Band Promotion Blog

October 20, 2011

Dumb Blonde Must Sync Or Swim

Filed under: website promotion, Band Promotion — ian @ 4:36 pm

monroe

Punished for posting? I hate it when people like David Hughes of Mohican Records act as a spoiler to my magnanimous and virtuous efforts to help bands with their websites! I posted a most out-of-the-ordinary, as it was my first time, advertweet pointing my websiteless followers to an advert here on UBP’s blog recommending iPower, because They’ve Got A Sale On :) The amazing and stupendous Chris Bracco of Tight Mix Blog retweeted it and I quote: “On @BandPromotion: IPOWER Is Great For Musicians - Web Hosting Sale co/oiNHmPFv

Anyway, I was talking with Adrian, an old friend, down the pub ages ago and he asked me, “What’s all that bollocks stuff on your Facebook these days?” “Oh, it’s just my tweets. I’ve synchronised Twitter and Facebook so my tweets appear in Facebook!” I said. “I’m not on Twitter” he said.

Back to the present, so how do I feel when the ill-informed David Hughes say’s on Facebook, “Nah it’s cheaper via 1&1 or better still bandzoogle for a real band website, it has everything you could possibly need and works with artist data which means being able to update all your web presence in one go, take from somebody who knows” ????

Synchronizing social media is a dangerous thing to do, especially for bands, who tend to spam the same mind numbing shit like “Check Out Our FUCKIN’ AWESOME New Demo” or “Join Our Mailing List” day after day; even when bands take care to post exciting and informative news, it can still look lazy and spammy! We are not helped by the social media who actively encourage synchronization, maybe as a collective act of self-promotion and togetherness?

Each social networking platform, be it Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, or dare I say it, Your Website, has its own niche, an identity created by its owner for its users - Facebook isn’t Twitter isn’t MySpace isn’t your website - the differences may seem subtle sometimes, but they are important to the individual user. Always use different content on the different social networking sites, so when people ‘click around’ they don’t read the same shyte over and over again, because that’s boring, disengaging and a massive, massive, massive turn-off - even for super-fan! The true promotional value of social networking is always measured by what you have to say!

So when somebody who knows tells you, you can automatically update and publish your information to your Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Bandzoogle, PureVolume, Sonicbids and MySpace fans all with the single press of a button, tell them to “Eff Off,” because they don’t know what they’re talking about and ultimately, it will hurt you if you don’t run away! And yes, I’ve de-synced.

As for 1&1 and Bandzoogle, well, I’m not going to pull them down. Stating the obvious, there are hundreds of places to get your band a website on the Internet, Bandzoogle and BandVista are two well-known sites that offer a 30 days free trial! But with many bands wingeing that they are perpetually skint, free networking sites like Facebook, YouTube and Myspace are the main attractions.

I like the idea of bands using blogging platforms as a free website because they are so easy to set-up and personalize. Here are some of the conspicuous names with an example band blog on each platform: Wordpress - Downstat, Twitter - Tiny Birds, Blogger - Blue News Band and Tumblr - Tom Waits.

Be creative and be inspired by giving life to a free website :) Primer used Wix for an easy drag and drop flash website- which looks brilliant :) Charlotte Stephenson used Moonfruit - London based and very friendly :) Tiny Birds - tinybirds.co.uk used Bandcamp as their publishing platform (not totally free but good)!

So anyway, I was talking with a band this week who asked, “Why are you doing all this for free and what’s in it for you? I’d love to put some work your way.” Well, I’m a Buddhist; I like to help bands by showing them how to promote their websites, I do it for free because I’m a Buddhist! My key words are, dedication, service, simplicity, purity and harmony; and my strapline is, helping musicians and artists to get their websites noticed by fans, search engines and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own. If you feel that I’ve given your band support enough to warrant a reward, then feel free to make a small donation! I also recommend sites that I’m affiliated to like, iPower and easyspace who provide webhosting at very competitive prices - and I’m proud to do so :)

Here is a Buddhist thought, “As a net is made up by a series of knots, so everything in this world is connected by a series of knots. If anyone thinks that the mesh of a net is an independent, isolated thing, they are mistaken. It is called a net because it is made up of a series of connected meshes, and each mesh has its place and responsibilities in relation to other meshes.”

October 18, 2011

A Little Band Promotion For PAGE 8

Filed under: Band Promotion — ian @ 2:50 pm

“If you’re in a band, you’ve always got competition! Of course there are bands who do it for the love of music and a few free beers. They consider themselves not to be in the rat race! But they are, and they’ll knock you off the top slot in the local pubs and clubs, as they are usually very talented musicians. When you’re good, you’ll get bookings and a following, because people will want to hear you play. And that will always make money for some Landlord behind the bar!” How To Sell Music Online 2004 Ian UBP. Page 8 are one of those talented bands - Here’s some information they sent me :)

Page 8

Page 8 are not into the whole mean and moody thing or how deep music is, it’s a hobby that keeps us all sane in our different ways, makes a bit of sense out of life and gives us an excuse to get together regularly.

All we want to do is play good music, fill the dance floor, meet some interesting and nice people, make a little money, have a good time and watch the audience let go and really enjoy themselves. Is that so much to ask?

Music is fun. Think back to the last event you went to. What’s the first thing you remember? The food, the decor? Unlikely - chances are it was the music. You can get away with skipping the favours and getting pizza hut in to do the catering (I do love pizza hut), but the one thing you can’t skimp on is the music.

Page 8 are a six piece band from Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire; we are: 2 female vocalists (Bex and Hattie), guitar (Tim), bass guitar (Wil), keyboards (Michael), drums (George) and a sound engineer(Phil). Together we play contemporary and classic covers. Our musical influences are wide ranging from Ellie Goulding and Katy Perry to Kings of Leon, Stevie wonder and The Rolling Stones. Each and every song we play is very important to us.

We play music because we enjoy it and we play the type of music we play because people like it.

UBP: Thanks for that Michael. They’re available for weddings, “The dance floor was jam packed… Credit has to go to page 8 …fantastic live band who made our wedding extra special,” - Katharine Dymoke. And all the usual functions and music festivals :)

A Little Band Promotion For PRIMER

Filed under: Band Promotion — ian @ 12:48 pm

PRIMER female fronted rock band from the West Midlands

PRIMER are a 4-piece female fronted rock group from the West Midlands. Formed in 2007, the band has seen several member and sound changes before settling on their distinctive, inimitable style; a mix of Celtic inspired vocals mingle with strong, expressive guitars whilst powerful, intense drums and an emotive, resonating bass push through to drive an original, unique sound with a difference that is not to be missed. Definitely different!

October 12, 2011

IPOWER Is Great For Musicians - Web Hosting Sale

Filed under: Music Marketing, website promotion, Band Promotion — ian @ 10:00 pm

I don’t like to be pushy, when it comes to advertising on UBP however, IPOWER who have got a promotion going on at the moment, partly because they’ve merged names with iPowerWeb, is worth a second look if you are thinking of getting yourselves a website :)

It’s a good time to start building a Website with IPOWER, who used to be called iPowerweb! I’m an affiliate, give them a try - 30-day money back guarantee, with a free domain name :)

Easyspace.com making the web easy

[Edit:] Easyspace has some quite good deals going on too :)

October 2, 2011

Writing An Effective Email Asking For Help

Filed under: Band Sponsorship, Band Promotion — ian @ 10:10 am

Spam, lovely Spam, wonderful Spam

Q: Do you know what pisses me off? A: People like Elaine!

Elaine emailed me asking, "We’d Love Your Help With Our Online Promotions." I thanked her for contacting me and as per usual, I was sorry I was a little late getting back to her ~ a couple of days! I had spent three hours looking at Elaine’s website, social media profiles and linking strategy; I then answered her request for help by offering up 20 tailored ideas, observations, and tips to improve her website’s visibility and performance ~ not bad for free! Do you know what pisses me off? When I don’t get an email of acknowledgement or ‘Thanks’ ~ receiving a small donation doesn’t even come into the equation!

So, how do you think I would respond to an email that simply, but only states, "Hey! Check our band out!?" That’s right, I ignore and delete it!

Here is a massive tip: If you want to get the best out of people who are willing to support your band, get into a meaningful conversation with them ~ email conversations should be interactive, two-way and follow rules of etiquette! ~ BTW., I am always pleased to answer additional specific questions that may arise from my initial response, in fact I expect questions and I love feedback.

Writing An Effective Email Asking For Help

I am constantly amused by the number of crappy, spammy and suspicious emails I get, luckily my spam filter copes quite well, but I find it very boring sorting out the Real requests for help from the loathsome heap of egotistical shit I receive. *HEY bands wake up* and do yourselves a favour, send emails that are worth reading and prove that you are worth supporting.

Make An Impression At The Inbox: You only get a nano-second to make a first impression as your email languishes in the recipient’s inbox; make the most of your email name and subject line ~ don’t send emails with wierd headers: From: The Jackson Five <yd8kcaji@hotmail.com> Subject: Re: Help. Use your real name linked to your band’s email account and write a meaningful and descriptive subject line: From: Daniel Cool <dancool@bandname.com> Subject: Advice needed regarding website promotion ~ I would open that email!

Trigger A Response With Good Content: Keep your email focused and get to the point quickly. Ask a clear question and include all the relevant details so the recipient can work out the answer quickly. Don’t be too brief or too waffly, however, explain yourself and say what you expect to gain from the answer. Proofread! If this is the sole & entire contents of your email, "Well, since i’m not too grate at promo my band, I will heed your advice and ask. How can I promo my band more?" (someone actually sent me that) ~ it will never get a reply from me!

"Thanks in advance." Thanking the reader in advance doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t respond promptly to their slow and sloppy reply ~ etiquette is always super-polite ~ remember, no f.ing flaming.

Identify Yourself Clearly: Contact information is one of the most important and fundamental elements of an email; knowing someones name and address is the cornerstone to building a relationship, and it’s totally underrated ~ lack of contact information is a constant bugbear with music industry professionals.

Include: your name, your band’s name, a couple of telephone numbers, postal address, email address, website URL ~ use the definitive URL because it’s usually clickable eg: http://www.theskarlets.co.uk/ ~ list your main social media platforms in the same way.

No Atachments On The First Date: It is common for bands to send attachments of: (5mb).jpg images, (6mb).mp3 files and f.ing *.zip files ~ that I’m never going to open. Only include attachments when it is prearranged. Some email servers ignore messages that include large (over 3mb!) attachments and some people don’t clear out their inbox as often as they should; it all starts to look a little overfull and messy!

Etiquette and converstion are key words when corresponding with a potential helper and maybe sponsor & future champion of your band. Don’t f.it all up by being selfish ~ give out and you will receive.

September 12, 2011

100 Fan Decathlon

Filed under: website promotion, Band Promotion — ian @ 8:11 pm

I was reading Chris Rockett’s Blog and feeling a little peeved because he hadn’t asked Me to contribute to his excellent blog post 100 Fan Sprint, where he asks the question, “What is the fastest way to get 100 targeted fans per day visiting your website on a consistent basis without using paid traffic?”

The answers given by each of the experts are right on the money and well worth the good read. Host your own blog is always popular advice with marketing and promotion experts, because a blog ticks so many of the SEO and Web 2.0 boxes; as is content, content, content - Content Is King (the title of an article by Bill Gates 1996) has been around for a long time.

The reason Chris didn’t ask me is probably because I’d give a boring answer that would lower the tone; well, here it is on my boring blog instead of his glamorous website:

“The fasest way initially is to collaborate with others. Warning: collaboration will kill you if your band is crap and has a pisspoor website!
Create a ‘Target Fan Profile’ and figure out how they will come to your website; there are three usual ways (with multiple criterion): 1. By searching in a search engine. 2. By clicking on an incoming link. 3 By typing your URL directly into the address bar.
Create the right environment on your website that will satisfy your target audience. Point your potential fan towards your website using both online and real world techniques. Visitors will keep returning and become fans if they are continually entertained!
…How Fast? Well it is not going to be a 9.58 100m sprint, more like a decathlon! Visitor numbers improve with the quality and quantity of Content, in combination with the quality and quantity of Incoming Links, and Time.”

The 100 Fan Decathlon

Any one of the hundreds of website promotion & band promotion ideas, tips, tricks and gimmicks could bring a sudden surge of traffic to your band’s website, but that’s not what we’re talking about, gaining consistent targeted traffic is not a short term quick fix sprint, it requires a multi-disciplined effort more like the decathlon (or running a small business)! A band should educate themselves (read: Build A Team Of Online Support For Your Band) and get help from a dedicated person who is capable of handling all things to do with Media, Promotion and Marketing.

Here is a simple and basic outline of a typical website promotion effort:

Day 1

  • Firstly, obviously, you need a real website. D’oh!
  • Make your band’s website the focal point of all your social networking and Internet activities - err… link to it!
  • Tweak and improve your band’s website, it needs to: load quickly. look good. be in character. connect (link) correctly. be useful. be interesting. have a purpose. be different. be entertaining. offer an easy mailing list sign-up. give a freebie. have very clear navigation - (read: Make A Sexy Website And Get Laid Like A Rockstar This Weekend).
  • Use WordPress - free blog software, easy to install, loads of free templates and plugins.
    Add Google Analytics - so you can evaluate your progress.
    Sign up to MailChimp - a free email marketing and email list manager that allows you to design, send and track HTML email campaigns.
  • Find the top 20 keywords and key-phrases that best describe your band and genre. Think about what your potential fans will search for, then add them to your website (think SEO). Now you’re being found for something else in the search engines other than your band’s name - for example, it could be: your genre (indie rock band), your location (Chelsea, London), the name of your favourite venue or your album, song titles (all very obvious, sorry)…
  • Create an email list (use: MailChimp) / database of fans, friends and family, especially target those within your locale; ask them for promotional help and support (i.e. help spread the word) - a group of four should be able to assemble an instantaneous and legitimate mailing list of about 300 (ask people first), aim for around 1,500 - 2,000 subscribers.
  • Write A Blog Post Three Times A Week (Mon, Wed & Fri) - blogging regularly will really get you thinking about your subject and enable you to talk about your music. It will increase the size, quality and visibility of your website and therefore make linking easier - share.

Day 2

  • Find a couple of struggling blogs that are enthusiastic and compatible with your band’s lifestyle and genre; join in and support their community - never practice the art of shameless self-promotion (it’s all about the community, not you).
  • Set up a small, hands-on and dedicated ‘Promotion Team’ (superfans only) that work both online and offline - a proactive and knowledgable ‘E/street’ team can really help to increase your fan base.
  • Team-up and collaborate with upto 5 local bands who have the same or a V.complementary genre - play gigs and promote each other online and offline.
  • Collaborate with a fashion house (a fashion company, a designer, a shop: selling off-the-peg, custom-made, haute couture clothing) - also include: a hairdresser (could be a salon), a make-up artist, a photographer, a fashion stylist (to help build & control your image. A good stylist will help with branding), a lifestyle magazine/website. Do-it-yourself, noobie bands who can’t attract the attention of professionals, are usually at an age where they can collaborate with students, assistants and the like. Also think about local charities, record shops, cafes, pubs, clubs, venues… Note: a hairdresser sees approximately 200 clients every 5 weeks, and she talks to each of them for about 45 minutes - “Something for the Weekend Mademoiselle?”
  • Check to make sure your superfans, friends and family have all joined you on your main social networking platforms. Then ask them to spread the word by/via: Updates, Bookmarks, Bulletins, Emails, Pings, Retweets, Tagging, Comments and Posts etc… regularly provide them with interesting information so they can talk about your band, lifestyle and genre with reckless abandon.
  • Announce your (updated) website by newsletter (MailChimp) about five times a year to your mailing list - give ‘em a treat at the same time.
  • (Legally) Hand out, post, pin up, stick and drop (accidentally!): flyers, stickers, business cards, button badges (include your band’s name, website address & free gift inf.) - in and around: schools, colleges, universities, record shops, fashion shops, cafes, pubs, clubs, venues, churches…

Every Week

  • Link with 10 other websites. For linking think networking and for networking think conversations. So that’s, get into deep and meaningful conversation with ten new people each week.
  • Write 10 sentences (no more than 140 characters each) about your lifestyle and genre (not your band) - be elegant. Share.
  • Participate in popular forums and blogs.
  • Keep track of your website’s statistics and social analytics.

GOOD LUCK

Helping Indie Bands With Website Promotion
Unsigned Band Promotion
UnsignedBandPromotion.com
Helping musicians and artists get their websites noticed by fans, search engines
and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own.

June 27, 2011

Promote Your Gigs On Twitter - #BandPromotion

Filed under: Band Promotion — ian @ 6:26 pm

Promote Your Gig on Twitter

If you want to give your gig a little boost, and at the same time give a few of my followers a kick up the arse and the heads-up, join me and contact me on Twitter; I will RT and ShoutOut your gig information.

Please share this post on Twitter, to help spread the word :)

June 21, 2011

10 Quick Music Marketing Tips

Filed under: Music Marketing, Band Promotion — ian @ 4:12 pm
  1. #MusicMarketing Too many advertisements slow Websites down and are usually ignored anyway!
  2. Content, Design and the ability to Listen are the key ingredients to a successful and effective Website.
  3. Your Fans are the apple core (or is that Heart?) of your website - Well that’s what I believe anyway!
  4. US and THEM = V.Bad karma.
  5. A Loyal Fan is a Royal Fan.
  6. Your band’s Website Message must be delivered in 90 seconds or less - only 1.5 minutes to get your entire communication across.
  7. Collaborate with other bands who share your niche.
  8. The more you listen to your fans, the more they’ll listen to your music - Which means they should become New Customers.
  9. Your band’s market share (slice of pie), within your locale, can be enhanced considerably by promoting your Niche.
  10. Your band’s website will grow if you keep it focussed and your message simple!

Helping Indie Bands With Music Marketing,
Unsigned Band Promotion
UnsignedBandPromotion.com
Helping musicians and artists get their websites noticed by fans, search engines
and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own.

June 20, 2011

10 Quick Band Promotion Tips

Filed under: Band Promotion — ian @ 2:45 pm
  1. #BandPromotionIt’s the way a band uses Social Media Blogging platforms and not the ‘theme’ that’s important, pick a theme that fits in with your band’s branding.
  2. Improve your band’s ‘website rankings’ (SEO) by aiming relevant keywords towards your target audience.
  3. Don’t start the music playing on the initial load of website because it’s f.ing annoying if I’m/they’re already listening to some!
  4. Monthly: use Google Analytics to analyse your band’s Website prior to tweaking.
  5. Make your website as interactive as possible. Fans want to have a conversation with you.
  6. Show your supreme confidence by linking to other bands’ websites that are relevant and related to yours - You won’t be disappointed with the results.
  7. Don’t oversell your album by overloading your band’s website with adverts - that’s So annoying and therefore futile!
  8. For Title Tag & H1 Header Contents read/think KEYWORDS. They go together like f.&chips.
  9. Band’s Websites should be updated frequently, 2-3 times a week would keep your fans happy.
  10. Make your most important web page open as fast as lightning, and as quick as a flash you’ll have a new fan.

Helping Indie Bands With Website Promotion,
Unsigned Band Promotion
UnsignedBandPromotion.com
Helping musicians and artists get their websites noticed by fans, search engines
and the music industry in half the time they could do it on their own.

June 13, 2011

Make A Sexy Website And Get Laid Like A Rockstar This Weekend

Filed under: Band Promotion — ian @ 1:27 pm

parental-advisory

I was talking with a very old friend Steve Walker (a rock and roll aficionado) about his favourite subject the other day (Rock & Roll 1945 - 1971) and during the conversation he asked me, “do you know why many of the famous rock ‘n’ roll artists got into music in the first place?”
“No!” I said shaking my head, but thinking it’s probably got something to do with escaping the drudgery of life.
“Because they wanted to have sex” said Steve!
A bolt of lightening struck me on the side of the head and I said, “Oh - My - Good - Fucking - God, it Is all about sex, I should’ve known, hang-on, I did know, but I’d forgotten. Tosser!” I remembered all those angsty songs Nick Young and I had written late into the night after a few pints of Diesel [Snakebite (half a pint of strong larger and half a pint of Scrumpy cider) and Black (dash of blackcurrant cordial) - result looks like agricultural diesel fuel, hence the name] hoping the toons would get us laid sometime V.soon. Sex and drugs and rock and roll (Ian Dury 1977) were all part of my mental imagery of the rockstar’s lifestyle - there must be more to life than my normal nine to five existence - I really do want to be a rockstar so the girls come easy and I get laid! God, that’s all a long time ago now.

Over the past fifteen years, I’ve viewed hundreds of websites in my effort to help bands promote themselves on the Internet, and most of them are not sexy, They Are Fucking Useless, so much so that they wouldn’t get the juices flowing of even the most ugly, desperate, sex starved and zealous groupie. Frankly, a lot of band’s websites have the same effect as taking a freezing cold shower - which is extremely unsexy unless you’ve had a lot of beer!

physical conversation © Jan Brand van der Haar in acrylic

Real relationships, not fantasy pornographic relationships, I believe, are founded on love and trust. That might sound boringly monogamous, very un-rockstar like and the antithesis of a one-night stand philosophy, however, if you want to attract women (whatever), you need to be able to connect, love, laugh and enjoy a physical conversation! Creating a sexcessful website is exactly the same and the results are bliss.

How To Make Your Website Sexy

Firstly, obviously, you need a website. D’oh!

naaktslak slug © Jan Brand van der Haar

Speed It Up ~ Is It Love At First Sight? - Make sure your opening page loads at an ultra fast speed. [1] How quickly your website loads is now a green, carbon sensitive issue. Fast loading websites help to reduce bandwidth and costs, which is why Google looks kindly on speedy websites. [2] People don’t like waiting! [3] The faster you can get your message across, the more likely you are to score.

Keep HTTP/image/JavaScript requests to external websites to an absolute minimum, i.e: Google and affiliate ads, online image hosting (ImageShack & Photobucket), free hit counters and stats… Don’t use frames (which could mean loading four pages), web redirects or web cloaking. Don’t use Flash (for a number of reasons) or massive images.

Following on from getting across your message quickly, there is also the speed at which a first impression is formed and that leads me to, ‘Presentation’ - where will you insert your most important message?

unbutton result © Jan Brand van der Haar

Spruce It Up ~ What Are You Going To Wear For Your First Date? - Subjective. I wouldn’t normally talk about the visual design of a website, because in reality, prettiness is not that important to your website’s success! However, if you want your website to be sexy, there are a number of design suggestions to consider. [1] Present a simple, clean and easy to understand website. [2] Use contrasting colours (i.e. black on off-white) for text/background combinations so your readers find your message easy to read - eye strain usually results in a lame headache excuse! Position the main headings and subheadings to make blocks of text skimmable. [3] Create a website that works dynamically, not fixed width & sizes. [4] Your website will be a chick magnet if you design it with chicks in mind, find out what they like and ask them for their oppinions, then act on the inf./advice.

no underwear © Jan Brand van der Haar

Style It ~ Are You The One? - Be yourself. Be true to yourself. Know your own style, these are ‘constants’ and an important part of building a brand.

Express your band’s personality through your website, but don’t look like you’re trying too hard and always keep it in character with your Sound.

beautiful looker © Jan Brand van der Haar

Put Some Effort In ~ Be Cool. - Produce enough new and changing content (text, images & music) to hold the attention of your fans. Give out little nuggets of insider information, like: which fashion shops sell your gear, how to get a backstage pass [wink, wink] and which pub you are drinking in later… - radiate good vibrations.

By the way, if a blogger gives you a review, mention it and link back to the review from your website. Some people are really up their own arses a bit too far, they only think about themselves and about promoting themselves - tossers, give out a little love and you’ll get more back!

Holy shit © Jan Brand van der Haar

Paint It ~ Do You Stand Out In A Crowd? - You will have greater success if your website is original and is different - but you don’t have to reinvent it! Artists, I believe, must strive to find their own individual sound, style and look. Keep working on your website to move it forward, try introducing new angles - maybe by weaving the theme of your next album into your design? Think about branding but also about entertaining - because sex must be fun!

seed box © Jan Brand van der Haar

Plug It In ~ Have You Got A Sexual Chemistry Set? - There are a couple of problems that bands have with their websites that are as common as a slut with chlamydia! [1] The Website traffic is flowing in the wrong direction. [2] There is no reason for it to exist!

Traffic should flow towards your band’s website and not be directed away from it - your website must not be the pimp who supplies the john to the social media whore! Your Website Isn’t A Splash Page For Your Social Media. Do you understand? Traffic flows towards your website (just like sperm swimming towards an egg), not away from it!

Question: “What’s the fucking point of owning a website?”
Seriously, what’s the point? Well, the point is, a band’s website exists to promote the band to a wider audience, to enable the band to have full control over their business, and to introduce an air of stability (which might also be called professionalism) in an otherwise turbulent and developing world wide web.

It used to be MySpace that was the In social networking website for bands, now it’s Facebook, but in a week, a month or maybe years down the line it’ll be another site; the Internet is fickle, constantly changing and moving on. Stability, is a key word, a sexual pheromone.

So, why would a friend or follower want to go to your website? …That’s the 1,000,000th FaceSpace fan question!
How about, to sign-up to your mailing list (it clicks* with a website like rock’n'roll)? Or to read last week’s newsletter? Or maybe to find the travel details for your next gig …parking? trains? …et cetera? Or to pick up a free gift before buying your album (which is ever so easy to buy) and that’s also called link-bait? Hey, maybe it’s just to leave a comment about the band’s Holiday Snaps? Did you know, when your website has a purpose it will attract more women than you can shake a shitty stick at! …true! …you’ll attract hundreds of local tarts!

So the answer is: “To get ourselves laid like rockstars this weekend!”

Your sexed up website needs to: load quickly, look good, be in character, connect (link) correctly, be useful, be interesting, have a purpose, be very different, laugh, offer an easy mailing list sign-up, give something away for free, make the CDs easy to buy and accept credit cards? maybe have a newsletter and have very clear navigation - fuck a duck, that’s it!

Nickelback - Canadian rock band

I’ve captured a screen shot of Nickelback’s website header, because it is a beautiful example of a sexy website in action, visit it and have a good look around.

All works of art are by the Dutch artist Jan Brand van der Haar and are copyright ©Jan Brand van der Haar.

Jan Brand van der Haar (b.1947) is a self-taught artist and painter, living in Nijkerk, Netherlands. He paints primarily with acrylic on canvas and his subjects are many. The titles of the images are not easy to translate because they are cryptic, so I’ve used my best judgement - I hope it’s OK for you Jan! In order the images are: Physical Conversation, Naaktslak [Slug], De ontknoping [Unbutton Result], Antislip [No Underwear], Stuk [Beautiful Looker], Holy Shit and Semen Capsa [Seed Box]. Very Many Thanks Jan.

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