Nuts and Bolts: Fortifying Meta-data – Animals & Breeds

 

Here is a guest post from GCU artist, Cori Solomon of Cori’s Pawtraits, about getting specific in your card meta-data relative to animal and pet breeds, colors, coats, and more.

For the Dog Breeds
First, it is good to know some of the nuances and structure of a particular breed. For dogs, an
excellent place to check out information is AKC.org. They list the various breeds, giving a
wealth of information on each AKC recognized breed that you can use as keywords. They also
describe the nature of dogs, which is helpful if you are trying to depict the temperament of a dog
in your card.

Also, research the particular breed of dog because every breed has a national club that supplies
information on the internet. In addition, each breed has local clubs that can also be useful.
You can find the various colors that each breed comes in. You might consider making a
Dachshund card as a long-haired, short-haired, or wire-haired. Also, consider the variation of the
dachshund colors. Using my breed, the Saluki, they come in a variety of colors, including black
and tan, cream, fawn, parti, red, tri-color, and Grizzle, people have favorite colors. They want to
find their breed but also their breed coloration. Some breeds have Merle colors.

Keywords: When you create a card of a particular breed, always remember to include the
specific name of the breed, most people looking for a specific dog will search the breed name.
List the color. Note things like toy dog if it is in the Toy group or herding dog if it is a Corgi or
Border Collie. AKC.org lists each breed by their group. It the dog hunts birds, include bird dog,
or gundog. If it is a hound and/or sighthound as the Greyhound, utilize those keywords.

Irish Setter: dog, canine, Irish Setter, Setter, sporting dog, red dog, red setter

Labrador Retriever: dog, canine, lab, labrador, retriever, yellow lab, sporting, gundog

Pug: Fawn Pug, Pug, Toy breed, Toy dog, dog

Great Dane: Great Dane, Harlequin, Harlequin Great Dane, Large dog, working dog, dog

For the Cat Breeds
Most us of do not realize that cats come in a variety of breeds, and like dogs cat people are very
in sync with their breed of cat. There are approximately 71 breeds of cats. For more information,
check out the Cat Fanciers Association or The International Cat Association or google cat breeds.

Within the breeds, there are color characteristics. Let’s use the Siamese Cat because there
are several categories, including Seal Point, Blue Point, Chocolate Point, and Lilac Point. People
will search for these particulars, so use them in your keywords and titles.

Keywords: Besides the breed of cat, list the color of the cat. There are Calicos, Orange Tabby
cats, short-haired or long-haired cats. These suggestions will help narrow down a cat card buyers
search and hopefully help you get sales.

Examples:
Siamese Cat: Seal Point, Siamese, Siamese Cat, Seal Point Siamese Cat, Cat.

Calico Cat: Calico Cat, orange black and white cat, cat, kitty, yellow-eyed cat

Black Cat: Black Cat, Tuxedo cat, cat, kitten

For Animals and Birds
Like dogs and cats, we want to narrow our options down, especially when a category has lots of
animals. For example, on GCU, if you use elephant, you will find 73 blank cards, but perhaps we
want to be more specific. There are two distinct types of elephants, the African and the Asian.
We can further narrow it down to 18 subspecies. Maybe you want to consider the Indian
elephant. In giraffes, there are four types to consider. We all know there are different types of
monkeys, so use those types in your keywords.

Horses are another extensive category, so why not list the type of horse, breed, its color.

Horse: Horse, equine, brown horse, Arabian horse, Bay horse, stallion, Colt.

The same goes for birds. List the type of bird. If it is a coastal bird or shorebird, list that in your
keywords.

With dogs, cats, animals, birds, and reptiles, it is crucial to list the breed or type in title followed
up with those in your keywords, especially when your card is listed in a competitive category.

The more keyword descriptions, the better the chances of selling your cards, and our end goal is

to sell our cards.

We have seen many shoppers requesting cards with specific breeds, coats and colors.

Like the following: Wirehaired Dachshund  and Rough Collie

As with any cards, the more specific and descriptive your card meta-data (title, keywords, and Artist’s Notes)

the better chances for a shopper to find exactly what they are looking for – and buying it!

See other Fortifying Meta-data tips here: Age Range and Gender.

Thank you to Cori for sharing her expertise and love of animals!