So, I’ve been working on my website the last 2 days and thought, hmmm we always review each others music, but that’s only one part of the equation. As we all know, the more professional you can present yourself to the public and labels, the more serious they will take you and the better your chances of making a little dough.
Now I am no expert in website design, but I thought I’d share it with you in hopes of getting some feedback on it. I also think it would be cool to see what the rest of you are doing as well so feel free to post your links also.
I personally prefer sites that are more straight up " Hi this is me , this is what i do" “heres some stuff i did”
I find the stuff written in third person on their own site a bit odd.
Maybe go for a more "Hi I’m James Bach this is what im up to… " then have links to tunes, studio photos, post stuff about what your using anything that you personally find interesting.
Content is king… maybe think of even having some free downloadable samples or synth patches that you like and tunes etc.
People aren’t interested in you… (this isnt aimed at you its just how people psychologically approach the internet). They are interested in themselves and what the can get, learn, discover etc.
Make it about them… give them toys, info, free stuff… a reason to share your site.
I know its not totally related but check out Tom Cosoms Site
Tom has been using a technique of “giving” as self promotion for a few years… started with a few tutorials and built up to now where he is really well known.
This is how he introduces himself:
“Well this is me and this is my website. It started as a place to share my music, which then extended to sharing my knowledge, which then extended to people joining up and having a nice place to swap ideas… and now it’s a buzzing little community of likeminded people, what fun!”
Pretty minimal and conversational considering the amount of stuff on his site.
I really appreciate the constructive critisim Phil.
You make some really valid points there.
In particular I like the idea of giving away patches and maybe a song as well (just waiting to see if any get signed first).
I’d like to do the video thing, but I don’t really know what to do them on or if I can keep people awake during them.
I actually subscribe to Tom on Youtube. His information is great, but I don’t really want to go in his direction though as I really want to focus on being an artist more than an educator (teaching is not really in my blood).
I hope others will share their websites too. I’d love to see what everyone else is doing and maybe swap some more ideas.
It would even be cool to start a little network between the sites to show support for each other. Could I start it off by placing a Sonic Academy link on there?
Hey James, I’d echo Phil’s comments. That whole third person thing is a difficult one to pull off and I’d leave it to the really big artists as you kind of expect for someone else to have written their sites for them. Other than that I do think it’s important to get relevant links on there and you’ve done that.
I’d think about colours, fonts, textures and so on carefully and only use the ones that you think really reflect on you as an artist and compliment your image.
I want to thank you for your honesty and help with this. You provided me with a ton of insight and all of you have made me realize that my site is currently portaying me as a complete douche, which I’m only part douche.
I am going to rewrite the bio, get some new pics, add some new content and try and network a little better.
This is why I love coming here. Good people, who offer great constructive criticism.
Phil, that site is amazing!! It must have taken you a fortnight to put it all together.
Compliments to whomever knows how long a fortnight is.
I saw your site and even though it may lack in graphics, I think it more than makes up for it with content.
I really like how it’s basically like a larger twitter page. Doing reviews is a cool idea, and showing what your listening to is cool too.
Also love the Onesheet page. Why is that chicks head cut off? Is she a butterface. :hehe:
I noticed that you don’t have the page land on your “about me” page. What’s the virdict on that? I thought that should be the first page people see so they understand where they are at.
Do you mind if I borrow some of this format?
As for free stuff, what do you guys think about offering stems to your songs so people can remix them? I would think I’d need to draft some kind of legal jargin so they can’t make money off it though.
Before I do any of that though, I want to keep everything safeguarded to send off to labels first. I have a feeling that if I have all kinds of stems available everywhere then they might not take it on. Just waiting to get my last song of my EP mastered and then see if anyone wants this garbage.
These sites are really a big undertaking. Not sure where to begin with content. It’ll probably always be a work in progress I guess.
Maybe I’ll start by doing a review of my experience through Sonic and all the wonderful people here. LOL
I have a ton of crap that’ll never see the light of day. Makes sense to give it away, as one man’s trash is anothers treasure.
As for the website, I’m writing up my first article now. I’m really enjoying it. I feel like I’ve stepped into the light a little bit. I’m sure it’ll be rough at first, but practice makes perfect.
You’re not going to send me a bill for all these ideas are you? :ermm:
I saw your site and even though it may lack in graphics, I think it more than makes up for it with content.
I really like how it’s basically like a larger twitter page. Doing reviews is a cool idea, and showing what your listening to is cool too.
Also love the Onesheet page. Why is that chicks head cut off? Is she a butterface. :hehe:
I noticed that you don’t have the page land on your “about me” page. What’s the virdict on that? I thought that should be the first page people see so they understand where they are at.
Do you mind if I borrow some of this format?
As for free stuff, what do you guys think about offering stems to your songs so people can remix them? I would think I’d need to draft some kind of legal jargin so they can’t make money off it though.[/quote]
Hey James, well my site is just a simple template from Wordpress. It’s all free including the hosting. God knows how they do business.
That Onesheet site is just something I set up as a test. Nothing happens on it apart from it being a conglomeration of where I am on the net. The picture on there is the sleeve from the Are We…? EP. And no, the woman is gorgeous but it’s art ain’t it like? Heh.
There’s an about me bit on the main site only cos I thought I should have one but I doubt that anyone is really interested in it. None of us are well known enough yet to have proper fans who want to know as much about you as possible. So, that’s on there really as just a short summary in case a label ever takes a look.
Feel free to borrow any of the layout as you want to. If you’re really keen on it I can probably dig around and find out which template I used. There are literally 1000s of them them on Wordpress though.
ha bit late with my reply I see. Yeah, Wordpress is great for free professional looking sites. It’s a bit complicated at first to get used to the interface but ok once you know your way around.
There are lots of good web tools for Wordpress! so if you have problem with coding in php and css i would recommend you Artisteer is cheap and great to use.
