Do I need to be technical?

Not at all. You never need to understand how it works, only that it does. We handle everything and explain it in plain language.

How long does the setup take?

Foundation goes live in one to two weeks. Each Motion automation takes two to three weeks. We start with a short call to scope it honestly before anything is built.

Will I own the site when it’s done?

Yes. Everything is in your name and your accounts: code, domain, hosting account, Google Analytics, the lead-tracking sheet. If you decide to walk away tomorrow, you take everything with you. No vendor lock-in, no hostage data.

Why not just build it myself on Squarespace?

Honestly? If you only need a one-page portfolio, go ahead. Squarespace is great. We come in when the site has to do real work: capture leads, route them somewhere useful, integrate with the tools you already use, look like nobody else’s. Foundation pays for itself the first time the site books a job while you’re at the studio.

What if something breaks?

Well-built sites and automations rarely break. But when they do, we honour our work. We ship the fix and learn from it. For ongoing peace of mind, ask us about an ongoing support arrangement after launch.

What if I already have a site?

Tell us about it. Sometimes Motion can plug straight into your current setup. Sometimes a small foundation check is worth the time first to clean up tracking, forms, or hosting. We’ll be honest about which one you need.

The four SEO pillars, without the marketing-speak

SEO sounds like a religion. It is not. There are four boxes to check. You can check them yourself if you want, or pay someone to. Either way, this is the whole thing in one short read.

Pillar 1: Content

Google sends people to pages that answer what they searched for.

If a curator types Melbourne ceramic artist with a Japanese influence, your site has to contain those words, used naturally, and arranged so it's clear that's what you make. Not as a tag cloud at the bottom. In your bio, in the page titles, in the alt text on your images.

This isn't about cramming keywords. It's about saying clearly, in language a reader would use, what you do. Most artist sites fail Pillar 1 because the home page says Welcome to my world and nothing about what world that is.

The fix: write a one-sentence answer to who are you, and what do you make, in language a stranger would understand, and put it near the top of every important page.

Pillar 2: Structure

Google needs to read your pages the way you'd read a magazine. Headings should look like headings. Lists should be lists. Image alt text should describe the image. Every page should have a title and a meta description.

If your site is built in Squarespace or Shopify with sensible defaults, you're probably fine here, with two exceptions:

Most artist sites have generic page titles like Home, About, Shop. These should be specific: Anna Kim, Melbourne ceramicist, Anna Kim's studio in Brunswick, Shop one-off vases by Anna Kim. Specific titles win.
Image alt text. Don't leave it blank. Hand-thrown earthenware vase, glazed in deep green beats blank or IMG_4521.jpg.

A sitemap and a robots.txt file telling search engines what to index and what to skip should also exist. Squarespace and Shopify generate these. Custom sites need them added explicitly.

Pillar 3: Authority

When other reputable sites link to yours, Google reads that as a vote of confidence.

For artists, authority comes from:

Gallery websites that list you in past exhibitions.
Magazine and editorial pieces about your work.
Group show sites where you were featured.
Other artists' sites linking to you.
A Wikipedia page (if you qualify; don't write your own).
Local directories (Craft Victoria, Guild of Objects, the like).

You don't build authority by buying links. You build it by being the kind of artist people want to write about, and then making sure those writers know your site URL.

Practical move: every time you're featured anywhere, check the article. If they didn't link your site, email and politely ask.

Pillar 4: Signals

The last pillar is the technical hygiene Google uses as a tiebreaker.

Site is HTTPS (the lock icon).
Site loads fast on mobile.
Site is responsive (renders well on a phone).
No broken links, no 404s on important pages.
Core Web Vitals in the green (LCP, CLS, INP).

Most Squarespace and Shopify sites pass this by default. Custom sites only pass if someone made sure they would. We unpack the diagnostic in the next piece, on why your portfolio doesn't show up on Google.

The order of priority

If you only have time for one pillar, do Pillar 1: write clear titles and a clear bio that uses the words a curator or buyer would actually type.

If you have time for two, add Pillar 2: structure the pages properly and write specific titles and alt text.

If you have a year, work on Pillar 3 quietly. Authority is the slowest one to build.

If you have an afternoon, run a Pillar 4 audit. Most issues are quick fixes once they're surfaced.

That's SEO. The rest is implementation detail.