What would you do if MySpace shut down tomorrow? Would your fans know where to find you online?
“Yeah, we’ve got a website” you’re probably thinking. But is it enough?
Other than your MySpace profile, your website is one of the many pieces of your online presence. We’ll go into more of the other pieces in future posts as part of a series entitled “Beyond MySpace” but for now let’s just talk about your website.
Keep it current
Assuming you have a website, when is the last time it was updated? If your front page still shows a flyer from your CD release party and your CD has been out for over a year now, that’s a good sign that your site has been poorly neglected.
Ideally, you should keep a current calendar featuring all of your upcoming shows and appearances on your website. Hopefully you’re already doing this with your MySpace calendar so just take the few extra minutes after you’ve updated MySpace to add those to your website too.
*WordPress Tip: If you’re using WordPress for your band’s website, you can add a plug-in called GigPress to easily manage your calendar. If you’re interested in converting your current HTML-based site to WordPress or adding a WP blog to your site, contact us via Rock Star Blog Design or the Cherry Bomb Promo contact page for assistance.
Pages
In addition to your main page, you should have at the very least a biography page – containing info about each member as well as info on how the band came together – and a multimedia page with photos, videos and your music.
If you’ve got merch available, add an online store to your site too. Of course, you’ll also include links to purchase your CDs on places like Amazon, iTunes and CD Baby.
Links and banners
Another feature you may want to add to your site are links and banners. Whether you’re promoting other bands, venues or sponsors, displaying their logos and linking to their websites or MySpace profiles is a great way to show your appreciation and support.
And you will definitely want to add links to other places your band can be found online, like Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace. Don’t forget your newsletter sign up form too!
Beyond the basics
Obviously there’s so much more you can do to your website to make it stand out but these are just some of the bare minimum basics. Your website is just the beginning.
Coming up…
In our next post, we’ll talk about some social media standards like Facebook and Twitter and how to use them to maximize your exposure online. After that, we’ll discuss other sites specifically for the music industry as well as setting up and managing a newsletter and mailing list.
Stay tuned!
P.S. If you DON’T have a website set up yet and you don’t have the skills or the time to do it yourself, contact us before you spend a ton of money hiring a web designer. We offer an extremely reasonable rate just for bands and musician. We’re also developing a how-to manual that will show you how you can set it up on your own in just a few hours.
