912 clicks, 0 conversions. arrgh. I'm running musicians friend, napster, emusic & mtracks (via CJ) programmes on a very music and musician-centric website ( http://tinyurl.com/bwlnsh ) with good traffic, fantastic content and a great user base. Obviously I"m doing something wrong here. Are there any programs that are related to musicians, music, music technology, or music news that actually convert into $$? at 100k-300k visitors per month I should be able to make some money here, shouldn't I?
The problem that I have found with music downloads is that people don't seem to download from 3rd party sites. Most people already have some sort of music client installed which is where thy get their music. Very rarely will they click a link for another service unless you were offering a review, along with an offer for free downloads (That has been the only way that I could even get clicks.), or you can link them to specific artists or tracks that they didn't know were available. even still it's a crap shoot. Not only that but music downloads pay crap. I gave up on music download links long ago for the most part, but you need to get creative, download banners are not the way to go. If you have a music oriented audience , why not sell other things that would interest them ? MTV, and VH1, both have an affiliate program that cover Comedy Central and The Country Music Channel, So does Apple (ipods), and Amazon for other sound and music related electronics. I noticed an article about "Vinyl records", why not sell them ? Check out my Dance Music Blog for some ideas. You are just selling the wrong thing. You have to try things out before you find something that fits and actually converts.
Sounds like good advice. I actually am getting lots of clicks on the music downlaoding service & they pay $10+ per free trial, which I thought was pretty good. I'll check out the other ones... You're right, I really SHOULD be selling something rather than affiliate stuff, I just haven't found anything good. I experimented with putting up a free sample section to see if maybe selling sample CD's (which I prodice) would work, but I don't think it will based on what i've seen so far. I don't think vinyl records will sell well for me (although the market is increasing, it's still a REALLY tough market). I do make some money from amain (I have amazon links in contextually in the content of my articles) and make about $100-$300 per month from that...