As a musician, there are a few pages that your music website should have. While there are obvious ones such as a ‘audio’ page and a ‘contact’ page, there are some other less used pages that are essential for a successful music website. In this article we will look at what those pages are, and why they should be used.
About
An about page is pretty standard on any type of website. This is the page that people new to your website will often visit, and where they would go to find out more about who you are. As a musician, this should be where people can read up on your story and what you’re all about.
A good about page for a musician should include a few things:
- Your Story. People will want to know a bit about you and your past. If you can sell them a good story, people are more likely to be able to relate to or admire you. I suggest you keep your story 100% truthful, but mainly focus on the parts that people will be most interested in.
- A Picture. A picture or two on your about page will really help set the tone of things. As the saying goes “A picture speaks a thousand words”. This will help your site visitors get a better feel for your vibe.
- Links To Other Pages. Once people have gone through your about page, they will want to move onto other sections of your website. Make this as easy for them as possible by including links to songs, a link to your shop, or any other areas of your site you want people to focus on.
Shop
This is a page many people tend to leave out. The majority of musicians with websites do include a link to a place people can buy their music, but it is often on third party websites such as iTunes or Amazon MP3. While it is beneficial to have your songs on these third party websites (Which can easily be done by signing up to a free Songcast account), having your own shop page adds to your credibility. It also means you won’t have to share any profits you make.
While there are plugins you can use to sell your music on your own website, my favourite method of doing this is by using E-Junkie. E-Junkie is a website that allow you to add an advanced shopping cart to your site and sell digital downloads through it. This means that if someone goes on your site and chooses to download your music, they are brought to a secure page where they can pay for the song. Once the payment is made, the song is automatically sent to them via an expirable link. You can choose the expiry setting (E.G. How many days or how many downloads till the link expires), so even if someone does share the link around, it will soon stop working once your settings are reached. This ensures that any sharing is minimised.
Having your own shop page is essential for any serious musicians. It allows you to keep everything on-site, and minimises the distractions that come from sending your fans to third party sites E.G. Adverts for other people’s music.
Squeeze Page
A squeeze page is a page on your website which you use to collect people’s email addresses. Collecting people’s email addresses is essential as a musician, as this will build up an army of people you can contact whenever you need to. Great for advertising a new release…
Squeeze pages usually have minimum distractions, and is focused on ‘squeezing’ as many email addresses out of as many people as possible. You can then use these email addresses to inform people about your new releases and any big news.
It is recommended that you offer an incentive for people to sign up to your mailing list, as if you don’t give them a strong reason to do so, they usually won’t. Offering a free song for example will help you get a lot more email addresses then if you didn’t offer anything.
You can read more about building a mailing list for musicians here.
Media
Having a page on your website where people can hear your audio and videos is very important. It is pretty common practice to have both audio and your music videos on a page, but if you have a lot to share, you may want to put them on separate pages.
On an audio page, you will of course want your audio. You may choose to have full songs, or you may choose to have samples of some of your songs, it really is up to you. You shouldn’t have too many of your songs downloadable for free on there however, you should instead direct people to your shop page if they like what they hear and want to hear more.
On your video page your will have videos on your live performances, your music videos, and generally any other videos of yours that you feel is relevant and people will want to see. Be sure to stick to only adding videos that have you in them. While at times you may get the urge to put someone else’s cool video on your page, remember that this is your music business website and not a free for all blog. If you want to share other people’s material, do that via your personal Facebook page.
Gallery
Being a musicians is more then having good music, people want the whole experience. Pictures have always gone hand in hand with promoting a music, as people want to be able to put a face to their favourite musicians. Therefore, having a gallery is pretty standard in the music industry.
While you don’t have to have a huge gallery, I’d recommend you put at least a few pictures of yourself or your band up. This can help people more easily grasp what you’re about, and help them feel more involved in your music career. And the more involved they feel, the more likely they are to buy into you.
Contact
The contact page, a standard page for most websites. Some musicians are hesitant to put contact pages up on their website. While it’s not a problem if you’re not very well known, as you get more popular, more people will get in contact with you. If it gets to the point where you’re reaching a lot of random emails every day, this can be very off putting for a lot of people. It takes a lot of time to reply to all these emails, and without trying to sound cold, sometimes it isn’t worth the effort.
So if this is the case, why am I suggesting you include a contact page on your site? There are two main reasons for this:
- To make you appear reachable, and,
- To hear from people that can help you in some way.
I know some people do actually like getting a lot of emails and replying to them all personally. While I feel there is often better ways you can use your time (Recording songs, writing lyrics, getting shows, giving songs to DJs etc), if you want to reply to all your messages then do so. If you haven’t got the time, I’d advise you to put a short note above your contact form. Something like:
“While I read all the mail you send me, I do receive a lot of emails every day. Although I try to reply to as many of your messages as possible, it would be impossible for me to reply to them all. This does not mean I don’t appreciate your messages. Thank you for understanding”.
This will not turn people off messaging you if it’s important, but if you don’t reply to a message then you have given them prior warning.
Remember, people could contact you with business opportunities through your contact form. Because of this, it is worth keeping one up.
6 Pages All Band Website Should Have Conclusion
If you’re going to run your own music website, it’s best to do it right. Some of the pages on this list are pages people have come to expect from musicians. Because of this, if you give them any less, you are likely to leave your potential fans with questions. Other pages on this list are pages that not everyone uses, but will add great benefit to your site.
If you have a music website for you or your band, be sure to include these pages for the greatest chance of success.