It continues to boggle my mind how many bands don't take the time to come up with a decent description of their music. It's extremely important, and when you're marketing yourself online, it's essential.

So grab some paper, we're gonna create two simple band descriptions that will help you earn you web traffic and help you with all aspects of your music promotion. Whether you're looking to promote your band to someone in an elevator, on the phone or submitting to a directory, these two descriptions will serve you well.

1. The Ten-Word Elevator Description
David Hooper of Kathode Raye music uses the term "Elevator Description" as a way of describing your music quickly. Your Elevator Description is the words you would use in an elevator if you had to say what type of music you do quickly... in just ten words.

This might seem like the most-difficult part about describing your band, but it's also the most useful all around. To do it, focus on an intense description combined with a benefit for your audience. I put this quick description in the first sentence on our homepage.

"The Original Celtic Renaissance music group from Austin, Texas offering free Celtic mp3 downloads."

Obviously it's not ten-words exactly. But it gets gets the point across.
Musical style: "original Celtic Renaissance music"
Location: Austin, Texas
Benefit: free Celtic MP3 downloads

Short sweet and to the point. Obviously, not everyone is as focused on downloading music. Coming up with benefits, but do some brainstorming and you'll find your niche. Check out these descriptions:

The Rogues
A Houston based Pipe and Drum Band with an attitude.
http://www.therogues.com/

Gilli Moon
Melodic-Kinda-Folkie-Indie with a multi-layered guitar (and all-sorts) wall of sound.
http://www.gillimoon.com/

Mountain Mirrors
Psychedelic Zen Rock. Fans of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd or Spiritualized will enjoy this music. Free MP3 Downloads!
http://www.mountainmirrors.com/

Add your elevator description to your "Description" META Tag. Also add an even shorter description in your title tag, and you'll boost your traffic for people looking for those keywords.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of "Two Easy Steps to Describing Your Band for Greater Web Traffic and More Fans."

If you're looking for more great web traffic tips for your music, David Nevue wrote the book on it, literally. See how he earned over $4000 per month turning music into a full-time profession. It's all in this book How to Successfully Promote Your Music the the Internet.