What if I told you there are three magical tools that could unveil the hidden potential of your art website? Imagine revealing those dead zones that are secretly holding you back or discovering new opportunities to boost your art sales. Well, darling, today we’re diving into those very tools that will not only spotlight your website’s strengths but also help you turn every click into a potential sale.
In our last chat, we explored blog post ideas for artists to enhance your online presence. Now, it's time to take things a step further by introducing you to some powerful tools that will give your website the glow-up it truly deserves.
P.S. Want to be among the first to unlock insider secrets that could transform your art website? Sign up for our newsletter, and you might just get early access to our upcoming courses—two months before the official launch. Plus, as an influencer, you could shape the future of the Artist Hub! More informartion at the end of the blog post.
Today we are going to be talking about three tools that will help sell more art by improving your website every month, they are:
Tool 1: Install Google Analytics and Check It Monthly
Why Google Analytics Is Important for Artist Websites
Google Analytics is your go-to tool for understanding user behavior on your site. Think of it as the detective work behind your artist website optimization—giving you the facts, figures, and insights needed to make smart, data-driven decisions. By tracking key metrics like page views, bounce rates, and user flow, you can see exactly what’s working and what needs a little love.
What to Do: Setting Up and Using Google Analytics to Improve Artist Website Performance
First things first, you’ll need to set up Google Analytics on your website. This involves creating a Google Analytics account, linking your site, and then adding a tracking code to your website. It sounds techy, but don’t worry, there are plenty of step-by-step guides to help you through it.
Once Google Analytics is set up, it’s essential to schedule regular check-ins—let’s say, once a month. These check-ins will be your time to review performance metrics and make adjustments that could lead to more sales and better user engagement.
Deep Dive: How to Use Google Analytics to Identify Your Least Viewed Page
Now, let’s say you’re an artist named Sarah. You’ve got a stunning portfolio site showcasing your work, but sales have been sluggish. You want to figure out which pages are getting the least love so you can improve them.
Access Your Google Analytics Dashboard: Log in to your Google Analytics account and navigate to the Behavior section in the left-hand menu. Click on Site Content and then All Pages. This will give you a list of all the pages on your site, ranked by page views.
Identify the Least Viewed Pages: Sort the pages by the number of views. Scroll to the bottom to find the least viewed pages. Let’s say you notice that your “About the Artist” page and a specific portfolio gallery are at the bottom of the list.
Analyze the Data: Take note of these pages. Are these important pages for your site? If so, you need to dig deeper into why they’re not getting traffic. Are they hard to find? Is the content not engaging enough? Or could there be a technical issue?
Linking This to Crazy Egg Heatmaps for Deeper Insight
Once you’ve identified these low-performing pages, it’s time to turn to Crazy Egg for more insights. While Google Analytics shows you what’s happening, Crazy Egg can help you understand why.
For instance, if your “About the Artist” page isn’t getting views, set up a Crazy Egg heatmap for that page. Are visitors landing on the page but not scrolling? Are they clicking away too soon? The heatmap might reveal that the layout isn’t engaging, or that a crucial section is buried too far down the page.
If you find that visitors are leaving your site after visiting a certain portfolio gallery, Crazy Egg might show you that they’re not interacting with the images or that they’re missing your call-to-action button altogether.
What to Do Next: Optimizing Your Artist Website Based on Analytics and Heatmap Insights
Tweak Your Layout: Based on your Crazy Egg insights, consider rearranging elements on the page. Perhaps move your most captivating images or artist statement to the top, or make your contact information more prominent.
Improve Navigation: If your low-performing pages are hard to find, update your navigation menu or add more internal links to direct visitors to these pages.
Test and Retest: After making changes, use Google Analytics and Crazy Egg again to see if there’s an improvement in page views and user engagement.
By combining the analytical power of Google Analytics with the visual insights from Crazy Egg, you’ll be well on your way to transforming those dead zones into hot spots—and driving more art sales in the process.
Tool 2: Install Crazy Egg to Identify Dead Zones and Hot Spots
Why Heatmaps and User Recordings Are Essential for Artist Websites
Crazy Egg is like a backstage pass to your website, offering insights that Google Analytics alone can’t provide. While Google Analytics tells you what is happening on your site, Crazy Egg shows you why it's happening through heatmaps and user recordings. These tools help you visualize how visitors interact with your pages, revealing where they click, how far they scroll, and where they lose interest. For artists, understanding this behavior is key to optimizing your website’s layout and content, ensuring that your art gets the attention it deserves.
What to Do: Setting Up and Using Crazy Egg to Improve User Engagement
After identifying your least viewed pages with Google Analytics, it’s time to dive deeper with Crazy Egg. Here's how to set up and utilize this tool to its fullest potential:
Set Up Crazy Egg: Begin by installing Crazy Egg on your website. You’ll need to place a tracking code on the pages you want to analyze—start with the pages you identified as low-performing in Google Analytics.
Heatmaps: Heatmaps are visual representations of where users click, how they scroll, and where they stop engaging.
Red zones indicate areas of high interaction.
Blue zones highlight areas that are largely ignored.
Scrollmaps show how far down the page visitors typically scroll before leaving.
User Recordings: These are real-time video recordings of user sessions on your site. You can watch how visitors navigate your pages, where they hover their mouse, and when they decide to exit. This is particularly useful for understanding any frustrating user experiences that might not be obvious from just looking at heatmaps.
Deep Dive: How to Read Heatmaps and User Recordings
Let’s continue with Sarah’s example. After discovering that her “About the Artist” page and a specific portfolio gallery are the least viewed, Sarah uses Crazy Egg to get a closer look.
Heatmaps: Sarah notices that visitors aren’t clicking on her biography section but are engaging more with her images. The scrollmap shows that most visitors drop off halfway down the page, never reaching her artist statement.
User Recordings: By watching user recordings, Sarah sees that visitors are hovering over the images but don’t click on the "Buy Now" buttons because they’re too small or too far down the page. She also notices a pattern where users attempt to scroll further down but leave when they realize there’s nothing compelling below the fold.
Linking Back to Google Analytics: What the Data Tells Us
The heatmap and recording data explain why Sarah’s “About the Artist” page isn’t performing well. Visitors are interested in her images but lose interest when they have to scroll too far or when important information is hidden below the fold. The lack of engagement with the "Buy Now" buttons also highlights a design issue—these crucial elements aren’t visible or engaging enough.
What to Do Next: Optimizing Your Artist Website Based on Heatmap and Recording Insights
Rearrange Content: Sarah should move her most engaging images higher up on the page and bring her biography section above the fold to keep visitors interested.
Enhance Call-to-Actions: Increasing the size of her "Buy Now" buttons and placing them in more visible areas could help convert more visitors into buyers.
Test and Adjust: After making these changes, Sarah can use Crazy Egg to run another heatmap and see if these adjustments lead to better user engagement. She should also check Google Analytics to track any improvement in page views and time spent on these pages.
Case Study: Grain Cleaner OH
To see how powerful these tools can be, let’s look at the Grain Cleaner OH case study. Now this is not an artist, you see I wasn't always a website designer for artists, this client was a long standing for around 2 years. They are a wonderful Amish Family of Farmers who sell grain cleaners and also sell Amish agriculture books. I very much enjoyed working with them. One of my favorite clients, for sure.
After utilizing Crazy Egg for a month, they discovered several critical frustration points and underutilized sections on their homepage. By rearranging content and adjusting their layout based on heatmap data, they saw a 59.5% increase in views and a dramatic rise in lead generation from 5 to 23 leads.
Check out the case study that I provided in one of latest work together. They wanted to identify pitfalls in their sales breakdown.
Bringing It All Together with SEMrush
So far, we’ve explored how Google Analytics can reveal which pages on your site need attention and how Crazy Egg can help you understand why those pages might be underperforming. But once you’ve optimized your site’s layout and user experience, it’s time to tackle the next critical component—getting more eyes on your art.
This is where SEMrush comes in. While Google Analytics and Crazy Egg help you fine-tune your website from the inside, SEMrush is your powerhouse for boosting your visibility from the outside. It’s not enough to have a beautifully optimized site; you need to ensure that potential buyers can actually find you. SEMrush will help you dominate the search results by refining your SEO strategies, ensuring your hard work translates into increased traffic and, ultimately, more art sales.
Tool 3: Use SEMrush to Supercharge Your SEO with Keywords, Backlinks, and Internal Links
Why SEMrush Is Crucial for SEO Strategies on Artist Websites
Now that you’ve optimized your website's user experience with Google Analytics and Crazy Egg, it’s time to make sure that people actually find your site. SEMrush is like your secret weapon for boosting your website’s visibility in search engines. For artists, SEO might seem like a mysterious world, but it’s vital for getting your art in front of a broader audience. With SEMrush, you can uncover the keywords your audience is searching for, audit your backlink profile, and refine your internal linking strategy—all critical components for improving your site’s search engine ranking.
What to Do: Using SEMrush to Optimize Keywords, Backlinks, and Internal Links
Keyword Research: Targeting the Right Audience
Why It’s Important: Keywords are the phrases and terms your potential customers type into search engines when they’re looking for art like yours. By optimizing your content with these keywords, you make it easier for search engines to match your website with people searching for your kind of art.
How to Do It: Start by using SEMrush’s Keyword Magic Tool. Enter terms that are relevant to your art, like "abstract landscape paintings" or "handcrafted pottery." SEMrush will provide you with a list of related keywords, along with data on search volume and keyword difficulty. Choose a mix of high-volume, relevant keywords and less competitive long-tail keywords to sprinkle throughout your site’s content.
Example: If Sarah specializes in modern abstract art, SEMrush might reveal that "modern abstract wall art" is a high-volume keyword. Sarah can then use this phrase in her product descriptions, blog posts, and even page titles to help her site rank higher in search results.
Backlink Audit: Building a Healthy Backlink Profile
Why It’s Important: Backlinks, or inbound links from other websites to yours, act as endorsements in the eyes of search engines. High-quality backlinks can significantly boost your site’s credibility and help it rank higher in search results. However, low-quality or spammy backlinks can do the opposite, dragging your site down in the rankings.
How to Do It: Use SEMrush’s Backlink Audit Tool to evaluate the quality of your backlinks. SEMrush will show you which sites are linking to yours, and rate them based on their authority. Focus on disavowing toxic backlinks—those that come from spammy or irrelevant sites—and work on building more high-quality backlinks from reputable sources, such as art blogs or galleries.
Example: Sarah might discover that some low-quality sites are linking to her blog. By disavowing these links and seeking backlinks from reputable art directories or guest blogging on popular art websites, she can improve her backlink profile and boost her SEO.
Internal Linking: Enhancing Your Site’s Structure
Why It’s Important: Internal links are links that connect different pages on your website. They help search engines crawl your site more effectively and distribute link equity across your pages, which can boost your overall SEO performance. Plus, a strong internal linking structure keeps visitors engaged, guiding them from one page to another seamlessly.
How to Do It: SEMrush’s Site Audit Tool can identify opportunities to improve your internal linking strategy. Look for pages that are under-linked (e.g., important pages with few internal links pointing to them) and make sure your most valuable content is easy to find. Also, consider using descriptive anchor text that includes keywords, which tells search engines what the linked page is about.
Example: If Sarah’s blog post about the creative process behind her latest collection is buried under multiple clicks, she can use internal links to highlight it from her homepage or portfolio pages. By strategically linking to this content, she not only helps visitors discover it but also improves its ranking potential.
Tying It All Together: Maximizing Your SEO Strategy
Using SEMrush to optimize your keywords, backlinks, and internal links can make a significant difference in how your site ranks in search engines. When combined with the insights gained from Google Analytics and Crazy Egg, you have a comprehensive toolkit that addresses both the technical and creative aspects of your website. By continuously refining these elements, you’ll not only increase traffic to your site but also ensure that the right audience—those who are ready to buy your art—can find you easily.
Next Steps:
Keyword Implementation: Start incorporating your newly discovered keywords into your website’s content and metadata.
Backlink Building: Reach out to high-authority websites for guest blogging opportunities or collaborations that can earn you valuable backlinks.
Internal Link Optimization: Revisit your site’s structure to ensure your internal links are strategically placed to guide users through your content seamlessly.
With these strategies in place, you’ll be well on your way to building a strong online presence that not only attracts more visitors but also converts them into loyal art buyers.
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