Sure there’s thousands of DIY lists on the internet unfortunately most are just regurgitating re-hashed fluff that has become ineffective or obsolete like the curdled milk in your fridge! This list is a culmination of tried and true techniques posed to assist you in increasing your online awareness.

1. Be Target specific.Understand your market.
2. Create reasons for WOM through moments
3. Be Accessible
4. Use Video & Social Media Like a Rockstar
5. Harness the power of SEO!

The time of creating “Rabid Fans” is over, 2012 is a new era. Fans are just followers, you want to create a true connection. Creating a brand cultural is so 2010.This coming year focusing on involving your “Fanbase” as an integral part of your career. Put a face to the number!

Don’t be a sponge, be socially aware!

Start a project that will bring a solution to a problem in your community or niche, then get your Fans involved. Go beyond the rockstar status symbol of the 80′s

Develop and tweak a search optimization plan and implement  solid adwords campaign to drive traffic and build your list.

Forget the old adage of upsell! Bring quality and over deliver to your customers!

When you do something “remarkable” people talk. Don’t Chase the dollar, pursue the heart and spirit.

in 2012 SEO + Video + Social media will be king!

For tips on developing a custom SEO plan that works for you hit me up

Our VIP Invitation Only Private Music Coaching club!

Open to first 10 students

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Now that the New year has rolled in, and I have more time I my hands, I can get back to what I had originally intended this blog to be.

So starting this week, you’ll see a ton of insightful info to help you succeed with your music in 2011, i’m cutting through all the fluff and getting right to the meat! along with all the freebies, I am also offering a VIP Members Only site to a select few, to help you streamline and kickoff the new year with a serious bang!

Stay Tuned!

Google also pointed to a possible music store and iTunes-like organization app, for both PCs and of course Android devices.  Now, more details and speculation are emerging on those plans.  C|Net contends that a launch is likely by fall, citing label sources.  That could include both downloads and on-demand streams, despite sluggish demand across both areas.  Sounds like a yawner, expect that Google could offer incredible integration into its search results, further building upon its earlier, ‘Onebox’ launch.

The result?  Sonicbids can not only help bands score gigs, they can also assist bands in the broader digital distribution push. “Helping bands connect with promoters is great, but we were missing a piece of the puzzle in helping bands and promoters get the word out about those gigs to bring in the fans,” explained Sonicbids chief Panos Panay. “ArtistData’s founder Brenden Mulligan really nailed this, and it’s clear based on ArtistData’s traction in the market.”

Mulligan was also unsurprisingly optimistic on the tie-up. “The combined offering of Sonicbids and ArtistData is extremely powerful, as it makes it easier than ever for artists to manage their touring all in one place,” said Mulligan, now Vice President of Strategic Development for Sonicbids.  ArtistData boasted an artist group of roughly 25,000 heading into the acquisition.

Post-deal, Sonicbids indicated that it will be finished integrating ArtistData by the end of the year.  Free ArtistData features will remain so through September 1st, and premium features will also be free during that window.  After that, premium features will be integrated into Sonicbids paid accounts.

For instance I have had a MUCH better conversion rate by creating a sales funnel that only has 5 words at the top of the page, then a sales funnel with hundreds of words describing all the features of a free product I was giving away.

HERE IS HOW TO CREATE A SALES FUNNEL GIVING AWAY A FREE PRODUCT

The key is that you have a GREAT image of the product / service. For instance if you are giving away an e-book you should have a very nice eye catching image… Something like this:

ebook

The colors of the ebook make it appealing and eye catching. The graphics are nice and smooth and are not grainy. It is VERY important to use a professional looking image that is very eye appealing.

Once you have your ecover all you need now is a simple website template to place the graphic into, along with your email optin form. For our purposes you really may not even need a web template. If you know any HTML at all, you could just create a quick table, probably about 500px wide, and just have a couple words for a heading such as “Get Your FREE  Download”. Under the text place your image and under the image put your optin form you generated from your mailing list software.

Using the K.I.S.S. technique (Keep It Stupid Simple), has gained me a great optin rate of over 60% and I have personally gained thousands of subscribers. By keeping it really simple and not putting a bunch of text about the product the user is guessing what the product / service really has to offer and in my experience is more willing to signup on your newsletter to find out. By giving the user all the details about the product / service it may give the user a reason not signup on your newsletter. In some cases I have become bored reading all the text on a free product and have just let the website.

Now that the squeeze page is done there are MANY different ways, and lots of debates amongst marketers, on how to complete your sales funnel. let’s face it, as the old saying goes, there is more then one way to skin a cat. (Don’t worry I really do not skin cats, I actually own 2 of them).

Normally after the squeeze page you will send then to a thank you page. Normally if you are using AWeber or GetResponse for your email list management service, they send a confirmation email to confirm the users registration on your email list, which is called a double optin email list. In this case on your thank you page you want to let them know they are going to be receiving an email with a link to confirm they want to receive your Free Product / Service. On this same thank you page I also suggest adding what is called a O.T.O (One Time Offer). This is where you will offer a different product / service that should be related to the product / service that you are giving away for free, tempting them to buy a product at a reduced price and they will only see that reduced price offer that one time.

After the user clicks on the link they received via email to confirm they want to be on your email list and they want the free product, you should configure your email list software (Aweber, GetResponse, etc) to forward that user to your download page. This download page should also advertise other paid products and service, along with giving them a link to download the free product they registered for.

I have laid out the basics of creating a sales funnel, although these are JUST the basics and sales funnels can get much more in depth. Just like everything else in Internet Marketing, you must always continue to make changes to see what works and what doesn’t. The art of marketing is to keep testing different things and scenarios until you find what works best.

If you have any questions on sales funnels please do not hesitate to post a comment. Good Luck with your Sales Funnels!

The secret to playing amazing guitar revealed!

Ever wish that you could jam along with a band? Like to know how to get started?

Learning how to play guitar is like learning how to speak a language. The more you listen to, imitate and play along with professionals, the better you’ll get.

Look, NO ONE likes sitting alone for days and days practicing boring drills just to see a slight improvement in their playing. If you’re like I used to be, chances are that’s exactly what you’re doing. Well, I want to tell you about something I discovered that transformed my own playing abilities…

It’s called contextual learning and it’s why I have developed the Jamorama Jam Track system. I strongly believe in the importance of learners playing and jamming along as soon as possible, putting what they are learning to use.

Unlike other courses that use computer based music for play-along practice sessions, I have personally selected some of the best professional musicians, and we have recorded and produced these quality Jam Tracks so YOU can jam with the Jamorama band.

After using my successful Jam Track system you will be fully ready to start jamming with your OWN band…

The Jamorama Multimedia Course will comprehensively guide you through everything you need to know to play guitar, from absolute beginner level, right through to being a professional guitarist.

This is one of several counterintuitive findings presented by Daniel Pink in his book, Drive.  A neat, whiteboard-animated presentation is now circulating on the core concepts of this book (video link below), itself a highly creative promotional approach.  Pink focuses heavily on organizational approaches to motivation, and cites research showing that money is often not a strong motivator for activities requiring cognitive application and creativity.  And, in many cases, an overly-strong monetary carrot can actually create problematic products, mediocre service, and unintended consequences.

Pink also points to the massive amount of creative output that has happened without any monetary compensation at all.  That includes the creation of entire computing platforms like Linux, and the broader open source community (though programmers understand that this is a more complicated discussion).  These communities thrive on rewards like recognition and purpose.

But what about music?  The internet and advances in digital production have unleashed a torrent of creativity, though most artists cannot survive on their musical output alone.  In fact, a tiny sliver makes a meaningful reward, despite a proliferation of tools on both the production and promotional side of the equation.  But if the category of day-jobbers are lumped into a category of hobbyists, then Pink shows an incredibly strong urge for mastery, self-direction, and personal purpose – Ramen-fueled or otherwise.

This is a discussion that gets even more complicated by the jagged history of the music industry.  Because many of the most enduring artists have suffered through poverty, or struggled with financial issues at different points of their lives.  Certainly, rich artists can make great music, but does the money really have anything to do with it?  Beyond a certain level of sustenance, Pink would argue that it does not.

Labels are no longer ATMs for tour support, so when rare opportunities arise to score cash, hungry bands and artists usually pay attention.  Just recently, the New Music Seminar rejoined with OurStage to offer $40,000 in gear, promotion, and marketing to a talented group.  The “Artist on the Verge” contest is already underway on OurStage (ourstage.com/go/artistontheverge), and finalists will be invited to New York for a face-off July 20th.  The winner will then be announced on the 21st.

The cash pot is up from the $25,000 offered during an earlier round, and the winner will also receive lots of consultation from various industry executives.  Good luck.

On Tuesday morning, Universal Music Group Publishing officially tapped TuneSat to help monitor performance royalties on broadcast television. TuneSat is mostly a behind-the-scenes, non-hyped company, though its revenue potential could be important. The company scours broadcast television for unauthorized uses of songs, thereby unearthing ‘found money’ for publishers, labels, and other rights holders.

TuneSat is aiming to monetize royalties “buried under layers of antiquated reporting systems,” and this is a company unafraid to name names.  That includes ASCAP, whom TuneSat accuses of relying on “antiquated cue sheets” that are “80 percent inaccurate because they are mostly manual and fraught with error,” according to one executive.

Universal Music Group Publishing is obviously paying attention, and TuneSat also just sealed a relationship with SESAC.  But how much money is buried under the traditional tube?  In the US alone, TuneSat estimates that ASCAP, SESAC, and BMI collect and distribute $2 billion annually in broadcast performance licensing income.  Perhaps a few extra billion remain untapped.