What bugs you?

Does anything on this page hinder or even irritate you?

I would love to know. Nothing is unimportant, too small or too big.

If there is something I can fix, I will certainly do it.

Please let me know right away

Is your gallery's site located in the right neighborhood on the web?

Much to their advantage, contemporary art galleries often form clusters in a city. To art professionals Chelsea, Shoreditch, Peckham, Berlin Mitte, Le Marais, Lower East Side, etc. instantly ring a bell. They even spell the type of galleries they can expect because they know these gallery-heavy neighborhoods inside out.

 

But what of the web?

All contemporary art gallery sites, worldwide, represent but a tiny group on the web. A single site is only a blip. How could a gallery possibly step out of anonymity without additional help? Especially when they are located in a less popular neighborhood or away from the regular circuit.

Long before Google maps, Foursquare or other advanced tools a number of ‘proxies’ were set up basically inspired by the concept of the 'Yellow Pages'. Their main purpose was to offer the synergistic advantage of the presence of similarly minded galleries.

 

An array of initiatives

You may have been invited to join art gallery directories, gallery portals or listings. We’ll use the term 'listing' from here on. Some offer free inclusion, others work on a subscription basis, but a great number are set up without even contacting the galleries.

At this time, there are well over 80 (and counting) such listings set up by commercial initiatives from inside the art world alone, one of them groups up to 25,000 galleries.

All listings offer different features, filters, delimitations and search tools, presenting data collected about the participating galleries. Some well-targeted listings exclusively group contemporary art galleries. At the other end of the spectrum there are listings that do not even differentiate between disciplines, styles or location.

The typical entry contains anywhere from the gallery’s name, address, phone numbers to web site link, staff, roster and opening hours.

With such a massive amount of data readily available, you should think that your gallery is well served.

 

It's a gigantic, near-uncontrolled melting pot

Galleries move, close down, change their rosters, staff members, mobile numbers, email addresses, even alter domain names. As with all databases containing time sensitive information, it is almost impossible to keep them up-to-date.

Some galleries join so many listings, that the concept undoubtedly meets their needs for exposure. But having joined fifteen, twenty or sometimes even thirty and more listings, gallery owners then fail to follow up their information; they “don’t have the time to”. As a result, the outdated information these listings contain causes more hassle and irritation for people consulting them.

 

People looking up your information expect it to be correct and up-to-date

They don’t know you were never asked, nor did you request, to be on these listings, or who is responsible for maintaining your information. They’re also not aware whether you cancelled your subscription or if the organizers kept you listed to attract new galleries thus increasing the size of the contact base.

 

Users rarely blame the list

They blame the gallery owner displaying “…such an unprofessional attitude, not even taking the time to update at least the basic information about the gallery. With such poor management it’s not worth looking up.”

Even with a low percentage of defective information about few galleries, there is always collateral damage to all galleries. Thus, being represented on poorly maintained listings, is not only counterproductive it affects your gallery’s credibility.

 

Much ado about nothing?

Did you realize that, on average, 30 percent of your first time visitors discover your site via a 'search'? If we rely on the amount of traffic disclosed by one listing - 600,000 hits/year – and spread it to the others, a vast number of ‘searchers’ surely relied on these listings.

 

Time to start damage control

 

Aren't there any fine neighborhoods on the web then?

Yes, there are excellent listings. They are but a handful. The top ones are 'curated' by real people guaranteeing real added value. They select the contemporary art galleries they accept and ensure accurate maintenance of the information.

Unsurprisingly, most of these aren't free. Fees can run up to $600/quarterly. It is well worth checking your ROI if you have multiple such subscriptions running. We will continue this topic in a future article in the open section.

 

 

P.S. I am preparing a fully featured topic report on the pros and cons of art gallery listings.

This report will cover all the decisive parameters such as their set-up and approach, the number and types of galleries listed, price and contact info completed with rates covering their international reach, maintenance level, their possible effect on your gallery's ranking on the web, etc.

The report will be announced on the Art Gallery Hub by end of August 2012. As a subscriber you will not only have the opportunity to subscribe to the report at a reduced price, there will also be an extra-ordinary 'early bird' goodie to save you countless hours of looking up each listing.

Watch your inbox in the coming weeks.