| Band Promotion for every musican is the key to | | | | reading this article most likely because you want to |
| success. To sell your music online, promote your band, | | | | start your own blog or are looking for ways to |
| promote your music or just showcase your band to | | | | promote your music. As a result, if you gain some |
| the world you need to be able to promote your music | | | | valuable information from this article then there is a |
| with success. | | | | good chance that you would return again to my blog |
| As you well know, blogs have been all the rage for the | | | | to read other articles. |
| last few years and rightly so. Blogs provide the reader | | | | The content needs to be informative and relative. You |
| with current news and content rather than some of | | | | will lose your reader just as quickly as you got them if |
| the out of date and stale content that may appear on | | | | you have nothing to offer. There is just too much |
| a lot of websites. If you are a musician or have your | | | | competition out there so you must add top quality |
| own band then starting a blog could help promote your | | | | content. If you are not sure what to write about then |
| music. Band Promotion is difficult enough and this is just | | | | read other blogs, not to copy their articles but to get |
| one way to help in promoting your band. | | | | ideas. There is nothing wrong with seeking out ideas |
| Blogs also rank highly in the search engines for a | | | | and then writing your own article with a different twist |
| number of reasons, most notably for their current and | | | | or adding new material. If your readers like your blog |
| relevant content. There are, however, several key | | | | they are likely to refer it to their friends which will |
| elements to creating a successful blog about your | | | | increase your subscriber base. |
| band or music as outlined below. You are competing | | | | Provide some incentive to get your reader to join your |
| with thousands of other bloggers within your subject | | | | blog newsletter or RSS feed. One of the trends in |
| area of music so you need to be different and follow | | | | recent times is to give away eBooks when someone |
| each of the key steps as outlined. | | | | signs up. You can create a 5 or 10 page eBook about |
| Do your research! You must know what is already out | | | | your niche topic. It has to be catchy enough to get the |
| there in terms of competition. You can do this by | | | | reader to give up their name and email for it. |
| typing in your blog subject matter into the search | | | | Promote your site via bookmarking. Some of the most |
| engines and seeing what appears in terms of blogs. | | | | popular sites include Digg, Technorati, Reddit, Jumptags, |
| Also, search the many blog directories to see who is | | | | stumbleupon and many more but these are the top |
| already writing about your topic of interest. Use the | | | | ones. You will be accused of spamming if you |
| Google keyword search tool to see what people are | | | | constantly promote and add your own content or site |
| searching for each month in relation to your topic. For | | | | so get some of your friends to help you out with this. |
| example, you would be best suited to focus on a topic | | | | These sites will track your IP address and can |
| that people are searching for and attracts more than | | | | permanently shut down your account so you will need |
| 50,000 searches a month. When it comes to music, | | | | to respect their terms of use. You can find that these |
| you could write about band promotion which has over | | | | "bookmarks" will give you some promotion on the first |
| 70,000 searches for these keywords each month. Or | | | | few pages of the search engines for your keywords. |
| maybe write about how to sell your music online or a | | | | Use RSS feeds. RSS feeds provide the reader with |
| related topic that people want information about. | | | | an option to receive updates when you add new |
| Find Your Niche! As already mentioned there are | | | | content to your blog. Once again you will need to |
| thousands of blogs out there on the internet about | | | | submit regular articles or news to your site and it |
| music, bands etc. They key is writing about a niche | | | | needs to be worth reading to keep the reader |
| topic and then you will be more likely to attract a | | | | subscribing to your blog. I have subscribed to blogs, |
| targeted audience. To try and compete with an | | | | newsletters and sites before only to be bombarded |
| already established blog that has high page rankings, a | | | | with emails selling products. I quickly went to the |
| strong viewer base, and lots of existing content is | | | | "Unsubscribe" button at the bottom of the email. |
| going to just get you frustrated. Focus on one key | | | | Encourage readers to submit comments about the |
| area of music or playing in a band and you will create | | | | various blog entries to submit. Your readers are there |
| your own loyal fan base who will crave informative | | | | because they have an interest in your topic so try to |
| articles. | | | | create a bond with them in making them feel a part of |
| Think about your blog title, domain name, description | | | | your blog. If they leave a comment be sure to respond |
| and content. Take your time in thinking about a catchy | | | | otherwise you will find that they are less likely to write |
| but relative domain name. It is very difficult to find the | | | | a comment again. |
| domain name you want as most one, two and three | | | | You will need to market your blog. This can be done |
| word top level domain names have already been | | | | by submitting your blog to the various blog directories |
| registered. You can buy one of these top level domain | | | | or by writing articles and submitting them to article |
| names from the owner but often the requested | | | | directories with an active link back to your blog. Submit |
| purchase price is unrealistic and just too costly. Also, | | | | a free press release about your blog, get into related |
| try to get a popular domain name extension. Try to | | | | forums and include an active link. Be sure not to spam |
| get the keywords in your domain name and blog title. | | | | or just sell your blog as you will be expelled from the |
| This will help in the search engine rankings. | | | | forum, be discrete in promoting your blog in these |
| If you already have your own website then create a | | | | forums. |
| blog using your own domain name. Why? If you create | | | | Form joint ventures with fellow bloggers or websites. |
| a blog from your own band or music website then you | | | | Invite other bloggers to submit content to your site and |
| will provide readers with the opportunity to explore and | | | | in return you can submit content to their blogs and |
| navigate to other pages on your website. This will also | | | | therefore cross promote. Most bloggers will follow up |
| help in branding, brand exposure and providing one link | | | | on a lead that will increase their exposure. As long as |
| for fans to find you. | | | | you are not in direct competition and only complement |
| If you don't your own website and are not keen to | | | | another blog then this can be a valuable option. You will |
| start your own blog then try starting a blog on one of | | | | also gain more content for your blog. |
| the top music network sites such as MyBandMate or | | | | Make your blog stand out! Add other forms of media |
| MySpace. Both provide tools for musicians to promote | | | | to the site. Add MP3s, videos, photos or even an audio |
| their music in many ways for free and one is in the | | | | interview. There are plenty of cheap ways to add this |
| form of a blog. This way you will already have an | | | | rich media content to your site. Make sure that they |
| established audience to read your blog. I would | | | | provide relative content that your readers are craving. |
| recommend doing this even if you do go ahead with | | | | Fresh Content! I can't state enough how much your |
| your own independent blog. The more exposure for | | | | blog needs to contain fresh, informative and related |
| your band then the more band promotion you will | | | | content. It will take some work to maintain a dynamic |
| achieve. | | | | and successful blog so devote at least an hour a |
| With your own independent blog it is important to | | | | week to working on your blog. Improve the |
| develop keyword rich content with the keywords | | | | appearance, promote it, add new content or pursue |
| appearing in the title, description, first paragraph without | | | | partnerships. |
| going overboard. You will be penalised if you just | | | | You can make money from your blog by adding |
| "overload" your pages and articles with too many of | | | | Google Adsense, affiliate links or generating income |
| the targeted keywords. You just don't need to do it | | | | from advertising on your blog. You will only gain |
| and Google is aware of all the tricks webmasters try | | | | interest from advertisers if you generate a significant |
| to use when it comes to achieving high page rankings. | | | | number of hits each day. If your goal is to promote |
| It's all about the content! Readers will return to your | | | | your music or band then don't lose focus of this by |
| blog if you provide them with informative and valuable | | | | distracting your readers. Good luck in promoting your |
| content about the subject you are promoting. You are | | | | music or band. |