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General Website Promotion Tips
- Call back, I am always adding in and improving the information on
this page.
Page last updated: 10:SEPTEMBER:2006
- Content is numero uno. The content of the website is crucial. In
every Tips section you will see the phrase that goes something like
"content is king", it's sometimes found as a foot note! It is infact by
far the most important tip. Every visitor is important to your site,
repeat visitors are vital. Returning possibly looking for additional
information or to purchase your CD. The more the visitor returns the
more likely they are to become part of your community and start
supporting you financially. So give them plenty to read and keep the
site well maintained. If the content is crap, no one is going to read it
let alone return.
- Make your Band's Website a #1 Hit check list:
- Loads fast
- Looks good
- Is in character
- All links work
- Is useful
- Is interesting
- Has purpose
- Is different
- Is fun
- Offers an easy mailing list sign-up
- Does not use spurious methods for Spamming
- Has a clear privacy policy
- Offers something free
- CDs are easy to buy
- Accepts credit cards
- Has a newsletter
- Has very clear navigation
- Make your Online Press Pack a #1 Hit check list:
- Is very very easy to find
- Has Professional Presentation
- Has a concise biography of the band
- Press release is newsworthy
- Press release includes: who published it with contact data, when
and where you're doing what!
- You are first to publish the band's news
- Has professional colour photos of the band
- Offers press release and gig dates by email/SMS
- Offers an easy mailing list sign-up
- Clear no spam Privacy Policy
- Very clear relevant contact details
- Offers some html link code to the page
- Includes your copyright information
- Offers easy access to your demo CD
- Get yourself a FREE
Online Z-card
A Z-card is used by the fashion industry (photographers, model agencies
etc.) to keep track of and find models. It's a very mini portfolio (an
A5 card approx.) with all the model's stats and contact information.
I've *adapted* the idea and come up with: Online Z-cards for bands. It
would (I hope) be used by the music industry and fans to discover
unsigned bands.
An Online Z-card is a hand-coded webpage, a micro-site that contains all
the relevant information from your band's website, including: Band Name,
Pictures, Mini Biography / Profile, Gigs Link, Release Dates, Link to
MP3 Download, Venue (You play or like most), Contact Information, Band
Members, Links (to all Your web addresses/information) and Copyright
Information. It aims to be an attractive and search engine friendly
landing page!
Check out the Online Z-card page
- One of the big Internet turn-offs is "HTTP/1.0 404 Object Not Found"
and there are numerous variations on that message! So if one of your
pages becomes defunct but has a listing on a search engine, don't delete
it, alter it or make it point to another page. You should be able to
create your own 404 page, most people put an advert on it!
- A single mention of your band and URL (web address, domain name)
with some editorial about you and your website in a national newspaper
could bring hundreds of repeat visitors, no search engine will ever help
you that much. Conventional advertising is your most valuable route and
can pay humungus dividends. Most people still get the majority of their
marketing messages through conventional advertising. and otherwise
spread the word.
Webhosting For Bands
- Which is the best webhosting company to choose? I recommend
iPowerWeb. There are four points I consider important when choosing a
webhosting service: price, technical support, reliability and
professionalism. iPowerWeb are top in all four. iPowerWeb have a
complete solution for everyone, it's that simple.
iPowerWeb .
Oh, and you get a free domain name.
Band Promotion Ideas
- Always go for a .com URL. Use your band's name as your URL. If you
can't get your band's name as your domain name, make your domain name
short and memorable.
- Put your URL on everything: CD covers, CDs, leaflets at gigs,
posters, flyers, business cards, press releases and stationary, even put
it on it's own piece of paper. Put the band's URL clearly onto T-shirts,
and make sure you always wear them.
- Double check the printer got it right!
- Non-profit organisations such as charities often need support at
local events. If your band fits the bill, offer to play.
- Sign up with ukbands.net.
They offer excellent conventional online promotion, with: news, charts,
forums, band reviews, gig guides, interviews and a newsletter that will
post your gig dates. They are getting better every day.
- Network. Forge relationships with anyone in the business!
MySpace
is great for: blogging, networking and making friends. Don't forget to
add Unsigned Band Promotion to your Friends List.
- Aim to build an online community, forums may help as they could give
you valuable feedback. They also may not!! I think blogs work best,
combined with an email newsletter.
- Publish the kinds of events you're happy to play and provide easy to
find contact information.
Search Engines & Band Promotion
- Submit your band's website to the search engines, i.e. AltaVista,
Excite, Google, HotBot and Lycos, etc.
- It might take time to get listed (1-2 months), keep submitting every
two - three weeks.
- Don't use submission software to automatically register your website
with the search engines. Go to each one and fill in the form, OK, this
does take time, but it's worth it.
- Search engines like site maps with textual links.
- Don't submit the same URL more than once per day. If you hit a
problem and you are not sure if your submission has been accepted, go
back the next day.
Linking For Bands
- When asking for a link it's a good idea to provide the code! You can
start promoting your band now by exchanging links with us, here's some
code:
<!-- Start of code -->
<p><a href="http://www.unsignedbandpromotion.com/"
target="_top">Unsigned Band Promotion</a></p>
<!-- End of code -->
Email your details to
us!
- Blog etiquette: don't ask for a link, if you give one they should
reciprocate and visa versa. Most bloggers keep an eye on their stats, so
should you.
- A link to your website is like a vote for your website. The more
votes you have the better you will do.
- Fans have websites! They will review your music and give you a link.
You just have to ask.
- Don't forget content! nobody wants to link to a boring website.
- I'm not sure about webrings? Like minded websites link to the next
member website along a sort of chain. The only real beneficiary is the
website at the hub who is usually the one who set-up the webring in the
first place! Oh, and that's you of course, don't bother joining one.
- Don't waste your time with Banners (unless you have the artistic
talent to create an outstanding one). I think that most banner
advertising is ineffective and isn't really worth the money. The number
of people who click-through from banner advertising is getting less and
less.
How To Make Money
- T-shirts. I've negotiated a deal with
The Eton T-shirt Co. You can
purchase one T-shirt for the same price as if you were buying 100. This
means that you can create T-shirts for the band, sell them at gigs and
sell them from your website. You only need to buy them as you need them,
however, you must mention UnsignedBandPromotion.com when ordering to get
the discounted price. We DO NOT get a commission
of any kind. The purchase contract is always between You and The
Eton T-shirt Co. Contact Details:
The Eton T-shirt Co., 60 High Street, Eton, Berkshire, ENGLAND
w:etontshirt.co.uk
e: tshirts@eton.biz
tel: +44 (0)1753 731 509
fax: +44 (0)1753 731 503
- Selling music online is a business. Your band is a business. Be
business-like.
- Set up a shop and sell your music downloads. It's easy with the
1-2-3 music store specially designed for independent musicians and
record labels. Check them out:
easybe.com
- Don't crowd your website with banners and products. Sell one or two
things and sell them well.
- Become an affiliate for other websites and sell products and
services from your website. It is a simple way to earn a little extra
cash, i.e. you could sell Apple's iPod portable MP3 player!
Find out how at Commission Junction
- Don't just stick a PayPal donate button in to your website and hope
for the best. Offer something for it like a link or a credit on your
next album or even dedicate a track.
- Sell The Band's Merchandise at your gigs. Here's some ideas: Badges,
Bumper Stickers, Caps, Hats and Visors, CDs and Demos, Drum Sticks, Fake
Tattoos, Frisbees, Greeting Cards, Guitar Picks, Imprinted Bic Pens,
Key-Rings, Lanyards, Lighters, Matchbooks, Mugs, Portfolio of Signed
Pictures, Posters, Stickers, Sweatshirts, T-shirts, Wall Calendars, etc.
For an online solution I recommend GoPromos.
- Sell The Band's Merchandise online. You can set up a shopping cart
when you use
iPowerWeb Hosting
 .
The package: $7.95 per month, 500 Megs of Space, 30 Gigs of Transfer,
300 Emails + Free Setup & Free Domain Name. With: OS Commerce Shopping
Cart, Agora Shopping Cart or PayPal Shopping Cart.
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Email
- The Internet is the perfect place for the dissemination of
information and email is at its heart. A website is the perfect place to
gather fans email addresses so you can inform them of your next gig
dates. Keeping your fans informed is the main
action that will pay big dividends as it will increase the size of your
audience.
- You will need:
- a method of collecting the Names and Email Addresses
- a method of keeping securely and maintaining the Mailing List
- a suitable email client to send out your Email Newsletter
- an understanding of Privacy and a Privacy Policy. You will NEVER
send Spam, have a look at:
The Can-Spam Act 2003
- The easiest, quickest and often the most economic way to get up and
running with a system that will collect the email addresses of your
site's visitors (with a Join Our List sign-up) and then enable you to
compile and send a compelling email newsletter or gig announcement is to
get
Constant Contact
 .
You get: A customisable website visitor sign up form for your
website; Professional templates (newsletters, promos, invites and more);
Add a "forward to friend" to every email;
Manages and hosts your subscriber list (including unsubscribe and bounce
management); Automatic delivery in the correct format, HTML or
text; Real-time reporting (including opens, who clicked on which links
and more);
Constant Contact is easy and affordable, you can even try it for free as
they offer a 60 day free trial, which I think is worth a go.
Click here to sign up for your Free trial with Constant Contact
- Provide a simple form at gigs to collect: name, address, phone
number (for SMS) and email address.
- The Direct Marketing Association (DMA) have an online Privacy policy
generator which is very good.
The DMA online
Privacy policy generator
- A website and an email newsletter go together like Rock and Roll.
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