Movie reviewers are going to be a big tarket audience for you to reach, to help you get the word out. Here The Film Snob reviews a press kit sent to him, and informs us how it helped to get his attention, how it started forming positive opinions about the film, and how there was plenty of info for him to create his review with.

http://filmsnobbery.com/2009/09/08/tutorial-proper-press-kits-part-1-screeners/

Can’t wait for part 2.

Wonderful fun for the self-absorbed.

Check out how the internet sees you.

StudioPress Church .

Don’t be fooled by the name, the Church theme is a very cool theme and makes  a great band web site. Designed by StudioPress, formerly called Revolution Themes,  Brian Gardner and his team continue to make clean Wordpress premium themes with beautiful code and great Search Engine Optimization (SEO.) Because this is  Brian’s full-time business, he is very committed, offers support via a members-only forum, and makes sure the themes are constantly upgraded to ensure  compatibility with all Wordpress updates.

You’ll need the Viva Thumbs plugin to make adding the home page thumbnails easy. This will save hours of time, otherwise you have to fiddle with Photoshop resizing, and custom fields, which just make it that much harder to do. And remember, if its too much, you won’t do it.)

Tubular by StudioPress.

This theme was actually developed for use as a Videoblog, but I think it’s a great theme for bands too. It’s eyecatching and simple, so doesn’t appear overwhelming. Just put your latest video, or a video of your band performing at a gig, or rehearsing in the top spot. Want repeat visitors? Change your video often, and invite fans to submit thier videos of your band in concert. Throw a contest and tell them that you will feature their video on the home page – that will get them spreading the word. Do this once a month and you will have many happy fans!

The image on the left is actually a screenshot from a Wordpress blog site I just finished for a comedy hockey video series called Ripper Hockey. It is a very mild customization of the Tubular theme; we changed the header area, making it taller and wider, put a tagline in the top right created in text so that Google would know what the site is about, and moved the RSS subscribe links. Hopefully this will give you an ideal of  how just a few mild customizations to a well-built theme will give you a completely personalized look.

Wordpress Remix

Remix is simple, clean and comes with la choice of 10 different home page layouts and 20 different single page layouts, which make customization super easy.  Try style 4 or 5 , which feature images and are a bit less corporate looking. I like the featured text areas which also are great places for you to publicize upcoming gigs or special events.

This premium theme has some extra functions that are useful for band web sites like integrated Photo Galleries and Events pages, so it makes it super easy for your band to keep your fans informed with the content that they keep coming back to see.

You can use the theme as is, or change the colours via an easy theme options page.

Tribal Music

By Gorilla Themes will get you a cool site with built in music player from Mixpod so that you can stream your music.

This theme will need some graphic work to swap your own logo and background into the design, but once you do that, you will have a super cool site which places your music upmost and centre.

Aperture Theme

By Woothemes. This Wordpress theme is actually for a photography blog, but will work great for a band web site who have lots of pictures.

Don’t have lots of pictures yet? Ask your fans to send them. They’d be uber proud to see their pictures on your site.

Use one of the photo sidebars for your GigPress or Gig calendar plugin.

Abstract by WooThemes

In order to make this theme your own, just change that background image and go wild.

Ideas: Match your background to your current CD cover.

Want fans to keep coming back?

Change your background every week to match your posters.

Tell your fans to collect the series of backgrounds, or allow to download as wallpaer.

Do a contest and get your fans to design you a background.

Do a contest and feature a super fan every month on your background.

See how fun it can be?

Why do I think these make the Best Wordpress Themes For Bands? Let me tell you:

• these are image heavy – people want to see pics of you when they come to your band site. They also want to see NEW pics of you when they come, so keep on adding pics. That’s why Wordpress is cool. It is easy to update. Update your band’s web site often, and your fans will come by more often. And they will love you more.
• the sites are easy to customize – for the StudioPresss themes, just switch the background for a totally new look. Switch is so that it matches your most recent CD (you’ll actually need to also change the CSS for some of the themes, so they display an image vs a colour only, but it’s not that difficult – most web developers can help you with that.)
• StudioPress sites have great Search Engine Optimization capabilities. That means Google love.
• Sign up to our mailing list right up top. That is numero uno. Get your fans’ email addresses so you can send them news. They want it. They want to hear from you. They want to hear from you often.
• they’re more than a blog, allowing you to control your home page so it looks more like a traditional web site.

Have I missed any? What do you think are the best Wordpress Themes For Bands?

And help me out. I am currently designing a Wordpress theme for band sites. What other functions do you think would be cool for Wordpress themes to have for band sites?

Here’s a new site site that is offering Free Stock Video Footage with no catch. You can use the footage for personal use or commercial use – there is no stipulation. stockfootageforfree.com

Istockphoto also offers free videos every month that you can use. Make sure to check the details to see if you need to buy an extended license. Free Video of the Month Archive.

Archive.org has creative commons licensed video as well as video in the public domain. Here is a list of videos tagged with free stock footage.

Video in the public domain is becoming easier to find on the net. Here is a list of 9 public domain video sources put together by WebTVWire.com

Bingobango has gone through the internet archives and put together a few autumn clips available here, some Halloween clips, a nature assortment  here.

What’s your favourite source of free stock video?

Tags: Free Stock Video Footage , Free Stock Footage

I use Tweetdeck.com to organize all my Twitters.

I search Twitter with search.twitter.com. Search for your subject, your name, your company’s name, your competitors name etc and start talking, building relationships.

You can also search for hashtags on Twemes. Hashtags are a tagging system on Twitter where you put a # in front of any word you like. They are kind of like Technorati tags that way.

Use #hashtags to groupd your tweets on one subject. More info on how to use hashtags here.

Use RT – this means ReTweet – to take someone else’s Twitter post and send it to your followers. To use it just add RT to the top of your tweet, followed by @originalsendername, and their original message.

RT @originalsendername original message

Search Twitter users bios on Tweepsearch. Find people in your industry or genre to befriend.

Share photos on Twitter with Twitpic.

Check out popular videos on Tweetube. Share videos on Twitter with Tweetube. 

Why did someone unfollow you? Check out Tweet Effect to find out which of your Twitter updates might be responsible for people following or leaving you.

TweetLater is an excellent tool for Twitter automation. You can automatically follow those that follow you – and send an intro message with it. Some marketing experts say this is the best way to build authority. Others disagree. Your choice. Tweetlater also lets you program your tweets to send at specific times, though I think that’s kinda crummy. You’re not in a dialogue if you’re not there.

Visit the TwiTip (Twitter Tip) blog which is edited by Darren Rowse from ProBlogger Blog Tips. Follow Darren on Twitter.

Vist the Twitter Fan Wiki to look for tips or info, or to add your own.

How To Get more Followers
Kevin Rose just put out his list of how to get more Twitter followers. Kevin would know – he is the founder of Digg and has over 88,000 followers on Twitter making him the second most followed after President Obama.

Want to check your stats or see who else has loads of followers? Top Twitter users posted here on Twitterholic?

Follow me on Twitter – Twitter.com/ireneduma

It’s called a hashtag, and is a way for you to organize or add a metatag to your tweets. It groups tweets about the same subject all together.

Are you familiar with Technorati or Flickr tag? Hashtags are the same but instead of adding them to the bottom of your post, you just add them right in your Tweet’s sentence by putting the # sign in front of your word. Any word you want.

Why use a hashtag?
If you add hashtags to your tweets it will be easier to search and find any posts you made on that subject. For example Facebook Marketing guru Mari Smith uses this little word prefaced by a hashtag or pound sign -#FBTip – for all her Facebook tips that she posts to Twitter,

Just do a search on search.twitter.com. You can also search for them on twemes.com, or tweetchat.com.

Start using your own hashtag for your own tips or sets of categories you want instant access to. For example if you are a blues band (are you listening Porkbelly Futures?) you might want to use #bluesmusic whenever you post some news about your band, or CD or other post on topic that would be interesting to other blues music fans.

#bookadvertising would be a good one for Book Trailer Production company Bookshorts.com.

Learn more about Hashtags and how to use them in this video from Facebook Mari.

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Get more Free Facebook Tips from Mari.

Become my Twitter Friend on Twitter.com/ireneduma

Profiles are for real people only, and you can only have one profile on FB.

Facebook Pages are for businesses, and you can have as many as you want.

Here’s why you should make one pronto if you have a biz…

• Facebook pages are free.
• Facebook has a high page rank so a link back to your web site will help with your Search Engine Placement.
• You can have more than 5000 friends. Facebook groups have a cap.
• You can have a nice large image prominently displayed on your site.
• You can import your feed from your web site. Don’t have an RSS feed? Nows the time to switch over and get a Wordpress blog site as a web site. You will have an RSS feed instantly.
• You can have fans, photos, and video

When building your web site, always use your keywords. Remember – your keywords should be based on how people actually search, not just how you think people search. Use keyword tools for that.

To create your facebook page, scroll down to the bottom of any Facebook page and click on advertising. Then click on Pages from the submenu on the top. It’s just to the right of advertising.

Or just click here for Facebook Pages

Here’s where you can search all the other Facebook Pages.

Tags: facebook pages, facebook marketing, personal branding with Facebook

Tip #1 is all about setting up your profile page properly. Tip 2 is your profile pic, Tip 3 is about how to make your blog posts appear in your Notes section of your site automatically, and Tip 4 shows you some cool business applications or tools that you can use with Facebook.

Mari also has a Free Facebook Tips ebook  (and non-free social media classes and VP courses.)

Mari is also a Twitterer and posts her Facebook tips on Twitter too. You can see them all by using this Twitter Search Tool and querying Mari Smith and new #FBtip = Mari Smith’s #FBTips

Did you notice this  # sign in front of a word #FBtip  – it’s a hashtag. Learn  what are hashtags here.

Tags: hashtags, Mari Smith, Facebook tips, marketing with Facebook

So – the bottom line is Twitter is yet another tool you can use to build brand, fans, and community. The question is -

Should you Twitter?

I think if you have a business or are your own business, like many artists are, then yes, I think you should consider Twittering, or definitely know why you are not. And here’s why. This is where the new business is going – it’s going to the web and since this is how they play, then if you don’t want to be left behind, you might consider playing there too.

The good news is Twitter is easy, Twitter is quick, and that makes it a good place to start practicing this new “dialoguing” business that’s changing the rules and the game.

How to Twitter?

Twitter is touted as mini-blogging or micro-blogging. You are allowed only 140 characters to write a post so they are very short posts, kind of like a Facebook status. You can update often throughout the day, and let people know what you’re doing. You can update from the web, or by texting from your cell phone.

But there’s no sense in jumping on the Twitter bandwagon if you don’t really know why you are doing it. To that end, I found this great article which outlines a Twitter strategy for bands. It is super comprehensive and smart, and explains how to make Twitter a part of your branding and marketing plan. It’s written by Ariel Hyatt of Ariel Publicity, a music PR firm, but this strategy will work for authors, artists, filmmakers, photographers, entrepreneurs or the self-employed too.

In the Musicians Twitter Roadmap article above, Ariel interviews Laura Fitton, who explains how to use Twitter to create a community and promote yourself even if you are new to “social networking.” They talk about how to sign up and set up your profile, create the right brand, linke to Your Mobile Phone, how to find friends and follow them, who to follow and more, in nice and easy to understand English.

What to Twitter?

There are lots of gurus out there telling people what to Twitter. The thing to remember is that Twittering isn’t about the direct sell, but about building relationships and trust. This is becoming more important as the consumer public is becoming more knowledgable and wary of the hard sell or scams, and also more apt to do a ton of research online before buying. There is a general trend toward more authenticity and transparency too – fans want to know you and hear your thoughts and opinions, not those that your PR person made up.

One way to build fans and friends is to join in on the conversation. Do a search on Twitter using this Twitter search tool for words like your name, your book titles, your genre or your topic of expertise – and you can reply to people using the @ sign. Add your two cents worth, or point out a link to that subject on your or someone else’s blog.

Use twemes.com or tweetchat.com and do a search for hashtags – those are like Technorati tags for Twitter. What are Hashtags you ask? Click on that link to find out.

How to find Twitter Friends.

Social networking is all about friends. The more you have the better. The article above explains how to find friends. A new tool launched just 3 weeks ago can also help.

Mr Tweet helps you find friends by analyzing your current network and suggesting new friends and members whose feeds may be of interest. Just follow Mr tweet then wait for a DM, or direct message from the service. I did, and just got myself a load of new friends to follow.

Automate Twitter
But just a bit. Die hard Twitter users and social networkers frown on automation because it’s the antithesis of the spirit, which is all about communication, dialogue and transparency.

But I think setting your Twitter posts to automatically update your Facebook status is fine. To do that go to your Facebook account and install the Twitter application. Then set it to allow status updates from Twitter. You can change this anytime.

I think sending Twitter updates to your MySpace page is also ok, especially if you are like me and don’t go there very often anymore. Twitter has created customizable “badges” which are widgets that you can embed onto your MySpace pages as well as onto other websites and blogs, which will show your latest tweets.

My fave Twitter friends

I like having “friends” who are really smart and passionate about their subjects, go deep into it, and have no trouble sharing what they know. When I pop onto twitter via the web, I am always guaranteed a link to a fascinating article, post or news item from Gary Vaynerchuk, Chris Brogan, or Ken Nichols to name just a few.

They are also good examples of how to Tweet useful tweets. I really don’t care that you are eating breakfast, or are tired, or are going somewhere – unless I am stalking you. If I just admire you, I’d rather you spare me and just tell me what you learned when you got there.

Twittering isn’t for you if:

• your audience doesn’t use it
• you absolutely don’t have time
• you don’t care about listening
• you don’t like sharing

Should Screenwriters Twitter?

How serendipitous is this? My new Twitter friend Jill Golick whom I met via Ink Canada Facebook Edition just posted an article called Twitter and the Wired Writer. How did I find it? She Tweeted it.

More Tips on Twittering Real Good from some bright minds
Check back often as I will be updating this whenever I come across a great article.

• How To Use Twitter by Guy Kawasaki, the power entrepeneur, explains how he uses Twitter as a Twool. Excellent advice and some more great reasoning on why you should use Twitter as a marketing tool.
• Twitter Power Guide eBook. For the more advanced Twitter user familiar with Google Reader, RSS and Yahoo Pipes, this FREE ebook is just out from Christopher Penn – savvy marketer, blogger, podcaster and podcamp founder. Not to be missed.
• To get up to speed with Google reader, here’s my How To RSS guide with Google Reader.
• Darren Rouse of Problogger and Twitip writes his thoughts on the blogging VS Twitter debate, and how the two platforms compliment each other.

Last but not least Follow Me on Twitter

What about the importance of the MSN Search Engine? How important is that in our Search Engine Optimization program and for getting traffic to our site?

While Google is the undisputed king of the searches, the MSN Search Engine still gets 5-10%. Considering there are millions of searches performed, that’s a lot.

It reminds me of an early internet marketing tale where Disney scrapped a web site built in Flash because the plugin only had 93% penetration. “Why would I not want to sell to 7% of millions of people?” was the logic. That’s hard to argue with.

So, yes and abs0lutely. Do optimize for the MSN Search Engine. And here are a few tips on how to do that from my bud Frank Carr. Frank writes about internet marketing and how to Earn Online Cash - because he knows how.

• The MSN search engine likes clean HTML code – so try and be error free
• MSN still takes meta tags into account especially the Description tag.
• Use strong and bold tags for your keywords.
• MSN doesn’t like subdomains as much as the others, so Blogger blogs will have some trouble, but doesn’t mind hyphens in the domain names.
• MSN isn’t concerned with page rank or authority, so an inbound link is a link is a link. And you want links.

I’ve just summarized a few of the tips Frank writes about in his article. Read the complete article Earn Online Cash By Optimizing for MSN Search Engine for more details and tips on how to get more traffic from the MSN Search Engine.

Tags: MSN Search Engine, MSN Live Search, search engine optimization, search engine marketing, internet marketing for bands