Upside Nice site, nice templates, and a very generous 80% royalty.

Downside Although you are there to sell your songs as downloads, any visitor to the site can play your tune in full (there are no 30-second previews) before buying. In our opinion, people who can play the song in full anytime they like, are not as likely to buy a download unless they really want to be able to carry the song around with them.

The songwriting world has changed dramatically since 1995, and nowadays, every writer can easily sell their product on a world-wide marketplace. However, you have to remember that the web is changing daily, it is impossible to guarantee the success, or indeed longevity, of any site. Meanwhile, why not check out the above, and while you're at it, click on a few more as well - sites such as

http://www.music.downtune.com

http://www.oikz.com

http://intermixx.com/indiegate

BUT SUPPOSE YOU THREW A PARTY AND NOBODY CAME?

Now, when I was young, there was a very popular advertising campaign based on the premise - "Suppose you gave a party, and nobody came?"

Trouble is - I cannot recall what grievous sin the hostess had committed (nor indeed what product the catch-phrase advertised), but at least the slogan itself was memorable enough to inspire the  Hy Averback 1970 movie Suppose They Gave a War and Nobody Came? Which brings me tortuously to this month's poser - "Suppose You Launched A Website But Nobody Visited?".

Now I have no idea just how many websites are up there in cyberspace, but let's try a little simple experiment.

Type the word "songwriter" into Google, and you will get multi-million results (and no Virginia, I am not confused by all the zeros!)

Now given that Google carries ten results per page, it is clear that if you end up in the first hundred - then your site will be found in the first ten pages (which is about as far as anybody is likely to keep searching for you).

On the other hand, if you end up in the last hundred, then you will either be parked somewhere around page four million which means that your website might as well be positioned on the dark side of the moon for all the likelihood that anybody will ever find it, or worse still, your site will not be listed at all, even though your site does actually exist!

And of course, since most people use a Search Engine to find the sites they want - then obviously, if you are not listed, or are listed too far down - you have a real problem.

So, Rule 1 - you have to be listed by the top Search Engines - and as far up as you can.

First, it is essential to understand how Google (and other Search Engines), decide which sites to list - and where to list them.

Search Engines want to carry the most interesting and the most relevant sites on their early pages, so that their readers will end up on the pages which will be of most value to them.

Google finds sites initially through its "spider" - which every day, trawls the web looking for new sites, and then rating them. (This means you do not have to submit your site to Google - it will find you anyway.)

Of course the fact that you have been found is no guarantee that you will be listed, but

(a) if your site is well written

(b) is relevant to the subject

and

(c) has plenty of content 

you are certain of a listing somewhere.

However, what pushes you up the Search Engone charts, is a link to your site from another site which has already proved its popularity on that Search Engine.

Now why - you are probably wondering - would a link from another site help?

Well as I said earlier, Google and the other Search Engines want to provide the most relevant leads for their clients and if a site already listed by the Search Engine and which is relevant in content to your site, is providing its readers with a link to your site, then the Engine begins to think your site must be worthwhile. And if that is the case, that Engine will want to list you as well.

And if the site providing the link to you is already a highly-rated site, then your site's value in the eyes of that Engine, will be so much higher again.

So, how do you get a link from a top-rated relevant site? (Relevance is very important. A link from an irrelevant site will not help near as much).

Just ask politely! It works wonders - it  costs you nothing, and you might even get a result!

Of course, not every popular site may be willing to link, particularly when it dawns on them that your site is not yet listed at all - but if you can get just one top site to provide the link, you are in business and it is worth making the effort because if you are not listed, then you are dead in the water.

So, apart from that good link, what else helps you to get (or to lose) a high position on a Search Engine?

(1) Content helps. Lots and lots of it.

(2) Frames do not help. Spiders hate them.

(3) Flash does not help - at least on your front page. By all means use it inside if you have to, but I would not use it at all.

(4) Hidden or Cloaked Text does not help. It used to work but now, the Search Engines penalise you if they catch you at it.

(5) Over-Submission does not help. If you don't want to wait for the spiders to find you, by all means submit your site manually, but use that facility very sparingly.

(6) Gateway Pages do not work. Think you can to fool the Search Engines by designing a front page specially for them which then goes on to link to another site altogether? They're wise to that!

(7) Password-Protected Pages, or Java Applets or Adobe Acrobat files on your front page may look good but some Search Engines are unable to index such material.

(8) Link Farms can penalise you. Sites which exist to link hundreds of sites to yours for a fee, have little or no content, and the links are usually not relevant to each other.  They only get you heavily penalised.

Getting a high rating takes time, but it is not just worth it - it is essential. Without  a high ranking, you really are wasting your time on the internet.