We run a HipHop /rap music based site and forums - we're looking to expand over the coming months and wanted some tips on promoting / marketing a music based site and community... Anyone with any experience in this field willing to share their experiences on their own efforts... and the effectiveness of any marketing they've done? How much should Google AdWords be leaned on? Recipricol links effective, or only good for PR? Blog rolls, needed - social bookmarking? What should we focus on and treat as a priority?
I also recommend creating a MySpace account/FaceBook account+group for your site. This can help you get more attention. A gray area would be using a friend blaster to promote your site to hundreds of people, but this could backfire. Posting on other blogs is fine too, but it may not get you the audience that you are looking for. You could also take out cheap PPC ads for your site, with some sort of incentive or contest: "Vote for your favorite rapper!" - "Best song of 2008? You decide!"; this may be costly, but this could help you get a more loyal userbase. And finally, a technique I've used in the past; referral/recruitment incentives and bonuses for your current userbase. Allow them to do the promoting for you: let them earn extra rep points, bonuses, custom user titles, or even cash equivalents for high amounts of referrals under their name to the forum. This can also help to create a stronger userbase. Hope this helps.
Banner ads through CPXinterective or adbrite seems perfect, as i have seen many music website come up with, promotion on adbrite banner ads, they are really cheap and effective. Good luck with that mate.