| Archive for Free Pony Theory MP3 blogs forums (MdM, BF, and friends) |
| squashed |
Blog vs Hypemachine (interaction)Since HM is by far the biggest audiance source for most blog.It is worth spending little time discussing how to interact with HM. in general -Post timing -what to post in that time (yeah, I know many consider this violating the spirit of "my blog has independent taste... but seriously...) . okay discuss.. . |
| alt-gramma |
OK, wellIt's all well and good to be snobbish and independent if you are well-connected with a million friends who like the same kind of thing you do. However, Indie Mom and started blogging exactly BECAUSE we don't know very many people we can talk to about the music we like.Maybe some bloggers are content with writing as a kind of personal diary, and they don't mind if no one reads it. I found that I was not very satisfied with blogging to myself! I wanted to know that others were interested in the music I post and what I have to say. So one of my goals from the beginning was to get us up to the level of quality where we could be accepted on the Hype list. That happened yesterday (thanks again!). My first thought was, Now how can we get noticed out of all those other blogs? I looked at the top search, and it was/is Deathcab for Cutie, one of Indie Mom's favorites. I called her and said she should do a quick post on them. She did that last night, which brought Speed of Dark immediately to the top of that search. Our readership has instantly ZOOMED. It's just incredible. Hopefully we can ride that wave and gain some regular readers from it. Some older posts that weren't included in the feed got some attention as well. I think our strategy for now is to continue alternating posts from the top Hype searches with the other artists we want to write about until we gain our own reputation. I read your other post on blog Do's and Don'ts , and I enjoyed it very much. I can see that having too many songs in one post creates a flood. I will suggest to Indie Mom that we cut back on the number of MP3s per post. And no more videos, LOL! We'll keep improving the quality of the blog as we go, like adding more links to the sidebar and maybe some advertisers. Timing: It helps that there are two of us (I read the partner post too). Between us, we can write between 4 and 6 posts a week. I already have one post saved just for anytime I'm too busy to write something new. I told Indie Mom that we should avoid posting on the same day so that each post gets some time at the top, and so we have fresh material to post on an almost daily basis. Hopefully that will make regulars check back often. So how's that for a newbie? |
| squashed |
whew, been kinda busy ... okie my experiance with HM
-essentially the point of HM is to have your post tracks stay in page one and get as much attention as possible while there. - what time one post does matter. It's common sense. Nobody surf for music at 4 am. most people surf at 9am to 9pm... etc. (lunch time, near office closing, evening prime time are common peak) - "spamming pattern" for lack of better term, means flooding Hypemachine with certain number of post to grab maxium attention. So there was time when people posted 20-30 songs at once, then HM put a break on it and filtered stuff. In general big post means big attention. but that also risk getting Cease and desist letter from record company. I for one think 5-8 songs for playlist is ideal, 3-4 songs for each quickie post is enough once audiance know a site. 12 is maximum. Twice a day post for maxium attention... but really.. risking burn up. - what songs to post. Well sometimes one want to pair "obscure artist" with popular/well known one to get maxium attention. I usually look at what is popular at HM list, than make a play list. Also highly recommended, is to link your to your previous post. (eg. see also: my bla bla post related to this) ----- This matter for smaller blog trying to get noticed. But after awhile your audiance will know and start bookmarking your site... one can loosen up and reader will still get it. etc |
| alt-gramma |
I'm seeing that a lot of what you say is true. The most popular blogs typically post from 1 to 4 songs. For us, we've just been throwing a lot of stuff out there to see what attracts people. Certainly, Radiohead or whoever is popular right now attracts people, but many don't become loyal readers. A few do, I am happy to say. It's been nice getting some support from other bloggers too, including you, of course! I think we can slow down and be more selective about the number of songs.
One other thing that I think is just normal courtesy: if I got information or learned about a band from another blog, I give them credit and a link in my post. I am not making money on this, and I am not in competition with other blogs. I appreciate their knowledge and experience. I would hope others will do the same for me if it comes up. ~alt-gramma~ |
| squashed |
what I usually do, and it's pretty easy for me by now, since I run eclectic blog and my readers know if I am getting weird.
type of tracks 1. popular, to attrack people 2. newer tracks. unknown but once noticed people will like it 3. extremely weird. only I like it... but dammit, I will make the world like it too. 
------ some things I do 1. mix within a playlist between 1,2,3. 2. if it's a review artists. I do two posts close to each other within a day. (eg. review+playlist) I also see review+ essay, but I don't like writing..so never do it myself. ------- to make new user stick. 1. you look at your current front page. (for argument sake. It's all radiohead, and you know next week you will post more radiohead) 2. in that case, I usually make one biggish playlist related to radiohead containing "radio head classic, and well known classic rock act" for a hook. 3. I put the playlist at near end of "radiohead" posting orgy. It'll refresh and introduce the page to entire set of new audiance, since the playlist will pick up new readers... ------ One post doesn't have to do everything, make another post or a series of posts that work with particular mood or goal. Basically, create several types of post that feels nice, and play it against each other. Link to older posts, to other blogs, etc ... (ie. a posting campaign.) whatever makes readers entertained. ---- The best way to get regular readers. POST regularly. It may sounds simple and, but it's extremely hard to do. I am talking about: 1. exactly same hour, 2. same song type 3. same day... This work very well. But I never can make it work longer than few days in a series. -- I haven't run blog that long, so I don't have seasonal program or year to year tradition. most what I do is single post, short series, and regular column. |
| squashed |
http://hype.non-standard.net/list/#### becomes http://hype.non-standard.net/debug/####
----- to check if feed is correctly read by HM . |
| Bubbachups |
Question: why doesn't hypemachine seem to understand our posts? If I look at the motel on hypemachine not nearly all the tracks have the option "listen" behind them and they do not appear in the SMIL playlist for the motel. Is there some sort of format I should use when posting mp3s for the hypemachine to understand? |
| squashed |
several possibilities
1. HM is a little finicky sometimes. (It takes several hours to process, if at all sometimes) Anthony always tweaks his puppy. 2. The track has been posted (exact file name/file path) In HM case, it's almost always No.1 |