Three Things To Increase Traffic To Your Site Now
Taking Advantage of Search Engines
Since you are reading this you have most likely used a search
engine to find a web site of interest. You also know that
a lot of "junk hits" are listed that have nothing
to do with what you're looking for. Because of all this garbage
achieving a high ranking for your web site can seem impossible.
What you probably don't know is that with some tweaks to your
HTML documents you can dramatically improve your visibility
online.
1. Diversity in Search Engines
One of the slickest ways to get your name to appear more
frequently in a search engine's database is to diversify your
site. This is achieved by submitting every HTML document within
your site as a unique URL. For example, you have a home page,
bio page, and hopefully an audio samples page. Each may have
the following URL:
Home Page URL: http://www.yourbandname.com
Bio URL: http://www.yourbandname.com/bio.html
Audio URL: http://www.yourbandname.com/audio.html
At all of the major search engines submit each of the above
and any other relevant pages within your site. Make sure that
each page contains a link to one another. Here is another
trick - and guard this one well - submit any other page that
makes mention of you: directories, link lists, ezines, and
fan pages. Be sure to submit the exact URL that links to your
site not the root address, i.e. www.yourfan.com/links/yadda.html
not www.yourfan.com. The more your site appears on
other web pages the more diverse your site will be. This phenomenon
is known as link popularity and is an important factor in
getting a top listing within search engines. But before you
dash off to every search engine there is one more thing that
you MUST do before making the world aware. You need to help
search engines categorize your site. Using <META> tags
within your HTML code does this. Here is quick review of the
different types of search engine technologies to understand
why <META> tags are so important…
Search Engine Review
The key to search engine registration is knowing how each
engine works. There are many different types of engines but
I will only address two: Deep Engines and Yahoo!. But before
we begin this section assumes that you already know a little
about HTML programming and that you have experience browsing
the web. If you plan to have a web designer build your site
you should read the ADVICE at end of the next section! (Improving
Click-Through with META and TITLE tags)
Deep Search Engines constantly roam the World Wide
Web cataloging and categorizing every HTML document they encounter
with programs called spiders. Spiders try to decide a web
page's main purpose by looking at content, page titles, and
<META> tags. If your site is not linked from another
page a deep engine will never find you. Therefore, it is necessary
to add yourself to a spider's search list. By submitting a
URL to deep search engines you are requesting that one of
their spiders visit your site instead of waiting for it to
find your site by chance among the vast sea of web sites.
Examples of search engines that use spiders are: Infoseek,
Excite, Lycos, Altavista, Aol Netfind, Northern Light, Opentext,
and Webcrawler. Except for Excite all of these search engines
make use of <META> tags for ranking and categorization
- see next section.
Yahoo! is the undisputed champion of all search engines.
It also has the most unique submission qualifications and
is the most difficult to get into - 90% of all submissions
are rejected. This is because they employ an army of web surfers
that decide which submissions are worthy. The best advice
I can give is that your site should have a high perception
of value to surfers - i.e. free stuff - and a strong community
feeling. An organized and professional appearance is a factor
as well. If you have taken heed to my last article on web
site content you are well on your way.
All hope is not lost! AltaVista and Yahoo! joined forces
in 1996 when they saw each other rising in popularity. As
a result, when a listing is not found on Yahoo! a search is
transparently done in AltaVista. Until you can get a genuine
listing in Yahoo!, a submission to AltaVista will at least
append you to the bottom of the ranks.
I am often asked, "Yahoo! is so difficult to get a listing
in. I have suggested my site to them X times. Why should
I bother? I'm wasting my time!" Don't let Yahoo! get
you down. You are not wasting your time! Consider this…Yahoo!
is responsible for 70% of all Internet commerce. So if you
obtain a categorized listing in Yahoo! you stand to get a
lot of web traffic! Otherwise tweak your site again and keep
trying every few weeks! More Yahoo! tricks are covered in
my Internet Promotion
Book, "To Yahoo!, Or Not To Yahoo!".
2. Improving Click-Through with META and TITLE tags
There is a whole chapter in my Web Guide on how to optimize
your HTML code as a musician on the web. Generally here are
two quick tips that will work with any web site. Apply
them to each page you submit.
Use the <TITLE> tag wisely:
Write a single natural sentence describing your site in the
spirit of a newspaper headline. This is the link that surfers
will see in search engines when they get a "hit"
on your page.
Using our example above:
Home Page URL:
Your Band Name: Music for the discerning Filmmaker.
Bio URL:
Your Band Name: Documentary of Film Composer
John Dawes.
Audio URL:
Your Band Name: Free audio samples of Film Music.
Order CD's
Use the <META> Description to describe your site
not you:
Write a 2 to 3 sentence description relevant to each
page's content.
Here is one for the Home Page:
Affordable music for TV, film, and multimedia. Free
demonstration CD available upon request. Visit today to
hear free samples and see video clips.
This may not be a boost to my artistic integrity but I have
learned in of all my experience that artistic integrity does
not bring in work or sell records - good business sense does.
(This explains why less deserving / talented acts get radio
airplay; their business sense is in sync with the public eye.)
As soon as I finish recording music I immediately switch into
business mode and treat my CD as a product. A web site should
do the same in order to get the word out. The trick is to
get someone to click-through to your site from a search engine.
Once there you can make your site's contents reflect your
artistic integrity or go for the hard sale. It is entirely
up to you. Just do what ever it takes to get visitors into
the door! As much as this may hurt I always try to remember
that I only spend 10% of my time creating music and the rest
trying to get it in the hands of useful people.
This is how your site will appear in search engines using
the methods above:
John Dawes: Music for the discerning Filmmaker.
Affordable music for TV, film, and multimedia. Free
demonstration CD available upon request. Visit today to
hear free samples and see video clips.
---The link "John Dawes: Music…" gives
the hard sell and the description "Affordable…"
follows through with benefits. You can't loose with this combo.
ADVICE: Not every web designer will optimize a
Web site's <META> and <TITLE> tags for search
engine submission. Even the most popular submission services
- Submit-It! and Register-It! - will not optimize your HTML
code and they are used by said web designers. Ask if your
web master includes <META> and <TITLE> optimization.
Otherwise you could be wasting time and money on a service
that will get your site the lowest ranking possible...guaranteed.
3. Personal Domain Names - www.yadda-yadda.com
Another thing you can do to make your sight more marketable
is give it a memorable domain name - www.yourband.com. The
shorter the better. This makes it easier for visitors to remember
your site name without "book marking" it. Unfortunately
personal web addresses are not free. They can cost up to $100
dollars up front for a two year stretch ($70 dollars for InterNIC
fee and a possible $30 ISP set up fee). Then again it may
not be an issue for you if a FREE web site provider hosts
your site. Most do not allow personal domain names - not good
if you have a strong fan base. "How does all of this
apply to getting more traffic," you ask? Repeat visits
and merchandising! Surfers are more inclined to visit sites
that are easy to remember. By imprinting your web address
on everything in relation to your band potential fans will
discover your site by plan rather than by accident.
In my next article I will discuss Offline promotion of your
web site and will tell a good story to boot! Remember, Don't
pay for anything you can do yourself. So get out there and
kick some Major Label ASS!!!
About the Author: John Dawes is an
independent Internet consultant and founder of MusicPromotion.net,
a company specializing in affordable web hosting and design for artists. He is
most known for his informative articles on Internet music promotion and is co-author
of international bestseller The
Complete Guide to Internet Promotion for Musicians, Artists & Songwriters,
with music industry guru Tim Sweeney.
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