7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}
7 {{ upvoteCount | shortNum }}

Suggested ways to drive people to my guitar lessons site?

by Bkelly301
4 replies
Hey, I have been working on my website for about a year now, but I'm still not getting good traffic results. Basically it's a blog where I talk about music theory and teach some songs. Each lesson has a video and a written blog post (to help with SEO). It's a nice site with tons of free content, but unless I get a spike from posting a new blog post on Reddit or something...my "base" daily traffic is only like 40 - 50 people per day.

I just recently monetized the site via. a donation button, 2 eBooks that I wrote, and a "course" that I sell for $47. In March I made a total of $120 from the site...not too bad I guess, but not great either.

Here are my thoughts on all of the obvious traffic sources:

Email List

I just incorporated a mailing list into my site this week...I have 9 people on it already. I should have started this sooner...but oh well, better late then never right?

YouTube

Every video that I have on my site is also available on YouTube...I have little enticements to get people to click on the link in the description such as "related lessons" or "video cliffs available when viewed from my website"....but I don't think that YouTube is really the best traffic source to my site. People on YouTube generally want to stay on YouTube.

Reddit

Posting in subreddits will result in spikes in traffic for like 1 - 3 days, but once the post moves down to the 2nd page...then my traffic goes down to the normal 40 - 50 sessions per day.

Instagram

I've been considering using Instagram and making short 60-second versions of all my lesson videos, but they don't allow clickable links in the description. Sure, I could maybe build up a following on Instagram, but I don't feel that it will lead to a lot of traffic to my site since most people probably won't go through the hassle of clicking through to my profile, then clicking on my site's homepage, then searching for the "full" lesson of the 60-second sample that they found on Instagram. People are lazy...I feel they will likely watch the 60-second "sample", and then continue browsing on IG.

Facebook

Facebook seems to now be mainly a paid traffic source. I'm not quite sure how I'd go about building a following on Facebook without paying to have "boosted" posts...I really don't have much experience with using Facebook for blog traffic building purposes. My only real experience with Facebook is just personal use. I had a friend who used to go around commenting on random peoples' statuses in order to somehow build a following (and he managed to build a MASSIVE following by doing so)...but that was many years ago. I'm not sure if that method would still work today?

Twitter

I have yet to learn how to use Twitter. Maybe I'll make an account today.

Forums

I need to start posting on forums more. This is extremely time-consuming, and I'm not sure if the amount of time involved is worth it. I could be wrong though.

What would you guys suggest?

Thanks!
#drive #guitar #lessons #people #site #suggested #ways
  • Profile picture of the author quizzywhiz
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11059741].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Brent Stangel
    I just recently monetized the site via. a donation button, 2 eBooks that I wrote, and a "course" that I sell for $47. In March I made a total of $120 from the site...not too bad I guess, but not great either.
    I used to be in the guitar lessons market. The best earner by far is Guitar Tricks.

    $30 Commission on Full Access Sales
    $25 Commission on Trial Signups
    5 Year Tracking Cookies
    http://guitartricks.postaffiliatepro...ates/index.php
    Signature
    Get Off The Warrior Forum Now & Don't Come Back If You Want To Succeed!
    All The Real Marketers Are Gone. There's Nothing Left But Weak, Sniveling Wanna-Bees!
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11059767].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author cjsparacino123
    [DELETED]
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11059816].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author rritz
    I would do "play-through" videos ... my guess is, there are a lot of people who look for this kinds of video.
    Could be they are in a commercial cover band and are looking for a quick way to master a new song. Could be they are amateurs who want to be able to play their new fav song's guitar solo.

    I'd go for popular songs that are trending in youtube. Crank out one awesome play-through lesson every week or every other week and link to your page ... with some text like: wanna learn how to play the guitar like [name of the guitar player for this song] - head over to mysitehere.com .. get tons of free lessons etc
    (side note, I think instagram allows you to post very short videos too .. you could reuse your play-through lessons here)

    As for social media, would start with facebook. Add google+ and twitter if you like. Depends on how much time you can put aside for this.
    facebook pages that are not boosted with ads take some time to gather a following, but it still can be done. Start by inviting your friends to like the page, even if only by courtesy. Share your videos and blog posts or whatever. Share your lessons. Join a few relevant facebook groups and share your page.

    G+ is another place where you can create a page, share videos and links and join relevant groups.
    I have no proof for this, but I also think that g+ postings with links back to your page may help your overall google ranking. I ran a blog on progressive metal for a while, and my g+ posts ranked in search results on the first page when my blog was still ranking beyond page 10 in search results. Just make sure you use one relevant keyword in each g+ post headline

    Another great traffic source is twitter. I used it a lot for music promotion. It was also rather time consuming, but paid off. I used to follow the people who followed my competitors. In your case you could follow people who follow famous guitar players. Part of the people will follow back, and eventually check out your page. If you can afford the time, it is even better to try and get in direct contact with them. Answer tweets! Do a search for tweets about your niche, and reply to them.

    You can also use a tool like Buffer to schedule posts on more that one social platform all at once. That way saving a little time.

    That being said, I would not start profiles on ALL of the possible channels at once. Maybe start just FB and G+, or FB and instagram. Try to build your following, see how it goes. Only later add another channel. I believe, too many social channels run at once will result in your losing focus and some of the channels my be neglected. I think it's far worse to have a neglected FB page than having NO FB page.
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11062859].message }}
  • Profile picture of the author Oziboomer
    Digital Marketer always talks about Perry Marshall selling Candle wicks to attract candle makers and sell other candle making material.

    In another example they give is a guy who sells pack of 100 guitar picks at a ridiculously low price on Amazon but he is selling high end guitars on the back end.

    You need to work out what every beginner guitarist wants or needs and then sell it perhaps at a loss to generate leads.

    What do they need or would like but won't buy?

    How cheaply for example could you sell a Snark Tuner for example?

    The key might be to have something desirable that you can put on a high traffic site like Amazon where you can build a list via the fulfilment aspect.

    With economical DVD and CD production from people like Kunaki can't you combine one of the ideas like Brent had above of Guitar Tricks or the "Best riffs for beginner guitarists" and put it on amazon for a low price. - then advertise on their platform also.

    The thing about Kunaki is you can also print an insert that goes inside the cover so for a dollar you've got your DVD or CD + the offer you put on the inside.

    Make that offer good and make it count.

    Get people to go from there to a landing page to claim the next step and you can sell them there and pixel and retarget the non purchasers.

    best regards,

    Ozi
    Signature
    {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11063570].message }}
    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      Originally Posted by Oziboomer View Post

      With economical DVD and CD production from people like Kunaki can't you combine one of the ideas like Brent had above of Guitar Tricks or the "Best riffs for beginner guitarists" and put it on amazon for a low price. - then advertise on their platform also.

      The thing about Kunaki is you can also print an insert that goes inside the cover so for a dollar you've got your DVD or CD + the offer you put on the inside.

      Make that offer good and make it count.
      Sounds like a perfect setup for one of those "free, just pay shipping" offers, where the 'shipping' covers the cost of fulfillment and at least part of the ad cost.
      {{ DiscussionBoard.errors[11063719].message }}

Trending Topics