Picking Features for a New Web Site

By John Eberhard

Whenever you set out to have a new web site designed or have an existing site re-designed, it makes sense to spend a little time at the beginning figuring out what features you want on the site.

Responsive

With the popularity of smart phones, pads and other mobile devices today, you should consider whether or not you want the site to resize itself to respond to the size of the mobile device being used to view it. They have now come up with a new buzzword for this, because as you well know, we don’t have enough buzzwords. A site that is set up to resize itself based on the size of the device is called “responsive.”

You should consider whether you will need or want this feature. If you are a local business and people are going to be searching for you while they are out and about, a responsive site is probably important. So make sure you work with a web designer who can provide that.

Wordpress or Other CMS

More and more clients today are requesting to have their sites built in a content management system (CMS) that allows them to log in and make minor changes to the site themselves. The three most popular CMSes are Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal. I have chosen to work mainly in Wordpress as I find its interface pretty easy to learn. So it has evolved to the point where most of the web sites I am designing today are in Wordpress, and even my own site is now in Wordpress.

Wordpress has a number of utilities, called “plugins,” that give added functionality, and which can include things like SEO functions, Google Analytics, forms, photo galleries, forums, calendars, slide shows, social media interaction and more.

I started using a purchased, highly customizable theme called Catalyst, which allows the site to be responsive as well.

Slide Show

Many sites today have a slide show, usually on the home page, less often at the top of every page. I think this is a good feature, especially if you have things to show that are visual in nature.

I believe that when it comes to images, bigger is usually better, so I most often set up these slide shows so that the images span the width of the site. And most of my sites today are 1000 pixels wide. A slide show 1000 pixels wide has pretty good impact.

I have made these slide shows in Flash for years. But recently I started using a program called the Nivo Slider, which offers some interesting transition effects between the slides.

Navigation

It’s smart to figure out how your site navigation is going to work at the beginning of the project. I favor and recommend a navigational structure whereby you can reach any page from any other page on the site. This strategy involves a set of navigational buttons that usually make up the general categories, with dropdown menu items below some of the main buttons.

This strategy with a set of buttons with dropdown menu items below them has become the common strategy today and has more or less replaced the idea that you click to go to one page and that page has more menu items on it that you can’t reach unless you are on that page.

A note on Wordpress. For some reason Wordpress and many purchased themes make it difficult to have a menu along the side. You can do it but it is much harder. If you’re going with Wordpress it is better to plan to have your navigation buttons along the top.

Forms

It’s important to have forms on a site, minimally on your contact page or newsletter signup page. But in the last year I have more been favoring putting a form into the sidebar, so it is on every page of the site. This prompts the visitor to contact you on every single page, and contact is what it’s all about.

Contact Info

Of course you should have a “contact us” page, but I am in favor of also putting the phone number and contact info on every page, once again encouraging the visitor to contact you.

Identity Capture

It is important to have things on your web site that prompt the visitor to respond and to give you his name and contact info. Of course you should have a contact page and an email newsletter signup page. But it is also a good idea to have other items on the site that get the visitor to give you his name and email, mainly for the person who is not ready to buy from you right now.

One good solution is to offer free reports (also called “white papers” which sounds more fancy) on topics related to your products or industry. This then prompts people who are interested in the topic to give you their email address, which allows you to then market to them periodically. When you create a free report or white paper, always offer it in such a way that the person has to fill out a form and give you his email in order to get the report. Never just give a download link on the site.

By getting the person who is interested in your topic (and therefore presumably a potential customer) but not ready to buy now, to fill out the form and give you his email, you are building an email list. Then you can keep your name in front of him so that when he is ready to buy, yours is the company he thinks of.

Good luck with your new or revised web site.

Posted via email from Real Web Marketing's Posterous

Promoting an Original Band: Michael Duff

by John Eberhard

Recently I wrote an article about promoting yourself as an artist. This is the first of a series I will be writing, interviewing artists who have had some success and getting their take on how to succeed in the marketing of their particular field of artistic endeavor.

This first article is an interview with Michael Duff, whose band Chalk FarM was signed to Columbia in 1995.

1. Can you give us a rough timeline of your band Chalk FarM, when it started, when you got signed, when you toured, etc.?

I left a band in mid 1993 & formed my own.  We played coffee house type places as a 3 piece (Acoustic Gtr, Bass & Drums) and in early '94 recruited an electric guitarist because the sound was evolving.  We got hooked up with a Producer who offered to record 3 songs for us - and we ended up doing 9 because it was so much fun.  That was Matt Hyde who we had produce the Columbia CD. 

We recorded these songs in the Spring, and a buzz began to happen through Matt.  He was telling his Industry friends and they were coming down to listen. 

We were playing shows in the wake of this buzz (summer '94) and found other people coming down.  We got one of the songs played on 101.9 "Local Licks" during the summer as well which helped. 

We were actually offered a Publishing deal - kind of loosely, but they told us to get an attorney.  We did and by December we were signed to Columbia.  It was fast.  And in February of '95 we were back in the studio with Matt to record the debut.

1. Before you got signed to a record deal, aside from putting together quality music, what did you do to market or promote the band, that was successful?

Performing was the best thing we did.  This was WAY before the Internet.  It was flyers from Kinkos passed out to everyone we knew and a pretty aggressive collection of addresses for the post-cards we'd mail out before shows.

1. Do you think that there is a formula of promotion or marketing that bands should follow today to get signed?

All that I hear is that it's all about Social Media, and I think that is a really good thing to do.  The interaction you can have with fans - and building a base is incredible.  But it's also important to play a lot.  That will only help in every way - musicianship, writing, people skills and building your fan base - getting the word out “on the street."

1. What do you think are the most important actions bands should take in order to reach the point of getting signed?

Well, what's interesting (depending on who you read or talk to) is that there is a different paradigm now for bands.  "Getting Signed" is not always the end you're after.  I do, however, feel pretty strongly that Major Labels still have a lot of power and if nothing else they have a staff and money to do promotion you wouldn't be able to do on your own.

But as far as the things I think are most important - I'd say:

1. Great songs.  I'm not talking about good songs.  I'm talking about GREAT songs.  There is a real need to step back and do the hardest thing for an artist - be objective.  Listen to other bands who do what you do.  Are your songs just as good?  Yes?  Brilliant.  No?  Then keep working at it until you feel they are.

2. Let people know you're there.  Read books and articles on Promotion - like you'll find in this blog.  Get the information and then USE IT!  And talk to other bands - what are they doing that is successful, what can you offer then that will help them?  It's not as cut-throat as you think.  Some of the best "Scenes" have created many big bands from within - their friends, etc.  It’s a community.  And from this you can build fan bases that are complimentary - do shows together and build together.  But all the while make yourself known!  You can do that so much easier now than even 10 years ago.  Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (do LOTS of videos!) and interact with everyone!

3. Network.  Yep.  It's a business and you need to treat it like one.  Go out when you're not performing.  Meet INDUSTRY people.  Go to other bands showcases - seminars, etc.  Meet and build relationships with INDUSTRY people.  Folks like to do business with who they like.  It's the way the world is.

We had 2 different people at Columbia bring tapes of ours to an A & R meeting.  They had no idea the other had a tape.  That was a big deal for them.  That occurred not by a master plan on our part, but by people we knew who liked us giving our music to people they knew who liked them and so on.

1. Can you tell us something about the whole process of performances that are done principally for record industry A&R people (“showcases”), and how to put on successful performances like this? Also how important is it for a band to do these performances?

I think this depends on the band.  If they're a gritty, dirty type band (death metal, punk, etc.) a showcase may not work as well since they tend to be a little more controlled and even a bit stiff.  If you're a great live band - do it in a club.  Make it one that you've played many times before and have a good following and you like the way the room sounds.  Industry types should be able to hear you.  :o)

If you're new - don't do a showcase.  Just go play.  And play a lot.  Unless you have someone close footing the bill for your whole record, etc., then the people who are thinking of investing in you (it IS a business and that's just what Labels do - even though it doesn't seem like it), will want to see you play live.  If you don't have it, they may well pass.  So play A LOT!!!  Find little dives and don't tell anyone.  Do out of town shows - play a lot and get good at it.  Then no matter where you play people who come will "get it."

1. How important do you feel social media is today for bands in promoting themselves?

See #4 above.  It's a method of getting yourself known.  Use it - and every other method you can find!

1. Do you think it is important for a band to have a website?

110%.  You won't be taken seriously if you don't have one.  As I said - it's a business.  And since all businesses have one, you need one too.  The music business website is just a really artsy version of a regular company one!  You need it to sell yourself, your music, promote your shows.  It's vital.

1. How about videos and YouTube?

I have 2 words: Justin Bieber.  Need I say more?

1. Any other advice you’d like to give to musicians who’d like to put out CDs and tour?

Do it.  The world NEEDS new music all the time.  Music evolves.  Help it along.  Take a chance and express yourself.

1. What’s your opinion of the practice of self publishing your own CD and selling it yourself?

It's more work than anyone should ever have to do.  However, if you are performing a lot it becomes a lot easier.  If you have a band it is easier still.  There is strength in numbers and that goes across the boards - numbers of hours performing, number of songs written, number of times your CD has been rejected by someone (seriously - that means you're getting yourself out there!).

Fortunately, there are lots of affordable places to do this all on your own if you want to go that route.  If you do it well and have the time and energy (bands do this best because there are more bodies to put forth effort in the right direction) it can be a profitable affair.

1. Has iTunes changed the recording industry?

Yes.  And not necessarily for the better.  But the Industry as a whole has that to blame, not Steve Jobs.  I think people got tired of paying $20 for 1 good song and 9-10 crappy ones - they were feeling ripped off - so a change was inevitable. 

I think the idea of an album is a good thing and iTunes changed that for good.  We've gone back to a "singles" mentality, like in the days before Sgt. Pepper made the album really cool (that's The Beatles, kids!). 

This is my name-dropping section of my answers: I was at a party talking to Lars of Metallica about this very issue.  It was a few years ago, not so long after the whole Napster fallout, and he was saying that after all the years they've specifically written an album as a whole unit - each song had a place and purpose within the whole, now they had to take a totally different approach and think along the lines of individual songs.  I don't think that we would have had "Master of Puppets" or the two that followed and made them famous if they had today's mindset.  Who knows?

But a lot of great music came from that "singles" mentality too, so it'll be interesting to see where we go from here!

1. What’s your opinion on the illegal free downloading of music and how this has impacted the recording industry?

This is a tough one.  I've heard a LOT of different takes on this - I've heard from one "Insider" that illegal downloading was the reason for a boom in the music business.  Turns out he was a criminal (went to jail) so I guess you need to consider the source.  Folks who illegally download will say it's great.  But I think most people want to exchange with the artists - it's a form of applause, actually. 

What I know is that the overall sales of music has been declining for many years and those are the numbers from which artists are paid.  If you can't make a living doing something, guess what?  You have to stop doing it and do something else.  What if Beck had to stop playing to go sell shoes or something?  What a loss that would have been, you know?  No offence to shoe salespeople!

The bottom line for me is a question I ask people when this issue comes up: "If I have a stack of CDs on my desk, would you take them?"  They always say no.  Then I ask them what is the difference between that and getting songs for free online.  There are an unlimited number of justifications.  Don't get me wrong, I'm good if your pal Jay-Z emails you a new track he's just finished but most people don't fall into that situation where they have permission of the artist. 

There are artists who do give away their music.  That's fine if that's what they want to do.  It never made sense to me, but that's fine if they want to.

At the end of the day I guess I just don't think stealing is good, whether it's from the Internet or my desk.

1. We hear that Chalk FarM has gotten back together recently. What are your plans for the band?

Yes, we emerged from our 12 year hiatus, reformed with all 4 original band mates and have been having a great time!  It's really fun.  We are all in very different situations now however and so our focus is not (as it once was) to jump in a van and tour.  Everyone has a family and grownup-type bills!  So we're looking at things from the standpoint of writing for placements - film and TV.  But even before that, we're doing it because it's a blessing to be able to do it.  And there are still some Chalk FarM fans out there who are interested in hearing more - which is also a blessing.

1. Any upcoming performances or events you’d like our readers to know about?

We just released 8 new songs on iTunes (see, it's not even a full CD's worth!) in a collection called "Into The Night"  We'll be playing some shows later this summer in LA, but mostly we're in a writing and recording mode.

See the Chalk Farm web site.

Good luck with with music marketing.

Posted via email from Real Web Marketing's Posterous

More SEO Case Histories

by John Eberhard

In my last article I discussed Google and how their Panda update in February 2011 supposedly discounted or even penalized the use of article directories for link building.

I have been submitting articles to article directories as a way of building high quantity links to my own and client web sites for over 6 years. So of course when news began to come out that the Panda update would be penalizing the use of article directories, I was concerned.

But I decided to let the statistics decide. As I mentioned in my last article, with link building you are trying to build up links to your web site, so that it will rank well in the search engine results for the keywords related to your business, so that you will get increased search engine traffic. The statistics I use that measure the success of link building are:

1. The number of links to the site
2. How high the site ranks for a group of keywords related to the business
3. The amount of traffic coming to the site
4. The amount of traffic coming to the site specifically from search engines

I recently wrote an article containing a case history of one of my link building clients. Here are two more:

Case History: Company A
Home Improvement Company

	Jan 2011	July 2011	Jan 2012	March 2012
Links to Website	7,800	12,800	24,100	21,900
Keywords with #1 position	6	4	10	11
Top ten keywords including #1s	22	18	22	39
Top 20 keywords including #1s and top tens	34	35	36	55
Top 100 keywords including #1s and top tens and top 20	68	68	69	106
Total Web Visits	972	1,208	1,307	1,338
Web Visits from search engines	382	319	292	378

We have been engaged upon link building with Company A for over two years, submitting articles to directories, submitting press releases to online PR sites, and blogging.

Note that links to the site will fluctuate up and down over time, even with constant link building activity. Note also that keyword positions are steadily gaining, as are total web visits.

Case History: Company B
Tree Nursery

	June 2011	Jan 2012	March 2012
Links to Website	5,610	27,100	12,600
Keywords with #1 position	3	4	4
Top ten keywords including #1s	15	23	29
Top 20 keywords including #1s and top tens	38	46	64
Top 100 keywords including #1s and top tens and top 20	117	103	158
Total Web Visits	2,077	3,631	5,866
Web Visits from search engines	715	1,628	3,818

We have been engaged in link building for Company B since May of last year. Note that their links hit a peak of 27,100 in January and have fallen off a bit since then, but experience tells me that continued link building will drive it back up again, as that has happened over and over with other clients.

Keyword rankings are steadily building, but the most dramatic change for Company B is a major increase in total web visits, nearly tripling from June 2011 to March 2012, from 2,077 to 5,866. And web visits from search engines have been the biggest part of that, going from 715 to 3,818.

Conclusions

Since they have by far the largest search engine market share, Google’s actions affect everyone doing business on the Internet, whether we like it or not. But if the Panda update supposedly was penalizing the use of article directories for link building, where does that penalty manifest itself with the two case histories above? I don’t see it.

I have seen it suggested by another author that Panda did not really penalize or discount the benefits from using article directories, but that they simply hit certain individual article directories and lowered their status. Who knows? Google plays with all its cards close to the chest.

But I think we are on fairly solid ground in judging matters with statistics, and the statistics show that this link building strategy is still working.

Posted via email from Real Web Marketing's Posterous

The 800 Pound Gorilla

By John Eberhard

Upon Google’s ascendancy a number of years ago to the number one spot in the search engine wars, they brought with them a new idea in how to measure and rank web sites: your site would be ranked according to how many other web sites linked to yours.

This was a new idea at the time, but has become the dominant factor in how search engines now measure and rank web sites.

Google then cautioned people that they should not try to build up links proactively to their web sites, but should allow a “natural link building pattern” to develop. And they advised people just to put up great content on their sites, and people would naturally link to them.

There’s only one problem with this advice to just put up great content and people will link to you – it doesn’t work! Maybe it works if you are Coca Cola or Fedex. But for small and medium sized businesses, I have seen it too many times that the company put up tons of great content on their sites, articles, advice, etc., and not one thing happened.

I have made analogy in the past that this is like advising a pretty girl to dress up really nice, put on makeup, and then sit in her living room and wait for the phone to ring. Don’t go outside or anything. You can open your front drapes, but that’s it. And for god’s sake don’t make any outgoing calls on that phone.

So the problem with the advice to just put up great content and wait for the links, for a small to medium business, is the same as for the girl waiting in her living room – nothing is going to happen. After 6-12 months of putting up great content you might find you have 100-200 links to your site. And you will find that you do not rank in the top 50 for any keyword except maybe your company name and your site traffic will be poor to non-existent.

But I see in many cases that because Google is the 800 lb. gorilla in the room, that many people just accept what they say as gospel truth and decide to follow their advice unquestioningly. It’s like this propitiating thing, sort of “yes sir, yes sir, great content, whatever you say sir.” I even see this with search engine optimization people, whose job it is to make their clients rank on search engines and should know better.

You may guess by now that I have chosen a different road. I chose to proactively build links to my own and my clients’ sites. I have developed several methods of doing this, including submitting articles to article directory sites, posting press releases on online PR sites, and posting articles and releases on blogs. Using these methods I have built up client links to the tens of thousands.

But Google hates this. They consider that anyone who builds up links to their web site using any method other than people naturally linking because of “great content,” is “gaming” their system.

And they have regularly set out to eliminate any advantage that people might be getting from link building. Several years ago people used to write to web site owners and ask to trade links. This is called reciprocal link building and was the primary link building method used by many people, until Google introduced elements in their algorithm which downgraded the advantage of reciprocal links about 3 years ago.

Then in February of last year Google introduced a new update to their algorithm called Panda. There has been a great deal of talk on the online marketing community since then about Panda, and one of its supposed purposes which was to eliminate the benefits of link building via article directories.

I was concerned of course. But I decided not to abandon my link building program, but to carefully monitor its results.

And how do you monitor the results of a link building campaign? Well let’s backtrack and ask what the purpose is of a link building campaign. You are trying to build up links to your web site, so that it will rank well in the search engine results for the keywords related to your business, so that you will get increased search engine traffic. Sort of indirect, but there you go.

So then the best way to measure a link building program would be to regularly check on:

1. The number of links to the site
2. How high the site ranks for a group of keywords related to the business
3. The amount of traffic coming to the site
4. The amount of traffic coming to the site specifically from search engines

I have kept close tabs on the above statistics for all my clients where I am doing a link building program. Here we are, a year and two months since Panda was released, and I am finding uniformly that all my link building clients are doing very well in terms of the above statistics. I wrote a case history article on one client recently and will be following up with several more in the near future.

Will I need to change my link building program eventually? No doubt. But has this Panda update impacted my clients? Not yet. Are they still benefiting from the link building program? No question.

The moral of this little fable is that young ladies should not just sit in their living room. Or, as we extend that analogy out to small to medium businesses, you have to promote your business, on whatever channels are available.

And when it comes to search engines, it is necessary to build links proactively and not sit passively in your living room. No matter how many grunts come from the gorilla in the corner.

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Three Different Types of Listings on Google

By John Eberhard

Google is always changing things so it is a challenge to keep up with what they are doing. Currently they show three distinctly different types of listings on a search results page.

Google AdWords

The first type of results that we see on a Google search results page is Google AdWords pay per click search results. The first three listings at the top of the left column, highlighted in yellow, are paid search results. These then continue down the thin right hand column.

You can start a Google AdWords account and get your ads to appear there, in response to any set of keywords that you select. So you pick your keywords, and then your ads will appear there whenever someone types in those keywords on Google.

The advantage of having a Google AdWords account is that you can get your ads up there quickly and they will start appearing right away. Exactly where your ad will appear depends on how many other companies there are competing for those keywords. If there are a lot your ad may appear well down the right hand column or even on page two. There are a number of factors that control how far down your ad will appear, but one of the primary factors is how high you are willing to bid. This is the amount you pay every time someone clicks on one of your ads.

But the basic advantage is that to a large degree you are in control of where your ad will appear and how fast it will appear there. The disadvantage is that it is a significant continuing expense. I have written extensively on pay per click advertising so you can refer to those articles if desired.

Organic Results

The next type of results you see on Google are organic listings. These are regular listings that appear lower down in the left column, and are not paid.

It can be a challenging and time consuming process to get your organic listings onto page one of Google for a high competition keyword. In order to do this, it is vital to have search engine optimization done for your web site, then do link building.

Search engine optimization consists of doing keyword research, selecting the best keywords, then writing titles and descriptions that utilize those keywords as much as possible, and inputting that data into the pages of your site. The best keywords are ones that are:

1. Appropriate for the specific page on your web site
2. Have as low competition as possible. This refers to the number of sites that are competing for that keyword. Most keyword research software will give this information.
3. Have as high daily searches as possible.

In doing research for keywords I have seen good keywords with as little as 1 competing site and as many as several million. This is an important factor because with a keyword that has millions of competing sites, you just aren’t going to be able to rank for that keyword.

Once you have your overall list of keywords selected, then you select several for each individual page for your site, then write the title and description for each page, then put those onto the pages. The title is what shows up in blue on a search engine when your listing comes up. The description is the short blurb that appears underneath.

Next you have to build up links to your site coming from other sites. Depending on what industry you are in and how competitive it is, in most cases you will need to build up thousands of links.

Google Maps / Places

Within the last two years Google has introduced a new feature that has completely changed the nature of search for local businesses. When Google is able to determine that your search is local in nature, such as a search for a restaurant, a dentist, or a Starbucks, it will bring up Google Maps (also called Google Places) listings.

Google will display a small map in the right hand column, and 3-8 listings in the left hand column that correspond to the map. These listings will have a gray sort of balloon, that will turn orange when you mouse over it.

If you put up a Google Maps listing, the amount of competition in your industry will determine how high your listing will show up. In some really competitive industries, like dentists for instance, there can be 100 or more listings. You can see just the Google Places listings for a search by, in the far left column, clicking on “more” and then “Places.”

So how do you get your Google Maps listing to move up to page one, especially in a competitive industry? Well first of all you may have to claim your listing on Google, then log in and make the listing as complete as possible, listing your hours, services, and uploading any pictures and videos that you have. Then there are two primary factors in determining where your listing will appear. These are 1) the number of listings you have on other local listings type sites (these are called “citations” in Google-speak, the only time it is good to have lots of citations), and 2) the number of online reviews on your business. There are a number of sites that allow people to post reviews, and Google used to show links to a number of these. But recently they changed to just showing the number of reviews on Google.

So it is important once you set up your Google Places listing, to start creating listings on other sites, and to get lots of positive reviews online. So it’s good to get a program ongoing to increase these.

Good luck in your search engine marketing efforts.

 

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Your Street Address on Your Web Site

By John Eberhard

I came across a really interesting issue this week in regards to how you present the street address of your company on a web site.

A prospect, located in a large suburban city of Los Angeles, was concerned that when searching for their category of business, along with “Los Angeles” in the search field, that their business did not come up at all. In other words, and I’ll change the category to keep things discreet, if you searched for “copper containers Los Angeles” a company whose business is located in Glendale, CA would not come up.

Now Glendale is a major suburb of L.A. and is definitely part of the L.A. metro area and is actually not far from downtown L.A.

In this case we were looking into how to specifically improve the position of this company’s Google Maps/Places listing, which as I mentioned did not come up at all when searching for this category with “Los Angeles” included. Their listing came up first when you searched for their category with the word “Glendale” included. But the thing is that hardly anyone would search for this category of thing with the word “Glendale” included. This particular business is not a neighborhood thing like a dentist. If someone was going to search for them with a city name attached, it would be the name of the metro area, in this case Los Angeles.

In searching myself for this category with the words “Los Angeles” in the search field, I reviewed all the other Google Maps listings of other companies in this category. And I noticed a very interesting thing. Every one of them listed their city as “Los Angeles.” And in going to several of their web sites, they listed their city name on the web site as “Los Angeles,” regardless of whether they were in a suburb of L.A.

This may seem like a stupid minor detail. But consider that handling this one minor point right could mean the difference between your listing coming up and not coming up at all.

So here’s how you decide how to handle this. If your company is a local business that handles customers only from a small part of town, such as in a cluster of 4-5 suburbs (like a health care practice or a retail store), then you should leave your address as the exact suburb that you are in.

But if your business handles customers for an entire metro area, or if your business is regional or national, you should list your company address on your web site, wherever it appears on the site, as the metro city, i.e. Los Angeles, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, etc. And your Google Maps listing and all other local listings on other sites should list the metro city too.

Doing this one simple action will significantly improve your online visibility and website marketing.

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Promoting Yourself as an Artist

by John Eberhard

Back in the 1980s I made a living working as a musician, playing in nightclubs around New England.

I didn’t know much about marketing back then, but a fellow musician had told me the formula for getting work in nightclubs. He said you needed to have a good quality demo tape of the band, about 4-8 songs, not whole songs but snippets, an 8x10” glossy photo of the band, and a song list. He said you make up a package with all that in it, locate agents who book the clubs where you want to play, and call them and send them that package.

That formula turned out to be pretty good, as I was able to book bands pretty steadily using it. That was just for booking a cover band working in nightclubs. The formula for getting a band a recording contract would of course be more extensive and more complex.

But the point is this: to be successful in any sector of the arts requires that you not only have your act together artistically, but that you find out what the successful formula is marketing-wise for getting where you want to go. And then market yourself aggressively using that formula.

Back in the day I think I had the idea that if I just was really good at what I did as a musician, then things would work out alright. I didn’t have the idea that I had to aggressively market myself. And certainly I was never taught to market myself, even at Berklee College of Music.

I think that with too many artistic schools today, they place all the emphasis on teaching the artistic technique, and completely forget to include teaching students that to be successful as an artist you have to promote yourself, and have a feel for how the business works. An artist is essentially an entrepreneur. Because let’s not forget, that if you don’t eventually start making money with your art, it will of necessity be relegated to the status of a hobby after a time. Because as you get older, your monetary needs will increase.

Making Money with Art

First of all, realize that your goals need to include getting paid for doing your art. This sometimes requires a reality shift, because so often, musicians, actors, dancers, and other artists are expected and asked to perform their art for free. Artists have to fight this expectation, because it is inherently unfair. So finding ways of getting paid has to be part of your thought process, not only for down the road, but also for right now.

Next, figure out what your eventual goal is, and find other successful artists who have achieved that goal. Ask them what the formula is for promoting yourself as an artist to achieve that goal. Sometimes successful artists will jealously guard the secret of their formula, being afraid of competition. But often, especially in Los Angeles, artists of various types will give seminars on succeeding in the business, or you can find books giving this type of information. Be aware also that that formula will change from time to time, so make sure you have up to date information.

Using the Internet

Regardless of the specific formula needed to achieve your specific goal in your artistic field, there are some universal opportunities afforded by the Internet today for online marketing, and all artists can make use of these.

• Facebook: Set up a personal profile and a fan page on Facebook, then get lots of friends on the personal profile and get lots of people to “like” your fan page. Then start posting status updates regularly (to both), just saying what you are doing as an artist. Don’t just use text, but include photos, links to videos, links to music clips, links to articles, etc. That gives it more impact.
• Blogs: Start a blog, and start posting material to it on a regular basis. This can be similar to what you would post on Facebook, but more extensive. Write articles, write updates on what you are doing as an artist. Post pictures, videos, music clips, etc., whatever is appropriate for your field to show your work. Make sure you send a notification to the blog search engines every time you post something. You can use www.pingomatic.com, or Wordpress blogs do this automatically.
• Twitter: Start an account on Twitter and start following lots of people and get them to follow you back. Try to target people who would potentially be a consumer for your artistic product. With Twitter you can target people in a certain geographical area, you can target people who have certain words or phrases in their bio, or target people who write certain words or phrases in their tweets.
• Ping.fm: This site allows you to start an account, then hook up all your other social media accounts to it. Then you can post status updates from Ping.fm, and they will automatically go out to all your social media accounts and all your friends/followers will see them.
• YouTube: Get some videos made of your work or performances, and post them to YouTube. Then promote the video on all other online media, such as through your blog, Facebook and Twitter, etc.

LinkedIn is generally considered to be a business networking site, so that may or may not be useful to you as an artist. MySpace used to be THE social media site, but has declined severely over the last couple years. Bands still use it.

Summary

In order for you to be successful long term as an artist, you have to exchange your work with the public, and they have to pay you money. Unfortunately our society is not very good about rewarding artists, so you not only have to be good, but you have to market yourself aggressively. And part of that has to include finding the correct formula of promoting yourself to reach the so-called big time.

Good luck with promoting your artistic endeavors.

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