Avoiding certain keywords and phrases

As you look over your lists of words and phrases, remove certain phrases that are too common and familiar. The following covers words that are overused, oversaturated, or could deliver a message that’s going to hurt more than help. Even if one of these exactly describes what you’re looking for, use different words or phrases and avoid these at all costs. For example, saying “A different type of band with a unique and innovative sound” to describe yourself doesn’t tell anyone anything about you or your sound.

• Innovative (Way overused.)
• Unique (Once again, way overused.)
• New (Everything is new, it’s not helping.)
• Different (As soon as someone decides you sound like someone else, then you’re no longer different to them, and this can kill interest.)
• Never been done before (The industry sees it as all been done before.)
• Hard-working and driven (Shouldn’t that be everybody? Why say it?)
• Thought-provoking lyrics (One of my favorites; not to pick on anyone, but could you imagine an artist describing their lyrics as stale and boring?)
• Team players (Again, something you need to be in this business, no need to state it.)
• As soon as you hear it, you’ll know! (Another overused phrase that also brings out a cockiness you don’t need.)
• Music with a message (All music has a message, so avoid this phrase.)
• Showing up the rest (Don’t talk bad or down about others when you look for the best words to represent you.)

There are many bands and artists that want to reach the exact same people, fans, industry professionals, and media contacts that you do, which is why the bio and the keyword phrases are so important. Take the time to build your keyword phrases and bio so you’re seen by the most people possible. When creating the best keywords, phrases, bio, and call to action, think about how these phrases influence:

• A new fan
• An existing fan
• A friend
• A reviewer or interviewer
• A music industry professional
• An investor, sponsor, or potential endorsee

Create phrases that enable you to connect with a diverse group of people. When you send out promotional packages, each package will be personalized, but the basic content and keywords should be uniform in all of them.

Reviewing your keywords and phrases for discoverability

When reviewing your main phrases, look at those bands that can be or have been compared to you. Do a little research to find out what their phrases are so you can find the best ways to describe you while not using too many phrases that result in other bands and artists coming up that aren’t you.

For example, when you search “fruity funk scratching at the drapes of rock and roll,” it results with Kitty Likes Avocado. But if a band uses a less-descriptive term or phrase, such as “classic rock and roll,” too many different artists show up. This less-descriptive term doesn’t help the band that wants to be found.

Try searching Google and YouTube to see which keywords phrases conjure up. Does your search bring up similar artists and bands that may have fans you want to attract? Those are some keepers then! Although you want to point people directly to you, a great number of phrases are already taken. Still, it’s better to be found as part of a search with another band that’s close to your sound and style than to not be found at all.

Most people searching online for music like yours aren’t searching for you directly. They haven’t heard of you yet! They’re searching for the words that describe your sound or bands that you might sound like, so keep that in mind as you create the phrases that best describe you.

Think of it as drawing people to new a restaurant. You don’t want to go too broad or too unique. Think of phrases that give people

• An idea of what you’re about
• A sense of familiarity with something they already know
• A comparison to things they trust and like
• A chance to explore, yet still feel safe
• Ideas and concepts that they can relate to, outside of music

Your keywords, phrases, and bio can have a positive or negative psychological effect on a potential fan, industry professional, or media contact right from the start, so make it a good one by using descriptors to draw people in and avoiding the overused statements that push them away.

When building the keywords and phrases, stay confident, but be humble. Can you use those words to describe yourself to a new, young fan and use those same words to describe yourself to one of your biggest inspirations, heroes, or idols? Uniformity is key! Make sure you find the words that express confidence but also humility.

You can use many of the analytics sites to get a sense of the exact ratings, position, and use of keywords and phrases, but this is something you can get lost in and can be a major waste of time. Google Adwords can help you know the exact rankings. www.ubersuggest.org can help with different phrasings, almost like an online thesaurus. These additional tools can help in refining your word choices.

Starting with a short bio

Creating a clear and informative bio (around 100 words) is a crucial aspect of your marketing. Many bios are long, drawn out, and don’t immediately describe anything about the artist, music, style, or sound. To craft your short bio, follow these steps:

1. Start with your one-liner, the first sentence of your bio. This is a little longer than the tagline and unlike the tagline; this has your name in it. By mixing together and combining some of the keywords, build a sentence that includes three keyword phrases. These phrases combine to make a short first-introduction sentence. Here’s an example of the phrases used for Kitty Likes Avocado:

   • Rock and blues
   • Alternative funk
   • Pop-infused sound

   Then add inviting words that showcase humility with confidence or humor to connect them. For this example, how about “serves up” and (for the humor element), a lead-in with “clawing at.”

   You can also play with words like:

   • Deliver (s)
   • Perform (s)
   • Share (s)
   • Explore (s)
   • Combine (s)

   These words connect the descriptors in an inviting and humble way (to see some words to avoid, check out “Avoiding certain keywords and phrases” earlier in this chapter). Then add an element of humor, something tied in to your name or sound while still focusing on the root of the music.

   And here’s an example of the complete one-liner for Kitty Likes Avocado:

   Clawing at the alternative funk genre woven in to a scratching post of rock and blues, Kitty Likes Avocado serves up a smooth and fruity pop-infused sound with the attitude of a kitten on catnip.

   For your one-liner or any type of content, invite, share, and ask, instead of tell, order, or force. Don’t tell people how they’re going to feel, what they’re going to think, or what they need to know. Share instead of shout! Allow them to choose how to react.

   Comparisons outside of music can work. For instance, “like a kitten on catnip” gives an example that people can relate to and be interested in learning more about. On the opposite end of the spectrum, telling someone your sound is going to hit them like a train running off the tracks insinuates a certain arrogance as well as an image that might be more mocked than draw curiosity or interest.

2. Bring in the tagline you designed with your logo. The tagline should serve as the closing sentence of your short bio, and there should be content in between your one-liner and your tagline. Make sure your content flows from one sentence to another. Here’s the tagline from Kitty Likes Avocado from last chapter.

   Fruity Funk Scratching at the Drapes of Rock and Roll

   And here’s the one-liner going straight into the tagline for use later on.

   Clawing at the alternative funk genre woven in to a scratching post of rock and blues, Kitty Likes Avocado serves up a smooth pop infused sound with the attitude of a kitten on catnip. Kitty Likes Avocado is fruity funk scratching at the drapes of rock and roll.

3. Fill in the rest of the details for your short bio to create both the short bio and extended elevator pitch. Learn more about an elevator pitch in Chapter 7. Think of your tagline as your speedy three-second catch phrase. Think of your one- liner as the six-second introduction, and of your short bio as the elevator pitch lasting no more than 25 seconds. They’re all fast, and they’re all to the point and deliver that first impression message you want to get across.

   Read it out loud, with all the content you create. See what it sounds like and not just what it reads like. This makes all your content read and sound that much better across the board.

   Now add a comparison sentence that captures readers’ attention. Add the details or descriptors of a comparison to an artist like this:

   • The genre combinations of Sinatra or Sid Vicious
   • The energetic vibe of Phish
   • The similarities of Little River Band
   • The combination of Nirvana and Grateful Dead
   • The element of Drake and Moby

   These bring a connection and comparison to that artist in a way that entices the reader to want to know more about you. Using two to four comparisons in the second sentence while using these different descriptors takes your bio up to a whole different level, reaching more people. In the following sentence, use keyword phrases to expand on the one-liner and tagline. Apply that idea of expanding and contrasting here. Many times, some of the one-liners and taglines you might have thrown away can be used as this third sentence.

   Have fun with it. Use a play on words or create a combination that would pique curiosity, such as:

   If Nirvana had Michael Buble on vocals and a horn section; or imagine The Police and Chicago playing Billy Joel songs. This touches the tip of how Kitty Likes Avocado’s sound and songs can be described.

   Then wrap it up. Find a closing sentence before attaching the tagline at the end that pulls it all together.

   Here’s an example of a full short bio with a one-liner opening, body, and tagline at the end that includes comparisons, influences, and basic details:

   Clawing at the alternative funk genre woven in to a scratching post of rock and blues, Kitty Likes Avocado serves up a smooth pop-infused sound with the attitude of a kitten on catnip. Mixing an array of inspirations like Steely Dan, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Buddy Guy, and Justin Timberlake with each member’s diverse musical background creates their large musical litter box of soul. If Nirvana had Michael Buble on vocals and a horn section, or imagine The Police and Chicago playing Billy Joel songs, that touches the tip of how their sound and songs could be described. Taking nothing all that seriously, enjoying their catnaps and daily smoothies with different fruits, avocado, garlic, and ginger, their playful music comes from an array of influences, attitudes, humor, and arguments. Kitty Likes Avocado is fruity funk scratching at the drapes of rock and roll.

To add the tagline at the end of the bio, reiterate the name of the band and go back to adding one of the connection words, such as is, delivers, shares, performs, brings.

It’s that simple and it should be that brief. Explore deeper versions of longer bios, but always start with your short bio to pull in new fans and make them want more. Your elevator pitch written at a series of different lengths allows you to capture attention instead of sending it running for the hills. Stay away from three-page bios that go on and on; they only serve to turn off reader interest.

“So and so started playing at the age of 4” and “this artist has had the music in them since they can remember” are some of the worst opening lines you can use. Think fast; think catch and capture the imagination of your reader. You have seconds to draw in or lose a new fan. Make those seconds count with the best phrasings.

Creating a medium- and longer-length bio

The longer bios give you a little more room to add thoughts and fuller sentences that are not so much about the keyword phrases, search engine optimization the elevator pitch. You capture them in the short bio and keep them reading on. This is where you can go into more detail.

Your medium bio adds a second paragraph to the short bio (see the previous section) to make it twice as long. Your long bio then adds one more paragraph that makes the bio three paragraphs in length. Keep the continuity by always keeping the short bio as one paragraph (about 100 words); the medium bio (about 200 words) should include the short bio paragraph as well as a second paragraph; and then the long bio (not over 500 words) should combine the short and medium bio with a new third paragraph.

Do not use more than 500 words for your long bio. Use those extra details you want to put in the end of the bio into content, blogs, and videos about the band on your website and social media.

In the medium bio, expand on the keyword phrase lists you came up with.

• Things about the artist or band outside of music, such as
  • The bassist is a terrible driver.
  • The guitar player can’t go two days without pizza.
  • The singer has five cats.
  • The drummer is still a garbage man.

Take the approach of gaining interest through headline-like sentences as you build the medium and long bio. Use the words and phrases that you came up with before to expand on fun, interesting, and even heartwarming tidbits about you or your group.

That vicarious relationship with a fan or potential fan can draw them in that much more. Relate, share, and connect with your audience. Stay away from using the medium and long bio sentences to talk about how much you rock; how you’re taking over the business; how you show up all the rest; and how the reader has never experienced anything like you before.

Instead, focus on sharing your hobbies, stories, beliefs, and experiences. Here are some examples:

Kitty Likes Avocado takes a nerdy and technical approach to the lyrics while still keeps a funk-based dirty sound in the music.

A little silly, but puts a better and more relatable idea across rather than stating

Eloquent, deviant, and thought-provoking lyrics that sear the ethereal soul over a bed of the best distortion you have ever known.

or

An avid runner, the vocalist views certain shows like marathons and trains his voice like he’s heading out on a two-hour jog.

Again, relate to your audience. Show confidence in the words, but stay away from the excessive hype.

The medium and long bio give you room to play, but don’t go playing too long. You can expand some; don’t go on and on. Shorter and more compact bios get greater attention than four-page diatribes. You grabbed them with the short; now expand, extend, and embellish just a bit, but don’t get too carried away.

Understanding the importance of your influences and comparisons

The comparisons and influences section of the bio helps catch the attention of readers who might like those artists, plain and simple. Including a couple comparisons in the short and medium bio gives you a line to those that are fans of the ones you choose. With influences, add those in the longer bio. A fan might be inspired by the same person, band, artist, or thing as you.

Don’t worry about being compared to others. It’s a good thing and enables people to relate to you and opens a door to you that otherwise wouldn’t be there. Comparisons and influences in your bio extend your net and your visibility. These influences and comparisons can also make for great social media posts, videos, and content down the line. Talk about, write about, and share what another artist does that influences you and your music, or offer your thoughts on how you are compared to them.

Building the best signature for your content

Your signature is your calling card, the set of directions, and marching orders to allow people to know, at a glance, who you are, what you do, when you’re playing, where fans can find out more about you, and how to get in touch with you or your management.

You gave them the content to spark their interest; now give them the information, location, and branding to set that interest on fire. Using the examples from earlier in this chapter, take the one-liner and then add the tagline:

Clawing at the alternative funk genre woven in to a scratching post of rock and blues, Kitty Likes Avocado serves up a smooth and fruity pop-infused sound with the attitude of a kitten on catnip. Kitty Likes Avocado is fruity funk scratching at the drapes of rock and roll.

This creates the one liner and the tagline as well as capturing a number of keyword phrases that help build the bio, including alternative funk, rock, and blues and pop-infused. After you add your one-liner and tagline, add the elevator pitch for what they can get and where they can get it:

For more info about Kitty Likes Avocado, their shows, music, merchandise, videos, news and updates, visit: [Your Website Here]

The band name is repeated for a third time, and part one of the keyword phrases from the tagline is used again. Without the web links, the example call to action looks like this now:

Clawing at the Alternative funk genre woven in to a scratching post of rock and blues, Kitty Likes Avocado serves up a smooth and fruity pop-infused sound with the attitude of a kitten on catnip. Kitty Likes Avocado is fruity funk scratching at the drapes of rock and roll. For more info about Kitty Likes Avocado, their shows, music, merchandise, videos, news, and updates, visit: [Your Website Here]

Close with the name of who’s delivering the content to get the conversion of people who want to learn, see, and connect more. This is more effective than constantly asking people to like, follow, and share all the time without giving them a reason.

Leading your fans

When picking your domain and social media names, think easy, consistent, and uniform. The easier it is for a fan, industry professional, or reviewer to know your online name, the easier it is to lead them to where you want them to go.

When searching for domain names for your website, search at the same time for what is available for use on social media sites. As an example, the following list shows my name on 16 major networking sites. I was able to capture them all except Google+. The uniformity and consistency make it easier for people to find you and go where you want them to go.

You may have to make certain adjustments due to a specific character limit, but stay with the beginning of your branded name. For instance, https://twitter.com/kittylikesavocado is not allowed because it has too many characters; for this site, you use https://twitter.com/kittylikesavoca.

When you use your call to action, keep it simple. Give your website, twitter, a video channel, and Facebook addresses. (As social networking sites change and evolve, you can change the networks in the call to action.) For example:

• http://kittylikesavocado.com/
• https://twitter.com/kittylikesavoca/
• https://youtube.com/kittylikesavocado/
• https://facebook.com/kittylikesavocado/
• Keeping the call to action the same is a good idea, but if you find a boost of popularity on your Instagram site, subtract one link and add that link instead.

Always remove the www in a website address. Start with http:// and if the page you’re sending them to has a security certificate, add the s to make it https:// — search engines read that faster because it’s a secure site. Also, double-check to make sure you’re adding the link correctly. Some secure sites require the www, so whereas https://barnesandnoble.com/ won’t connect you, https://www.barnesandnoble.com/ takes you to the book site. The same goes for the forward slash at the end of a domain name.

Make sure to also add a forward slash at the end of a page. Adding a link like http://kittylikesavocado.com with no forward slash only allows the search engines to look at that page, whatever is on your landing page for your website. When the spiders crawl through, (those parts of search engines that dig deep into the pages) and all you give them is a page, adding the forward slash and creating http://kittylikesavocado.com/ tells the spiders that there are other pages. Instead of stopping on the front page, you give the spiders a green light to look at other options like: kittylikesavocado.com/about, kittylikesavocado.com/music, kittylikesavocado.com/contact, kittylikesavocado.com/store, and so on. Some pages send you to a dead page with the forward slash, so always double-check. Look into building a website for dummies as a reference for secure and nonsecure websites.

When you bring all of these tips together, you get your full call to action with explanation, description, and direction like the one from Kitty Likes Avocado:

• Clawing at the alternative funk genre woven in to a scratching post of rock and blues, Kitty Likes Avocado serves up a smooth pop-infused sound with the attitude of a kitten on catnip. Kitty Likes Avocado is fruity funk scratching at the drapes of rock and roll. For more info about Kitty Likes Avocado, their shows, music, merchandise, videos, news, and updates, visit:
• http://kittylikesavocado.com/
• https://facebook.com/kittylikesavocado/
• https://instagram.com/kitylikesavocado/
• https://twitter.com/kittylikesavoca/

With the full call to action, direction to your website or three other social media sites, you have signed, sealed, and delivered the best directions for people to find you as well as given them the best directions on where you want them to go.

Content … then call to action

Always present the content before the call to action. You’re engaging with fans and reaching out to new ones at the same time. If all you do is constantly list gigs, ask for people to buy music and merchandise, or like this page and share that link, you exhaust and lose your audience. Sharing is caring and connecting brings the conversions. Try these:

• Share that photo and then close it with a call to action that tells viewers where they can see more photos of you with your call to action.
• Post that video and then tell people where your other videos can be seen with your call to action.
• Add lyrics and tell fans where they can hear the music with your call to action.
• Write a blog that talks about experiences, influences, or stories to engage your existing audience while you entice the potential new fans as you sign it with the call to action.
• Review, highlight, or share about another artist where you cross-market but still end with your call to action.

Watch for spamming. Your call to action is a closer and not the lead-in. Direct market yourself, your products, or music — once to twice a week (at most) is best. If you do it every day, you end up spamming and potentially losing the audience. Avoid spamming by always sharing content that leads to your call to action.

Your action of content keeps your existing audience engaged as you work to connect with more and more people. The more you post the right way, create and share content that is yours (and even other people’s content), followed by a call to action, you’re entertaining, networking, and engaging first, then directing them to the store where you want them to buy music and merchandise, the links where they can find out where you’re playing, and the links including your website and other social media pages where they can connect with you next.

Placement and uniformity of your tagline, bio, call to action, and keywords

Now that you’ve organized your content, it’s time to optimize across the web. From your own website to social media sites to your physical and digital promotional materials, you have the pieces of the foundation together. Now to lay the blueprint. Your logo, band name font, and tagline should be everywhere, from digital content to physical products.

Using hashtags with keyword phrases

Hashtags — those links proceeded by the pound sign (#) — create a searchable link for users with an interest in certain words or phrases. Your keyword phrases can be helpful to add some extra punch to your bio, call to action, and specific keyword phrases when allowed on certain sites. Make sure if you are using a hashtag in a bio that it works as a hashtag. It looks unprofessional if you’re overusing hashtags; they end up being words with a number sign in front of them. Most hashtags should be used in your content and posts.

Hashtagging your name or song names are not usually items people are searching on. For example, #KittyLikesAvocado is a waste of a hashtag, though adding #Fruityfunk, #smoothpop, #alternativefunk, or #popinfused has a chance to capture an array of people looking for those specific topics and descriptions.

Check in with www.hashtag.org when creating certain content and posts to see what’s popular and being clicked. While #rockandroll may be too big of a search, #rockandrollballetsounds turns up nothing. The key is finding a happy medium of your words, what people are searching on, and how you can be seen with all the millions of people out there trying to grab attention with hashtags.

Hashtag keyword phrases can slowly be added to your materials. While no one might be searching #fruityfunkscratchingatthedrapesofrockandroll, which is the tagline for Kitty Likes Avocado and a bit long for a hashtag, adding that hashtag to posts every few weeks as well as the hashtag of your band name can help to slowly build up your brand recognition over time. The organization of your content, keywords, bio, and call to action makes picking, choosing, and switching out hashtags easier and faster for each post you have up. It also makes tracking what’s working and what isn’t a whole lot more simple, too. When you see engagements and sales going up after certain posts, you can figure out which words, phrases, and hashtags are working best for you.

Be careful with hashtags and go a little more sparingly on sites like Facebook with three to four hashtags, and two to three maximum on sites like Twitter. Other sites like Instagram are practically fueled by hashtags and hashtag searching, so go to town. (Instagram allows for up to 30 hashtags. Add them all.) But also, try to build some content around it for a potential reader.

Switching them up also gives you a better chance at reaching a wider audience. Whereas you might use a specific keyword phrase or hashtag that ties directly to you, if the post is about a football game, another musician, food, or anything else, add that hashtag as well. But, always make sure you are hashtagging relating items and not just grabbing a hashtag to try to grab a fan. Some sites penalize for that if you are caught. For instance, if you put up a post about a new song called “Roger’s Foot Funk” and you add the hashtag #HappyFourth because it’s a hot tag due to it being July 4th, it’s really not helping. What you use for hashtags should directly relate to what you’re posting. If you want to use #Happyfourth as a hashtag, then write a post about the holiday.

Putting it all together for best results

The combination of using your keyword phrases, bio, and call to action to create uniformity on your website, social media sites, and promotional materials takes you miles beyond many others.

When the industry sees the application of content branding early on with artists, it shows professionalism and an attention to detail that many lack.

Having your primary keyword phrases as well as your call to action, short, medium, and long bios ready to copy and paste will save you time, make it easier to add content to new sites, all while optimizing your brand, band, and content everywhere. The compounding, consistency, and uniformity of your bio, keywords, call to action, and well-designed posts online as well as well-produced promotional materials offline allow for the best chances to get your message and music out.