Putting Your Best 'Face' Forward

If you want to explore uncharted territory, but you're also worried about sowing cash on unproven social media ground. Well, here's a way to play it safe: ease, ever so slowly, into Facebook. The facts: It's the largest social networking site in the world. In August '08, users spent an average of 19 minutes and 30 seconds there per visit (per Hitwise). And some reports say Facebook folks tend to be more truthful when filling out their profiles (a plus for marketers).

Facebook's Christopher Pan says the secret to its marketing model is this: it hinges on the idea that brand messages are more effective when they're from friends. As a result, Facebook's sponsored efforts are geared toward building both engagement and dialogue.
So, don't arrive with your hand out.

Ann Smarty of Search Engine Journal tested two free promotional options, and describes how to use them optimally: To build critical mass for an event, create a Facebook Group. To form long-term relationships with users, start a Facebook Fan Page. (They also get indexed by search engines!) Facebook's internal metrics will track user activity, visits and demographic interest.

Ready to go for it? Standard Facebook ads enable you to target by demographic or profession. Or buy video placement! It encourages users to engage with your material, and they can also leave comments—for great feedback. Or make like Ben & Jerry's on Election Day: sponsor a free virtual gift that networkers can give to colleagues.

Engage! With a little creativity, you can get your brand passed from hand to hand—er, page to page—through Facebook, while keeping the budget intact.

Seven Mind Traps That Keep Us Busy

I recently ran across this article and parts of it really hit home with me, hopefully you'll find something here that resonates and will allow you [too] to break free.

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Seven Mind Traps That Keep Us Crazy Busy

By Dr. Bruce Gordon

I am sitting in a hotel lobby writing these words. The atmosphere is one of dark paneled wood, comfortable lounge chairs and a view you would die for, looking out over a river sparkling with diamonds from the afternoon sun.

At one end of the room over the fireplace hangs a picture of the Canadian Fathers at Confederation. The 34 men seem peaceful with no computers or Blackberries; I feel almost out of place with my computer and Blackberry buzzing on the table, as if I am violating their calm with my technology to allow me to do 10 things at the same time.

Life must have been easier for those 34; I know that is not true from reading our history, for they had significant challenges and conflict which had led up to this famous session. The difference was the speed of information and this rocket-like pace is now the order of the day and we are well beyond busy.

If I do not have 10 balls in the air at once, I must not be accomplishing much, or so I think; that is a mind trap, which is false and keeps me crazy busy.So, I write these words, more to myself than to you the reader; that being said, if they help, you are welcome to them. Here are what I refer to as my Seven Mind Traps That Keep Me Crazy Busy.

1. We need to be wanted and needed and thus must be available at all times through our cells and email.
It is really a trap of wanting to please people; do you struggle with this? Understanding and acknowledging this trap is really half the battle. I am working through this and asking the question, “Who is in charge?” If it is a severe issue, then you may be struggling with an approval addiction. Look it up on the web, for there are great resources to help.

2. We say yes to too many things and lose focus on that which is best; the enemy of the best is the good.
Some of us are wired to say yes to almost everything, “Yes, I can take that on between 2 and 3 am.” Others are much more selective. I would like to counsel you to clearly understand your style ( there are many great Assessment Profiles available to you ).

Again, self awareness is a major step to addressing this trap. I am currently in the process of handing off a role which I enjoy and have the skills for; the reality is that it is a good thing for me to do, but not the best. Understanding my strengths and leadership style is a must for me to make this decision. Remember, your strengths can become weaknesses.

3. We over commit or allow others to over commit us.
Over committing and under delivering is a trap which will have disastrous consequences for you. I don’t care if you as the reader are responsible for 1000’s of staff or 3 children ( which may feel like a 1000 staff to you ), you need to be able to control the commitments you take on. This goes back to my #2. Practice the word NO; stand in front of the mirror and say NO; did it hurt; did the mirror suddenly fall off the wall.

Of course, it again means having clear priorities and also understanding what season of life you are currently in. That is probably another article, but I believe that we go through seasons of life and these seasons bring different responsibilities. You cannot compare yourself to another person who is in a different season of life from you.

4. Our technology runs us; we do run our technology.
The fact that I have not turned off my Blackberry as I write this article in this gorgeous calm setting reinforces my trap #4.

I have a good friend, who I believe has found a way to address this trap. He disciplines himself not to check emails or voice mail from Friday evening to Sunday evening. Not a bad strategy; I am attempting to practice this and when I slip up, I don’t beat myself up, but rather get back on the “wagon”.

5. Being busy means that we must be accomplishing more than others; it really is an issue of insecurity. Some authors have called it a status symbol. What are your insecurities? It may help you to be honest here. You don’t need to report back to me, just to yourself.

I just consulted with a leadership team, who is struggling with this trap. I suggested that they use a “storyboard” approach. It means going on the offense by writing the story they would like to see for themselves and their organization 3-5 years in the future. It is to be no more than 2 pages. I am already receiving feedback on the positives on this strategy.

The result will be that this team will establish the key priorities for them to address; as others come up, they will be measured against this new template. Actually this process works well for individuals as well and it addresses the other traps which I have mentioned. Try it!

6. Running fast becomes an escape, for it means that we do not have the time to focus on those issues which cause pain.

My wife and I are a speaker couple for the Family Life Marriage Weekends ( you can learn more about them from website ). We see this in life after life as couples come and share their pain with us.

Many men confess to me that they have poured themselves into their career to compensate for the dysfunction of their marriage. If this is hitting a sore spot for you, then seek out help. My experience is that as you leave this unattended, it will become worse; if you need additional resources contact us at ….

7. We live our lives in the future; once I accomplish this, then I can slow down.
I have lived my life in the future. Early in my career, I often would think and at times verbalize, “when I ….. I will…. Now on this side of 50, I realize how wrong I was, for I did not take time to enjoy that season of life. I would ask you to seriously consider what season of life you are in. I know I mentioned this in # 3, but it bears repeating.

Ask yourself 4 questions:-how would I define this season of my life-what will the next season look like-what are the traps which I need to avoid in this season-what can I do now to properly prepare for the next seasonWell, there you have my 7 traps; maybe you were too busy to even read them and skimmed to this last paragraph.

In the painting of Confederation, there are 2 men out of the 34 who have arms crossed with scowls on their faces; what is going through their minds; were they to be the ones which John A MacDonald would need to convince. The Nation does not rest on you; but then again, your future effectiveness does and perhaps even survival.

The Benefits of Outsourcing...

Small business owners wear many hats: manager, buyer, accountant, you name it. It is impossible for one person to take care of everything, and the most commonly outsourced tasks revolve around marketing, branding and design. When first deciding to work with a professional, you are going to be looking at the price tag attached to the promised services. It may be shocking to some small business owners how much certain freelance or consulting services can cost, but there are ways to save.

How Much Does It Really Cost?

The next time a consultant charges you $1,000 a day, don’t fall over backwards. First consider the following: if you would hire a professional on a one year contract, the salary, taxes and benefits packages would amount to about $200 on average. Take into account the consultant only has a certain number of billable days a week, you are paying a premium for the flexibility of not hiring him on a full time basis. You end up saving on benefits, and you probably don’t have enough work to keep someone busy all year so hiring simply doesn’t make sense for your business.

Pricing is, or should be, based on what your best alternative is. In this case, your alternative is to hire someone for a longer term. Considering there are maybe about 236 billable days a year, you need to look at how much an employee costs you a day if you would hire him or her. Don’t just think salary; consider all other costs and expenses associated with an additional hire. You’ll see you still end up saving by hiring a professional for a short term.

Like with anything, you could shop around for the best possible deal.

Contact us directly for small business marketing consulting, flexible pricing plans and al a carte design and copywriting services. http://www.omgatlanta.com/Our%20Services.htm

678.495.6090

You've Been Upgraded!

Let's say you've been working around the clock on an improvement for your product, service or online interface. Because you know all about your upgrade, why it's needed and how much value it offers, you might forget that it will be a completely new concept to your customers. A post at the Service Untitled blog gives this advice for keeping them apprised of an upcoming change:

• Use multiple communication channels to make an announcement. Most of your customers won't actively check for updates at your Web site, but they will monitor control panels, email accounts and text messages. The key is to be creative and to understand how customers prefer to be contacted.
• Outline the change they can expect—and why it's happening. Don't expect lots of buy-in if you don't explain how an upgrade will make a customer's experience easier or more efficient. Be explicit about what's in it for them, and you'll likely discover a more receptive audience.
• Be realistic about timelines. Give your customers honest estimates for the time a product or service might be unavailable—during implementation, for instance—and how frequently such periods will occur in the future.
• Anticipate customer queries. "Communication almost always results in questions. Be prepared with clear, concise answers and a friendly, helpful attitude.

The Point: Guiding your customers through an upgrade process takes effort, but it's far preferable to dealing with confusion or consternation after the fact.

You Know You Want Me!

If you offer an upscale product or service, you probably have "aspirational" customers who take a mix-and-match approach to luxury goods.

The affluent stay-at-home mom who plans five-star vacations and Target shopping trips with equal enthusiasm; the student who gives up daily Frappuccinos to save $200 for a pair of jeans; the bartender who won't settle for less than $300 sunglasses but lives in a spartan studio apartment. Companies that want to continue to profit from aspirational customers must make their brands accessible and relevant to them by taking their lifestyles into consideration and meeting them half way.

Here are a few suggestions: Offer customer service that goes above and beyond. Aspirational shoppers expect to be treated well. Remarkable service not only reinforces their belief that they made a smart choice, it keeps them coming back. Don't cheapen your brand. Clearly distinguish lower-cost collections from your premium lines, and always keep their price points at the top of a product's category.

Chanel offers makeup and perfume to give customers a taste of glamour for less than $50, but within cosmetics its pricing keeps it solidly in the prestige realm. Cultivate a sense of exclusivity. Use online channels to offer very small amounts of stock via micro-specials—some lasting only a lunch break—to encourage high-volume stampedes.

The Point: Marketers who understand what the aspirational customer wants—and work hard to provide it—will be rewarded with fiercely loyal, responsive, and profitable repeat purchasers.

Building Your Brand

Branding can be described as many things, but it's best defined as a promise… a promise of the value of the product… a promise that the product is better than all the competing products… a promise that must be delivered to be successful.

Branding is the combination of tangible and intangible characteristics that make a brand unique. Branding is developing an image -- with results to match.

Here's your starting point... grab your pen:

1. Write down what sets you apart from others, describe the added value you bring to a situation
2. List your Experience and Accomplishments
3. Stay up to date with changes in your field, continuing education is VERY important. What have you done lately to perfect your craft, to prove you are an expert in your field?
4. Building Relationships - a top priority!

Cultivate your existing relationships with clients and/or supporters. Don't lose site of account maintenance while pursuing new business. Nothing is more powerful in building your career brand than what your network of contacts -- your friends, colleagues, customers, clients, and former bosses -- say about you and your set of skills, education, and accomplishments.

Most importantly...Promote Yourself

You can have an amazing brand, but if no one knows about it, you are not going to have much success with your career development. And no one more than you has more reasons to promote your brand. Throw modesty out the window? There is a fine line between bragging and promoting -- and you need to learn it -- but it's always better to err on the side of promoting your brand than not

Final Thoughts

Once you identify and build your brand, remember to continue strengthening and protecting it. There will always be competing brands but you are indeed founder and CEO of Y-O-U, Inc., and the more you do to cultivate your career brand, the more successful you'll be.

Are you lazy in the email department?

Here's another great article for my email enthusiasts!

The informality and low cost of email has changed the way we communicate—but not always for the better. In a post at her Marketing Interactions blog, Ardath Albee reminds us that we should craft personalized, thoughtful messages when making initial contact with prospects and journalists.

Here are a few sure signs you've gotten lazy in the email department:

• Talking only about yourself, not your recipient
• Using clichéd buzzwords to rave about your product or service
• Asking intrusive questions that presume you already have an established relationship
• Placing yourself on the recipient's calendar—without permission—by promising to follow up with a phone call

"By being lazy," she notes, "you're telling your [recipients] they're not worth … your undivided attention. Although you're expecting them to give you theirs."But that's not all. A narcissistic approach to email composition sends a clear signal that you're just as self-centered in your day-to-day work life. "Oh, yes," says Albee, "every interaction you have with them speaks to your credibility and is an example of what they'll come to expect. Why blow it so early in the game?"

The Point: Ardath Albee advises the following: "Take on the challenge to be energetic, passionate about helping your prospects consider how best to solve their high-priority issues and, for heaven's sake, be imaginative about how you do it."

Marketing your services as an entrepreneur; phone calls and face-to-face appointments should always be at the top of the list.

Text Appeal

"While US consumers are fully embracing text messaging," says Alan Berrey in an article at MarketingProfs, "very few enterprises have followed suit." And when you consider that 80 percent of Americans own mobile phones, and send over one billion text messages each day, it makes sense to develop a strategy for this largely untapped channel.

Here are some of Berrey's pointers:
Join in. "Far too many companies do not support text messaging at all," he says. "The key ingredient for most companies is simply to get started."

Let people know you're there. Demonstrate your texting proficiency early in the customer relationship, and you can fully employ the channel throughout the sub-processes of acquisition, support and retention.

Keep it short. Messages need to be relevant, timely and brief. "If you cannot convey the message in less than 160 characters," he notes, "then the message is probably not well suited for text messaging." And be sure to integrate with other channels. "Text messaging rarely stands on its own," reports Alan Berrey. "In most cases, [it] is used to augment other communications."

The Point: "Text messaging has become the preferred communications channel for millions of people, and not just teenagers," says Berrey. "For many people in America, [it] is considered indispensable." It's a reality from which you can benefit.

We would recommend sending advertising text messages to a very elite group of clients, only the ones that you are sure wouldn't mind receiving a text from you. Spam is already frustrating enough but if I got spammed on my cell phone too, I would be angry and maybe even a little violated.

I must admit that last Thursday when I got a pre-recorded voice message from my neighborhood Papa John's... "Today is Customer Appreciation Day, get your $7 large-one topping pizza for today only"...well let's just say, I was hungry at the time.

Text messaging and pre-recorded voice mail, Two thumbs up!

Keep the mic AND the camera in the same bag!

Great tips for our musicians and speakers...

•Bring a camera to every gig. And arrange for someone to take the photos while you play! If your photographer doesn't show up, your soundman, lighting tech, spouse, significant other, etc. can take the photos for you. In a pinch, the band members can take turns shooting candid pics of the other performers.

•If it's an important event, use two photographers. This is insurance in case one of the photographers doesn't show up, a camera malfunctions, or a photographer doesn't know what the hell he's doing. It's much better to have twice as many photos to choose from than to have no photos at all!

•Ask the photographer not to zoom in on every shot. You can crop the photos with software (such as Photoshop) afterwards. This helps ensure that the photographer doesn't cut off heads or other important aspects of the photo. The flip side is that your photographer doesn't try to shoot the stage from 50' away. The flash just won't reach that far, and you'll have a dark, wasted photo instead of something you could have used.

•Spend a few minutes with the photographer to go over the highlights of your show. If you have any flashy production numbers, or crowd favorites that always pack the dance floor, pass that information on so the photographer has something to work with. Fog effects, flash pots, choreography, lasers -- make sure they get photographed.

•Take photos during the sound check. This is important if you're using a non-professional photographer. You give the photographer some practice time with your camera. When you review the photos, you get a chance to offer suggestions to the photographer. If the sound check songs are part of the regular set list, when they are played later in the evening, the photographer has already had a chance to 'practice' on them and can perfect the shots so they look perfect. Of course, after the sound check is also a great time to either download the photos to a laptop, switch the removable memory for a fresh card, or delete any photos that aren't up to par.


•Don't post bad photos on your web site. Out of focus, too light or too dark, red eyes, etc. -- toss 'em out and use the shots that make everyone look like they're alive, fer cryin' out loud! You can salvage some otherwise bad photos by cropping, using red eye correction, or the sharpen feature found in photo retouching software programs, such as PhotoShop Elements.

•Don't post a million photos. Keep the number of photos on the site to a manageable number. If you really want to host lots of photos, separate them by year, or by venue. Don't expect your visitor to surf their way through 50 uninteresting shots to find the one good one. Put the best shots out there near the top of the page.

•Use thumbnail (preview) photos on your site. Link them to larger photos, but keep the file size reasonable. If someone needs a larger photo, they can request one; there's no need to force the casual viewer to download a 2MB photo by default.

•Show some variety. Show a mix of photos from several different venues. It makes it look like the band has done a lot of performing. Do it even if it means doing some free gigs and maybe even opening for other acts you normally wouldn't perform with. Six months from now, who cares that you opened for Polkatallica? As long as you have some great stage shots, no one will know the difference.

•Schmooze with the stars. An occasional shot of band mates posing with celebs adds interest. They don't even have to be taken at your gigs. It could be a music store event or clinic that one of your band mates just happens to be attending. Take your camera everywhere, especially if it's a small one.

•Rehearsals are also a potential source for candid action photos. Even more so if the rehearsal space has character. Maybe there are lots of posters on the walls. Or the walls are bare (or you've covered the walls with white or dark bed sheets to make the band stand out more). Put the band's name on the bass drum, too. You can do this before the shoot, or afterwards with the help of photo editing software such as PC Paint or PhotoShop.

•Go on location! Get photos of the band at the beach, at the local fair, at a parade, at the zoo, on children's playground toys, in the snow, with famous landmarks in the distance; you get the picture. They all add interest and, in turn, make the band look interesting. Travel expenses for the photo shoot may also be tax deductible (check with your tax advisor).

It's Never Too Late!

No matter where you are in your career, if this is a new beginning or if you’re a seasoned veteran, still looking for that big break…just remember, its never too late for “it” to happen.

Here are few of my favorite bios and real life success stories. I’m sure many of you know these stories but I’m almost certain, there’s something in it you didn’t know. They all had a price to pay. Enjoy!


Colonel Sanders created the KFC fast food chain at the age of 66. He was the eldest of three children, Sanders was only five years old when his father died. His mother, a homemaker, had to take a job peeling tomatoes in a factory to make ends meet; she would sew at night to earn extra money. Sanders learned how to cook so that he could raise his younger siblings, he took his first full time job at the age of 10 and dropped out of school in the sixth grade to work full time on a farm to support the family.

Sanders held a variety of jobs. He sold insurance in Jeffersonville, Indiana. Then he started a steamboat ferry company that operated on the Ohio River between Jeffersonville and Louisville, Kentucky. Eventually, Sanders took a job as secretary of the Columbus chamber of commerce. There he met an inventor who discovered how to operate natural gas lamps on a gas derived from carbide.

While working on the railroad in Illinois, Sanders took a correspondence course that allowed him to earn a law degree from Southern University. A local judge permitted him to use his law library and local lawyers helped his studies by explaining law terminology. When he lost his job with the railroad, Sanders began practicing law. He had some success in the legal field working in the Justice of the Peace courts in Little Rock, Arkansas. Sanders ruined his legal career, however, by getting into a brawl with a client in the courtroom. Although found innocent of assault and battery, Sanders' legal practice was through.

In 1929, Sanders moved to Corbin, Kentucky, and opened a gas station along U.S. Route 25. When tourists and traveling salespeople asked Sanders where they could get something to eat nearby, he got the idea of opening a small restaurant next to the gas station. The restaurant had one table and six chairs and specialized in Southern cooking such as pan fried chicken, ham, vegetables, and biscuits.

In 1937, Sanders tried to start a restaurant chain in Kentucky, but his attempt failed. Two years later, he opened another motel and restaurant in Asheville, North Carolina, but this too failed.
Sanders continued to alter his chicken recipe to get the seasonings just right. In 1939, he devised a method to cook chicken quickly because customers would not wait 45 minutes for a batch to be fried up in an iron pan. Sanders used a pressure cooker, a new invention at the time, to cook chicken in nine minutes.
Some time later, Sanders began sending his spices to other restaurants in an agreement that he would make five cents on every chicken sold that was seasoned with his spices.

And I reiterate; he was 66 by the time KFC as we know it today, was created.


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Berry Gordy, Founder, Motown Records. Gordy dropped out of high school his junior year to pursue a career as a feather-weight boxer. His fighting career ended when he was drafted to fight in the Korean war, after serving for two years he was discharged and returned home to Detroit and started the Three-D Record label but that business soon failed.

Gordy worked for his father for a short period and then as a chrome trimmer on the assembly line at the Ford Motor Company. The monotony was formidable, and Gordy's way of overcoming it was to write songs in his head, some of which were recorded by local singers.
Decca Records bought several of his compositions and when Gordy compared his royalty checks to what Decca made from the modest hits, he realized that writing the hits wasn't enough. He needed to own them.

At the suggestion of a friend, teenage singer William "Smokey" Robinson, Gordy borrowed $700 from his father and formed Motown.


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Maya Angelou, Author & Poet, was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents divorced when she was only three and she was sent with her brother Bailey to live with their grandmother in the small town of Stamps, Arkansas.

At age seven, while visiting her mother in Chicago, she was sexually molested by her mother's boyfriend. Too ashamed to tell any of the adults in her life, she confided in her brother. When she later heard the news that an uncle had killed her attacker, she felt that her words had killed the man. She fell silent and did not speak for five years. Maya didn’t speak again until she was thirteen.

She dropped out of school in her teens to become San Francisco's first African American female cable car conductor. She later returned to high school, but became pregnant in her senior year and graduated a few weeks before giving birth to her son, Guy. She left home at 16 and took on the difficult life of a single mother, supporting herself and her son by working as a waitress and cook, but she had not given up on her talents for music, dance, performance and poetry.

When she began her career as a nightclub singer, she took the professional name Maya Angelou. She toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess in 1954 and 1955. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows and recorded her first record album, Calypso Lady (1957).

During her years abroad, she read and studied voraciously, mastering French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and the West African language Fanti.

Maya Angelou returned to America in 1964, with the intention of helping Malcolm X build his new Organization of African American Unity. Shortly after her arrival in the United States, Malcolm X was assassinated, and his plans for a new organization died with him.

Angelou involved herself in television production and remained active in the Civil Rights Movement, working more closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who requested that Angelou serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His assassination, falling on her birthday in 1968, left her devastated. With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, she found solace in writing, and began work on the book that would become I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The book tells the story of her life from her childhood in Arkansas to the birth of her child. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published in 1970 to widespread critical acclaim and enormous popular success.

Her screenplay, the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.


"Only as high as I reach can I grow, only as far as I seek can I go, only as deep as I look can I see, only as much as I dream can I be.”

Five Mistakes Band & Label Sites Make

Here's an article that Steve Fortuna of The Kopy Katz sent to us. This article was written several years ago but still holds true today, we think its awesome. Enjoy!


Five Mistakes Band & Label Sites Make
Merlin Mann Dec 6 2004

Admittedly, this is well off our usual fare, but please indulge me in a public service message on behalf of music fans across the Internets—five mistakes that band and label sites make (and a few tips on how to fix them). One data point from a fan.

Too much Flash...

Okay, I get it. You’re creative. Awesome. But you’re totally wasting my morning as I helplessly wait for your designer’s dancing sausages to finish loading. Perhaps worst of all, most all-Flash sites prohibit your fans from creating deep links to artist, album or song pages. Your fans are trying to drive people to the cash register, but you insist on making them watch a puppet show before they can even enter the damned store.

Tip: Use Flash like you would cilantro—sparingly and for a single high-impact effect. Nobody wants to eat a whole bowl of cilantro, and nobody wants an animated death march when they have a “passionate task” to complete. Also, build your pages to make it super-easy to link to anything. Use sub-page anchors, and clearly identify why they’re there.

Crappy or non existent mp3 metadata...

If I load up the mp3 of your big single and it says it’s “Song” by “Artist” on the record, “Album,” you’ve completely blown it already; I have no way to ever find you again. Ditto for file naming. Remember: people often download dozens or hundreds of songs at once, so it’s really unlikely they’ll remember where Track%2007.mp3 came from.

Tip: Fill every possible field of ID3 data with rich, correct information. This is the digital version of an album cover, so give the kids something to read while they’re rocking. Basic track info is a no-brainer, but also consider adding cover art, track number, composer credits, genre and year information, and—duh—add a link to your web site and email address in the comments field. Posting an MP3 without metadata is like Safeway ordering the hair-netted sample lady not to tell hungry customers which aisle those nummy chicken fingers are in.

Too artsy, too fartsy...

People are visiting your site because they want to learn more about bands and music—not to have a guided tour of your designer/brother-in-law’s Photoshop brush collection. Don’t be cute with the design, section naming, or navigation. Don’t make your visitors solve a Rubik’s cube to pull up your lyrics page.

Tip: Let the music be the star of the show and provide fast access to what your visitors really came for: 1) mp3s/downloads, 2) lyrics/discography, 3) show dates, 4) contact info, 5) where can I buy this (preferably pointers to buying online for immediate download). Photos, old setlists, and diaries—anything that paints the personality of the band—are all great, too, of course, but they’re still secondary to posting and updating the holy pentagram of items above. Save the artsy stuff for when you inevitably quit music to take up oil painting.

No search...

Chances are good that fans coming to your site arrive with something extremely specific in mind—often a fragment of lyric or the name of one obscure song. If your site contains more than a handful of pages, provide a clearly labeled search box (or link to a search) on every page, and test it. Make sure your search works and drives visitors to your most popular pages without the need for pecking around.

Tip: Google has a free service for providing site search. It’s not perfect or 100% timely, but it works, and it’s free, and it’s better than nothing.

One-way communication (served one way)...

Your fans are not empty vessels or just (ugh) a street team; they have things to say too. Provide a clear contact email address (plus separate ones for press and booking inquiries if you’re all famous and whatnot) and consider having a fan message board and mailing lists for tour and release updates. Read your email, and answer it.

Tip: Consider creating RSS feeds for your most frequently updated stuff (Sloan’s site does this very well).

Just in general? Don’t let your web designer build a portfolio piece on the back of your fans and your business. Ask your fans what they want, watch how they use your site, and then give them what they like without a lot of hooptedoodle.

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Article link: http://www.43folders.com/2004/12/06/five-mistakes-band-label-sites-make

Thanks again Steve!

A Great Booking Agent

A great Booking Agent with well placed connections can make all the difference in getting a band or entertainer in front of the right audience and increasing their profile. A great Booking Agent will also take care of the negotiations with promoters and venues when it comes to the pay for performances and the arrangements for things like backline and the best accommodations.

Although you can list your EPK with a basic, online booking service, nothing can take the place of having a professional agent (who is not a band member) contacting venues on your behalf. It’s proven that an agent with connections will have an established rapport with promoters, which will drastically increase your chances of getting booked rather than paying to post your EPK online and “hoping” that you’ll get picked out of the hundreds of other bands listed on the same page!

Here are a few basic things you’ll need before an Agent can book you:

You’ll need marketing materials, the most important factor is how you create and market your image. You will want a press-kit; head shots, a demo, business cards and a nice band website (not your MySpace page).

What type of agent do you need? Someone to just book dates, someone long-term to boost your career, or someone who can increase your income. It’s true that some agents or agencies are better in certain areas than others. We at The O.M.G. are at our best while working as long term, income and career enhancing agents. It can be difficult to work with a band that is impatient and seeking very short term gain (wanting a regular night club gig by this Saturday) and unfortunately we have to turn away those anxiety ridden bands on a daily basis.

We aim for the very BEST and the 'best' gigs normally book 6 months to 1 year in advance. Yep, you know the ones.

However, if you decide to promote yourself or send Press kits on your own, PLEASE review our list of DON’Ts:

-Address materials to "whom it may concern" or "contact."
-Address materials to a contact at another label or radio station and forget to change it on your cover letter.
-Misspell your contact's name.
-Write "requested materials" or "personal" on the envelope unless instructed to do so by the recipient.
-Include little bits of paper (song lists, confetti, fortune-cookie fortunes) that fall out, get lost, and annoy people.
-Brag or make demands. You're asking people to do you a favor by listening to your music, not the other way around.
-Send music to labels or DJs who have nothing to do with the style of music you make. It's a waste of their time and yours.
-Talk about your great lyrics in vague, incoherent phrases.

Good packaging and selling can make the difference between success and obscurity. The days of the band member or leader making all the calls are long gone. We make working with a professional agency a dream come true and when you think about it, it’s a whole lot cooler to say… “Call my Agent”.