Search Engine Optimization

Some of these people may actually pay for these slots. I’ve actually done accounts receivable for a company (not music related) and when they were looking into a new web hosting service and asking how to show up near the top on google, that’s when numbers started being thrown around. unfortunately, in order to show up in the top slots on search engines, you literally have to pay a price for it.

I’ve done web design work and specifically SEO so I think I can help you out a little here. Search Engine Optimization or SEO is designing your webpage in a way to improve it’s visibility to search engine like Google or Bing. Search engines use algorithms to evaluate a web pages content to determine it’s relevance to the search terms. The goal of SEO is to have a webpage appear on the first page as close to the top of the search results page as possible and preferable above the fold (on the first page without having to scroll down, the term comes from newspapers when article headline appears above the fold in the newspaper.)

First off, while it is possible to try to maximize your result for a search term like “Tonecraft” it’s not recommended. The only people who will find you are people who already know about you, generally with SEO you are trying to attract new people who don’t know you. Second, the term is already in use by several other people including ones who have already laid claim to facebook.com/Tonecraft and tonecraftaudio.com. It would be like trying to start a company called Apple Electronics and Computers, its difficult to market.

Putting that aside, lets get into what you can actually do for SEO. There is a saying in SEO that “Content is King.” Frequent updates with relevant content will help. Google search algorithms analyze your web page for keywords that help determine it’s relevance. However, you don’t want to use keyword spamming. If the algorithm determines that it is not organically, naturally written it will actually penalize your page and it will show up lower in the rankings.

Search engines can only evaluate text, it can’t understand the content of video or images. On a Youtube video you need to write a good, meaningful title and description. Again, be careful not to keyword spam.

Another thing that improves your SEO is backlinks, links pointing at your page from other places improves your pages relevance. Quality of the backlinks is as important as quantity though, links from pages with higher rankings are more weighted then links from random irrelevant sites. So called mutual admiration societies of people pointing to each other don’t help much either and can actually penalize you. Typically links from forum page don’t help at all for SEO, there are tags in the code that tell search engines to ignore them. However, Youtube is a valuable source for links to your page if you link from relevant videos.

There are a lot more nitty gritty details to optimize going down to word choice, how you structure your article and the use of bold, headlines, etc. but for that you want to hire a SEO professional who does that sort of stuff all day.

Nice one Scott!

Sid, I just want to make a note about your podcast search results:

DDJT is able to do this because of it’s domain authority. This means that DDJT is seen as an authority of the content it covers. Domain authority is basically how search engines predict the ranking strength of an entire domain or subdomain. In DDJT’s case, their website has loads of valuable organic (human sounding) content and has been registered since 2010.

The likelihood of Google considering your newer (present) content (ie. your podcast) to be a greater authority than DDJT’s content (that unfortunately includes your posts here) is not high. That isn’t to say it won’t change over time, of course depending on your ability to promote and market yourself properly. So if you want to work at it, it is possible to surpass this obstacle.

If you wanted to invest time in reading up on SEO, I suggest this: http://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo beginner’s guide.

Although, I understand your frustration with not being the first result for “Sonically Pure,” if you search “sonically pure podcast” instead, your Mixcloud tag is the top result. Good luck! I hope I was able to help, even a little.

If your not sure where to start, I suggest working things out backwards and on paper. You can even type and print it out if you hate writing things by hand. This will help you develop your ideas into a larger scale. I find keeping everything in my head makes it difficult to flesh out and plan ahead.

Things to think about:
What do you want to achieve by marketing and promoting on social media and networking sites? If getting your name out there is part of it, what is the exact number of followers (per platform) you would need to consider your name as “out there?” Do you even need a Twitter account? The goal here, is to (like Scott pointed out) figure out what you want (since you aren’t looking to hire a professional). Be specific. “Getting your name out there” is an example of not being specific enough. That might be a reason as to why you don’t know how to move forward.

How can you change or improve the way your social media profiles backlink? Do they all point to where you want your followers to go? Where is your “hub” point? Your blog, Facebook, or something else?

Hopefully, this will steer you in a direction, as there is no right or perfect way to do things.

Let me ask you something, what do you think having 50,000 followers will do for you? Are you just playing the numbers and assuming that with 50,000 followers someone of importance will have picked up on you? Are you planning to leverage those numbers into the sale of music, gigs or advertising? Basically what do you want marketing to do for you?

As for how to get those numbers, you can’t just sit back and wait for people to find you. If you were producing tutorials, reviews, or music videos then your content would be able to develop a following for you. As it stands as a performer, social media will just make it easier for people to start following your gigs or your new releases, you have to build yourself up the old fashion way, person by person.

Okay got it, in that case you’re exactly the kind of person who needs a professional in marketing. I know it is going to seem like throwing away money but marketing is sort of like research and development, you’re throwing money into a black hole with the uncertainty it will produce results. Certainly there are a lot of people who will take your money and leave you with nothing and even with honest marketers its possible to blow through thousands with virtually nothing to show for it. On the other hand, I think marketing is very important because often without it you won’t achieve the critical mass to make your business self-sustainable.

Personally I haven’t been doing DJ stuff very long but I’ve been an entrepreneur and some things don’t change across industries.

If you’re serious about making a living and breaking out as a performer you need to be working harder than everyone else combined, particularly on the business side of the equation. Talk to venue owners about getting a gig or playing on open mic nights if that’s what it comes down to. Talk to other performers and bands about doing a gig together. Go to companies and speak to the office manager or human resource director and offer to play for free at a company party or function. If you get a gig open to the public, pound the payment and plaster flyers everywhere around town, in stores, on bulletin boards, etc. Tell other performers you know you’re playing they may show up to support you and it’s a good networking opportunity, remember to reciprocate and go to their gigs.

When you show up to a gig or are doing promotional work, look presentable. Dress well and present yourself as a professional and someone to be taken seriously. In some genres you may want to cultivate a certain look or persona but you also need to know when to turn it off and present another face. All ways be ready to sell. Carry business cards and other promotional material with you at all times, you never know when the opportunity will come up. Keep a pen on you to write down people’s names and contact info and always follow up. You should be able to strike up a conversation with anyone, even a complete stranger and have pleasant conversation, everyone is an opportunity to build your business.

Remember people’s names when they introduce themselves, keep repeating it to yourself for a few minutes so you don’t forget it. When the conversation ends, use their name to show that you remembered it because they are important, for example, “It was nice meeting you ______.” or “_______, I’ll remember to look up that thing you mentioned earlier.” If you don’t remember it at the end, ask for it again before you leave and let them see you write it down. This shows them that they are important and worth remembering. If you ever meet them again, greet them by name to show you remembered or if you don’t remember apologize and ask for their name again. Whatever you do, don’t play it off and pretend you remember.

Another area that can be a point of contention is what you’re willing to do to get work. I’ve advised photographer friends to take photos for cars for used car dealerships, houses for real estate agents, and product shots for restaurants and retail businesses for their webpages. They refused because it’s not real art or the type of work they want to do but none of them are working as photographers today, all of them are working regular day jobs. That type of work is bread and butter that could have kept them working in the field even if it wasn’t exactly what they wanted to do. Similarly, you could rent out your equipment and work as a sound tech, most people just need a PA system and someone to play music off a playlist. They would also likely need a microphone or two for speeches. It’s not glamorous but it gets your foot in the door and any of the people in attendance may need a sound guy themselves, maybe even a DJ. You could rent out your PA, microphones, and lighting to other musicians who are just starting out or want to improve their impact, you can make some money or make some contacts which could lead to more gigs.