In our fast-paced, competitive industry, there’s no room for a boring website. (Or worse—no website at all!) With the advent of social media, it can be easy to forget just how important having this central hub really is—a place to store your music, videos, bio, press photos, and tour dates, all in one neat little package for your fans and potential industry partners.
But neglect your website and you neglect your career. So here are some tips on how to make your band website less boring.
Make sure your website aligns with your brand
Your website should be a direct reflection of who you are as a brand. Immediately upon seeing it, I should have a clear idea of what genre you play, and within a few minutes of poking around, I should know your personality. I should have a strong sense of what I’m getting into before I click off the website, and that comes from color choices, promo photos, and layout.
Get rid of dead pages
I can’t tell you how depressing it is to go to a band’s tour page and see “upcoming tour dates,” and they’re all from two years ago. If you’re not going to be playing for a while, just get rid of the space until you have something to put there.
Your website should be clean and uncluttered, so eliminate dead pages and combine where you can. Your website should be fully informative, but not so overwhelmingly cluttered that visitors don’t know where to begin.
Give the people what they want
There are a few things that every good website should have:
- your music (use our HTML5 music player widget to embed your music onto your website)
- a bio that tells me all about who you are in a concise manner
- professional promo photos with photo credits (viewable as well as downloadable for press)
- a way to contact you
- upcoming tour dates, when they exist
- a press page once you have a few clippings to put on there
- easily viewable icons that lead me to your social media
I see a lot of bands including blogs and then neglecting them for six months at a time. In my opinion, if you’re not going to tend to it, get rid of it. A blog is a really nice idea, and can be a great way to communicate with fans, but if you don’t have it in you to update regularly, it’s probably best to just clear the cob webs and take the blog down.
Encourage email signups
Pop-ups are annoying, but sometimes they’re the good kind of annoying. Like when you really want to grow your email list, but can’t seem to figure out how to get in front of people.
A quick little message that’s aesthetically pleasing to greet visitors and ask for their email can be really practical. If you’re worried about annoying the same people over and over, there’s usually an option to turn it off for return visitors. Email newsletters are one of the most powerful ways to reach your fans, though, so you don’t want to sleep on that opportunity.
Angela Mastrogiacomo is a pop-punk enthusiast and the founder and CEO of Muddy Paw PR and Infectious Magazine. You can find hanging out with her dog, eating sweets, and curled up with a good book. Read more at http://angelamastrogiacomo.com.
