While working with new bands recently, I’ve encountered the same question over and over again: I want to get started on my music promotion, I don’t have a website but I want to get started making online sales.  I’m not a blogger but I want to spread the word, what do you reccomend?

The interesting part to this question is that each band or artist was involved in completely different scenarios.  Some bands were already performing and needed to setup immediate sites for email capture and promoting new shows.  Other artists were a “one man band” and wanted to take their music and test the waters.  With each I replied: Set your own pace according to your goals.

When discussing an online marketing campaign with each artist or band I asked them a few questions to gauge expectations and understand what they want to achieve.  It is very important to define before any WordPress installation begins, the numbers don’t lie.

What Kind of Racehorse is Your Blog?

I am a big fan of Zenyatta, a beautiful racehorse that is setting incredible records and she just recently won her  17th consecutive race here at my favorite track, Hollywood Park.  Zenyatta is known for keeping consistent with racing within her means.

For example, as the races get tougher with higher quality opponents, she still races at a pace comfortable to her.  No matter if the field is filled with quality sprinters, she loves to race from behind to maximize her greatest push and not burn out at the end.

How does this relate to your initial blogging campaign?  You must understand what kind of blog you either want or already have and guide it in the direction of the pace you want to achieve to win your race.  What kind of  time are you willing to dedicate to your writing and promotion?

Setting a schedule to pace your ideas over time will create the momentum to keep this project fresh and consistent.

Is Your Blog An Outlet for Expression or a Sales Strategy?

This is an important question to ask yourself when looking at your initial blogging campaign because they each yield different results.

My blog is my sales strategy in action, ultimately my outlet for expression with a purpose.  If your goal is to sell music, what kind of specific strategies do you want to test to get you higher conversions?  Are you marketing with a purpose?  Is each article designed to get viewers to your store or just to inflate your ego that you got new visitors?

I have been on both ends.  I was able to get increasing traffic on a monthly basis and felt this is all I needed with low conversions.  I had one blog where I was happy with 4% conversion rate because I was lazy and didn’t want to increase that percentage, I was happy with increasing visitors.

Ultimately, you want to make the most of your visitors and make them repeat their visits.  By taking that 4% as a lesson, I created a stronger email campaign and more articles based around what was selling.  That was the day I went from passive income to active income.

What Did I Do Today To Help My Promotion?

Be prepared to ask yourself after each task, how did it help my overall promotion or goals I want to achieve.

If your music site is your sales strategy, what specifically are you going to do to implement it?  Keeping this mindframe will create a purpose for your work.  I hate busy work, I want to create tasks that yield results not just time loss.  If you wrote an article, how did it help your cause?  Did you actively or passively  ask for mailing list sign up or push for downloading your new song?

The point of this activity is to get your brain started in creating plans that you can grade and make correlations to winners and losers.  Spend time where it is showing most promise.  Failure occurs and its up to you how you bounce back and tighten your operation.

Even if you haven’t started blogging yet, get to your nearest text editor or Google Docs and start writing down some ideas for articles you have in mind.  Get active and write down all topics for future use, don’t wait.

Hip Hop Distribution Homework

You don’t have to be a writer to be a blogger.  You just have to have enthusiasm about your work and promote it consistently.  Promotion sounds like an infomercial to many, half of the time it just involves connecting with readers and engaging in conversation with fans.  It’s easier than it sounds.

Answer some of these questions before our next session:

1. Do you have time to dedicate to writing and promoting your music throughout the week?
2. Do you have a mission statement, expressing your overall goals for your music operation? If so, what is it?
3. What kind of content do you have to offer? (music, articles, videos, pictures) How do you plan to use it towards your sales strategy?
4. Are you part of a band or solo artist?

These questions will get the ball rolling until we discuss more specific ways of promoting online.  I learned from my hit and miss tactics in the past, now I feel comfortable we will both benefit from a little planning and action in motion.

I no longer assume what an artist knows about online promotion.  It is to his/her benefit to understand the marketing aspect so that they can engage with their fans and maximize how they can help their online visibility.  If a fan asks how I can help, don’t just reply “buy my album” because of arrogance.  Share articles, ask them to invite a friend, offer free music, or just conversate on Twitter and build a relationship.  Invest in your marketing.

The music hustle is a cold beast.  The main reason I haven’t posted here in some time is due to redefining what I want out of this music journey.  I was formerly half of Fried Roots, and while I and fellow Fried Roots partner decided it was time to part ways, there was alot of  discovery to be proud of and lessons learned in that 3 year time period.

First lesson: No Regrets! Deciding to run an independent label out of Los Angeles was one of the best decisions I could’ve made.  I definitely came out of that experience with a sense of knowing what I wanted to accomplish, especially when times were rough and money was running low.

Second lesson: If You Haven’t Failed, You Aren’t Trying Hard Enough. This is one of my favorite quotes from Albert Einstein that really has hit home more as a life lesson, than just a business experience.  Not taking the easy road and not just settling for safe choices created the gut check I needed.  Along the way, I discovered a passion for music marketing, helping other independent musicians, and the ultimate one: I  love creating music and promoting it.

Third lesson: Define What Roles You Want To Take Part In. Running a record label takes alot of manpower and defined roles to ease the stress on those creating music.  As blogging came into the picture, our marketing roles were tested.  Marketing takes time and effort and with a smaller operation, it can be demanding.  The roles I assumed came as I encountered them.

We went from musicians just wanting to promote music to having to adapt and learning about: web design, web maintenance, content creation, article promotion, social networking, accounting, planning and budgeting, defining music business plans and revising, and the list goes on.

After all was said and done I got to work on my passion: just creating music I love.  Small tasks and team development would have made life easier and business better.  Small budgets no longer are an excuse, its time to trade talent for talent and make the most of your dreams.

Fourth lesson: Learn and Don’t Repeat Your Mistakes. After all is said and done, there are many lessons learned from ambitious endeavours.  From taking on multiple roles, I now understand what to expect from services I will pay for or when I have people work for me.  For example, with an intern I can demand some of the same tasks to be completed that I laboured over, or if I had a web designer work on a site I can now make explicit demands to what I want accomplished.

The roles we assumed were expected and we were not naive to what we were getting into, the problem was cost cutting when money wasn’t abundant.  Do It Yourself has a greater meaning for me and this blog is here to aid all musicians looking to ease their efforts of marketing online, I laboured just like you.

After viewing online accomplishments, I am proud to say that numbers don’t lie and there is alot to be hopeful over such as

1. digital sales are increasing, with low distribution costs
2. monthly visitors to the site were rising due to good promotion
3. low entry cost to starting all over
4. planning specific tasks will ease the new projects
5. creativity is a habit, work efficiently and effectively
6. I will use this blog to help you and I understand where we can improve from a fresh project
7. I am more willing to learn than ever before
8. New enthusiasm: music is timeless and promotion is relentless

Thanks for listening and please feel free to drop your thoughts on your experiences, obstacles and life lessons you have encountered on your road to music promotion.

I am not looking to create another record label, because I think there is a more creative approach to what I want to accomplish and I believe many multi-tasking musicians out there can relate to that question of trying to figure out what is innovative and suited to what you want out of your music.

After all is said and done: Damn, I LOVE HIP HOP!!!

I was looking for inspiration for my mailing list strategy and chose to check out what the commercially cool kids were doing on Billboard’s Hot 100.  I randomly chose 10 artists from this weeks Hot 100 and wanted to ask some questions:

1. How hard is it to sign up to their mailing list?
2. Do they have a mailing list offer with any free music?
3. What are they offering to make me want to sign up?
4. What catch phrases are they using to invite you to sign up?

The real thing I also wanted to see is how these big labels  are now dealing with this new “socially conscious” movement of marketing and social networking.  By now they must have made adjustments and learned from some independent musicians’ success, right?

I was disappointed with a majority of the sites that I looked at.  There is a reliance on popularity and a somewhat arrogant attitude by not creating offers for fans.

Random Billboard Artist Experiment

A. Robin Thicke

1. I could not find a mailing list to sign up for
2. There is NO free music offered
3. There is a “Community” section that is used to capture emails, but doesn’t really peak interest into reasons to subscribe
4. no catch phrases and no mailing list

B. Usher

1. There is a mailing list sign up found at the top right of the page
2. There is NO free music offered
3. No offer clearly stated for the mailing list.  There is a Community section and Contest offered for a personalized Platinum record used for capturing emails as well
4. “Join Newsletter” is the catch phrase used

C. Timbaland

1. There is no visible mailing list on home page
2. There is NO free music offered
3. Not offering anything for signing up.  There is a “Community” section that encourages signing up, but community section looks boring
4. No catch phrase found for a mailing list

D. Trey Songz

1. There is a mailing list sign up section in the right sidebar, easy to find
2. There is NO free music offered for signing up
3. Not offering anything to encourage signing up, there is a “Community” section as well for catching emails
4. Catch phrase:  “Sign in, Join the Community, Upload Content”

E. Alicia Keys

1. Left hand side bar there is a mailing list sign up form
2. There is NO free music offered
3. There are no clear offers for signing up.  There is also a “Community” section to capture emails, featuring fans and social networking
4. Catch phrase: “Stay up to date with the latest from Alicia Keys. Get the Newsletter!”

F. Rihanna

1. Mailing list sign up found in the middle of the page
2. There is NO free music offered
3. There are no other offers seen, just another “Join” tab to get more emails.
4. Catch phrase: “Join The List”

G. Lady Antebellum

1. Join mailing list found on the top right corner, join by email or mobile, easy to find
2. There is NO free music offered
3. There are no other offers for signing up.  “Fans” and “Join the Community” are prominent.  Entice you by being able to post blogs, comment, rate and vote on stuff
4. There is no catch phrase for the mailing list.  The “Community” section offers some reasons to sign up, more along the lines of social networking. Joining the mailing list also gives options to join the street team and their community

H. Muse

1. Mailing list easy to find on left hand side of website
2. There is NO free music
3. No offers, more of a newsletter
4. Catch phrase: “Register for the mailing list: get the latest Muse news on albums, gigs, competitions and more”

I. Train

1. “Join Now” found at the top and another mailing list sign up is found in the right sidebar
2. There is NO free music offered
3. There are no other offers
4. Catch phrase: “Join the email list”

J. Miranda Lambert

1. Newsletter sign-up found on right sidebar.  Join fan club also found to emphasize community
2. There is NO free music offered
3. There are no other offers, but fan club promises perks.  You buy into her fan club by purchasing fan kits.  This gives you access to meet and greets, fans only merchandise and personalized “Fans of the Month” newsletters
4. Catch phrase: “Subscribe to Miranda’s free monthly newsletter”

Surprises?

Overall I was very surprised by Artists not offering some free music to get mailing list subscribers.  They don’t have to offer continuous free albums but they should reward a visitor with something they can listen to.

Your music is your best marketing asset.  Offering free music doesn’t always have to get a bad rap.  Free music that is downloaded and copied to a new fans music library is such a plus.

The branding begins as your name pops up on random play-list. Let your fan hear musical reminders and let your email strategy draw them back into new projects.

I got used to knowing many new music acts from just being on Twitter and letting their “Timeline” marketing happen, and I’m pretty sure your music can serve the same purpose in someone’s library, it just has to reach it first.

Most of these artists had “community” pages that allowed fans to chat with other fans, and keep alerted on the band’s news.  The community section seemed to replace traditional email marketing for most acts, which didn’t make sense to me.  What about fans that don’t want to chat with other fans but just want to receive music and news only?

The Catch phrases were not enticing at all and this is due to the fact there were no free offers. Internet marketers do it all the time with offering free PDF’s in hopes to get you to see value in exchange for your email.  Shouldn’t your music serve that similar purpose?  The recent mailing lists I signed up for offered some form of free music, almost as a test drive to get to know artists.  “Join my newsletter” is just not good enough.

I expected more of these mistakes from artists with limited budgets or ones that are on the independent grind.   By looking for inspiration I actually found the same problems left unsolved.

Some of the sign up forms seemed more like the record labels were only concerned with collecting demographics.  They were vague in regards to what you would receive with the mailing list but they were very direct to ask you for name, address, mobile, zip code, country, or favorite social network.

This was a test to grade initial impressions of mailing list sign up forms.  Some of these artists might have great autoressponder sequences to sell new subscribers, but what use is it if its not grabbing the attention of new readers.

As a musician, finding a mailing list service is key.  The next step is, how will you attract fans to sign up?

I’ve been really impressed to see independent artists being more creative than established acts in this area.  My attention is drawn towards value and quality, not so much on popularity.

What makes you sign up for someone’s mailing list?

Independent music is alive and strong. I came across an article from writer Alex Pham from the LA Times that discusses Youtube’s plans to share ad revenue with independent musicians. Youtube is trying to attract more users to the social networking aspect of their site, versus just letting visitors watch a video and run.

I can see this as being an ok source of passive income coming in to your music operation. I really want to see how this plays out according to their ad model. How much traffic is needed to generate some modest earnings?

The great thing about this is you are already working on pushing your Youtube presence. No harm, no foul. The experiment begins. I sure hope it can generate more than Adsense daily earnings.

I’ve been using Google Trends recently for expanding my reach. I was intrigued by meeting influential music bloggers all over the globe. Ultimately, there is no lost cause here in research as long as you work towards your sites promotion. These were some of the initial tasks I wanted to accomplish in this test:

• Commenting on international blogs, increasing visibility
• Seeking out international blog reviews of my music
• Using Twitter and Facebook to build relationships with new friends

Why Use Google Trends?

Google Trends allows you to see the world’s interest in certain search terms tracked by Google over time. The nice thing you can see is georgraphic regions that showed increased search interest in your keyword. The accuracy of specific data may contain some inaccuracies due to data sampling issues and a variety of approximations, however, for our purposes the information will work.

In the image above I used the term “buy hip hop” as a general example to see any increasing or decreasing trends and also to find out what regions I could research to expand my music marketing efforts. I would recommend doing genre searches in relation to your music. What tags do you use to describe your style of music?

Regions Results

The image to your left shows some of the regions results where “buy hip hop” was being searched. You can see the different regions aside from the United States, such as South Africa, Canada,New Zealand, UK, and Australia.

Google trends is giving me an idea of some different places to reach out to globally where hip hop searches are flourishing. Now that I have a list of some countries to reach out to, I will do a Google search.

For instance, I will take UK as an example and search “Google UK” for their search engine listings. I will use the http://www.google.co.uk/ address to see search results that are UK specific and include world results.

I get a better chance to connect with bloggers in the UK by doing a variety of searches, such as “hip hop blogs” or “hip hop reviews”. I like to also refine the search and just select “pages from the UK” and resubmit

Positive Results

• I was introduced to new hip hop bloggers in the UK and exchanged information over Twitter
• I was able to ask what social networks are hot where they live
• I can create a network slowly that can increase my online presence globally, exchanging promotion
• I was able to find some blogs that review music from the UK and the US. Great for future free music initiatives and iTunes projects
• I wouldn’t have found some of these friends if I didn’t try this, they didn’t show up in my regions’ search results. Worth the effort

The list is slowly building. It ties in with a recent article I wrote called “The Blogging Fan is My Publicist”. The plan is to develop future marketing partnerships, exchanging promotion as a possibility. I want to work on creating different channels where my music and content can be sent out to a relevant audience.

I want to reach out to overseas fans. Hip Hop overload in the US is very prevalent. Put your music in front of fans that want to hear it, just do some research. Write down a couple of search terms and search Google search results for that specific region. Get creative with your own searches. Your music dies when your promotion stops.

Part of my DIY experience is about just testing things out.  My music could always use extra promotion and after seeing some sales stats from my old album, I started thinking.

My album sales were down but my singles sales went up.  Instead of finding this discouraging and abandoning the Do It Yourself effort I decided to do some more writing.  How can I promote my individual tracks and create better sales and more time spent on the site.

I came across this free WordPress Plugin called WP Post Footer. This plugin allows you to make different post footers that follow your article. I wanted to use this for custom messages for different articles on my blog, and increase time of visits and create a better call to action.

Reason For The Project

I am working on multiple web projects and have been studying Search Engine Optimization since 2004 when I worked for a Content Creation company, focused on creating free, organic traffic from search engines.

Marketing music is a different beast, however, certain concepts in internet promotion are dead on with what we as musicians need to focus on.

How can we increase music purchases? How can we have visitors spend more time on our blog? How can we increase our chances of getting articles shared virally on Twitter and Facebook?

Classic Marketing Example

The classic marketing example includes interlinking relevant articles to your posts.  If I had a book about Building a Studio, I would write on my blog about the different steps such as soundproofing or building a mic booth and so on.

A home musician is now searching for tips or books on building a studio.  He/She discovers your article about “Building a Mic Booth” and finds the content very helpful.

At the end of that article you include a post footer to “sound proofing and bringing out the best of your mic”.  You are introducing a relevant user to exploring more of your blog, helping them and potentially selling them on your book.

The best part of this is you are encouraging potential fans to explore more of your music.  If someone directs me to just their album, I might be hesitant to just sit there and listen to the whole thing.  By introducing your style in affordable packages such as presenting free singles or $1 singles, fans might be more inclined to find something they like.

3 Songs With 3 DIfferent Messages Test

Post #1 is our first example.  I have a track that was produced with some grimey hip hop drums and soul breaks.  What I will do now is add a post footer to the end of this  post directing visitors to a similar track from my old catalogue.  I am promoting a new song and letting them know where they can find a similar song from my archives.  Increase relevance.

Post #2 takes on an instrumental post.  I am a Hip Hop head that loves to write rhymes and produce music.  I wanted to write a post about a recent instrumental I made.  If they like it, I provided a post footer to where they can find an older instrumental album we made on Bandcamp that is free. 

Selling doesn’t always have to be the point.  Give them something free and create a starting point for a relationship.

Post #3 is my beats per minute experiment.  Slow tracks, fast tracks, similar beats per minute, lounge or dance themes.  Pair up similar sounding tracks and lead the way to introducing them to other singles, highlighting your versatility and your catalogue.

I love the fact that now your album has multiple advertisements introducing people to your project’s concept.  The additional tagging for you singles will be very good for the search engines.

Worth A Shot

From an internet marketing view I love the idea of getting readers to follow more content on my site because it related to the current topic they were reading about.

From a musical standpoint I love it because it acts like Pandora in a sense of providing similar sounding music, except its from your band or collective.

I knew I needed a mailing list for my music promotion. Every music blogger out there will tell you “YOU NEED A MAILING LIST”. Once I found my mailing list solution, I knew it was time to strategize and plan.

While I agreed it was important when I first started, I didn’t know too much about what I could really accomplish with Aweber. It’s not just about collecting an email and shooting out a newsletter.

I read some articles and became convinced that my mailing list promotion needed attention and not treated as just another tool.

Here is a collection of awesome articles to get your mind thinking on different ways to approach your mailing list promotion.

Email Marketing Insight

Darren Rowse from ProBlogger: How I Use Email Newsletter To Drive Traffic and Make Money

1. interesting example of an email cycle
2. customizing your welcome email
3. creating themed updates for promoting your artform
4. adding promotions throughout a sequence of emails

Michelle Bowles from Top Rank Blog: 5 Top Email Marketing Tactics for 2010.

1. creating viral campaigns
2. monitoring open rates and click rates
3. engaging new subscribers

Sonia Simone from Copyblogger: Why Email Marketing is Dead (And How to Bring It Back to Life)

1. focusing on what your fan wants or needs
2. email is “a more intimate medium than RSS”

Invest In Your Music

Invest time into your list. Build your list over time and finally market your music to people who are actually interested in what you do. They did sign up, didn’t they?

Image provided by Danilo Rizzuti

I recently did a guest post and noticed some great opportunities.

Social networking makes it very important to acknowledge and help those that help you. Maybe that is not an approach that every musician wants to take, but from a small operation standpoint, I love the Idea.

While reading Technorati’s “State of the Blogosphere 2009” I wanted to observe some blogging growth trends.

But as the 2009 State of the Blogosphere survey demonstrates, the growth of the blogosphere’s influence on subjects ranging from business to politics to the way information travels through communities continues to flourish. In a year when revolutions and elections were organized by blogs, bloggers are blogging more than ever, and the State of the Blogosphere is strong.- Jennifer McLean

The Blogging Fan provides an interesting aspect. I’m thinking about engaging with readers on my band site that also have blogs. If this aspect flourishes in internet marketing, why not music marketing?

This is not to neglect other fans, it is to explore who your fans are. How can you help each other? This is not a promotion that is done at random just to increase traffic, its to build relationships.

I see backlash on Twitter from fans disliking artists for their lack of engagement, or still pretending you are bigger than life and are too busy for your fans. I couldn’t agree with the fans more. I’ve even contacted artists with a similar fanbase as mine and was shocked to see how they viewed themselves as rockstars, when their follower size and website look proved otherwise.

What did I learn?

Reward those that show interest in you.

What Blogging Has Taught Me About Online Street Teams

I have always stressed how important gaining visitors is to your site, and even though sales can be sluggish, don’t give up your efforts to improve. One thing I think people overlook is how important of an asset your visitors are. Traffic is a good thing, the more the better. How can you make it work for you?

I was offered to do guest blog for a larger site and I was happy for the opportunity to be featured on a blog with such high visibility, seeing traffic trickle in and introducing a new form of visitors to my project.

In return, I wrote a review about the author and introduced my readers to his site and my article. I reciprocated because I wanted to, not because I had to. I appreciated the acknowledgement. I was more willing to promote his site in the future. I already enjoyed visiting the site, now I found myself talking about the site to others.

Create that feeling for your blogging fans. It doesn’t have to be a guest post. It’s about relationships and learning from one another.

The Blogging Fan Initiative

When your blog starts expanding, your fans start showing up in your comment section. Now it’s time to get to know some of your fans. Let them know you see them, and appreciate their time.

Let them share as your traffic rises. Traffic is what you can return to your fans. Bloggers love more eyeballs staring at their content.

The project is in the hands of the musician. How can you show love for your blogging fans?

1. “Fan of the Week”: find a fan that has a provided some good input to your music or has been a loyal reader. Highlight them in a post and introduce your listeners to them. Highlight who they are, what they do (their website) and where fans can learn more about them. Create a sense of community. Introduce fans to other fans.
2. Visit a Fan’s blog and participate: return the love if you actually enjoy their subject and comment on their blog. It doesn’t have to be music related, it just has to be genuine. Don’t fake it just to promote, genuinely get to know people. Build relationships.
3. Twitter Promotion: introduce your followers to your new friends and Retweet an article they wrote or a website they write for (only if you like it). Great way to show your love for new followers.
4. Social Bookmarking: If you like any aspect of their blog, Stumble or Digg an article. It takes less than a minute and helps their cause tremendously
5. Mention In Newsletter: some fans are producers, musicians or artists, they would probably love the promo

These are just some examples so get creative with some of your own techniques. You might find its easier than you think to build these bridges.

Blogging Fans Respect The Effort

For the independent band or musician, bloggers carry alot of weight. I even believe on a lower level, bloggers outweigh traditional press releases when established in the proper channels.

Don’t view it as a chance to get your music reviewed, view it as a way to increase your visibility with people who are more likely to return the favor in the future. It’s only selfish marketing when you don’t put in the effort to help others. Nobody owes you anything.

Practicing this allowed me to meet some generous souls out there that now I can call good friends. Without their help, I would not have the extra article Retweets, the new RSS subscribers, and the extra daily visitors that show increasing traffic. There is no right way to approach this, just get to it and get to know your fellow fans.

The goal of this initiative is not to find massive traffic, it’s to find relevant users and increase my content distribution. It is one thing to gauge your monthly visitors, but how active are you in resolving issues or continuing success in your online marketing campaign?

I was very pleased to see monthly stats rise, greater discussions and new social networks flourishing adding to my visibility. I got too comfortable in 2009 with just raw numbers, that my data analysis was lacking. You don’t have to be a scholar to make improvements: just show you care and improve.

Social Networking/Social Bookmarking/Search Engine

The title of this section describes the 3 facets of my marketing plan that I constantly try to improve. The stats below are provided by my favorite WordPress plugin, Referrer Detector. This plugin allows me to see where my social and search engine traffic is coming from.

Referrer Detector is a WordPress plugin that shows a greeting to users coming from various areas of the internet. For example, If someone found one of my articles on Digg and they click through to my site, the user finds a personalized message to vote up that article or become a friend on Digg.

Another example I see is if a user comes from finding me in search results in Google, I can customize the message to say “don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS”. Very helpful and provides a call to action to promote your efforts more.

The stats breakdown is very nice. I like to see the pie chart that comes out to gauge where all my efforts are going to. Break down the stats: daily/monthly/yearly/all time/ or specified dates.

Plan

I want to increase production and mainly my effectiveness. I feel like a fool because I was so focused on search engine marketing and the stats show it. I’m believing that the balance has to exist because social media networks are vital. Here are some stats for Hip Hop Distribution that I found interesting over this selected time period.

I’ve always felt strong about my search engine traffic. I’ve worked really hard doing research, and optimizing all my content, but even though the graph shows nice Google traffic, my Yahoo presence sucks. Analysis shows my efforts can still improve. Even a successful segment can be improved upon.

Stumbleupon and Digg provided nice referrals. Twitter showed improvement over last month and out did my Yahoo search engine referrals. How can I fix it?

Why not try using Yahoo Buzz to social bookmark some content and maybe it could gain a little momentum within that search engine. Will it work? Maybe. The proof lies in my test. Be creative with solutions, it’s always worth a shot if you are trying to improve your business.

Build your own stats and fix accordingly. The main thing here is what proof do YOU have that your social media campaign is effective or lacking?

Homework

The stats can be taken from your control panel if you are not using this plugin. Ask yourself these questions:

1. How many Social Bookmarking/Social Networking sites are you using?
2. Where is your content flourishing?
3. Where are you going to improve?

Don’t sit back and let your stats plateau, keep them rising. Analyze and think of ways to introduce your content into different channels. I am currently breaking down each social network and implementing some tasks to create engaging conversations, adding more followers, and spending time where it is most promising. The one troublesome fact of this analysis for me is my Facebook presence needs severe improvement. Live, Test and Learn.

Set a timetable where you want to monitor your activity. Blind promotion is over with in 2010. Stay active, your content distribution relies on it.

Feel free to Tweet and Stumble this article if you enjoy it.

Themes on a Budget

Affordable Options

The reason I like Themeforest is I bought a theme for $25 and it had so many options, with a sweet modern design. If you are a WordPress musician, you will love the options features on many of the themes.

1. Admin Options: Easier customization features within WordPress Dashboard, versus dropping code into your templates.
2. Multiple Page Layouts: Important for me as an artist because it allows me to find a different page layout for my albums, home page, and blog area.
3. Installation: Step by step instructions for certain customization features
4. Save On Web Design Costs: Now that you have found a theme structure you like, you can still get expert help from a web designer. Having a theme idea already makes the job easier for a web designer and will save you money from starting a design project from scratch.
5. Customer Comments: check out the comments from people who have purchased the theme. You get to find out about how helpful the designer is with answering questions or any problems with their product.
6. Affiliate Program: If you like their service you can promote them on your blog or to fellow musicians you work with. Great way to get your money back and create a passive revenue stream. Here is my affiliate link.

Just another option if you are tired of looking at endless “Top 100 Free WordPress Themes” articles found everywhere with the same recycled themes.