Marketing Your Music part 2
Last week we touched on your MySpace profile and this week I’m going to talk about your website. Of all the sites and networks that exist online, your website should be the most important destination. It should be kept up to date with news, shows, music, merchandise, video, etc.
Along with your content offering should be a focus on getting fans to sign up on your mailing list, subscribe to your RSS feed, SMS, etc. As with your MySpace friends, the focus should be on quality vs. quantity. You may not start out with a bunch, but take care of the ones that you have.
You don’t need a huge budget to have a website. There are plenty of ways to have a cool website without breaking the bank. I personally like WordPress. There are tons of free plugins that will enable you to data capture, stream audio, video, etc.
A couple of things to keep in mind when building your site:
1. Focus more on the functionality vs. design. Flash doesn’t work on mobile phones and a lot of people have web access on their iPhones, Blackberries, etc.
2. Make information easy to find and access.
3. Make it easy for fans to sign up.
4. Make sure that you keep your Audiolife store stocked with new stuff on a regular basis (new T Shirt designs, limited edition offerings, etc.). Keep it fresh.
Once you have your site up and running, treat everything you do as content for your site. Videotape the recording process, rehearsals, load in at shows, interviewing your fans before your shows…be creative and have fun.
Now that you have your site live and fully functional, make sure you have a similar presence on the relevant social networking sites. Think of your site as the hub and your 3rd party profiles as distribution channels.
Your site will always be a work in progress. Start with a great foundation and continue to build.
NP: Alice In Chains Dirt R.I.P. Layne Staley
