Any artist or band with a website is trying to or should be trying to generate more traffic for that site. Everyone already knows about the Social Media explosion and most artists/bands have their Facebook profiles, Twitter accounts, etc…. However, one overlooked method is a community approach, and by this I mean sites that have a communal aspect where people can share information. Yes, this is the same as what the social network sites are doing. However, if you limit yourself to just those sites, then you are missing out on forum sites and review sites.
Think about it. There are forums for pretty much any topic. Find a forum, or several, where you have a certain degree of “expertise” on the subject matter. Create an account and reply to other users’ posts. Don’t just post a short response. Post a “real” response. Show some real effort in your response. Then just make sure your profile and signature include your or your band’s website. Voila! Some free advertising, and the higher quality your posts are the more respectable you will be seen as being.
Now let’s take this a step further. Everyone is doing online shopping now. It’s quick and easy. So an easy way to get some additional online exposure and further establish your respectability in your area of expertise is to write product reviews. Any music gear you buy and like, go write a quality review on the different sites selling that item. MusiciansFriend, Amazon, Sweetwater, etc…, allow for reviews on their products. If you provide a detailed review, then you helping others in making a purchasing decision on those products. Once again just make sure you include the website link in your profile and signature.
Just think of it this way. Any additional traffic to your site is good traffic. Google and the other search engines rank your site in searches based on many criteria which includes traffic volume. So the more traffic you have the higher you will be ranked.