Did Google + Just Became the Most Important SEO/Marketing Tactic of 2012?

Posted by on Jan 17, 2012 in Marketing | Comments

It’s been quite a LONG time since I’ve written a post that wasn’t some diatribe for musicians that would cause headaches and break hearts (and ultimately be looked at as rubbish, even though I was right). Now, with the recent news from Google regarding the inclusion of Google+ sharing as part of their search results, I’ve decided to re-join my SEO family that gave birth to me so many years ago and pick apart the topic. After months of insight boiling in the back of my mind, and seeing the growth of Google+ (and the +1 signal) influence on search in my own projects, I’m here today to say that Google + is going to have a very important impact to your SEO strategy here in 2012, and it’s going to be a lot bigger then you might expect.

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Do You Have the Right Marketing Mindset? I’ll Bet You $60 That You Don’t!

Posted by on Sep 21, 2011 in Marketing | Comments

Yep, you heard me correctly – I’m here to challenge your concept of what marketing is and how you’re thinking about it.

Now don’t get me wrong, I’m sure there are plenty of you out there that indeed “gets it” when it comes to building a brand and marketing on the web. You’re probably the ones out there that have engaging blog posts and don’t spam the hell out of your Facebook fans and Twitter followers with some lame message.

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Using Twitter & Google Hot Trends to Find New Things to Talk About

Posted by on May 25, 2011 in Marketing | Comments

Using Twitter & Google Hot Trends to Find New Things to Talk About

So I sat down with the boys from Villains Like You last night to discuss blogging strategies now that we finally have a solid design down for their new site. A lot was discussed, but one of the things that stood out was keeping up with what’s in the news and using current events as inspirations for content. What ended up happening was a discussion about a song they had just written after seeing the tornado destruction in the south, which turned into them actually scheduling studio time to record the track in a few weeks, setting up a relief fund, and more. In an hour we had taken the subject of what’s going on in the world and turned it into a solid goal for the band to focus on over the summer.

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Music Industry Challenge: Doing Some “Real” Marketing For a Change

Posted by on May 22, 2011 in Marketing | Comments

As we continue unwrapping some of the things I’ll be teaching in my upcoming music certification course, the next big topic that drive me nuts is the topic of marketing. Much like the misconceptions around the business models associated with this industry, marketing is very much misunderstood. It’s such a shame too – with all the wonderful tools we have at our disposal like Facebook and Twitter, much of the attempts at marketing by musicians today is nothing short of spamming their friends and followers to get people to pay attention to what it is they are trying to do, whether it be promote a show, sell an album, etc.

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Looking to Have Your Music (and Career) Reviewed?

Posted by on Mar 30, 2011 in Marketing | Comments

Looking to Have Your Music (and Career) Reviewed?

Are you looking for an industry professional to give you an honest and helpful analysis of what you’re doing and where you’re going in your music career?

One of the toughest aspects about working in the music industry is trying to provide valuable services at a price that everyone can afford. Getting me full time to help you out on your project, for many, is almost impossible – not because I charge a zillion dollars to get involved, but mostly because many musicians and other entertainment industry people just don’t have ANY money to hire a team to help – many are still kicking it at a day job or bartending or whathaveyou.

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Topspin Development for The “Little Guys” Soon to Be A Reality

Posted by on Mar 14, 2011 in Marketing | Comments

Topspin takes on ReverbNation and Bandcamp in Direct-to-Fan Management Tool Supremacy.

UPDATE 2: Topspin is now available to the public; I will follow up this post with my thoughts shortly.

UPDATE: Topspin goes public TOMORROW (Wed March 16). Here’s the teaser video:

So for years now we all know I’ve been a super supporter of ReverbNation and all the wonderful tools they’ve brought to the table for musicians on a budget. Since I discovered them back in ’06 I was super impressed with their music widgets, and called for the death of MySpace as soon as I heard the sound quality that those widgets delivered.

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