Day 2 of Restructuring My Art Business in 90 Days | Website Audit and SEO Improvements
As part of my 90-day challenge to restructure my creative business and work towards £6,000 in monthly revenue, day two was all about my website audit and SEO improvements. I wanted to take a deeper look at why my original artwork and art prints aren't selling as well as I'd like, why my website isn't ranking on Google where I want it to, and what I can do to improve my website traffic.
Rather than guessing what the problem might be, I decided to start with the information I already had available and work through my website step by step.
Reviewing my website analytics
The first thing I did was look at my website analytics to understand how people are currently finding and using my website. On an average month, with very limited advertising, I receive around 500 to 600 visitors. People browse different areas of my website, including my animal portrait commissions, live wedding painting services and online shop. Within the shop, visitors spend time looking at both my original artwork and my fine art prints. The average time spent on my website is around two minutes.
For the last 30 days, my analytics showed the following:
434 website views
387 unique visitors
18 form submissions
43 product views
6 products added to cart
6 checkout visits
1 completed sale
160 AI queries
13 new email subscribers
At first glance, these figures don't necessarily look terrible, particularly considering I haven't spent much time actively advertising over the last month. However, when I compare where my business is now to where it was back in 2021, when my website was receiving thousands of visits each month, I know there is significant room for improvement. My goal isn't simply to get more people onto my website. I want to attract the right visitors, help them discover my work and turn that interest into enquiries and sales. The figures also give me a starting point to measure against as I continue with this 90-day challenge.
Where is my website traffic coming from?
The next thing I looked at was where my visitors were coming from. My analytics showed the following traffic sources over the last 30 days:
Direct traffic: 225
Facebook: 123
Google: 45
Instagram: 24
My original .co.uk website: 4
Direct traffic accounted for the largest share of these visits, followed by Facebook. Google and Instagram contributed considerably less. This is something I want to work on. I've spent years building an audience for my artwork on social media, but I don't want my business to rely so heavily on people clicking a link when I share it. I want my website to become a stronger source of organic traffic, helping people discover my artwork through Google searches and other relevant online searches.
Social media algorithms and reach can change considerably, making it difficult to predict how many people will see a post. By improving my website and making my content easier to discover through search, I hope to build another route for potential customers to find me.
Where in the world are my visitors?
I've always had an international audience for my artwork, particularly in the United States, so I was interested to see where my website visitors were located.
My analytics showed the following geographical breakdown:
United States: 189
United Kingdom: 177
Australia: 11
Canada: 10
Ireland: 6
China: 5
Other locations: 27
The United States has been one of my biggest markets for many years, so I wasn't surprised to see it slightly ahead of the UK. However, the figures are much closer than I might have expected.
This is useful information when considering how I present and promote my work. My website needs to be accessible to people beyond the UK, and I need to make sure that potential customers can understand what I offer, how to purchase my artwork and what to expect when ordering. It also makes me question whether I'm doing enough to reach my existing international audience and introduce my work to new customers.
Reducing the products in my online art shop
After reviewing the analytics, I moved on to my online shop. Over time, I've built up a collection of original artwork, fine art prints and other products. While having a varied selection can be a positive thing, I wanted to take a step back and consider whether every item needed to remain available. I started looking at which original pieces had the strongest value, which worked well as part of a collection, and which were perhaps being offered simply because I could sell them.
I also considered the quality and presentation of each product, including whether a piece was framed or unframed, whether it belonged to a wider collection, and how it fitted into the shop as a whole.
I carried out a similar review of my art prints, but left my home and giftware products alone for now. These products are outsourced, so I don't handle their production myself, and I felt that reviewing my original artwork and prints was the more useful place to start. The aim wasn't to remove products just for the sake of having fewer things available. I wanted to be more intentional about what I offer and make it easier for customers to navigate the collection.
My first proper attempt at Website Audit and SEO Improvements
This was the part of the day that took the longest. I'm not professionally trained in search engine optimisation (SEO), and until now, my understanding of it has been fairly limited. I know it is important for helping people find a website through search engines, but I hadn't dedicated enough time to reviewing how well my own website was set up.
After doing some research, I began working through my website's SEO settings.
I reviewed my product listings, website images, page text and metadata, checking that the relevant fields were completed and that the information accurately described what I was offering.
This included looking at how my original wildlife artwork, animal drawings and fine art prints were described online, rather than relying on images alone to communicate what each product was.
I spent well over four hours working through these changes. It was a time-consuming task, but it made me realise how many small details can be overlooked when you're busy creating artwork and running the rest of a business. I have no idea how much difference these changes will make, or how long it will take to see any results. I'm treating this as a starting point, and I'll be reviewing my website analytics and search performance each month to see what improves and what still needs attention.
Making my website easier to explore
Alongside the SEO work, I made several changes to the way my website presents my business.
I wanted the homepage to give visitors a clearer overview of everything I offer, from original artwork and prints to animal portrait commissions and live wedding painting. Rather than expecting visitors to search through different pages to understand what I do, I want the homepage to help them find the area that interests them and move through the website more easily. I also made improvements to the way people can sign up for my newsletter. Building my email list is something I want to focus on, as it gives interested people another way to keep up with my artwork and future releases.
Another change was adding language options to my website, allowing visitors to browse in a language they are more comfortable with. With such a large proportion of my audience based outside the UK, I wanted to make the website more accessible to international visitors.
These changes are small individually, but together they are intended to make the experience clearer and more welcoming for potential customers.
Connecting my Google Business Profile and launching my blog
I also connected my Google Business Profile as part of improving my online presence. I want to make sure my business information is consistent and that people have another way to discover my work and services through Google.
Finally, I decided it was time to launch my blog. This is something that has been sitting in the background for a while, but I simply hadn't made the time to work on it. I want to use my blog to share more about my artwork, my creative process, my services and the experiences I've gained from running an art business. It will also give me a place to answer questions that potential customers may have and create useful content that can be discovered through search. I'm hoping that, over time, publishing relevant and genuinely helpful articles will support my website's visibility. I also want to make it easier for people to understand the work I do, whether they are looking for an original wildlife drawing, a fine art print, an animal portrait commission or a live wedding painting.
Updating the links on my social media
One final change I made was reviewing the links on my social media profiles. Previously, I was directing people through a Linktree-style page before they reached my website. I've now updated my links so that people can go directly to the relevant pages on my website. This removes an extra step for anyone interested in my work and makes it easier for them to find the products or services they're looking for. I want to make the journey from discovering my artwork to visiting my website as straightforward as possible.
What have I learned from my website audit?
Day two was a reminder that running an art business involves much more than creating artwork.
My website is where people can discover my original pieces, purchase fine art prints, enquire about commissions and learn more about my live wedding painting services. If I'm not giving it the attention it needs, I could be missing opportunities to turn interest in my work into sales. I've made a number of changes, from reviewing my products and improving my SEO settings to updating my homepage, adding language options and finally launching my blog. I don't expect these changes to transform my business overnight. I need to give them time, keep track of the numbers and see whether they make a measurable difference.
Over the coming months, I'll be reviewing my website traffic, Google search performance, product views, enquiries and sales to understand which changes are helping and where I need to focus next. This is only day two of my 90-day business restructure, and there is plenty more to work on.
My goal is to reach £6,000 in monthly revenue, and improving my website is one of the first steps I'm taking towards that target.
Follow along with my 90-day creative business restructure to see what works, what doesn't, and what I learn along the way.
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