5 big mistakes when building a website
Over the years we have heard a variety of ideas from musicians and other music industry professionals on how and why they decide to build their website. Take a minute to read these valuable tips before making any decisions.
Any website will do the job!
All websites do not have the same purpose and will aim for different goals. The website that services and acts as a hub for your music career is a unique marketing and sales tool and should be perceived, created, and managed as such. Know what the objective of your website will be, and if you aren’t sure discuss it with a professional.
If I build a website, they will come
Not true. It takes time for the major search engines to eventually find your website. It may take many months and they may not index your site the way you had hoped. (i.e. visitors searching for your musical style or genre may not be able to find your website).
Search engine optimization plays a large role in how easily your website is found. During the development of a website, there are many details that need to be included that will make the difference in a well-built site that both visitors and search engines utilize.
IMPORTANT: Market your website on your ads and other marketing and promotional material.
Why pay for a custom website, I’ll just use a template.
A template website might be a preliminary spot to ease your business onto the web, but it’s definitely not a means for taking your online strategy to the next level. Your website should have specific and measurable goals that will be unique to your personal brand as a musician. A template will unlikely be able to facilitate meeting those goals. Using a template or having a junior website firm develop your website will save you money. Just keep in mind the age-old business adage, ‘You get what you pay for’.
Make my website’s image unique from my existing marketing efforts
If you have created a brand that reflects your unique style as an artist, you will have certain fonts, colours, and styles already associated with and designed to build your brand. When someone who knows your music offline visits your website and sees something completely different, they may feel as though they have landed on a different artist’s website (that happens to have the same name as you). This dilutes your brand and can work against your marketing efforts. Your website should be closely tied to your other marketing and branding efforts. It is essential to present a unified front to your fanbase to be memorable in the marketplace.
Jeffery, my friend’s son knows computers, he can build our website.
This is a very common mistake people make when having a website built. If you think you are going to save thousands of dollars and receive professional results, you will be disappointed. Jeffery may know the basics of building web pages, but he will undoubtedly miss several important aspects of website design, not to mention site management, promotion, analysis, usability, accessibility, etc. Jeffery may even be someone who has just out of curiosity learned to build a site for himself.
Musicians that accept this low-cost approach will be dissatisfied with the results. Their website will be short of focus, cohesion, and direction, and the changing needs of their business will not be considered.
