Internet Marketing of Your Own Music

I am a huge fan of the Internet and all of the ways it can help you in your day-to-day life. It’s an incredible tool that can allow you to reach the entire world, right from your home.

Build a Web Site

The first thing you should do is build a Web site. Any business that is not on the Web is falling behind. Fortunately, building and posting a site has never been easier. There are a number of places where you can get a free templates. Simply add your information and you have a Web site. These companies also offer free Web hosting. In some cases, you may even be able to get your own personalized domain name. If not, it doesn’t cost much to get one.

There are also a number of applications that allow you to build a site quickly and easily, such as Front Page and Dreamweaver. Most of these applications are WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editors, which allow you to build a site without having to read and write code. They work very much like word processing software, and the learning curve is not that steep. Then, you can find very affordable hosting for your site, and even set up e-commerce so that you can sell your products on line. There is no better time that now to start learning about this incredible opportunity. Once you have your site up and running, you should think about how to point people to it. Unless somebody already has your specific URL (uniform resource locator), he’s not just going to stumble on your site by accident. Your Internet marketing plan should start with getting the highest search engine placement you can.

The main search engine that you should be concerned with is Google (google.com). There are other search engines out there, too, and you want to make sure that you are listed with them. But that can be a very daunting task because there are so many. A number of different companies will list your site with these search engines, and they don’t cost that much.

But before you do any of this, you need to make your site search engine–friendly. The first step is to use meta tags, which are HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) tags embedded in your Web site. Since meta tags are embedded in the HTML code, browsers don’t see them. They provide keywords and a description of your site’s content so search engines can find it. The best keywords describe your business, your location, what you are selling, etc. So choose your keywords carefully. The better your keywords, the more traffic you will get.

The next step is to go through your entire site to make sure that you don’t have any external or internal blind links. An internal blind link is a link to another page on your site that doesn’t exist, and an external blind link goes to another site that doesn’t exist.

There are a number of different tricks and techniques for getting the most out of search engines, and the rules are always changing as the Internet changes. If you need more information, do a Google search for “search engine optimization.”

One of the easiest ways to promote your site is to include it in your e-mail signature. The signature line should include your name, company name, address, phone number, and URL. Then the people you e-mail can check out what you do, who you work for, and what you are selling.

Finally, you should take every opportunity to drive traffic to your site. Make sure to advertise it at every single performance. Take lots of pictures at your gigs and post them, because that will drive more traffic to your site. People like to show pictures of themselves to their friends, family, business associates, etc. A digital camera will more than pay for itself in hits to your site. And the more traffic you get, the more CDs and swag you’ll sell. You might also hold drawings or giveaway specials for your visitors, or any other promotional schemes that can drive traffi c and increase your exposure.

Start a Fan Club

If your band is playing lots of live shows, that’s your best opportunity to interact with your fans. Ask folks to sign up for your mailing list. Have a sign-up sheet at every gig. That way you can stay in touch with your fan base and tell them about upcoming gigs, new releases, and all of the swag you’re selling. You may be surprised when they start showing up at your shows.

You should also consider doing a newsletter to tell fans what’s going on with your band. This will keep your name and brand out there.

Internet Promotions and Publicity

Finally, you should make the most of the Internet by doing a lot of promotions and publicity. There are a number of e-zines (Internet magazines) that will review your record or even interview you. It’s a great way to promote your music to a specific fan base. You can place your music on a number of services that will give you direct feedback from listeners. There are services where you can sell MP3s and CDs. Look for e-mail newsletters that will expose you to a broader range of potential customers. If you spend some time researching what is out there, you will be surprised at what you find.