Internet Marketing For Small Business

Here are what I think are the best WordPress themes for bands, musicians, rock groups, chamber orchestras or  anyone eles involved with music that needs a web site.  To see some of these WordPress themes in action or why I think WordPress makes excellent sense for musicians, check out my article where I rave about WordPress Blogs For Bands.

StudioPress Church .

Don’t be fooled by the name, the Church theme is a very cool theme and makes  a great band web site. Designed by StudioPress, formerly called Revolution Themes,  Brian Gardner and his team continue to make clean WordPress premium themes with beautiful code and great Search Engine Optimization (SEO.) Because this is  Brian’s full-time business, he is very committed, offers support via a members-only forum, and makes sure the themes are constantly upgraded to ensure  compatibility with all WordPress updates.

You’ll need the Viva Thumbs plugin to make adding the home page thumbnails easy. This will save hours of time, otherwise you have to fiddle with Photoshop resizing, and custom fields, which just make it that much harder to do. And remember, if its too much, you won’t do it.)

Tubular by StudioPress.

This theme was actually developed for use as a Videoblog, but I think it’s a great theme for bands too. It’s eyecatching and simple, so doesn’t appear overwhelming. Just put your latest video, or a video of your band performing at a gig, or rehearsing in the top spot. Want repeat visitors? Change your video often, and invite fans to submit thier videos of your band in concert. Throw a contest and tell them that you will feature their video on the home page – that will get them spreading the word. Do this once a month and you will have many happy fans!

The image on the left is actually a screenshot from a WordPress blog site I just finished for a comedy hockey video series called Ripper Hockey. It is a very mild customization of the Tubular theme; we changed the header area, making it taller and wider, put a tagline in the top right created in text so that Google would know what the site is about, and moved the RSS subscribe links. Hopefully this will give you an ideal of  how just a few mild customizations to a well-built theme will give you a completely personalized look.

WordPress Remix

Remix is simple, clean and comes with la choice of 10 different home page layouts and 20 different single page layouts, which make customization super easy.  Try style 4 or 5 , which feature images and are a bit less corporate looking. I like the featured text areas which also are great places for you to publicize upcoming gigs or special events.

This premium theme has some extra functions that are useful for band web sites like integrated Photo Galleries and Events pages, so it makes it super easy for your band to keep your fans informed with the content that they keep coming back to see.

You can use the theme as is, or change the colours via an easy theme options page.

Tribal Music

By Gorilla Themes will get you a cool site with built in music player from Mixpod so that you can stream your music.

This theme will need some graphic work to swap your own logo and background into the design, but once you do that, you will have a super cool site which places your music upmost and centre.

Aperture Theme

By Woothemes. This WordPress theme is actually for a photography blog, but will work great for a band web site who have lots of pictures.

Don’t have lots of pictures yet? Ask your fans to send them. They’d be uber proud to see their pictures on your site.

Use one of the photo sidebars for your GigPress or Gig calendar plugin.

Abstract by WooThemes

In order to make this theme your own, just change that background image and go wild.

Ideas: Match your background to your current CD cover.

Want fans to keep coming back?

Change your background every week to match your posters.

Tell your fans to collect the series of backgrounds, or allow to download as wallpaer.

Do a contest and get your fans to design you a background.

Do a contest and feature a super fan every month on your background.

See how fun it can be?

Why do I think these make the Best WordPress Themes For Bands? Let me tell you:

• these are image heavy – people want to see pics of you when they come to your band site. They also want to see NEW pics of you when they come, so keep on adding pics. That’s why WordPress is cool. It is easy to update. Update your band’s web site often, and your fans will come by more often. And they will love you more.
• the sites are easy to customize – for the StudioPresss themes, just switch the background for a totally new look. Switch is so that it matches your most recent CD (you’ll actually need to also change the CSS for some of the themes, so they display an image vs a colour only, but it’s not that difficult – most web developers can help you with that.)
• StudioPress sites have great Search Engine Optimization capabilities. That means Google love.
• Sign up to our mailing list right up top. That is numero uno. Get your fans’ email addresses so you can send them news. They want it. They want to hear from you. They want to hear from you often.
• they’re more than a blog, allowing you to control your home page so it looks more like a traditional web site.

Have I missed any? What do you think are the best WordPress Themes For Bands?

And help me out. I am currently designing a WordPress theme for band sites. What other functions do you think would be cool for WordPress themes to have for band sites?

Here are some more Twitter tools and tips to help you get tweeting.

I use Tweetdeck.com to organize all my Twitters.

I search Twitter with search.twitter.com. Search for your subject, your name, your company’s name, your competitors’ names etc. to see what people are talking about. Start talking with them, and building relationships.

You can also search for hashtags on Twemes. Hashtags are a tagging system on Twitter where you put a # in front of any word you like. They are kind of like Technorati tags that way.

Use #hashtags to groupd your tweets on one subject. More info on how to use hashtags here.

Use RT – this means ReTweet – to take someone else’s Twitter post and send it to your followers. To use it just add RT to the top of your tweet, followed by @originalsendername, and their original message.

RT @originalsendername original message

Search Twitter users bios on Tweepsearch. Find people in your industry or genre to befriend.

Share photos on Twitter with Twitpic.

Check out popular videos on Tweetube. Share videos on Twitter with Tweetube. 

Why did someone unfollow you? Check out Tweet Effect to find out which of your Twitter updates might be responsible for people following or leaving you.

TweetLater is an excellent tool for Twitter automation. You can automatically follow those that follow you – and send an intro message with it. Some marketing experts say this is the best way to build authority. Others disagree. Your choice. Tweetlater also lets you program your tweets to send at specific times, though I think that’s kinda crummy. You’re not in a dialogue if you’re not there.

Visit the TwiTip (Twitter Tip) blog which is edited by Darren Rowse from ProBlogger Blog Tips. Follow Darren on Twitter.

Vist the Twitter Fan Wiki to look for tips or info, or to add your own.

How To Get more Followers
Kevin Rose just put out his list of how to get more Twitter followers. Kevin would know – he is the founder of Digg and has over 88,000 followers on Twitter making him the second most followed after President Obama.

Want to check your stats or see who else has loads of followers? Top Twitter users posted here on Twitterholic?

Follow me on Twitter – Twitter.com/ireneduma

Twitter was quickly adopted by kids to broadcast what you are doing. Adults quicky called it fritter. But surprisingly Twitter has grown quickly among lots of time-challenged adults who dig the micro-blog limit of 140 characters and it has quickly become a tool of choice for social networking geniuses and advocates like Gary Vaynerchuk of winelibrarytv.com and Chris Brogan who writes about social networking business strategies.

So – the bottom line is Twitter is yet another tool you can use to build brand, fans, and community. The question is -

Should you Twitter?

I think if you have a business or are your own business, like many artists are, then yes, I think you should consider Twittering, or definitely know why you are not. And here’s why. This is where the new business is going – it’s going to the web and since this is how they play, then if you don’t want to be left behind, you might consider playing there too.

The good news is Twitter is easy, Twitter is quick, and that makes it a good place to start practicing this new “dialoguing” business that’s changing the rules and the game.

How to Twitter?

Twitter is touted as mini-blogging or micro-blogging. You are allowed only 140 characters to write a post so they are very short posts, kind of like a Facebook status. You can update often throughout the day, and let people know what you’re doing. You can update from the web, or by texting from your cell phone.

But there’s no sense in jumping on the Twitter bandwagon if you don’t really know why you are doing it. To that end, I found this great article which outlines a Twitter strategy for bands. It is super comprehensive and smart, and explains how to make Twitter a part of your branding and marketing plan. It’s written by Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity, a music PR firm, but this strategy will work for authors, artists, filmmakers, photographers, entrepreneurs or the self-employed too.

In the Musicians Twitter Roadmap article above, Ariel interviews Laura Fitton, who explains how to use Twitter to create a community and promote yourself even if you are new to “social networking.” They talk about how to sign up and set up your profile, create the right brand, linke to Your Mobile Phone, how to find friends and follow them, who to follow and more, in nice and easy to understand English.

What to Twitter?

There are lots of gurus out there telling people what to Twitter. The thing to remember is that Twittering isn’t about the direct sell, but about building relationships and trust. This is becoming more important as the consumer public is becoming more knowledgable and wary of the hard sell or scams, and also more apt to do a ton of research online before buying. There is a general trend toward more authenticity and transparency too – fans want to know you and hear your thoughts and opinions, not those that your PR person made up.

One way to build fans and friends is to join in on the conversation. Do a search on Twitter using this Twitter search tool for words like your name, your book titles, your genre or your topic of expertise – and you can reply to people using the @ sign. Add your two cents worth, or point out a link to that subject on your or someone else’s blog.

Use twemes.com or tweetchat.com and do a search for hashtags – those are like Technorati tags for Twitter. What are Hashtags you ask? Click on that link to find out.

How to find Twitter Friends.

Social networking is all about friends. The more you have the better. The article above explains how to find friends. A new tool launched just 3 weeks ago can also help.

Mr Tweet helps you find friends by analyzing your current network and suggesting new friends and members whose feeds may be of interest. Just follow Mr tweet then wait for a DM, or direct message from the service. I did, and just got myself a load of new friends to follow.

Automate Twitter
But just a bit. Die hard Twitter users and social networkers frown on automation because it’s the antithesis of the spirit, which is all about communication, dialogue and transparency.

But I think setting your Twitter posts to automatically update your Facebook status is fine. To do that go to your Facebook account and install the Twitter application. Then set it to allow status updates from Twitter. You can change this anytime.

I think sending Twitter updates to your MySpace page is also ok, especially if you are like me and don’t go there very often anymore. Twitter has created customizable “badges” which are widgets that you can embed onto your MySpace pages as well as onto other websites and blogs, which will show your latest tweets.

My fave Twitter friends

I like having “friends” who are really smart and passionate about their subjects, go deep into it, and have no trouble sharing what they know. When I pop onto twitter via the web, I am always guaranteed a link to a fascinating article, post or news item from Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, or Ken Nichols to name just a few.

They are also good examples of how to Tweet useful tweets. I really don’t care that you are eating breakfast, or are tired, or are going somewhere – unless I am stalking you. If I just admire you, I’d rather you spare me and just tell me what you learned when you got there.

Twittering isn’t for you if:

• your audience doesn’t use it
• you absolutely don’t have time
• you don’t care about listening
• you don’t like sharing

Should Screenwriters Twitter?

How serendipitous is this? My new Twitter friend Jill Golick whom I met via Ink Canada Facebook Edition just posted an article called Twitter and the Wired Writer. How did I find it? She Tweeted it.

More Tips on Twittering Real Good from some bright minds
Check back often as I will be updating this whenever I come across a great article.

• How To Use Twitter by Guy Kawasaki, the power entrepeneur, explains how he uses Twitter as a Twool. Excellent advice and some more great reasoning on why you should use Twitter as a marketing tool.
• Twitter Power Guide eBook. For the more advanced Twitter user familiar with Google Reader, RSS and Yahoo Pipes, this FREE ebook is just out from Christopher Penn – savvy marketer, blogger, podcaster and podcamp founder. Not to be missed.
• To get up to speed with Google reader, here’s my How To RSS guide with Google Reader.
• Darren Rouse of Problogger and Twitip writes his thoughts on the blogging VS Twitter debate, and how the two platforms compliment each other.

Last but not least Follow Me on Twitter

When blogging, or using blogging software as your web site, you will have the option to organize your pages by categories, and by tags.

I was at first stumped by this prospect because man, there are so many topics when it comes to the Internet and web design. I scratched my head and experimented aimlessly until I came across WordPress expert Lorelle’s post on how best to use categories and tags on your blog.

She made it simple and I like it simple.

Lorelle said think of your categories as your “Table of Contents” and think of your tags as the “Index” in a factual book.

Bingo and beautiful. That’s something I can relate too and have lots of experience with.

You don’t want your category list to grow too large. In some WordPress themes like the Revolution theme, you have limited space for categories. So, label your categories with titles that suit a broad spectrum and range.

It’s different for tags, as normally you can have as many tags as you like, or at least more of them. With tags you can get into more detail. Pick tags that you are likely to use again.

Ariel Publicity has some great tips too on how to make sure you are tagging correctly to boost your brand in her super articles, books and blog posts. My favourite is…

“Always tag your handle (mine is CyberPR,) then you mark it with other tags – music NYC – and always tag WHAT YOU SOUND LIKE (Genres and other names of more famous artists)”

So to recap, in your tags always put:

• your band name – or company name – or brand name – or real name
• your location – because this is how people search
• your genre of music – or area of business or expertise – or style
• a description of your sound – or art that is suitable for that industry.

She says use tags consistently. That makes sense because if you are using tag clouds, the more you use a tag, the bigger that word appears in the cloud.

That is simple, non?

Tags: WordPress tags, WordPress categories, tags vs categories, Ariel Publicity, marketing for bands, Strange Duck Media, web design Newfoundland, Internet marketing for artists

Hi friends, media peeps, small business owners, and starving artists. Here is an amazing list of over 400! tools for Photographers, Videobloggers, Podcasters & Musicians compiled over at Mashable.

Mashable, for those of you that don’t know, is a site dedicated to finding the scoop and the latest news on what’s happening in the world of social networks online – or in other words – what’s new for web sites and the Internet and ultimately we who use them. I know that’s simplistic, but as time goes on I see no need for differentiating web sites from social networks or 2.0 apps or other labels. It’s the way the web is growing.

But back to this amazing list. It has been compiled from previous posts written on Mashable and is a must see if you are a photographer, videoblogger, podcaster, musician, artist – or any other person who is producing your own media, or own publicity for that matter.

The list is lovingly divided up for Photography Gods, Video Gods, Musicians etc. I can spend weeks here exploring them all and probably will. Here are a few that are particularly calling out to me.

• MUSIC SHARING APPLICATIONS AND WIDGETS
• PHOTO PRINTING/BOOK CREATION
• STOCK PHOTOS
• VIDEO MASHUPS

Oh, but there’s a link to a whole new page that lists 33 Ways to Watch Free TV Online.

Gotta run.  Bob Wiseman is discussing his multi-media performance work at The Rock Can Roll Festival 4

There’s always something going on here in St. John’s.

Tags: tools for photographers, tools for videobloggers, tools for podcasters, tools for musicians, tools for bands, Bob Wiseman, Rock Can Roll Festival, list of tools, mashable 

As you know by now I love WordPress. It’s not just the best blogging tool but it also makes great websites for:

• filmmakers (PWK Productions, Down to the Dirt)
• authors Nino Ricci, James McCreath, Paul Quarrington, Moving stories Film Festival)
• and artists (Rachel Peters)
• NEW! videoblogging sites or web series (Funny hockey series, Ripper Hockey)

What I am wondering is why there aren’t more bands using WordPress to drive their web sites. Especially indie bands who are low on cash and can’t afford the fees to get their Flash-based web sites updated.

There are great WordPress Themes for bands here. Here’s a WordPress site I built for the Toronto Blues Band Porkbelly Futures.

When I go poking about different band sites, I keep seeing nicely designed sites that haven’t been updated in months. Their tour schedule is behind, there is no way to get updates either from RSS or email, and it looks deserted. What a waste.

In this day and age you can’t afford to do that. In the ever-changing landscape of the music industry, your relationship with your fans is what counts.

Now, I know how difficult it is to keep your site updated. I am guilty of this myself. But that’s why WordPress makes so much sense. Anyone in the band can update it even if you are a techno phobe. Best yet – you can do it from anywhere on the road as long as you are connected to the web. No fancy software programs necessary – just a browser and your Login password.

With the right plugins, you can even use your mobile phone to make updates. How? You can use for phone to send a message to Twitter and the Twitter for WordPress plugin will make it appear on your sidebar.

Here are more reasons why WordPress for Bands makes a lot of sense.

WordPress is cheap.
It’s way cheaper to set up a WordPress blog for bands than to set up a regular web site. I know start up bands don’t have much money – so don’t go throwing it all into a web site that looks good but never gets updated, or doesn’t serve your fans. Build a WordPress site – save the extra for some other promo work – like proper press kits, EPKs or even a publicist.

WordPress has lots of tools to help you build a loyal fanbase.
Here I go again talking about the great community of developers that build plugins for WordPress that really allow your site to work hard for you. You need to communicate with your fans, and you need them to engage with you. This builds loyalty.

WordPress is built on a MySql database, which means you will be able to do things you can’t do with a regular HTML site. Powerful useful things. Not to mention you can update the look of your site in the future very quickly, easily and economically, so it makes long-term sense too.

Your fans can interact with you – or at least your site.
Do a “From The Road” series and let your fans comment on your web site. Add a guestbook or WordPress forum plugin and let them go at it. Write special blog posts where you ask there opinion on which album cover they prefer.

Google loves Wordress
Google loves web sites that are updated frequently and that’s exactly what blogs are built for – frequent updates. They also publish RSS Feeds (read my cheat sheet on RSS) and ping google too whenever they are updated (you don’t really need to know what that means other than it is a good thing and WordPress does it automatically.) If you comment on another WordPress blog you may get some traffic back to your site, and possibly even a backlink. And Google loves backlinks.

Here are a few WordPress Plugins that make your blog a ridiculously wonderful band web site.

• Discography 0.1. Every band site has a discography page. This plugin makes it easy for bands to store and display information about their songs.
• Gig calendar. Makes it easy to manage and display a calendar of your gigs within WordPress. It’s meant to be as easy as possible for both the musician and the fan. It even manages venue data complete with mapping and ticket links. UPDATE Jan 09 – just got a comment from Dan – he’s updated his plugin and it’s now WordPress 2.7 compatible. Go crazy.
• GigPress. Easy to use, intuitive. And very pretty. Automatically posts to your sidebar, though I wish the sidebar link went to the main post rather than the venue web site. Your post may have more info on it, like time and address and ticket prices, than the venue’s page.
• Event Calendar is another plugin that you could use to display your Tour Schedule. They are set to release a big upgrade.
• The Upcoming plugin from Yoast.com works with Yahoo’s Upcoming web site.
• Get a Twitter account and add Twitter Tools to your blog. The plugin will post and archive your tweets – so you get 2-in-one PR and an easy way to update your blog. What to tweet? Thoughts from the road, from the studio, last minute gigs, chats with other musicians. You can also get widgets that will allow your tweets to appear on your MySpace and Facebook pages – so with one tweet you’ve updated several sites. Remember – you can do this from your mobile phone.
• The MySpace crossposter is another time saver. Any posts to your blog will be immediately crossposted to your MySpace page.
• Play your music on your blog – or your podcast – with Audio Plugin.
• Sell your SWAG with this shopping cart plugin.

Here are some cool WordPress premium themes that are easy to customize and image heavy, so will work well for a band site:

• StudioPress Church – That’s right, the Church theme is one of the coolest for a band web site. Think of it as the church of rock and roll. But most of these themes will make great wordpress sites. Formerly called Revolution themes, these designs are upgraded constantly and come with support if you buy. We can customize them for you too. You’ll want the Viva Thumbs plugin to make adding the home page thumbnails a snap (especially if you’re on the road, this will save hours of time, otherwise you have to fiddle with custom themes and photoshop resizing…)
• WordPress Remix – This was one of our favourite WordPress themes for corporate web sites, but with the recent upgrades there are some great looks for bands. Try home page style 4 or 5. Has integrated galleries and events pages.
• Tribal Music by Gorilla Themes will need some graphic work to swap your own logo and background into the design, but you will get a cool site with built in music player from Mixpod so that you can stream your music.

More Best WordPress Themes for bands here.

To build a custom site like this would normally cost many thousands of dollars. With WordPress, not so much.

Why don’t more bands use WordPress? Why? Why?

Tags: Internet Marketing For Bands, wordpress for bands, cheap web sites for bands, web sites for musicians