It’s not by accident that the world’s top illustrators and representatives rely upon Directory of Illustration.com as their primary marketing venue. We are the clear leader in several illustration markets and we promote you 24/7 to a worldwide community of art buyers that regularly hire commercial artists.

These art buyers discover illustrators for great assignments in a number of ways, including through your online Directory of Illustration portfolio. An essential feature of our website is the option to search by keywords and descriptions. These elements are crucial to your online exposure on Directoryofillustration.com, and here’s why:

Art Directors regularly use our Keyword Search.

We all know how busy art directors can be. They don’t always necessarily have time to click through every portfolio listed on our site. Quite often, they know what they need but not who they need. Our Keyword Search lists about every single style, technique, subject and specialty one can think of.

All an art director has to do is select a box, click search, and all the relevant results and artists will appear. Unfortunately, if you do not include keywords with your images, your work may not show up on the Keyword Search.

Art Directors also regularly use our Image Search.

In addition to the Keyword Search, we also offer an easy and convenient Image Search on our homepage. The Image Search is easy as pie—just enter a few words into the search bar and we will populate any images that include those words as a keyword or in the description.

Sure, most of the relevant keywords are covered in the Keyword Search, such as “Editorial” or “Portrait.” But what if a prospective client wants to commission an illustration of candy canes? That client could then type “Candy Canes” into the Image Search and find a few pages of results.

Here’s a great example from Andrea Alvin, represented by AAARep:

Andrea provided descriptive and detailed information about her image, ensuring that regardless of whether someone uses the Keyword Search or Image Search, her image will appear. This illustration would also appear with a simple search for “Fine Art” or “Posters” or “Nostalgic.”

We hope this article provides a little more insight into exactly why filling out keywords and descriptions for your Directory of Illustration portfolio images should be one of your top priorities. And with the holidays just around the corner—as well as some downtime—now is the perfect opportunity to make these updates to your online portfolio.

Think of it as a fun homework assignment with extra credit. The reward? An easier way for creatives to find you, increased exposure, and thus an increased potential to be hired for a new project in your specialty. Talk about a win-win!

Cover image by Baldwin, represented by Illustration Room.