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Band Websites

D

DeaconK

Nov 17, 2006
112
0
#1
Opinions please? I've been playing with a band for several years, bunch of older guys, doing 60's - current rock and country covers (yeah, one of those). We get a few gigs now and then, but we're interested in getting more.

We have a website that is sitting on a server that our old lead player's (who has since died) business hosted for us and it's severely out of date and none of us really know how to go about updating it.

We're also on Facebook, but admittedly most of our followers are already friends of the band.

Bottom line....should I completely scrap the exisiting website and contract with someone like GoDaddy? I personally own the domain name and I've heard that GoDaddy has the capability for a semi-luddite to successfully build a website using their existing tools.

Would really like to hear from someone that has experience in using the web for promoting. Thanks!
 
#4
If you have a Facebook site I would maybe work on developing it more with updated pics and posting a demo, video, gig dates, etc. My band has a website and often club owners will want us to contact them through Facebook. Also set up an account at Reverb Nation and establish a myspace account(I know, but it is free). These free options will give you more presence on a Google search of your band. Or you could pay to have a website, but I don't think that is as necessary as it was 5 years ago. I have used startlogic.com and the templates are user friendly. Here is what I was able to put together pretty quickly. Link Removed
 
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#5
Weebly is free, and also allows for DIY online website editing from anywhere. I can literally clear the night's gig from the calendar from a smart phone, during load-out, if I so choose. Sure, we paid for a domain, but got the hookup at $13/year for it. I am able to keep it very up-to-the-minute, and, earlier in the year, we had a half-dozen .mp3 files on it, as well.

Link Removed
 
#6
FuManChu said:
If you have a Facebook site I would maybe work on developing it more with updated pics and posting a demo, video, gig dates, etc. My band has a website and often club owners will want us to contact them through Facebook. Also set up an account at Reverb Nation and establish a myspace account(I know, but it is free). These free options will give you more presence on a Google search of your band. Or you could pay to have a website, but I don't think that is as necessary as it was 5 years ago. I have used startlogic.com and the templates are user friendly. Here is what I was able to put together pretty quickly. Link Removed
Click to expand...

our website Link Removed gets as much traffic as our facebook page. do not forgo a website, it's still more professional than facebook and it allows you much more control

myspace is definitely good advice, it still has more hits daily than twitter.

Website
Facebook
Myspace
Twitter
Youtube
Reverb nation
Lastfm.com
Soundcloud
Bandcamp
Pure Volume

google search Meet At Sundown. the first 10 pages link to us. it would not be anywhere near this without a website.
 
#7
If you know a little about computers, there's an AWESOME open source (FREE as in beer and free as in software) framework out there called "Cash Music" for musicians. 1and1 offers domains cheaper than GoDaddy and they support net neutrality, plus their customer service is better. If you don't like the hosting options available to you out there, shoot me a PM - I think I can get you something good.
 
#10
An actual website is always more professional, no matter what your business is.

Scrap the current site and get a new one. However, I usually recommend that you get someone else to do the initial design and development if you have no experience on those subjects.

My recommendations:

1. Remake the website. Even if it's a portal to your Facebook/Youtube/whatnot -pages, it'll look professional and you can do what ever you want there.

2. Keep it light and simple: Photo, logo, links to your other sites (FB etc), contact details, music player from soundcloud. Probably an event listing/news section as well, but most of the time these can be handled through facebook.

3a. Get a professional/semiprofessional to do it. It'll look better and more professional (when compared to most DIY-sites).

3b. If money's tight, approach local art / new media schools and have a student do it for half the price. 97% of the time they do a fine enough job.

Disclaimer: I work in digital media advertising/web development, so my standard for website quality is pretty high and professionally weighted on some points.
 
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#13
I use www.yola.com. You can get hosting cheap, and the interface is drag and drop. Check out Link Removed to see what my jazz group looks like. I have another one too (I screwed up on the template; it doesn't look 80's enough) at Link Removed.

You don't need to know much to create a functional static website with a bit of interactivity.
 
#14
dnosewor said:
We have a Wordpress site hosted on godaddy. It was pretty simple to create.
Click to expand...

This ^^^^

GoDaddy is the best deal with the best customer service around. Buy an economy 1 year hosting plan for like $40 or so and get someone on the phone to help you install WordPress. Only takes a couple of minutes. Then you can search the bazillion free themes out there to get a look that you like. Easiest way to get a decent-looking site up and running.

FWIW, web design is my other job, and I still recommend this.
 
#15
Godaddy is fine as a name registrar but if you have aspirations of anything nice and custom for a website, I would recommend paying for an attractive site. They make it hard to work with standard web technologies at times if you want to customize your site down the road.

If you present a cheesy or outdated website to the world, it says that about your band as well. Using a Godaddy template is like taking your date to McDonalds and being proud of it, people do notice. Take the time to do it right if you do it at all, just like your music.

You can integrate your facebook and twitter feeds into it to get fans there, then set up an automatic window to a flickr account to display pics around the site. , then just dump pics and videos into that account and your site is full of fresh pics with little effort. You can even have your fans tag their own pics to show up on the website. With extreme caution.

A band site should be simple, a nice and large home graphic, links to sound clips and videos hosted somewhere, social media integrated, a rock solid contact form, then some band pics and assorted background BS. A really professional looking site shouldn't cost that much if you supply the images and file links. It would pay for itself by selling one or two extra gigs is all.

I think with these things you do it right or not at all. An outdated site with 6 year old pics makes a band look similarly old and tired.
 
#18
jumblemind said:
This ^^^^
GoDaddy is the best deal with the best customer service around...

FWIW, web design is my other job, and I still recommend this.
Click to expand...
I'm a fellow webdev/webdes and I feel the exact opposite :ninja:

For a website, get a highschool kid who knows the stuff and have him put together a wordpress site for you for a few $$$. Keep it simple and it will get the job done.
 
#20
Resurrecting this thread to hear about any new ideas/recommendations.

Searched for "free" websites, got some hits: wix.com, web.com, ehost.com, weekly.com, ipage.com, and more.

I have no experience with web sites/design, and am looking for a relatively simple drag and drop, insert a thing here or there type of experience. Its gotta be easy, cheap, intuitive, as eye-catching as possible, and did I mention, cheap? ;)

TIA!

:bassist::bassist:
 

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