Getting People To Your Website
So, you’ve got a website with music on it and obviously you need to get people to your website. Soundcloud, your own domain, Bandcamp, whatever. I don’t really care which one. None of them send you free visitors interested in music. If you have written the Holy Grail of Pop Music and recorded it flawlessly, it will grace the bottom of the charts through the end of time unless someone goes and listens to it.
Shock, horror. You need listeners. More to the point, it is YOUR job to find listeners. It is YOUR job to engage listeners. It is YOUR job to retain listeners.
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But how in the name of Ernetso Cortazar can you possibly get people to your website? How do you get listeners to hear your music?
Getting People To Your Website, Getting Plays
Well, there are plenty of ways of getting plays. Maybe a few hundred ways. Or maybe there’s only one way: get someone to your page. It’s a good start. Getting plays comes later.
For now, let’s ignore how easy to use your page is and its design. These are topics for other discussions. Right now, I’m talking purely about getting someone to go to your page.
Now, again, I don’t know why I have to keep telling you this, you must not be paying attention. I don’t care if that auction slot gets you seen by Phil Spector (Yeah, OK, that WOULD be impressive), we’re not talking about that. We’re talking about getting PEOPLE to your page. As many as possible for as little cash as possible. I mean getting real people, not those sites which will add 500 hits to your page that mean nothing. You know – people.
Sure, once you’ve topped the Ukrainian Weishenvarg charts, you’ll get visitors, as people will see you on the charts and play. This is talking about before that happens.
The Search Engine
If you don’t know about the importance of search engines, stop reading and become a monk. Search engines are the nerves of the internet and if you haven’t figured it out by now, give up. If you’re on some music sites, search engines will NOT find your page. Uh oh. That’s bad. Get yourself a web page that CAN be searched for and have it redirect to your mp3 page. I’m not here to give you lessons on how to get search engines to show you – there are sites for that. Not web-savvy? There are sites that will submit your site to search engines for a small fee. Varying services cost varying amounts. If you know what you’re doing, submit it yourself. One important thing: make your music findable by those who don’t know what they’re looking for.
Huh?
If I know your band, I don’t need a search engine. If I type FREE MP3, and 12 million sites come up, I won’t be choosing yours. If, as a fan, I type FREE HEAVY METAL SCREAMING and that describes your music perfectly, make sure your site is in the top 5 when I search it. Use your keywords effectively.
And if you’re really desperate, there are certain sites you can bribe. Sites where you auction for the position, and every time someone clicks through, you pay X pennies. You choose if it’s worth it for you.
Playlists
Stations, music streamers, YouTube, whatever. No, I’m not talking about gaming the system, I’m talking about finding some stations of similar music to yours to add you to their playlists. Submit to as many as you can before Carpal Tunnel syndrome sets in. Then, cover your hands in Ben Gay and submit more. No pain, no gain. This is your music, feel the burn. For every new song, resubmit. Waste of time? Not if the listener is Quincy Jones. Not if you’re on so many stations that people are practically forced to listen to you. Which is the key to all good marketing: convince people that you are necessary for their survival.
Get Reviews
Music journos, radio DJs, music bloggers, YouTube reactors all conduct reviews. Contact them and queue up some reviews. Get your friends and fans to contact DJs, bloggers and reactors requesting reviews of new releases, of videos too. Make sure your site is tagged on any reviews, any reactions.
Direct Friends & Family
Boy, if I have to tell you to tell your friends and family to go to your own site, then I fear for your social life. They are your first audience. Maintain them. Ask them to do things. Play songs, request reviews, request features. If you coordinate their activity they can be a very worthwhile co-opted workforce.
Build Your Mailing List
Your mailing list is a fantastic asset for getting people to your website. An article unto its own, we’ll go way into detail about running your mailing list as an artist at a future date. For now, let’s just say start one up, build your mailing list and regularly use it to talk to your fans. A list of people who like your music would be a good choice. When run correctly, your mailing list will become your main asset as an artist.
Social Platforms
Forums/BBs, Facebook Groups
Post all over. Don’t expect a lot of traffic, unless you’re a regular. Post other places. At least relevant places. Don’t be surprised if you get deleted for being off-topic. But you don’t know until you try.
Chat rooms, WhatsApp, PalTalk, Facebook Messenger
Basically, real-time BBs. This may get you traffic, based on how good a salesman you are, but the audience is low and only as long as you’re there. Yeah, it’s fun, but not efficient.
The Marketing Campaign
Wow, this is so big a concept that it will be MULTIPLE other articles. Let’s just try this idea: Get a website to feature your song. Doesn’t have to be a music site. More in the future.
The Forbin Project
Buy 300 computers with individual internet access. Play all your own songs daily. But wait, that’s not listeners! Maybe you’ll chart and get a few listeners. But that’s a waste of resources! Ah. Right. Well, no different from joining a gaming ring, and just as futile as you will get no necessary feedback from fans. One real listener’s feedback is worth any chart position. Streaming platforms come down hard on this. It is chart fixing. They’ll remove your plays, remove your songs and ban you, at a minimum.
Conclusion: Get People To Your Website
These are just the basics. Getting plays, and getting people to your website is an art. As we continue, we’ll go further on these ideas. Play with these ideas to start with. Remember, there is no easy answer. If you become a musician so you wouldn’t have to get a real job or burn your instrument. There’s a lot more hard work to be done after that song is recorded. If you roll up your sleeves and add a bit more sweat, you can start getting proper recognition for your efforts.
Discuss this article in our Music Forum.
About Paul DeStefano
Paul DeStefano (aka Geosphere)
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