Kim Jarrett

It seems like yesterday when I wrote my first post for this challenge. I guess that’s a good thing, because it means things are moving along. Here we are in Week 3, already!

After last week’s challenge of crafting my perfect pitch, I was relieved upon re-visiting Week 3 to find it basically complete. As I noted in my first post, after I won a copy of the book, Music Success in Nine Weeks, I read it over as a whole first, and then set about working through the weeks. Week 3 is about optimizing your website. I made sure that was done the same day I read about it. Mostly because I was intrigued at the free bribe bit, but also because I was so stuck on Week 2 that I wanted to feel like I was still moving forward.

I’ve been managing my own site, kimjarrett.com, for years now, albeit in various forms, and using various software and whatnot. Back in 2002 it was a giant pain, but thankfully, technology (and my access and knowledge of it) has progressed and I’m no longer tied to Windows-based software. I’ve been using Linux, and Mac systems since, and currently, I’m using a joomla! template for my website. I’m not an expert at tweaking it – there are some design changes that I’m still working on, but it’s a good platform for someone like me, as I’m comfortable with software of many kinds, and need to be able to update my content from anywhere, anytime I think of it. Plus it’s very search-engine friendly (I hardly have to do a thing), and it’s open-source so it’s free. Free is good! So, after reading Week 3, I checked that my site was loading in a timely fashion, and that all the links were still working etc., and then I immediately put up a free bribe using the reverbnation exclusive downloads widget (good thing I was already set-up over there or I would have had more work to do this week!) as Ariel suggests. I decided to use songs from both of my releases, and to give 10 free mp3s away with every email. A lot of my musician friends think I’m nuts to do that, but after reading some blogs from sortednoise.com, I was already onside with that idea. Also, I’ve been giving away a song of mine, “How Long”, with BentMusic on Philips mp3 players across the world since 2006 and not even necessarily getting an email in return so I figured this was better. Incidentally, for those of you saying “oh, don’t sell yourself short”, and/or “don’t give away the *whole* cow”, or whatever – “How Long” is my top-selling download, and the cd it’s on, Kim Jarrett, continues to enjoy international sales because of that relationship. Yes. It’s true. I give it away, yet, the people pay for it.

And my email list? It’s doubled in under 3 months – it had basically been the same for 3 years (!) – and I collect at least one new fan every day from that widget alone. That is the stuff people. My cost? mp3s of songs I already wrote. Work that was done already. You know what I say to that? Bazinga.

So what are you waiting for? If you do nothing else – give away a song or two or ten or twenty – in exchange for an email address of course – and see what happens. I’ll give you mine, if you give me yours – send me your weblinks!

Until then, I hope to see you next week for a post about Week 4: Social Media for Musicians!

Kim

xxoo

www.kimjarrett.com

gigs – cds – mp3s – news