How To Get Hits On A Band Website

How To Get Hits on Your Band Website & Submit Your Band URL to Search Engines

Below are a few ideas on how to get more hits on your band website.  While there is no guaranteed way to do this, these ideas should at least point you in the right direction.

• Concentrate on Keywords that describe your band.  For Example, Tribute Band, Original Rock, Cover Band, Alternative Music.  Also, place your City and State where you play in your keywords of your site in the Meta tag portion of your site.
   
• Meta tags on your site should include a Title, Keywords, and Description meta tags in that order in your html code.
   
• Don't overuse keywords in you meta tags.  Use enough information that you get your point across and don't repeat the same words to often.
   
• Keywords should also appear in the content of your website.  Sometimes it's a good idea to bullet, capitalize, and bold keywords toward the top of your web page.  Again, Don't overuse words.
   
• Try capitalizing keywords in your meta tags and putting commas between each word or phrases.
   
• Although Flash animation and pictures look nice on your web site, they are not always easily read by search engines and can hurt your rankings in search engines.  So use flash and large pictures at a minimum.
   
• Try to get your bands website listed on Free Concert Calendar pages in your area.  List any show dates, your website, cover charge, and other pertinent information.  Do a search for concert calendars, concert listings, local newspaper concert directories, and similar type searches.  Find as many free sites as you can and post your site and shows.  This will get people to your band website.
   
• Start a registration page on your site.  Have fans send you their email, address, and any other info you might feel necessary to contact them about future shows coming up in the area.  Email these fans when big shows are coming around.
   
• Include a website link to your site on any emails you send to fans.
   
• Reciprocal link with similar music and band sites that may give your band more exposure.  Email other bands in the area, band listing and directory sites, music sites, and any other sites that may set up links to your bands site.  Once you discover if they will link to you, place a link to their site on your site somewhere.  Whether it be the home page, links page, or whatever pg you like.  Most search engines key on reciprocal links to rank your site.  It's best to stick with music type sites for reciprocal links, but high ranking sites may help as well. 
   
• Add a Google Toolbar to your search engine that you are using.  Go to www.google.com do a search for the google tool bar and see how to install it.  It's pretty simple from what I remember.  This way you can check your Google rankings and check if sites your linking to have a good Google Ranking.  The Google ranking bar is the Green bar in the center of the Google Toolbar.  If you place your cursor on your bar you can see your sites rank out of ten.  Google is one of the top search engines and you want to be listed on it. 
   
• Submit your band website to as many search engines as you can.  Key on the bigger search engines like Google, Ask, AOL, Alta Vista, MSN, and similar engines.  Most will list you for free, but some like yahoo you must pay a fee to get listed.  But, if your site does well on the other search engines, yahoo may add your site at a later date, so keep that in mind.  Just go to a specific search engine and search for submit a site.  Basically, once you get to the submit page you just add your website, description, and keywords and submit it.  The search engine may send you a confirmation email as well.  Be careful of the email add you submit though.  After submitting to some search engines you tend to get spam email, so just be aware that this may happen.  Most email companies have spam folders now anyways.
   
• Try signing up for www.googlerankings.com and test your keywords and see if your listed on major search engines.  This is a nice resource for website optimization.  Towards the bottom of the page there are links to SEO tips and more.
   
• Place your website link on any promotion tools you have for your band.  For example, band business cards, press kits, CD demos, tape demo's, MP3 flash drive demos, flyers, etc.  This will get more hits to your site as well.
   
• Another great tool that I have used in the past is the book call Search Engine Optimization For Dummies.  This book is written in an easy to understand format for the website novice and has a ton of great ideas.  Here's a link to the book if your interested.
  

Try out these other books on search engine optimization and Google Adwords.  Any help you can get with website optimization will be a benefit to your band website.