A station can build on this connection with its website. I'm sure many of you either have on your website or have seen the "Now Playing" Flash banner from YES.com . Some stations have their own system built into their playlist programs and audio systems. These tools serve as ways to get listeners into the habit of relying on radio stations and their websites for information on new music.

Whether you have installed the YES bar or are generating your own list of recently or frequently played songs - make them a useful service to your listeners and mention it on-air to turn listeners into visitors. 

Even if you only have a "Top 20" list on your site, link those artists, albums and songs to Amazon and iTunes so that visitors will think to turn to your site when they want to buy new music. (The YES bar does this automatically) You can even promote it on air as a way to pick up those songs - that way listeners get into a habit of checking out your site - and exposing themselves to a station's promos and advertisements.

And Now, For the Added Bonus

If your station gets into the habit of publishing songs recently played or a countdown list of some sort and you link them to Amazon or iTunes - that can generate revenue for your station. You won't get rich doing it, but it may help to offset the costs of your website.

Both services have an affiliate program. When you sign up with iTunes, your station will receive 5% of all sales generated by your links. With Amazon's Affiliate Program, your station will receive between 4% to 8.5% of sales depending on volume. If your station's site has a decent amount of traffic, it could be a small but reliable source of NTR generated without extra work - since linking to the sites is good practice to help visitors anyway, as I described earlier. Why not generate some revenue as well?

As always, AllAccess has my “The Net Untangled Tip of the Day” each weekday and a column on Website Wednesdays. So check back and together we’ll get our internet presence focused on keeping radio strong in this world of increasing competition.

Do you agree with me? Or am I full of hot air? If you have comments or any questions about radio websites – either general questions relating to the industry or the web or even specific (HTML, PHP, .NET, Javascript, etc.) questions, send me an email through http://Preppermint.net/contact . I’ll answer your question quickly and maybe even use it for a future column.