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Need to setup Quality band website with relatively easy administration

ddnidd1

ddnidd1

Mar 31, 2003
4,054
5,158
Southern California Coast
#1
My band has returned from a long hiatus and needs to update our web presence. The existing presence is dated and needs to be redone from scratch.

We need a site for audio and video clips as well as dates, bios, etc.

Willing to pay for templates and hosting, but don’t want to go with the cost of custom web design.

Previously I’ve done a relatively simple website from scratch for an earlier band, but want to keep the setup and administration of this site as simple as is feasible, while still resulting in a very professional presentation. This band is geared toward larger venues like festivals.

I provide a number of other time consuming functions for the band and would like to avoid, if possible, being saddled with time consuming website setup and administration.

Any suggestions will be appreciated and thanks in advance.
 
#2
I just set up a site for my band yesterday. I got our domain from GoDaddy.com. Its like $10 a year. It comes with a free page designer. You can connet it to YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, Facebook, and also connect your own links, like SoundCloud. It won't be the most profession al page, but it works for our needs at the moment and was really easy to set up.
 
#7
jgroh said:
http://bandzoogle.com/
Click to expand...

What are the benefits of using this site as compared to ReverbNation? http://www.reverbnation.com

RN offers automatic websites compiled from the standard page, but it appears they might be a single page that is scrollable. I've been using RN for a few years and it's OK. Not 100% happy but generally it's pretty solid.

Also, any recommendations on services for placing singles online for sale with iTunes, etc.? Thanks!
 
#8
In my view, a benefit of going with a service like reverbnation is that they have presumably spent time and money on things like making sure your service doesn't go down, and that your page will work properly on the myriad of computer and devices out there.
 
#10
One thing I don't like about ReverbNation is the disjointed pricing. There are several plans, and you need to look closely at what you're getting. Sometimes the individual plans provide more value than buying one of the several all-in-one plans. In particular, their program for distributing to iTunes etc. sucks. You can only make two or four distributions annually depending on the plan, and that means 2 or 4 EVENTS. For example, if you want to release six singles during the year, the most you can publish is four. An event equals one single or one album. Pretty lame for today's singles-oriented online market. And as I mentioned, their website generation appears to be a single page rather than discrete pages generated for each topic (e.g. about, music, videos, etc.). Interested in hearing otherwise. And thanks for the other feedback on alternative sites. I'm in the market for a group site, although I'll probably keep my individual artist bio on the free RN site.
 
#13
To be honest, I havent used any of those sites as I am a web designer and do it my self (though our site admittedly isnt anything great...Im just too busy doing other paying jobs I neglect it) I am in the middle of a Wordpress redesign though, but for a beginner it would require some learning curve. However I have recommended Bandzoogle to several of friends and they have been happy with it.

You could use a Facebook page just as effectively though and that costs nothing.
 
#14
Ukiah Bass said:
I don't know about WordPress packed with a bunch of multimedia plugins. Those sites load too da-n slow. Also, I sincerely doubt they are optimized for mobile devices, and that's where the action is these days for band sites.
Click to expand...

I have over a dozen sites on the WordPress platform, all optimized for mobile devices, all quite happy with much multi-media. I have sites for several bands, as well as one for photography.

An example: Link Removed.
 
#19
I highly recommend checking out Squarespace, http://www.squarespace.com

Squarespace is a highly intuitive web-based drag and drop website creation and hosting solution with clean code, great social media integration and SEO built in, and great server reliability. It is amazingly easy to set up and maintain.

I've used a number of website solutions over the years with varying degrees of success. I switched my business website to Squarespace last year for the design simplicity and pricing and couldn't be happier. No affiliation, just a happy customer.

Free trial, monthly charge starts at $8 with no contract. Very Mac-oriented user interface if that matters.
 
#20
Facebook, twitter and youtube are what we use these days. Mostly facebook though. its just so convenient. its easier to send people an invite for a show, and them see a status update with us saying looking forward to the show at this club and these bands on Saturday which reminds them about the show. I mean I'm one of the biggest music lovers I know and I pretty much never go to band specific sites anymore. a lot of them don't get updated regularly, but you can go on Facebook and their stuff is pretty active and up to date.
 

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