UBP's Byte Size Tip [updated: 19:06:2008]
Online Z-cards
A Z-card is used by the fashion industry (photographers, model agencies etc.) to keep track of and find models. It's a very mini portfolio (an A5 card approx.) with all the model's stats and contact information. I've *adapted* the idea and come up with: Online Z-cards for bands.
An Online Z-card is a hand-coded webpage, a micro-site that contains all the relevant information from your band's website, including: Band Name, Pictures, Mini Biography / Profile, Gigs Link, Release Dates, Link to MP3 Download, Venue (You play or like most), Contact Information, Band Members, Links (to all Your web addresses/information) and Copyright Information. It aims to be an attractive and search engine friendly landing page! Check out the Online Z-card page
BANDS WITH AN ONLINE Z-CARD
- 3 Kisses
- 6ft From Failure
- Alexis Thompson
- A New Shade
- Electric Jets
- Emma Forman
- Fact Not Fiction
- Flying Heroes
- Fugazirum
- Gore-Tek
- Gypsy
- justmegan
- Lady Rain
- Mark Handley
- Menendez
- Midnight Seven
- Paul Needs
- Plan Nine
- Richard Murray
- Santiago
- Sheldon & Pluscore Records
- Sisters K
- Skinned
- Soul Purpose
- Submerse
- Syruss
- The Contortionists
- The Seasons
- YMI
- BAND PROMOTERS
- Gojangle
- BAND WEBSITE DESIGNERS
UBP's Byte Size Tip 16:05:008
Private Health Insurance UK - another basic demonstration of content and linking in action with a hint of "The Long Tail". Be found for something else other than your band's name if you want to be discovered.
UBP's Byte Size Tip 04:12:007
101 Resources for Marketing Music - a great resource, especially if you are new to marketing your band's music - it's just a page full of usefull links - should be part of an eBook.
UBP's Byte Size Tip 12:07:007
Garden Lighting Berkshire - a very basic demonstration of content and linking in action with a hint of band promotion and vitriol thrown in for good measure.
UBP's Byte Size Tip 11:10:06
God, it's about a year since I wrote one of these. I was going to do them twice a week!
Want to promote yourself on MySpace.com? Then you need to find and add bands of the same genre as friends. You can do it by searching in Google. Type this into the Google search box:
site:profile.myspace.com punk
it will find MySpace Profiles that are predominantly "punk"!
I've made a list of genres here:
New GENRE Meta Tag for bands
Don't be put off by the title.
UBP's Byte Size Tip 1:11:05
The index.html page is the page people normally link to when they link to your website. It is your web server's default opening page and it is (normally) the page with the highest page rank. To say that the index.html page is important in terms of website promotion, is an understatement, because, it's the page everyone sees first, it is your shop window.
The index.html page has to work on two levels, it must satisfy the visitor and the search engine. The visitor is satisfied with good design, usability and entertainment. The search engine is satisfied with content.
So, why are so many artists websites index.html pages virtually empty?
Because they are copying the famous!?
Because they didn't know how important the index.html page is?
They do now!! To find out more see...
Band Promotion
UBP's Byte Size Tip 18:08:05
How to check your link popularity (backwards links). Go to the search engine:
AltaVista - http://www.altavista.com/
and type: link:http://www.your-name.com/ (no spaces)
AOL/Google - http://www.google.com/
and type: link:http://www.your-name.com/ (no spaces)
Lycos - http://www.lycos.com/
and type: linkdomain:http://www.your-name.com/ (no spaces)
Mamma - http://www.mamma.com/
and type: link:http://www.your-name.com/ (no spaces)
MSN - http://www.msn.com/
and type: linkdomain:www.your-name.com (no spaces)
Yahoo Inktomi - http://search.positiontech.com/
and type: link:http://www.your-name.com/ (no spaces)
I recommend that you check your link popularity each month.
UBP's Byte Size Tip 17:08:05
Use the TITLE="" attribute in your A (anchor) tags. It will display a block of text (usually the title of the destination file) when the cursor is passed over (a.hover attribute) the link, but it's also a good place to add more keywords into the document.
Eg: <a title="keywords_here" href="your-link-here">description_here</a>
Promote Your Unsigned Band Now
Start promoting your unsigned band now by exchanging links with Unsigned Band Promotion. Exchanging links is the quickest way to get your band's website found. Copy'n'paste the code below on to your index.html page, or choose an alternative link from Unsigned Band Promotion - band links.
<!-- Start of Unsigned Band Promotion code -->
<p><a href="http://www.unsignedbandpromotion.com/"
target="_top">Unsigned Band Promotion</a></p>
<!-- End of Unsigned Band Promotion code -->
