small apple painting and try to be more market-minded:

"In Honor Of"
4 x 4 Oil on Gessobord
SOLD

New Ideas for Tags:

Shelf décor
Easel Art
Food Art
Kitchen Décor
Wall Décor
Unframed Art
Dramatic Art*
Shadow
Art for the Soul*

Today's Nitty-Gritty Nugget:

     Your product tags should give ideas on how to use or display your art.

I’m selling little bits of dramatic art for your home, an image that hopes to touch your soul. Two of my favorite quotes and thus the reason for the (*) starred tags :

“Life beats down and crushes the soul, art reminds us we have one.” by Stella Adler. 
“I love drama in my art, but not in my life.” by Cindy Haase

Yes, my work has been showing up with all the “oil painting” or “pastel painting” searches, but using some different tags will help your work also show up in unexpected places as well.  (Make sure your tags are truthful, Etsy doesn't like bogus tagging.)

What’s Next

1.      Here is that darned question again, “What is your art about?”  I know art is intensely personal for most artists and the focus is usually on the enjoyment you get from creating it, but if you hope to sell it you best figure out what it’s about and who’s going to buy it.  That is unless you’re Jackson Pollack, which you’re not.

2.      Visualize your art in a collector’s home, where it might hang, who might see it, what pleasure or emotion might they derive from it.  Start writing some key words.

3.      Create a list of about 20 tags and each time you list a painting you can pick and choose which ones most fit the art.

4.      Take a look at your Shop Stats (under Keywords) and see how people are finding your artwork now.  Don’t overlook those combinations.