Here are some of my strategies for getting FREE traffic to your beat selling website:
1) YouTube
You might be surprised how simple it really is to get traffic from YouTube. The biggest thing to remember is that YouTube is also a search engine just like Google, and in order to rank high in YouTube you need to play by their rules. If you do it right, there is an unlimited amount of free traffic that you can tap into.
If you think that you can just upload beats or videos and that will be enough to get traffic and views, you are wrong. You need to follow the specific formula that YouTube created. This includes these simple but important rules for YouTube traffic:
1. Consistently upload new beats. (At least 1 new video per week)
2. Use keywords in your video titles. (hip hop beat, rap beat, type beat, instrumental, etc)
3. Match keywords with high quality thumbnails.
4. Use cards and annotations, especially 'Click Here To Subscribe' annotations.
5. Focus on subscriber growth. (Subscribers are more likely to share videos and get you viral traffic)
6. Include your email address and link to your website in video descriptions.
2) SoundCloud
SoundCloud is one of the most visited sites on the internet, and especially true for people looking for music. Just like you want to have all your beats uploaded to YouTube with unique keywords and images for each beat. You want to do the exact same with SoundCloud.
1. Upload all your beats to your SoundCloud account.
2. Every beat uploaded gets a unique image, unique title with keywords, unique tags, and unique description with links to your website and social media.
3. Add a link within the 'Metadata' to every sound uploaded, for instance a link to purchase the beat. This will be a clickable link that they can see without having to view the sound description.
4. Stay consistent and make sure to add each new beat uploaded to your SoundCloud.
3) Blog
When I first started selling beats online, I used a blog as my main source of traffic. How does this work?
1. Write 1 new blog post per week.
2. Use a free blog platform built with Wordpress.
3. Write blog posts that target rappers, singers, recording artists, etc
4. Make each post at least 750 words.
5. Each post should be very helpful to the reader in someway.
6. When published, post a link to blog post on all your social media accounts.
7. Send out an email blast about new blog posts and ask fans to comment and share.
Google will pick up your blog posts and if they have relevant, good quality information, they will continue to be shared and will end up in the Google search results.
Don't try to stuff your posts with keywords or links, just make sure they are helpful and well written, the more you blog, the more free traffic you will start getting to your website.
4) Reach Out
One of the best and most simple ways to get high quality visitors on your site and listening to your beats is for you to reach out to them. You can do this very easily through email or social media, and you should only target people who are highly likely to purchase your product. This will take some time, so no point in wasting time reaching out to people who don't need beats.
Use excel spreadsheets to keep track of everyone who you reach out to and if they like your beats make a special note next to them.
Find potential customers by searching for recording artists, rappers, singers, and video creators on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.
All in all, free traffic is great and especially good if you are on a tight budget. But I always advise to use 50% paid traffic and 50% free traffic, why not use every traffic source available? Don't put all your chips in one basket.