john

Although not free, stock libraries can provide a lot of footage: http://www.videoblocks.com/

Oh and i see you are using Wordpress. Install MaxA/B plug in to do some A/B testing... ie you create two versions of a page. Sometimes the difference could be wording, or colour scheme or layout etc. You then display pages on a turn about basis (handled automatically). Use different bit.ly links on each page and then use the stats to see which page converts better and then make that the permanent page, or put up a new version to compete with it.

Have a read at the Fan engagement article: http://business.songstuff.com/article/fan_engagement/ Plus there are several other useful articles in the business area http://business.songstuff.com/article/

Hi Dave Ok, this raises a few points. Firstly, although it is a good idea to have a large web footprint, I would recommend having a core central site, ideally your own domain. I don't mean sciencebase.bandcamp.com. I mean sciencebase.com (for example). I have seen way too many sites like bandcamp, reverbnation etc disappear more or less overnight, right back to mp3.com. You may well have already learned this, but I thought it worthwhile to mention for the benefit of others. Secondly, if it is your own link, you want to use something like bit.ly so you can track your links. Generate a new bit.ly link for every location you place a link. The answer to your question is all about metrics, and analysis... analytics. If you have had your project up for a while you can also check sales figures. Considerations are: Existing Sales Per Network Individual Network Commissions Some networks will give you additional information to help you work out numerically which is best. Other useful information is: Direct Referral Sales versus Search Based Sales versus Organic Sales Direct Referral is sales where you sent someone to your music directly Search Based are sales where someone searched via Google Bing etc and found your music. (There is also Organic Search, eg iTunes own search) Organic Sales are sales created via people browsing the music site These figures help you to factor less obvious aspects of where to focus your efforts. For example, if direct sales on a specific network more easily help you achieve chart position, and that chart position spawns higher level of organic sales from people browsing the chart, then that is a very worthwhile consideration. ie How easy is it to increase chart position? and secondly, With higher chart position, what level of additional exposure does that chart position give? To a degree you can work this back from published numbers and your analytics. One very, very important consideration is... your mailing list. You do have one don't you? Please say yes. Someone buying from iTunes, you don't get their details. They buy and they are gone. You rely upon them to find you again. That isn't very satisfactory. not at all. For example: 1. They click your link and go direct to the sales network. Some buy your song (most don't). They are gone. 2. They click your link and visit your page. They read some info, click a buy link, they visit the sales network. Some buy your song (most don't). They are gone. 3 They click your link and visit your page. They read some info, sign up to your newsletter. You also provide a buy link on the page and on the post sign up thank you page, they visit the sales network. Some buy your song (most don't). You send out several newsletters, each with direct buy links, some click some buy with each newsletter. In scenario 3 you get several bites at the apple. Even better, next time you release an album you already have a fanbase to pitch to. One other thing. It is easier to get someone to sign up for your newsletter, than to actually buy something. Especially if you offer a freebie, for example a live performance vid of one of your songs. or an interview vid. i could go on for hours lol btw, to augment what we have here (and will add to) on Songstuff, we will be adding 3 things: 1. An info ebook / course with loads of details and much more on the stuff above. 2. Number 1 plus training vids and ongoing marketplace intel, group workshops and individual mentoring 3. A pro-level Music PR service We have already done quite a lot of work on number 1 and number 3. Number 2 may well be split regarding individual mentoring. Sound good? Watch out for them being launched in the near future. As an aside we also plan to launch Songstuff publishing in the very near future where we will be signing writers to publish and co-publish, and also offering some sub-publishing services (like song plugging) on a for hire basis. We also have some software products to automate some promo tasks (desktop, web and mobile apps). Cool stuff. I digress. If you have questions Dave, please feel free to ask, though as I am sure you will understand the best approach will be to buy the products mentioned above I hope this helps. Cheers John

Hey Elemere Welcome to Songstuff Don't worry our moderators are really quite cuddly nice people. Mostly.