Band Website Help - Ask and Share

[jive1]

Another TBers (lostcontrol_) sent me this idea. Since web design and development for a band or artist is a common topic that comes up in this forum, I'd like to make this thread a clearing house for questions, answers, tip, advice, etc. I know that we have some tech savvy folks here, including folks who are professional web designers and developers who would be happy to help. If we can get some traction on this, we might make this a sticky.

[deepBassie]

Playing Mr. Obvious here:
(1) Very clear and easy-to-read fonts for all your posted info. Beware text/background color conflicts.
(2) Easy to find contact info. Make sure the info puts the user through to something other than an answering machine.
(3) A good sample set of your playlist that highlights the musical genres you perform. A full setlist may be overwhelming if you sport hundreds of tunes.
(4) Make it clear the area your band operates in (city, state, nationally?).
(5) Your going rate - debatable on if this info should be public, but something a person may want to know if trying to decide to hire you via website information.
(6) Band photo's

[backup]

Originally Posted by deepBassie

Playing Mr. Obvious here:
(1) Very clear and easy-to-read fonts for all your posted info. Beware text/background color conflicts.
(2) Easy to find contact info. Make sure the info puts the user through to something other than an answering machine.
(3) A good sample set of your playlist that highlights the musical genres you perform. A full setlist may be overwhelming if you sport hundreds of tunes.
(4) Make it clear the area your band operates in (city, state, nationally?).
(5) Your going rate - debatable on if this info should be public, but something a person may want to know if trying to decide to hire you via website information.
(6) Band photo's

(7) Donation buttons EVERYWHERE

[longfinger]

For bands with "rotating memberships on good terms", links to current and former band member's personal websites could help make the band seem like < ...... > ?

[derrico1]

I'm mostly taking freelance gigs these days, so I'm not currently in the band web-master business; but IME:

1. Nav buttons, persistent tabs, etc consistently placed from page to page.
2. Designed for fairly regular new content. (I find Drupal or Omeka or somesuch makes this easier than old fashioned html, but ymmv.)
3. If it doesn't look or sound polished, don't put it on your page.
4. Build your page and your look for the gigs you want to get.
5. Having fan pics on your pages can help build traffic, if your fans are moderately appealing.

[JohnMCA72]

Keep putting up fresh content often. Nothing says "We're no longer a going concern" quite as well as a web site that obviously hasn't been touched in ages. One of the best (worst) examples are "upcoming events" with dates well in the past.

[MNAirHead]

Use a clean template

Pay godaddy for a REAL easy to remember and find .com

Pro pix

Something of value

Real calendar

Email list

Auto rescale to mobile

[MNAirHead]

Oh yea - auto load audio is garage band silly

[lostcontrol_]

The basics, K.I.S.S.: As with all communication, check your Who/What/Where/When and in a business/marketing sense, do your work around that. Differentiate relevant information from the "fluff" and keep things clean, and keep the important content as easy to find as possible. An easy way to keep things looking professional is to keep the amount of elements and decorations at a minimum. The same goes for both text/audio/video content as well as graphics. Pay attention to the visual look of your site: Well before your visitor (= potential fan/employer = client) presses Play on your audio-/videoclip, he/she sees the visuals. They're the icebreaker that pave the way for the actual content.

The tech: The modern internet is quite nice and flexible. You get to use cool fonts, audio can be played without Flash, loads of wonderful and timesaving services such as Soundcloud etc. are being made all the time. The future's mobile, tablet and modern smartphone usage keeps on rising and you shouldn't forget those users. Easy rule: Don't. Use. Flash.

Why pay a pro? Simple: They know important stuff you don't, or stuff you don't have the time to do yourself. Browser compability, mobile/tablet design (for every mobile site at work, we test on 5-10+ different mobile devices), modern service implementations, design decisions etc. It's the same with any other service in town. Joe's Plumbing would definitely do a better job fixing that sink than me. Afraid of the costs? Think of it as a necessary evil, not much different than the guy/gal designing your album covers, or the management agency or what not. Odds are that anyone can find an agency/freelancer (or a student) to do the job within your budget. I'd be surprised if there aren't some freelancers here on TB who'd do the work.

[lostcontrol_]

I for one will try to keep an eye on this thread and answer any web design/marketing related questions and hope that others with a relevant background would do so as well. My background in web design/development/marketing: Used to do graphic design and web development, but nowadays I'm a project/technical manager at a digital marketing agency in Finland (i.e. odds are I won't know the market or cheapest server space in Minnesota, but the general ideas and such aren't different). We also do a lot of work on Facebook, so I think I can give some advice on that front as well.

[Kmonk]

Originally Posted by deepBassie

Playing Mr. Obvious here:
(1) Very clear and easy-to-read fonts for all your posted info. Beware text/background color conflicts.
(2) Easy to find contact info. Make sure the info puts the user through to something other than an answering machine.
(3) A good sample set of your playlist that highlights the musical genres you perform. A full setlist may be overwhelming if you sport hundreds of tunes.
(4) Make it clear the area your band operates in (city, state, nationally?).
(5) Your going rate - debatable on if this info should be public, but something a person may want to know if trying to decide to hire you via website information.
(6) Band photo's

All of this and make sure if you post or provide links to recordings or videos that they are high quality.

[Joe 1956]

Never never never use Flash.

Never never never have music auto-load.

Offer a few genuine hi-res wallpapers. After all, they thought enough of you to seek out your site, so replace the sheep they count.