Did you know we published a twice monthly email newsletter with free tips for marketing your band, album, festival, club, or organization online? It’s called Sound Marketing for Bluegrass, and written especially for our readers by Barry Silverstein, a nationally known branding and Internet marketing expert. You can sign up for free online.
His most recent effort highlights the new layout at Bluegrass Today, and some features you may not be fully aware of.
Happy New Year! This is a particularly happy year for Bluegrass Today, because on December 13, 2016, we launched a new version of our website, rebuilding it from the ground up. With the new Bluegrass Today, you’ll have more opportunities than ever to market your music, festivals, products and services, directly to bluegrass fans, via the industry’s leading source of bluegrass news.
To make sure you make the best use of the new site, we’d like to take you on a brief “tour” of Bluegrass Today and show you its great new features and benefits.
First, take a look at the brand new home page. Whether you’re using a desktop computer, tablet, or smartphone, you’ll notice that the home page is responsive to your device. The site is now mobile friendly to provide ease of viewing across all platforms.
The main navigation for the site is simple and clean – you can find news, charts, events and directories quickly and easily. The primary area of the home page will give you the latest bluegrass news with stories that rotate or scroll; you’ll always see the start of each story, and you can simply follow the link to read more. The latest bluegrass music news also appears in a prominent position.
Take a good look around and you’ll see that other essential information, such as a listing of the latest events, is easy to find. Features you’ve come to know and love, including Bluegrass At Large and Opinion/Humor, are also easy to find.
One of the great new features of the new Bluegrass Today is the easy access you’ll have to our industry standard weekly and monthly airplay charts. You can access these charts directly from the main navigation, and you can easily print them as well.
The two areas we’re improving significantly are the Events and Business Directories. These directories have been completely revamped to make it easy for you to add events and business listings, as well as to do quick searches. We’ll soon be adding advanced search functions to these directories.
Events and business listings are free. Simply register on the site to gain access to the Events or Business Directory forms. For events, just choose from the categories indicated: Broadcast Events, Club Shows, Concerts, Educational Events, Festivals, Music Camps and Workshops. Then complete all the appropriate information, include an image if you wish, and submit the form. We encourage you to add your festivals and events in your local area as early in the year as possible.
List your business in the Business Directory using the form provided. Any bluegrass-related business, including artists and record companies, can be listed free of charge. Choose the appropriate business category and then complete the information, again including an image if you wish, and submit the form.
At the present time, we have added a new commenting system on Bluegrass Today to make it easy for you to join in any discussions. A major revision to our discussion forum is planned for the future.
If you have any comments, questions, or concerns about the new site, please visit Support to contact us.
Next time: How to get the most out of marketing with the new Bluegrass Today.
You can download an ebook compilation of Barry’s Sound Marketing For Bluegrass newsletters here at Bluegrass Today.
