Build a Website
Tags: Entrepreneurship, music career guidance, music careers, music entrepreneurship, music technology
“If you’re dedicated to becoming a professional, you have to prepare to compete in the marketplace.”
-The Musician’s Way, p. 300
All musicians need websites to present their work to the world and build relationships with fans.
These guidelines will enable you to publish an effective site at low cost and regardless of your facility with technology.
Step 1: Determine the purpose of your site.
For rising performers and composers, websites generally serve as portfolios of their work but can also promote income-producing activities such as teaching, concertizing, and gigging.
It’s vital, therefore, that you consider who your audience is and how you will use the site to communicate your mission as an artist. To gather ideas, visit the websites of others in your field.
Step 2: Draft a list of required pages.
These typically include:
- Home page featuring a compelling photo along with a press quote or mission statement
- Bio page, with another powerful photo; you could also have a link to a resume and/or electronic press kit
- Media page with audio and video clips
- Events or calendar page, if you’re sufficiently active
- Repertoire page - depending on your specialty, you might alternatively title this page Compositions or Projects; performers do well to include sample programs
- Teaching page, if appropriate, describing your mission and services (performers who are busy teachers will commonly publish a separate teaching website)
- Contact page, with a fill-in form
In addition, you’d include links to your social media, integrate a blog if you publish one, and incorporate a sign-up form for any newsletter. MailChimp offers the top freemium email newsletter service; it’s free for lists with fewer than 2000 subscribers.
Step 3: Assemble content for each page.
Gather photos, edit your recordings, draft your bio and other text – this step is typically the most time-intensive part of the site-creation process.
Step 4: Start building.
With all of your content in hand, you’re ready to build. For starters, you’ll need to purchase a domain name, if you don’t already own one (i.e., a URL such as yourname.com); the domain can typically be acquired via the company that hosts your site.
The resources below represent a sampling of commonly used services for hosting and constructing websites.
- Tech-challenged musicians: Consider using a drag-and-drop interface such as Wix.com, Weebly.com, 1and1.com, or the website builder from GoDaddy.com. With your content ready, you can create a site in an afternoon. For a teaching website service that enables you to accept credit card payments, maintain an online calender, and more, consider MusicTeachersHelper.com.
- Tech-knowledgeable musicians: You could either use one of the above services or employ WordPress.org, a free platform with abundant themes and plugins (it’s not just for blogs). With WP, you purchase a domain name and hosting plan separately, e.g., from GoDaddy.com.
- Tech-savvy musicians: You might opt for WordPress.org or you could buy a domain name and hosting plan from the likes of GoDaddy.com, use design software such as Adobe Dreamweaver, and learn about coding via the free tutorials at W3Schools.com.
Visit the Music Career Resources page at MusiciansWay.com for additional online marketing and search engine optimization tips. See Chapter 14 of The Musician’s Way for strategies to develop an authentic artistic vision.
Related posts
The Art-Career Tango
Competitive Advantages
Differentiate or Disappear
Preparing for Portfolio Careers
© 2012 Gerald Klickstein
Rita said:
Jan 02, 13 at 22:14Love your blog! I would like to point out that many musician believe that they must create a huge web audience in order to become famous.(Justin Beiber with Youtube and countless other celebrities.)Websites are acceptable because we must be represented as professional. But the big problem I see is that musicians are signing up to a lot of social networking sites and worrying less about their music and more about their internet presence. Don’t you think it would be great to have a site where you can see multiple social networking sites at once and see your YouTube views, twitter follower, and Facebook likes? Are there any?
Phyllis Freeman said:
Jan 07, 13 at 09:45Hi Rita, I am the CEO of ClassicalMusicCity.com and we have partially solved this problem for you. When you join our social network community of classical musicians, you can set your profile to link with your Twitter and Facebook accounts so that anything you post on your CMC profile will feed to your other social media accounts. This saves you at least a little time in that you don’t need to post separately.
You are also right about the time spent managing websites, social media etc, vs. time needed for practicing and rehearsing. In response to this issue, ClassicalMusicCity.com is now offering social media management for musicians and classical music organizations. Sorry for the self-promotion, but you asked…
Gerald Klickstein said:
Jan 07, 13 at 10:03Hi Rita – Phyllis offers one excellent solution, and there are other options available as well through various direct-to-fan platforms such as those listed under the Career Resources on MusiciansWay.com: http://www.musiciansway.com/musiccareers.shtml#Resources
You point to a major issue, one that isn’t easy to resolve: How do we balance our efforts as both artists and professionals? I offer some thoughts in my post The Art-Career Tango http://musiciansway.com/blog/2010/08/the-art-career-tango/
Vickie said:
Jan 11, 13 at 21:07I’m impressed, I must say. Rarely do I come across a blog that’s both educative and engaging, and let me tell you, you have hit the nail on the head. The issue is something too few people are speaking intelligently about. I am very happy that I stumbled across this during my search for something concerning this.
Rob Kay said:
Jan 23, 13 at 04:05Excellent post, thank you. As a web developer/musician myself I’ve actually stopped doing standard.simple websites for artists & just recommend them to try http://bandzoogle.com/ instead. It’s a cheap and effective way to do the job. More aimed at bands but I reckon some of your readers would find it a good alternative.
Gerald Klickstein said:
Jan 23, 13 at 17:44Thanks for contributing, Rob! I agree: bandzoogle offers solid value and functionality.
Rasman said:
Mar 03, 13 at 23:24This is a great post I am a musician myself. I am glad you made it clear that content is time intesive. Many times people get overwhelmed by time management. I recommend musicians that are very knowledgeable and passionate about their knowledge to build a site using the site building program at http://ctpm.sitesell.com/Freedom128.html. Great hosting and a great step by step guide to website building.