Tips and Tricks: Blast From the Past – How to Write Card Descriptions

Did you know that search engines are much more likely to index your card quickly if you include a card description?

Some artists use the Artist’s Notes section for a generic message, such as informing customers they’re willing to customize colors, etc. Or thanking shoppers for choosing their cards. While this is nice, you’re doing yourself a disservice by not including a detailed product description.

True, shoppers use GCU’s on-site search for cards. However, we still get plenty of sales from off-site searches, and you can bet that part of our success (and the fact that we’ve sold new designs literally within a couple of days of being uploaded) is that we’ve been adding product descriptions to our cards for over a year. It works.

I know that not everybody is comfortable with writing product descriptions, so I’ll teach you a very easy method. Don’t worry about keywords or buzzwords or  anything like that right now. Just take a look at this card:

First, use your eyes. What do you see? Illustrated nurses and doctors… welcome to the surgery team…

Good. Now what’s the card for? What’s it’s purpose? To welcome new members to a surgical unit.

Who will likely buy this card? A hospital or clinic.

Let’s put our information together in a sentence.

“An illustration of male and female doctors and nurses with the phrase ‘Welcome to the Surgery Team.'”

That’s the basic description. It’s adequate, but how much better will it be if you add a little more detail? Remember those questions we asked up there? Now we add that information.

“An illustration of male and female doctors and nurses with the phrase ‘Welcome to the Surgery Team.’ Perfect for hospital or clinic to make a new member of the surgical team feel welcome.”

Now what about keywords and buzzwords?

Keywords describe what the card depicts and it’s purpose. I think we’ve hit the mark there. Buzzwords are like tinsel on a Christmas tree – embellishments meant to draw attention. Buzzwords might include words like trendy, modern, fashionable, contemporary, cute, sweet, scrapbook-style, hand drawn, etc.

For this particular card, I don’t really need any buzzwords.

See how simple it is to create a product description?

Let’s try another card, this time by another artist:

What do you see? Remember what we learned above, just ask yourself the right questions.

“A group of hand drawn men and women reaching for the stars in a night scene on a green striped background.”

There’s the basic information. Let’s add a bit to that, and don’t forget an important buzzword:

“A multicultural group of men and women reaching for the stars in a night scene on a green striped background. Perfect card to welcome a new employee or new hire to your team.”

How easy was that! Anybody can do it. And if you’re really stuck, feel free to submit a card to the Critique Clinic, right here every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Just ask, and we’ll help you craft a description that’s sure to draw attention to your creation and help you make sales.

Remember, artists who describe their products get more love from search engines than artists who don’t. Can you afford to do without? I can’t, and I think artists looking for sales can’t, either.