Selling Hip Hop Beats - Tips To Sell Beats Better

If you are reading this blog entry, chances are you are a beat maker or producer looking to get a jump on selling hip hop beats.  If you're new to the market and haven't yet discovered it, the beats market is growing more and more and competition is getting heavier.  So with that, the question you're probably asking yourself, especially if you've been trying for a few months, is "how do I sell beats better?"

With so much competition out there, it's hard to say that you'll be one to stand above the crowds and surpass all websites.  Let's face it, there are some heavy competitors out there already.  There's Jeejuh.com who has been selling beats for years and sits on top of a lot of search engines in Google as it is.  Then there's 20DollarBeats.com, another powerhouse site that has a lot of beats on their catalog as well from several producers that have contributed to the site.  Another highly competitive hip hop beats website is Genycis.com, which has climbed up faster and faster over the year and now has over 300 beats, all created by Genycis.  Along with these sites, there are others out there that are known to carry a variety of beats as well.

So how do you stand out?  How do you sell beats better?  There are many things that you can do to get the ball rolling, but keep in mind, that selling hip hop beats is not an overnight business, and it is not something that can easily net you money.  Some will do better than others, but the bottom line is to know that if you make good quality hip hop beats, you can sell to others who are looking for beats... after all, beats and instrumentals are always in demand.  Even though the competition is fierce though, there are some things that most producers do not do, and if you utilize some of the tools and tactics that most don't, then you'll be more noticed than those others that haven't tried to publicize their websites further.  Here are a few brief tips that can help you:

• Build your own website - Probably the single most important aspect of selling hip hop beats is to create your own website.  You'll do wonders with your own website over time, especially as you start to point more people to check out your website.  And with not having to worry about commissions from another website that you upload your beats to, you'll be able to enjoy more of your money well earned!
  
• Optimize your website - In order to get your website seen even further in the search engines, you have to optimize your site.  By this, I mean simply make sure that you have keywords on your site that you need to have the search engines pick up your site.  You can do things to edit your Meta Title Tags, which is the tag that shows up on your browser for example when you're looking at a webpage.  Also, though everyone loves flash websites and how they look, the websites that stand a better chance are the ones that have more text to elevate your search engine visibility.
• Chat forum signature - If you post in forums related to hip hop, make sure you create a brief signature that has a link going back to your website.  Some forums won't let you create a signature that appears in all of your posts until you've posted several times.  However, creating this signature will get more people checking out the link you put in your signature.  If you can add a banner image on your signature, do so, but make sure the banner image is clear and to the point.
• Using Facebook - If you already have a large following of people on Facebook, this one works well also.  Simply posting a link every now and again on your status to new beats you've added works well... just be sure to make the status catchy instead of the typical "New Beat, check it and tell me what you think".  You have to sometimes think outside the box.

I hope that the few tips above helped a bit in heading in the right direction to get yourself started up in selling beats.  If you really want to invest in your beat selling abilities, you can also take advantage of either OR both of the following below.  It may be an investment out of your pocket to start off, but it will really get your mind thinking and doing better things not just for the short term, but for the long term as well.  The links are below:

• How To Sell Beats Online Like A Pro - a comprehensive ebook that will guide you with some of the basics and some other tips that you can use to build up your beat selling business even further.  I recommend this one first and the one below next if you do get both of them.
  
• Sell More Beats - a collection of different videos that you can watch by famous music producer Allen Brown.  These videos give you a step by step breakdown on what you need to really sell beats even further!  I recommend this one as well as it was what helped me to launch SoundsForBeats.com to become even more than what it originally started out as.

Again, these are both investments, but as the old saying goes... "you have to spend money to make money".  Invest now and you will definitely find use for it as you learn more from the ebook and videos, and will eventually make back what you invested and more.  The prices aren't very expensive at all, but are worth their weight in gold!  I say it from experience.  On that note, hope this blog entry helped!  Keep me posted...