1. The first thing you're going to want to do is check your current keyword rankings. New keywords always start off with a minimum bid of one Finder credit ($0.01). You have $2.00 each month, in addition to $2.00 on signing up, to bid on your keywords and get traffic through the Finder. For many popular keywords, you're going to almost always be near the bottom of the list. You don't necessarily want to outbid every keyword -- just get higher up on the list for the important keywords for your band. To do this, simply go to your Band Finder Management area and click on "Keyword Manager". Look for the place where it says " Edit Listings - " and click the "Go" button. This will take you to your keyword editor.
   
   
   
2. To start bidding, try changing your bids in this order or priority: Custom keywords first, then Sounds Like keywords, then Mood, Location, Sub-Genre, Gender, Member Count, and then finally your Genre keywords. The idea is to focus on less popular keywords and specific first, and then on more general (and hotly contested) keywords last. The more popular the keyword, the more difficult it's probably going to be to get to the top of the list. Start by increasing your bid as much as you can on keywords that are closer to your band before moving on to keywords everybody else is bidding on.
   
   For keywords like your band name and other custom keywords, you probably won't have to change your bid at all. However you want to at least bid a little higher the further down the list you go. Make sure when bidding, you focus mainly on that describe you or your music the most. The reason for this is that this will get you the most targeted fans, which only translates to more activity at your website. Bidding on keywords that have very little to do with you is only going to drain your resources unnecessarily without getting very good results at your website.
   
   Remember: Because of the way our Finder works, ALL of our bands get traffic -- even if you never change your bid. However, bands at the bottom of the list get far less fan traffic than those higher up in the list.
   
   
   
3. To change your keyword bids, simply click on your "Keyword Manager" link, type in the number of keywords you wish to edit at once in the "Edit Listings" box, and click the "Go" button.
   
   A list of your keywords will appear on the next page, each with checkboxes next to the keyword.  On this page, you can see the keyword, your current ranking for that keyword, the recommended bid to bring that keyword to the first position in the search results, and the information for that keyword.
   
   To change your keyword bid, check the box to the left of each listing you wish to update, scroll down to the bottom of the list and click "Edit Checked Listings".  You will be taken to a form to edit each keyword, one keyword at a time.  In the second box, where you see "Bid ($):", adjust the current value to a new one and press the "Save Changes" button at the bottom.  Make sure your bid is in the same format (0.01 is one cents, 1.00 is one dollar).
   
   Note that your "Edit Keywords" screen will show you both the current position of the selected keyword, as well as the bid required to bring that keyword to the number one spot. Bidding on keywords is really it's own art form -- try reading a few of our tutorials to get a better feel for how to bid on your keywords if needed.
   
   Updated bids do not need to go through editorial approval.
   
   
   
4. If you have the extra funds or the resources and want to increase all of your bids at once to the number one top position, simply click the checkbox next to the text that says "Keyword(s)" to select all of the keywords on the page and then click the "Top Bid Checked Listings" button at the bottom of the page. This will set all keywords to the top position.
   
   
   
5. Once you've set up your bids, check back daily to keep an eye on your daily traffic statistics. This will tell you who's clicking on your listings and what they're looking for to find you. The statistics reports can be accessed via the "Your Traffic Stats" link in the top menu of your Band manager. These stats will tell you the full search term the fan used to look for you, the single search term that distinguished your listing from the rest (this is also the keyword bid that is debited from your account when clicked), the time and date of the fan activity, the amount of times that particular search was clicked, and the total amount of credits you spent on the traffic.
   
   Your "Single Keyword", or "clicked term" is the keyword to pay the most attention to. Based on the way our Finder works, this term is considered to be the term that actually set you apart from the crowd and got you the 'click'. When bidding, keep an eye on your "clicked terms" and focus on these to bring more traffic to your band's website.
   
   
   
6. When bidding, you always want to balance your available credits with your keyword position in your listing. Bidding a little higher on popular keywords (like Genre, Gender, and popular city locations) can help, but be prepared for a bidding war to get to the top of the "Rock" listings. Try to focus more on the keywords that actually matter for your band. Our Band Finder weighs results based on a number of factors, however relevance is of top importance. Better search results means better fans traffic to your band's website. For more tips on bidding and managing your keyword account, read our tips and articles in the Help & Support section.

Questions? Comments? Feel free to contact Band Finder support at support@bandfreaks.com, or contact us for help via the forums in our Help & Support section:

http://www.bandfreaks.com/support