Create a blog or web-site. Already got one? What are you doing with it? Anything? Are you doing something to attract traffic to it? Or just hoping people will drop by? As an indie musician you need to take a business approach to attract people to your site and build that much desired fan base.

Seriously, I have many talented friends that are not taking care of the business end of things. And even worse yet, I see many running around, on foot!, approaching one opportunity at a time — doing things the old fashioned way! Oh my!

I’ve seen many an indie musician disillusioned because they made a CD or two, good quality of their good songs, created a web-site and then nobody came and few CD’s sold. I’ve also seen indie musicians who had blogs or sites that hadn’t been updated in years! I visited a friend’s site when I was still at the stage of considering creating one, and discovered that he had upcoming gigs listed that were a few years old! Nobody’s going to come back to that! That won’t attract traffic, it will kill it.

Now, granted that’s extreme stuff, but I’ve seen lots of musically talented people letting their products just sit — collecting dust, or using their CD’s for coasters. Cute joke, but not really if success is what you’re after. They have no fan base. What they need to do is attract traffic.

So my suggestion is to get a blog, if you don’t already have one. I was absolutely blown away by how easy it was to do and to maintain. Every indie musician should have their own blog. “My space” is wonderful and you should definitely create a page, but you should have your own site too and start working to attract traffic so people will find out about you.

You’ve got to market yourself. There’s tons of other acts out there. Your fans are out there too, but if they can’t find you, you can’t create a fan base. You are missing out — and so are they.

Create a site that has some content, something that would be of interest to people who would enjoy your music. Maybe give away a song or two for them to download and enjoy. Give them a reason to join your blog and become part of your list.

Give something away, a free t-shirt with your name and logo on it, something that would be cool and fun. Give them a reason to drop by your site, again and again and again and you will find that you are building a fan base.

You could create content about your inspiration, whatever artist inspires you the most. Write articles and have updates about that artist, so people come to your site to get updates and all the time they get exposed to you and get used to visiting your site.

Be creative and imaginative as to what might get people coming back to your site. Cartoons, jokes, quotes by famous artists, concert dates of famous artists. Create links so people can easily go to different artist’s sites. They will remember that they got valuable content from you and come back again and again. You will find that this will attract traffic to your site.

Once you have a list growing, offer special deals to your list. Send out “short” newsletters with updates and offers. You could offer a special discount to those who pre-order your CD before it’s even burned. But don’t hit them up too often! And don’t bombard them with emails!

I once joined an organization and truly learned a lot from them, but then they bombarded me with 2-3, even sometimes 4-5 emails a day! At one point I noticed that I was getting two the same. I tried to let them know but their system was more of a one-way street! Guess what? Even though they originally gave me great value, I unsubscribed. They were driving me crazy. You don’t want to do that!

And lastly don’t miss the chance to support what you’re doing on line with the gigs you’re playing. You can attract traffic to your on-line efforts by collecting names at your gigs. Add them to your list.Tell people about your site. Make building a fan base your top priority. And remember to always offer them incentive.

So that’s it then. You can see that it is easy to create a fan base on-line. It will take some time, of course, to attract traffic, and it will take up some of your time too. But it’s so much more effective than running around on foot. Work it and reap the rewards!

Gail Karen (G.K.) Eckert is a vocalist, musician, songwriter and teacher. She founded Musikhaus Studio of Creativity in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada in 1987 and continues to guide students through the crucial steps of learning to sing and play guitar. She believes that anyone can learn music, given the proper guidance and encouragement. She also believes that playing your music your way is not only a fun past time but is also crucial to self expression and well being.

To get help setting up your blog or driving traffic, join our blog & receive free tips.
http://www.YourMusicYourWay.com
gk@YourMusicYourWay.com

Has anyone worked with Dawn Jewellery (Kitchener, ON, Canada), making bracelets from home?

How did that work out?
Thank you in advance!

Hi, i recently got my start-up kit from dawn jewellery, and please dont waste your money!!! Its a total rip off. I got enough beads to make 5 bracelets and they are way to hard to make. they dont tell you that there are NO REFUNDS, plus you have to order the beads from them to make the bracelets it costs you $70 to order enough beads to make 1 box of bracelets and there is no way that you could make the 30 bracelets even if you took a whole month. If you want a job that you can work from home go to workopolis. com and type in “work at home” in the search bar. They have tonz of ligit work at home jobs with real companies like rogers wireless even. But Please dont waste your money on Dawn Jewellery!

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