THE INSPIRATION PLACE PODCAST
Miriam Schulman: For artists is one of the best ways to get collectors to find your art without relying on social media or Instagram. If Google search can’t understand your art, collectors can’t find your art either. So here’s a quick gut check. If someone types in blue abstract painting for a coastal living room into Google right now, does your art show up anywhere? Not because your friend shared it with them. I mean, do you show up because you’re searchable?
Speaker 2: It’s The Inspiration Place podcast with artist Miriam Schulman. Welcome to the Inspiration Place podcast, an art World insider podcast for artists by an artist, where each week we go behind the scenes to uncover the perspiration and inspiration behind the art. And now your host Miriam Schulman.
Miriam Schulman: Hey there. I’m Miriam Schulman. I’m author of Artpreneur, the step by step Guide to Making a Sustainable Living from Your Creativity, and I’m your Art business catalyst. Welcome back to The Inspiration Place. In this episode, I’m going to show you exactly how to get discovered on three different search engines YouTube search, Google Search, and Google Images. So grab a pen. This is going to be an extra juicy episode. You’re going to be so happy that you tuned in. So first of all, I want to just do a quick mindset shift. I need you to make before we get into any tips at all, because you’re not posting. Stop thinking of yourself as posting. You’re publishing because posting is basically, here’s what I made. Cute. It’s really cute. I love that for you. But publishing is different. Publishing is. Here’s what this is, who it’s for and where it belongs. That’s different. That’s grown up marketing. That’s how collectors find you without begging the algorithm for crumbs. And let’s be clear about what SEO actually is translated for artists. It’s not some shady scheme to trick a robot. It’s not you doing gymnastics for an algorithm. Seo is simply labeling your work in human language so search can match it to what someone is already looking for. Because here are two truths artists resist like it’s their job. Truth number one search engines don’t see your image the way you do.
Miriam Schulman: They rely on the text to understand what it is. In other words, your file name, the words around the image, your caption, your alt text. Yeah. All of it. Truth number two, the name you call your style is usually not what buyers type into Google. Now you might call it atmospheric mixed media abstraction, but they’re typing large blue abstract painting or coastal living room art. You see the difference. And if your website or your YouTube and we’re going to talk about that as well, doesn’t speak their language. Google’s not going to be able to show it to them. So here’s what I want you to tattoo into your brain. If you want your art to be discovered, you have to describe it the way your customers do. So your art does not have to go viral, but it needs to be findable. Okay, now the next section is going to be all about YouTube. And I have to tell you that when I was doing research for this section, to make sure I was giving you the best information, I discovered I was making a lot of these mistakes too. So we’re both in the trenches together. I’m fixing things on my channel as of this recording, and I’m I’m recording this like two months in advance. So just so you know, I have like 60, 900. In other words, I’m just shy of about 7000 subscribers on YouTube when I recorded this in December.
Miriam Schulman: So let’s see how much these changes make a difference. By the time this airs in February. All the changes I’m going to be telling you about, I’m putting a lot of them in place, and I’m willing to bet it makes a big difference. Quick break. If today’s episode is hitting a little bit of a nerve and you’re realizing you’ve been depending too much on social media. I have a training that fixes this whole problem. It’s my audience building workshop where I’ll walk you through how to grow an audience of art collectors. And that way you won’t just be starting from zero every time. Either you post on social media or whatever it is that you’re trying to do now. Now, if you want the complete system, what to focus on, what to stop doing, and how to build momentum without becoming an exhausting content creator, you got to grab this. It’s at SchulmanArt.com/AUDIENCE. I’m going to give you exactly what to do in terms of getting publicity, posting your art on LinkedIn, and also a YouTube strategy. These are the three hottest strategies that’s working now in 2026. So once again, that’s SchulmanArt.com/AUDIENCE. And now back to the show. So the first one. So we’re going to make this a quick audit. We’re starting with YouTube I will definitely go for Google as well. I know not everybody who listens publishes on YouTube.
Miriam Schulman: So if that’s you, you can skip this part of the episode. But if you do YouTube, here’s your checklist. Number one is the title that I knew that everybody knew. Most recently, I started doing a B testing for my channel, and it’s made a big difference. And we’ve actually gone back and changed title names, and suddenly we’re getting more traffic like videos that were like struggling at 100 views suddenly are at 300 views. Videos that were at 300 views are suddenly at 800 views. So the title makes a huge difference that I always knew, but that has to be very concrete. And the main keyword must go into the first 3 to 5 words. Not buried, not implied, not vibes like for this episode. Seo for artists might be the title or you know, it has to be exactly what it is that the video is about. Most of you know that kind of, but there’s a lot of YouTubers and podcasters who they like to do really cute titles because they have a huge audience so they can get away with it. So just know that it’s working for them. Not because they’re doing cute titles, but they’re so good that they can make mistakes and things will work for them anyway. And I’m talking about people like Joe Rogan or Brooke Castillo. She, you know, Brooke Castillo can basically name her podcast episode Forget Me Nots and people will click on it.
Miriam Schulman: It doesn’t matter what she calls it. People are like, oh, new video by Brooke. Yay! Same thing with Joe Rogan. He has a very loyal audience. They’re just going to watch everything he creates. But when you’re just getting started, you have to make sure that people can find it. Number two, the first two lines of your description. And again, we’ve gotten better with the descriptions I’ve had my VA go through. But I even noticed that even that there was definitely room for improvement. So I’m going to be going back through 2025 and editing those descriptions to make sure that that first line says what it is, who it’s for, and the outcome. So if you’re somebody who is creating videos to attract people to online classes or process videos, the first line in your description is very important. Here’s an example. Like for me, this is what I’m going to put in my description for this episode. This episode is for artists who want collectors to find them on Google and YouTube. And I’m walking you through a five minute checklist so your work shows up in search. Boom. Clear. Adult. The next thing is something that I’ve been neglecting. And I’m so glad I organized this episode for you, because teaching is really the best way to learn something. Number three are chapters.
Miriam Schulman: Now, I always thought chapters were just a nice user experience, but they’re actually structure in the chapter. Names can’t be part one, part two, part three, but the chapter names is part of the keyword strategy. So what I did when I was recording this episode, I’m like going through this checklist and I’m like, oh my gosh, I’m not doing this. So I found a tool that is $9 a month. It’s a Google extension and it is called time skip AI. It was a Google extension. You can install it for free, but really to use it, it was $9 a month. I probably will end up upgrading to the $19 a month version. Because a lot of my videos are more than 30 minutes, the $9 a month version, you can handle up to five videos a month under 30 minutes. For most artists, that will be you. So what it does is it creates chapters, and then you copy the chapters it creates. And you can even do this after you’ve uploaded the video. You don’t have to do this before. And that’s why I got this. So these chapters are basically like little signposts that say, hey, search engine, this is what we’re talking about. Part four. We’re still talking about YouTube. Part four spoken keywords. You need to say the key word phrase early, out loud and on camera. Yeah, I know, shy artist. So you can’t just play music.
Miriam Schulman: You need to have some sort of text, some sort of audio text that, you know, if you’re doing a process video of your beautiful ocean landscape, you need to say ocean landscape. Yes, you do on camera. Maybe not your face, but at least your voice. Because if the video is called. So this is like for my video, if the video is called SEO for artists, but I never say SEO for artists. Well, that’s kind of suspicious. It also helps humans. People click because they want something specific, and you need to reassure them immediately that they’re in the right place. So that’s why in this video, for example, I literally said, today we’re talking about SEO for artists and how to make your art searchable on Google, YouTube, and image search. And I’m saying it again, I mean, it happens to fit into the video. I’m not saying to keyword stuff a video. We’re doing it authentically, but it matters. Number five thumbnails. Your thumbnail is not a mood board. I’m sorry, but it’s an add. So you need to understand that in half a second somebody’s making a decision whether or not they’re going to click on your video and they’re drinking their coffee. Like if, like me, I’m skimming through YouTube and I’m on the phone with my mother, so I don’t even you don’t even have my full attention when I’m on there.
Miriam Schulman: So you need big readable text. One clear promise. No tiny fonts, no five different ideas fighting with each other. You’re selling in one click. That’s the content that delivers. Now you also have the ability inside a YouTube studio to test different titles and thumbnails. I’ve absolutely done this. I haven’t gone as far as testing two different thumbnails against each other. However, I am split testing for every video, two different titles. So for example, my video 2026 Art Market Predictions for selling more art and we’ll make sure we link to that. We tested that title against how to thrive in the 2026 art market for luxury buyers, and that one did okay. But the other title one. Okay, so that’s the checklist. Five minutes every single time you post a YouTube video. And when you do this consistently, you’re not just posting, you’re publishing like someone who expects to be found. And yeah, I was totally guilty guilty, guilty. So now we’re moving on to your website and your blog and your SEO checklist. So here are some pages that need to exist in your website that are completely non-negotiable. So first of all, your home page should say what you do and for whom. You need an about page, which should always be the very next page next to your home page. That’s your credibility. That’s your collector fit. That’s where your first person artist statement goes.
Miriam Schulman: That’s what I work on with my artists inside the messaging vault. It’s that important. Then you’re going to want to have art for sale, not a tab that says shop art for sale is the key word you need. You need a commission page. If you do commissions, you need your press page or exhibitions. For credibility, you need a contact page. An FAQ page is probably nice. You need those pages. Now here’s something you also need to do. Every page needs to have a clear slug. What do I mean by that? So if you have coastal art it should say Carrie Jones. Art not Carrie Jones. Page ID equals 1837. You also need to do your meta descriptions. Oh, I know your eyes are glazing over, but you need that and you need to fill that out like a mini pitch because Google may use it. Next image SEO checklist I used to ignore this too, so the name of the file of your image matters. So if you have your images saved in your folders as img Underbar 2049. jpeg. No bueno. Change that. I mean, first of all, it’s going to help you find your images in your Dropbox or in your file folders much more easily, but also whenever you go to upload it, whether it’s on Etsy or Fine Art America or your own website. If it’s named something like Coastal Artwork by Carrie Jones.
Miriam Schulman: Oil painting. The name of the image acts as keywords. So that’s the file name. That’s number one. Number two, the alt text. Google explicitly recommends that descriptive file names and alt texts are their all text is in a poem. It’s a label that tells Google what the image is. Number three, there needs to be text with your images, so your artwork image needs to be next to copy. That explains the subject the size, the style, the medium, the mood, the room fit, and of course the really why your art is important, why it matters. I know that’s the hardest thing for most artists to figure out, but that needs to go on your website. Number four finally, are captions. These are human friendly contexts that also help machines understand the image. And now more and more, some of these social media platforms that we’ve been using are searchable. So when you post a picture of your artwork, don’t just say the title and the size and the medium put in. Why it matters not just for the people who are reading it on social media, but it tells Google search engines. Now we need a little intervention. This is about keyword strategy. And I’m also talking about hashtags because I’ve seen on Instagram there was another artist business coach and I wouldn’t embarrass her anyway, but I honestly don’t even remember who it was because it just appeared in my feed and she was saying how that the advice of hashtags should only attract collectors and not artists is wrong.
Miriam Schulman: Because, she said, artists collect art, which is true. It’s true. I’m not arguing with that. But here’s what I’m going to argue with. Listen, artists, you’re always talking to other artists, and I get it. It’s comfortable, it’s easy. It’s like getting a gold star from the kids who actually understand the assignment. But here’s the problem. Artists buy art. But artists are not your high end collector market. Yes, artists buy art, I buy art. Of course we do. But let’s be honest about what this usually looks like. Most artists I know who buy are buying smaller pieces from friends, work from someone they admire. That is under $1,000, maybe 3000 at the most. Sometimes it’s prints, sometimes they’re doing swaps. Oh, and I love a good swap. It’s adorable. It’s community. It’s very. Hey, we’re in this together. By the way, I actually don’t believe in swaps. I talked about this with Denise Duffield. Thomas, I really think it’s important to let the universe know that you’re open for business and accept money for your art, which is why one of my friends asked me to swap. I said, I’d love your artwork, and I love that you want my artwork, but I’m going to go on your website and buy something, and you go on my website and buy something, which we each did.
Miriam Schulman: I forget how much it was. It was like between 3 and $700, and maybe it was like 6 or $700. And this was a while ago too. So I think today would definitely be $1,000, whatever it is that art that we swapped. So it’s important to let the universe know that you accept money from your art, okay? Because a mortgage company doesn’t accept community as payment. So let the world know you’re open for money, agree to buy each other’s art. And I don’t want to hear about your saving taxes or whatever. But let’s get back to the real topic. Most artists are not buying 5000 or 10,000 artworks from each other. They’re just not. So you cannot keep marketing like your buyer is a fellow painter scrolling on their lunch break thinking, ooh, that’s nice. A collector is not buying your work because you explored the tension between form and narrative. A collector is buying because they want to feel something every time they walk into their room. A collector is buying. Not the medium, not your technique, but meaning. They want your art. If they feel that your art makes the space feel calm or powerful or alive or elevated or more like them. And they’re not shopping your resume. They’re shopping for an experience. So here’s the keyword strategy artists actually need.
Miriam Schulman: Don’t worry, I’m not going to get too technical. It’s psychological. Stop describing your artwork like you’re submitting it for a group critique. Start describing it like someone is trying to live with it. Because when you use artist language, you attract artists and only artists. It’s okay to attract artists, but not just artists. So use collector language and you’ll attract collectors. And this is where artists start resisting me because they think collector language is selling out. No, collector language is not selling out. It’s being understood. So let me give you the difference so you can see it immediately. Artists language says encaustic. Mixed media. Assemblage. Exploration of liminality. You got me. Okay. Collector language might be large, blue abstract painting. Textured neutral artwork. Coastal living room. Wall art Statement piece for an entryway. Do you see the difference now? One is trying to impress and the other is trying to connect. And please hear me. I’m not telling you to dumb down your work. I’m telling you to stop hiding behind language that only your peers understand. Because if your goal is high end collectors, then your job is to not sound smart. Your job is to be searchable and buyable. So here’s your new rule. Write for the person with the credit card, not the person with the critique. Now, if you want collector money, you need collector messaging. And collector messaging starts with one basic decision.
Miriam Schulman: Stop talking to other artists. Start talking to the person who wants your work on their wall and is willing to pay real money for it. Okay, we’re about to wrap up soon. I’m going to give you the stop doing this and start doing that. Quick announcement. If you want the full audience building system, not just SEO, but really how to get your publicity, LinkedIn and YouTube, all the strategies that are working the best for artists in 2026. You’re not going to want to miss this. Go to SchulmanArt.com/AUDIENCE. This workshop lays out the step by step, and it’s for artists just like you, who want to grow without relying on the constant hamster wheel of social media. Again, that’s SchulmanArt.com/AUDIENCE. Here is the stop doing list. Stop uploading images named final. Final two dot jpeg. Stop using only Artspeak evocative explores juxtaposition with no concrete descriptors. Stop making every title new work or studio update. And for the love of all things holy, stop relying on Instagram to do the job Google can do while you sleep. All right, so here is your seven day Searchability SEO for artists sprint day one. Fix the file names for your next ten uploads. Day two add alt text and captions to your top ten viewed pages. Day three publish one YouTube video with keyword first strong, first two description lines. And that’s only for doing YouTube. I’m not telling you to add YouTube if you’re not already doing it.
Miriam Schulman: Day four Turn it into a blog post and embed the video again only if you’re doing videos. Otherwise, you can skip this step. Day five add art for sale links for that post. Day six refresh old posts and pages with better titles and descriptions, and day seven check what’s getting impressions and double down. Because like I always say, where there’s gold, you got to keep digging. All right, my friend. So thank you so much for being with me here today. If you want help with your messaging so that you attract high end art collectors, you can either apply for my inner circle. I’m not sure if there’s going to be spots still open as of this recording, but you may be watching this when there are spots available. So to apply for the inner circle SchulmanArt.com/APPLY or you can always get a messaging intensive with me. So my messaging intensive, it’s a one on one session where we’re going to excavate what your art is, who it’s for, why it truly matters, your origin story. And we will create the most amazing artist statement. You’ll absolutely love it. So for that you can sign up at SchulmanArt.com/VAULT okay, my friends, I hope you got a lot out of today’s episode. I’ll see you the same time, same place next week. Until then, stay inspired. Bye for now.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to the Inspiration Place podcast. Connect with us on Facebook, at Facebook.com/SchulmanArt, on Instagram, at @SchulmanArt, and of course on SchulmanArt.com.
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