| If you go beyond being a member of your own
band -- if you are the one in charge of making your presence known online
-- you are one of the many Artist-Webmasters out there in the digital world.
Or maybe you are just a friend, fan or hire of the band that volunteered
to open up the fanbase by creating the ultimate promotional Website.
Checking our Artist Resources section will give you good promo opportunities
but how can you make your band look as good as they sound? Here are some
tips. . .
DotEasy
-- The best deal on the Internet. With your domain registration -- which
is as low as $15 a year -- you get a free banner-free 20 MB web site. No
CGI if you want fancy programs but a great deal. It's where
Liquid Stereo and
Siteclopedia have been set up.
No Monthly Fees -- This is the dream deal for
a demanding site. Rather than pay $20 or more a month for high-end website
hosting, No Monthly Fees charges you just $200 for life. An amazing 200 MB
of storage, full CGI-BIN, site stats, everything you will ever need. All
you pay after that is $35 a year for the domain registration.
Commission Junction -- Even if the site
is a labor of love, there is no reason why you can't hook up with affiliate
programs that will pay you for sending traffic their way. This is where you
can sign up for the likes of Tower Records and Listen.com. Hundreds more.
They provide the banner or text links. You paste it on your site and
collect the commissions. Absolutely free affiliate
programs.
Cafe
Press - Merchandising goes beyond your music. Cafe Press
will help you go that next step. Put your photos and artwork on t-shirts,
mugs, mousepads -- and let Cafe Press run the store. It's a free service
and you will keep the mark-up on every single items sold.
Link
Share - Like Commission Junction, this is another collection
of online sites and merchants that will pay you for traffic and sales. Sites
like Buy.com and Sony Music are here. It's pocket change, but it's
your pocket change. |
