WAN's collective wisdom/advice needed

So, we’ve now launched our beautiful new website, which has our entire catalogue of 120,000 “indie and alternative” records/CDs etc databased and more easily searchable, as well as pretty extra features like reviews / blurbs on some of the records and thumbnail pictures of the artwork (this is something we are adding manually, so quite a slow process, but the site is slowly becoming more full of detail and colourful!). I really want, now, to start shouting about what we’ve got, and am thinking of effective (cheap!) ways to publicise the site further. In the past I’ve done quite a lot of posting on band’s fan forums etc, and will probably carry on with a bit of this, plus we’ve taken out a dirt cheap small ad in Record Collector, but basically, I’m looking for other ideas. Thoughts so far have included writing a cover-all press release and sending it out to every appropriate music magazine / publication I can think of in the hope for some editorial; a big ‘launch’ event, to which we invite lots of press and other interested types (although this could be costly and not worth the expense/effort – although fun!), mutual linkage with appropriate sites, judicious use of flyers, partnerships with other relevant organisations.

Do any of you have any other brainwaves? I really feel that now we’ve got a half-decent website it is the time to try and get it more widely known and, ultimately, USED by lots of people so that we can justify the cost of having had it done!

Thanks :-)

For any of you that may not have seen the site before (and yes, I know I do whore it about on here on a regular basis….) it’s http://www.rhythmonline.co.uk

Jude, we'll happily put a link to your site on our myspace page. If you have a paragraph or something about yourselves, that would be cool. Hope that helps.

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Ace ideas, thanks Choc :-) We've always had / aimed for a national and indeed international presence, we sell loads in Germany / Italy / Japan etc etc, so it's definitely not a Cambridge thing we're after. This is why I'm a bit ambivalent as to the value of doing loads of flyering in Cambridge etc. We can sell records to anyone anywhere so there's no need for it "just" to be a local thing (this is the difference between an online record shop and a physical record shop, obviously)...

Also, thanks Chelley yes - that'd be cool. The "About Us" page on our site would probably be the one for linkage.

okies. I'm planning a myspazz revamp so I'll add it on then.

"For any of you that may not have seen the site before (and yes, I know I do whore it about on here on a regular basis"

Not as regularly as you may think.
I've been pawing through the pages on WAN for a while now and didn't know anything about rhythmonline until the thread concerning it's revamponly a few weeks ago.
So by all means, continue to 'whoring it' away.
The occasional plug can't be anymore annoying than the unremitting deluge of [event chat]s that, collectively, we all find ourselves subjected to. ;-) :-)

I'll send your website address to my english speaking indie music loving french friends and make sure they make it circulate if that's any help...and get my son to do the same. :)

Thanks :-)