Can't use unique track titles = Running out of titles to use

We all know that the search engine reacts first to our track titles so we can not use unique track names in order to score good in searches ,so how do you go about separating your tracks titles? Let’s say if you have 40 different inspiring ukulele tracks in your portfolio? I’m just checking to see if there’s some good solution to this, because as I’m trying to stick with one theme and style for several tracks in a row, so right now i’m feeling the best solution for me is to number my tracks. “Modern retro blabla 1” “Modern retro blabla 2”

As of now, your first choice would be to consider the possibilities of the synonym based search engine. Example:

Inspiration
Inspirations
The Inspiration
The Inspirations
Inspirational
The Inspirational
An Inspiration
etc

All of these have identical weight to the search engine. As soon as you add a second term (that is not “overlooked”, like “the” or “a”), you will rank lower. If you run out of options for your “first choice”, you can either:

1. Add a keyword that is a synonym (e.g. Inspirational Inspirations, Happy Upbeat etc)

2. Add a keyword that is likely to appear in the same search context (Inspirational Piano, Inspirational Guitar, Corporate Inspirational)

or

3. Find out which one of your previously uploaded tracks is not selling anymore (old or simply bad) and rename THAT one instead to give room for your new “Inspiration” track. A bit of extra work and can quickly confuse you (which track is this now again), people using external links anticipating another track name, etc.

Numbering (Ukulele 1, Ukulele 2) is considered to be a inferior alternative as numbers count as another term and WILL push you down in search. It’s also not any easier to keep track of your stuff (which one is 13 now again)

Lately though, so many authors are following these “optimising strategies” for common search phrases that even if you’re “doing everything right” you’re still going to be flushed down if you go “inspirational” or “corporate”. You will see better results in the long run if you pick your niche and focus on quality tracks that can sell 3-4 times a month in a less common search space and still remain on page 1. For me, one example, “whistling” proved to work better than “ukulele” for my “ukulele” tracks, and so I rather named my “upbeat ukulele whistling” track simply “whistling”, “whistlings”, “the whistle” etc. After a few months I could quite clearly see how the better of these tracks outsold the others, which is the way it should work. As a rule of thumb, if your track is not on the first page of any common search, it doesn’t really matter what you call it, it’s basically lost and the only way to expose it is through external marketing (youtube in particular) or by linking from descriptions in items you currently have higher in search.

Whatever route you go, all of these things are subject to change. The search algorithm is constantly subject to revision, and relying too heavily on today’s methods may become disappointing one day or the other.

A final note, being productive is great, and having 40 similar tracks is obviously better than having just one, but there’s so much more potential sales in having ONE great track that outsells all competition over and over. Check out the top authors and you’ll see about 80% of sales come from 20% of tracks, or less. Why those 20%? I’d say not purely by chance, but also because those tracks were objectively “better” (more marketable, effective and appealing for buyers prone to use that particular search term) and quite possibly because they were “hits”, featured in major ads or videos generating external traffic. If you really want to win big in this game, you’ll need to use a “sniper rifle” and not a “shotgun” :sunglasses:

GOOD LUCK!

12 Likes

AMEN. you have said it all.
@Pengus just follow that path.

Why go through such lengths to essentially shoot yourself in the foot? I get that you’re nice but handing over the recipe for Coca Cola to Pepsi is just, well, a bad idea from a business perspective…

Guys like you make this place a great community! Big up!

1 Like

Well this is more like the recipe for freshly squeezed orange juice :wink:

If all it would take to obliterate the competition was 2 minutes worth of SEO, then yes I’d probably hold on for those 2 minutes for a while… but it’s not like that. 100’s of authors already SEO the crap out of their stuff and if this becomes a real problem for the platform then we’ll probably see more changes to the algorithm in the future. I think it’s good to invite everybody into the game as early as possible to see where all of this is going. Remember we’re all here because this particular marketplace works wonders with our items. Let’s keep the most dangerous competition (other sites sucking up the traffic) at bay, use whatever tools we’ve been handed and work with the actual music from here.

3 Likes

Thanks a lot Stockwaves / tack för hjälpen :smile: I didn’t think of that “the” “a” etc. is overlooked by the engine, so you’re right that’s a way better method of sorting the tracks rather than using numbers.

After I run out of “the” and “a” combinations to use haha, I’m going to switch up the syntax of the synonyms a bit like you suggested, although the first word will probably stay the same as the search engine does prioritize the first word right?

Another thing I’ll implement better is how to adapt the description to all of this, since what I’ve noticed is that this seems to affect search results.

The only thing I have another viewpoint on is that of using a shotgun / sniper rifle :wink: In my world, if I give too much time and thought into a track it almost always turns out worse than if I do it quicker (say, in 1 day). After this day I do keep the project throughout the week before I upload it, so I have time to go back to it with fresh ears. I believe that you increase your chances of creating that awesome item by staying productive this way, like 1/10 tracks will be awesome, regardless if I give them more or less time. Should note that I am all against making a full track in like 1-2 hours though, that’s just low quality work.

1 Like

Sure, go with what works best for you in the end. In your case, you already seem to be happy with your particular “niche”, so all you need to think about between tracks are things like usability, structure, track duration etc. However, if that niche market for any reason fails to work for you, at least you’ll need to mount a telescopic sight on your shotgun :sunglasses:

No, it’s not all. But trust me, it’s a big, big part. Check out the top selling items 2 years ago and you might get an idea. A SEO optimized item of similar or even slightly worse quality will crush a non-optimized item. Yes, 100’s of authors know it, but most don’t (or at least don’t use it), and most don’t know all the intricacies. I would let it take its natural time. It’s just like giving a list of “30 most popular tags”. What do you think will happen? Yes, they all will be used by every single item and essentially become obsolete.

Agreed, and this tells us more about the underlying variables like supply and demand. SEO by itself is not enough to heat the stove anymore, neither is the good old “having an excellent item”. The base of these problems is that there are simply too many new items approved each day! If we can move forward into realising this, the sooner the better.

Envato has always been kind to “the little guy”, and that’s probably a good strategy even in the long run. But now that more and more people are devoting their full time careers at selling on this website, undoubtedly there will be a shift in anticipated exchange of uploads/sales. I believe there is more ground to break in terms of “tiering” author levels, like the “exclusive” and “elite” programme for example, it’s just a bit primitive as it is and I’d be happy to see more of a career step system where dedication, productivity and success can unlock new marketing and exposure opportunities.

Just two things that popped into my mind, faster review queue for elite authors, and/or higher rank in searches overall. Not for OLD items, mind you, I’m not talking about dinosaurs 2.0 here, just for say items less than a couple of months old. A kind of “feature” system that promotes new items from those who’ve walked the mile. Maybe there are other, better solutions to get the cream on top of the coffee, but I really feel the majority of title/keyword “spam uploads” come from the incessant stream of new authors just wanting to “see if it works”. This leaves the rest of us with very few options but to join in the choir.

Still, giving out SEO info just like that is absolutely not beneficial for the full-timers who have actually done their research. Like you.

Don’t really agree with this. And a faster review for an elite would matter little anyway. Higher rank for elite (meaning they have items with lots of sales) was already in place, but has now become stricter with the new algorithms. Effectively removed on older items.

Yeah OK there may be a correlation, although one could also claim that newer authors are more SEO-savvy as this has been a growing trend on the Internet as a whole. I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m digging my own grave though (or other’s). I’m ideally wanting to look more long term than just “squeezing out” the last drops of fruit juice by force of my meagre SEO knowledge. If the market collapses from people using SEO, then clearly we need to think about the underlying mechanics, right? These issues are more or less the same across similar stock platforms on the web, but some have gone through more changes than others based on experience and insight. If there’s a way to speed things up and get past this “item title” threshold, that’d be really nice. In the end I’m only longing for a market where buyers select items based on “what they like”, not mainly “what they see”.

I’m not pretending to be a spotless altruist or anything, I’m just really into the content side of things and I’d much more like to see a marketplace where great items sell because they’re great and not just because they’re there. I’d also much rather compete with quality than quantity, if that would be possible.

Yeah, faster approval may not be a game changer, I concur. Mostly a time shift of incoming sales, but it would make it easier to set specific launch dates and coordinate external marketing.

How about you, any ideas how to promote dedicated authors? Or would that by principle kill off the “even playground” that got us all started here?

1 Like

I don’t think the market will collapse because of this at all. It just comes down to the success of individuals. The market (Envato) isn’t really affected. They still sell, and it doesn’t really matter what they sell - Inspiration Track 1 or Inspiration Track 2.

Well there is only one solution really. One that you can find in some other marketplaces. Titles are ignored in search. If you need to find a certain track by title - there’s a special field for that. Simple as that.

Now, of course that wouldn’t change THAT much, except for nicer looking lists of tracks with nicer titles. The tags would still be the same and work in a similar manner.

Well, if an item is not needed, it will not sell. So the big sellers obviously fit the need of the video producers. Thus, they are great (even if a musician thinks the mix sucks etc.).

The problem is that with 1,000+ new items each week it’s impossible for everyone to get time in the spotlight. It just doesn’t work. And then the only solution would be to set a maximum approval rate (like some sites do) of maybe 100-200 tracks a week or something. That likely won’t happen.

Well, the first problem is deciding who is a dedicated author? Someone who makes a new track every day? Someone who makes a new track every year but spends a year on that track? Someone who WANTS to make music more than someone else? I don’t think it can be accurately measured.

However, a few small fixes can at least increase the exposure for more authors. The featured file system is a bit ridiculous where now you essentially get 10 whole weeks in the best spotlight on the page! That is insane. 52 featured tracks each year out of 188,000?

Much better would be to have a featured track OF THE DAY, and add another row so that there are at least 20 tracks on display at all times. That way you get 20 days in the spotlight and the rotation is much faster.

Possibly also a third row with randomly selected tracks from each category. No reviewer would have a hand in this.

Speaking of random - there should also be a random element in the search algorithm. Say, maybe 1/3 or 1/5 of the results that aren’t based on upload date and sales, only tags.

Furthermore, with this many tracks coming in, the popular files list could at least be twice as big, if not removed altogether.

1 Like

Agreed on most or all points.

Here’s another random idea I got while thinking about all the “Inspirational” tracks. Let’s assume they sound mostly the same and serve mostly the same purpose. In other words, they are interchangeable and a first time buyer will not be a lot better or worse off if he gets the one or the other. That tells us a bit about how redundant that part of the market supply is.

How about… a short list of the 3 “best inspirational tracks” that will show up high in any inspirational search. These tracks are subjectively handpicked (by for example participating in a voting contest) and they will remain there until the next competition comes along, which should be recurring at least once a month or so.

It’s a bit like “featured file” but only now it’s only being featured within a relevant search scope, and it’s been picked out by a transparent voting process (where for example only authors with +100 sales can vote, to eliminate vote-induced account creation).

That would be fun :sunglasses:

I like this idea too, BUT, like any system it will likely be abused. Especially since having these features can literally change your entire life. The impact a featured file CAN have on an individual is just so great that gaming of this system would likely be hard to avoid as well…

It might be possible but like all of these contests where Facebook likes count, or comments etc., it basically comes down to who has the most friends. Or who is more visible in the forums…

By the way - you have an average of 200+ sales per month which means you must be doing lots of things right. Or have you experienced a steep decline lately?

Thanks for noticing :sunglasses:

No decline in sight really, most of my items slowly slide down on the search pages as they get old, but that’s the way it should be, right… I’m playing catch-up to replace them as they die and also trying some new categories. My best sellers are about a year old and still selling, which has led me into thinking quality has a chance at winning in the long run. It’s debatable if their longevity comes mostly from hanging high in searches, or exposure in youtube vids and VH items. It’s a bit like the chicken and the egg I guess, if they’re appealing enough “externally” to generate a few sales a month more than the others on the same search page, maybe that’s all it takes to keep them above all the new ones coming in, which in turn brings a few more sales which potentially end up in new videos etc.

From time to time I like to do a “reality check” by uploading a regular “inspirational” or “corporate” track with all the “right tags” and everything, but without exception these tracks have died in a few days with approximately 0 sales. Maybe it’s because they suck, I’m never ruling that possibility out, but it’s actually quite likely they just drown in the massive inflow of those kinds of tracks. So I try to find my niches instead.

Well, at least you can check the referral analytics on the items to see if many clicks come from VideoHive, but I’m sure you already did this.

I believe that being in lots of VH items is a HUGE part of long-term success. You kind of get the snowball effect if you’re lucky enough to get your track in a successful VH project since other VH authors will see that and think the song fits their project too.

As for YouTube, I think you need 500,000+ views for any real impact since most viewers aren’t really interested in licensing the songs they like. But sure, out of 1,000,000 views you’re likely to see some action.

Naturally though, VideoHive buyers are very likely to also be music buyers.

1 Like

This is a great read, thank you for this.

1 Like