I have got a couple of ‘biggish’ posts about bands’ websites and marketing music to fans up my sleeve - I’ll do my best to get them both out in Jan :)

I hope all the readers of this Band Promotion Blog have a wonderful and peaceful 2012.

Love Ian xxx

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.”

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 :)

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!

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 :)

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

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.

I was contacted by Dave Long of The Skarlets asking a video marketing related question. I visited The Skarlets website and was very pleasantly surprised by its high level of professionalism, it is one of the best band sites I’ve seen for ages - well done Roy Evans of Kaboodle Creative. Here is a little narrative for you!

UBP: Hi Dave, great to meet you. In my experience it’s unusual for a band to have such a polished website, what’s the story behind it?

Dave - The Skarlets: Cheers Ian, well we started out like most bands with just a MySpace page, but we found it so difficult to manage that no band member could be bothered with it! Not long after I met the singer from a Queen tribute act at the airport, he gave me the advice to create our own website. He also suggested that we include some quality video footage, preferably multi camera, of the band on the front page - which we’ve done.

UBP: Solid ritzy advice from ‘Freddie’ as per usual ;)

Dave - The Skarlets: Lol, yeah, of course the initial outlay is not cheap, but I would recomend this to any covers band if they want to progress. We also usually spend about £35 a month on a Google add campaign, this is a great help for potential customers who are looking for certain types of bands and it’s well worth doing, it increases your profile and brings great gig offers.

UBP: I think that you’ve hit the nail on the head, if a band (or a business) wants to progress they must have the confidence to invest in themselves, it’s not only about those long rehearsal sessions!

Dave - The Skarlets: Well it’s also about people, a huge thanks goes to Roy Evans for all the help he has given us with designing and managing the website!

UBP: Thanks Dave - The Skarlets are a dynamic and entertaining seven piece ska band from Reading, Berkshire. They play some of the very best ska and 2 Tone hits from the ’70s and early ’80s by artists such as, Jimmy Cliff, The Pioneers, The Specials, Madness, Bad Manners, Desmond Dekker and others - you’ll be up on the dance floor all night long. They are available for weddings, beer festivals, private parties and corporate events. And you can even Like them on Facebook - like I did :)

Add your bands favourite videos to your website or blog in minutes, for free! Here at Yokto we know you’re far too busy plotting global fame and super stardom to worry about the ins and outs of delivering mobile ready web video. So we’ve made it really easy, point, click, drag & drop and within a few clicks you can create entire TV channels of content for your fans to enjoy. Collect video from YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion and many more and combine them all into a single web player that’ll play on any device your fans might use - Web, mobile and tablet, for free!

Artists and bands the world over are using Yokto to maximise their exposure and help their fans share and enjoy their music, join them! - Get yours http://yokto.tv/

Good luck with that guys :)

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.

If you want to give your Album a loud shout out and at the same time give my all beautiful followers the heads-up on your release details, join me (if you haven’t already) & message me on Twitter; I will RT and ShoutOut your album, CD, EP and Demo. information.

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