One of the top complaints we see from journalists and clients alike is that, from time to time, a promo will end up in a spam folder rather than someone’s inbox. We have provided many people with a solution through support emails, but recently realized a post here would probably cut down on the amount of inquiries we receive on this topic.
So why do Haulix promos sometimes end up in my spam folder?
To be completely honest, we do not know with 100% certainty what causes a promo to be directed to spam instead of a person’s inbox. Google’s Gmail email service contains a spam filter that tries to identify undesirable messages, but those efforts often catch messages that are not spam in the process. A message caught in the spam filter is sent to the spam folder instead of your inbox. You can whitelist email addresses in Gmail if you never want Gmail to categorize them as spam. Gmail will send emails from the white-listed email addresses directly to your inbox, even if the spam filter would match them. You can also whitelist entire domains or whitelist emails with specific subjects or phrases.
How do I whitelist something?
It’s relatively easy to whitelist an email, and in a few simple steps you can ensure all future Haulix promos arrive in your inbox. Login to your email account and…
1. Click the “Create a Filter” link to the right of the search box at the top of the Gmail Web page.
2. Type an email address into the “From” box. If you want to whitelist all email addresses on a domain you can type “@haulix.com” instead of an email address replacing “haulix.com” with the domain.
3. Click the “Test Search” button to see which emails would have been white-listed.
4. Click the “Next Step” button.
5. Click the “Never Send it to Spam” checkbox and click “Create Filter.”
One of the great moments in any young music writer’s life is the day that first album advance arrives in your inbox. It’s a symbol not only of progress within your craft, but also that someone within the actual music business trusts you enough to have access to their latest project. We could get into the whole ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ rant, but that’s not what this post is about. This post is about what happens when writers go from loving the site of new album advances to dreading them, either due to quality or quantity, and what steps can be taken to simplify one’s Haulix activity.
As it stands, any publicist or label with a Haulix account can send a promo to anyone they add to their personal database. This is the way promotional distribution works on essentially every platform, but here at Haulix we have devised a way to allow journalists the ability to remove themselves from any list they desire without any confrontation whatsoever.
If you find yourself in a position where you wish to be removed from a mailing list of a Haulix client the best course of action is to first contact the client directly and request removal. If the client does not respond, or even if they do and you continue to receive promos beyond that point, you can remove yourself from their database by accessing your Haulix profile. To do this, simply log into the ‘My Promos’ screen and select the ‘Profile’ tab in the upper left hand corner. I’ve highlighted this button in the screenshot below.
Once clicked, you will be redirected to a profile page that was automatically generated the first time someone added your contact information to the Haulix platform. It should look something like this:
The top part of the page lists your basic account info, including the passcode you have chosen and every email address in our system linked to your name, as well as the ability to change that information with a few key strokes. If you scroll down a bit further you will notice that your profile lists every label that has you in their database, as well as the email they use to contact you. If you wish to be removed from any list, click the red ‘X’ at the end of the appropriate label identity and confirm the removal. The page will update and our database will automatically remove you from that client’s press list without them having to lift a finger.
If you follow these steps and still find yourself receiving promos, please do not hesitate to contact us directly to find a resolution. Just email james@haulix.com and together we’ll find a solution.
James Shotwell is the Marketing Coordinator for Haulix. He is also a professional entertainment critic, covering both film and music, as well as the co-founder of Antique Records. Feel free to tell him you love or hate the article above by connecting with him on Twitter. Bonus points if you introduce yourself by sharing your favorite Simpsons character.
Hello, everyone. If you have been a longtime reader of this blog you may recall that our Journalism Tips series used to run each and every Saturday afternoon. With the recent launch of our podcast, however, that column has spent the past few weeks on vacation. That is, until today.
This blog exists to promote the future of the music industry, and to do that we need input from people like you and your music-loving friends. If you have any questions about the content in this article, or if you have an artist you would like to see featured on this blog, please contact james@haulix.com. We can also be found on Twitter and Facebook.
There was a time in the distant digital past when a writer did not necessarily need to understand search engine optimization (SEO) in order to be successful online. Today, that kind of digital ignorance will only lead to a writer’s continued ambiguity in the world of music. In order to be successful online in 2014 you must have at least a basic grasp on SEO, but if not there are many, many resources available to help get you started. We cannot claim to have mastered this process ourselves, but we have done our best to gather the basic information you need to know in order to start creating content with a higher likelihood of landing on the front page of Google, Bing, and whatever search engines rise in the future. I’m not sure this will be a series, but if response demands it we will certainly share more.
What is SEO and why does it matter if I do it well?
To phrase things in the simplest way possible, search engine optimization (SEO) refers to the process of maximizing the number of visitors to a particular website by ensuring that the site appears high on the list of results returned by a search engine. Sites with strong SEO often find themselves on the first page of Google’s search results, which in the world of blogging is kind of like winning the lottery. In fact, a 2013 study from ad network Chitika revealed that 92% of all search engine traffic goes to sites on the first page of results, with the top result receiving 35% of all clicks. Here is a chart showcasing the average percentage of clicks received by search results based on where they appear on the page:
[chart]
The findings of this report were similar to another report Chitika released in 2010. An excerpt from the latest report reads, “While being the number one result on a Google search results page is obviously important, these numbers show just how big of an advantage websites of this type have over any competitors listed below them. The importance of SEO for online business is seemingly quantified by these latest statistics, which, judging by their similarity to those observed as part of the 2010 study, are not likely to change significantly in the near future.”
What affects a search?
Good question. Ready for a bad answer? Only Google knows the truth. The search engine company has revealed that their system takes into account more than 200 different factors to help it determine the results for each query. The full list of factors have never been published, but seasoned professionals have made some great guesses over the last decade. Moz, for example, surveys the opinions of dozens of search marketers every two years to better understand the working of search engine algorithms. They use this data to aide sites in understanding what helps and hurts their site’s visibility in search engines. It’s not ‘proof’ to what search engines use when ranking, nor is it by any means a ‘hard science,’ but it does reflect the characteristics of websites and pages who rank highest in search engine results.
Moz competed their most recent survey in 2013, speaking with over 120 search marketers about their opinions on over 80 ranking factors. The top three factors for Google results were Page Authority, +1’s, and the number of Unique clocks linking to the individual page. Click here to view the full list.
What the heck is page authority?
You’re full of good questions today. Page authority, as explained by our friends at Drumbeat Marketing, is an SEO term used to describe the probability that a specific page from your site will be found on a search engine. Page authority is based on a logarithmic scale from 0 to 100 and deals with the relevance of information and links within site pages to one another. Higher page authority means greater chances of your page showing up on search engines, and that your page will be placed closer to the top of the search results. Note that page authority is related to the pages within sites, not the site itself. You can learn more about page authority and how to improve the ranking of your site, here.
So how do I improve SEO through my website?
I thought you would never ask! Definition are kind of boring, I know, but in order to properly understand SEO you need to also understand the terminology associated with it. You’re here to learn about creating pages that will rank high, however, and that’s what I’m going to tell you about.
There are many factors that affect SEO when crafting a new article or page for your website. Fortunately for us, our friends at Spin Media have created a very easy to read and implement guide that should help you change your content creation practices in no time at all:
Title
• 70 characters or less is ideal
• Front-load keywords when possible
Description
• Keyword-rich summary of story in ‘Descrip-on’ field under All In One SEO Pack (if applicable)
• Use up to 350 characters, put keywords in first 160
Images
• File name descrip-ve of -tle, no stop words
• Hyphens between words in file name (no other special characters)
• Cap-on and Descrip-on fields same as file name
• Alt text: Slight varia-on on file name, no hyphens
Linking
• Internal link to relevant content in every piece
• External links to highly authorita-ve sources
• Link on keywords for anchor text, rather than source name
• Use bold and italics to emphasize key terms when natural
• Use keyword-specific tags
As I said in the introduction, this feature is intended to help you get started with your SEO efforts. There are literally hundreds of sites dedicated to optimization, and there are at least a hundred different thoughts on the best methods to properly optimize your efforts. In order to find out what works best for your site you may need to try a few different approaches. Watch your analytics and make changes wherever necessary. We will definitely post another SEO guide if there is a demand, but for now you can gain further insight through this free PDF on SEO released by Google earlier this year.
