 Selling
Your Music Online -
Designing
Your Web Site
Part 1 of
2.
Article by David Nevue - Updated
August 2005
Back to Internet Music Promotion 101
Okay,
you’ve decided you want to create
a web site to promote your music.
Now what? That's what this article
briefly addresses.
This
is an edited (shortened) excerpt from the
book, How
to Promote Your Music Successfully
on the Internet.
How
Much Do You Know?
First,
ask yourself this question:
“How much do I know about computers
and graphic design tools?” If
you know little or nothing,
you might want to consider hiring
a professional. The appearance
of your web site is very important
to your success. If you have
any doubt at all about your
design capabilities, trust someone
else who can do the job and
make you look good. At the very
least, someone may be able to
help get you started and you
can take it from there.
There
are literally thousands of Internet-based
companies out there ready to
design your web site for you.
The fees for such services
vary greatly. Professional designers
may charge you hundreds of dollars;
smaller companies or individuals
may do it for almost nothing.
Always,
always contact past clients
of anyone you are considering
working with and ask how satisfied
they’ve been with the service.
Don’t take the first offer that
comes along, but do keep in
mind you often get what you
pay for. A cheap designer might
give you a cheap design.
There
are many places on the Internet
where you can search for and
make contact with professional
designers. At GetaGraphic.com
for example, you can post your
design requirements and graphic
artists will bid for your job.
You can evaluate each bid, including
each bidder’s portfolio before
committing to anything. Similar
options are available at Compare
Web Designers, The Elance
Agency,
and HostBaby.com.
You'll also find a list of designers
in our online
directory.
Also,
don’t forget to make use of
your fan base. Chances are,
you have a dedicated fan who
knows something about web design
and has some skill at it. They
would probably jump at the chance
to help you get your web site
up and running. You might offer
them free CDs or concert tickets
in exchange for their services.
If
you’d rather not bother with
creating your own unique web
site, there are musician’s communities
you can join who will host a
generic, but attractive web
site for you. CD
Baby is one of the best
examples. Going this route,
however, can create limitations
if you are seeking to sell your
music in significant numbers
on the Internet down the road. Be aware of
that.
Designing
Your Own Web Site.
If
you want to design your web
site yourself, and don't know
how, the best way to learn is to just jump in
and do it. If you are an inexperienced web page designer, you will very
likely want a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) page editor. This makes
web site creation about as easy as it can be. My personal favorite of the WYSIWYG editors is Namo
WebEditor. I’ve been using this for several years now and I love it. The easiest way to learn how to use an HTML web editor is to first
download and edit an existing web page. Virtually all web editing
software, Namo included, has an option where you can give it a web page address
and download that page into your software for editing. I suggest that when you
first start out learning how to use your web editing tool, this is exactly what
you do. It’s easier to take something that’s already done and experiment with
it, than it is to start from scratch with a blank page.
How
to Find Ideas for Your Site
Design.
One
of the best ways to find
site design ideas is to simply look
at what other musicians are
doing with their own web sites.
Search
for an artist in your same genre
at CD
Baby using the “Style” list on the right
side of the page. Click on that,
and you’ll be presented with
a list of the best selling independent
artists in your genre. Select
an artist that looks interesting.
Now, look in the left-hand column
of the artist’s CD Baby page.
Under “Links,” most artists
will include a link to their
‘official’ web site. Using this
method, you can visit a number
of artist’s personal web sites
to gather ideas. You can use
this same method at other artist
communities like SonicGarden.com.
After doing some investigating
here, you should find enough
web sites to provide an abundance
of inspiration.
Planning
Your Online Press Kit
As
you begin formulating a plan
for the overall layout of your
personal web site, try thinking
of your site as an online press
kit. Like a press kit, your
personal web pages should contain
the following:
- Your
name and contact information
- A
band or artist photo or
photo gallery
- A
band or artist biography
- Product
information (CDs, T-Shirts,
posters, whatever)
- CD
details (track list, song
descriptions, album background,
sound files)
- Your
upcoming performance schedule
- Press
notes, reviews, customer
testimonials
- The
latest news about your act
These are the things your web site should have at a
very minimum, and these items ought to be easy for your web site visitors to
find. If you hand your business card to a club manager who might want to book
you and they look to your web site for information, they ought to be able to
find that information quickly and easily. They will also need to be able to
contact you directly from your web site.
Keep all this in mind as you plan your web site
layout. However, as you will soon see, there is more to maximizing your web
site for music promotion than just creating a personal web page from which to
sell your music. Your online press kit will be just one very small part of your
growing Internet presence!
The
Basic Stuff You Need to
Know
Before
you go about designing your
web site, there are some basic
technical things you will need
to know:
Graphic
Types: There are basically
two types of graphic image files
used on the web; *.gif and *.jpg
files. Unless you’re doing something
really unusual, all your images
will be saved in one format
or the other. Which format is
best? Well, here’s the general
rule: for photos, pictures and
desktop scans, use *.jpg files.
For text logos, small graphics
or line-based graphics use *.gif
files.
HTM
What?: HTML. Don’t let the
technical-sounding word scare
you. All a web page is is a
simple text file that contains
lines of basic text commands
called HTML. If you’re using
a WYSIWYG editor such as NAMO
WebEditor (my favorite),
you don’t even have to worry
about seeing this ‘code’. You
can design your page in a layout
format much like you can with
a desktop publishing program.
As you become more skilled as
a web page designer, however,
I guarantee you’ll find understanding
the code useful. To view the
HTML code for your web page
(or ANY .html web page for that
matter), simply open your *.html
file in a text editor. You can
edit the HTML code, save it,
and then open it with your browser
to view and test the resulting
changes.
Your
‘Home’ Page: Your web site
‘Home’ page should be saved
as index.html (or index.htm,
it doesn’t matter). Once you’ve
designed your home page, use
your FTP client (I recommend
CuteFTP)
to upload it to the root directory
provided to you by your web
host. Then, when you type your
web address into your web browser,
your index.html file will be
displayed by default.
The
above items are some the things no
one tells you about web design
but expects you to know. So,
with those things behind us,
let’s move on!
Web
Graphics: Get Everything You
Need Free!
Everyone
wants to have a web site that
looks cool, but not everyone
has the ability to design cool-looking
images to dress up their web
pages. Since you probably want
more than just text on your
site, you’ll be happy to know
that there are many places on
the Internet where you can find
and download free web graphics.
Some of my personal favorites
include:
If
you have difficulty finding
what you’re looking for in any
of the above sites, check out
FreeGraphics.com.
How
Much Is Too Much?
There
are all kinds of fancy things
you can do with your site graphically.
You can add some cool effects
to your site using images from
the above services. If you use
animation, however, use it sparingly.
It's best to keep your web site
design simple and to the point.
For some reason, some designers
think the more stuff they have
flashing and spinning on their
web site, the cooler it is.
You know what I think when I
see a web site like that? I
think an eight-year-old kid
designed it. I don’t take it
seriously. The truth is, in
terms of web design, less is
better. Pages load faster, and
your site is easier to navigate.
Whatever you do, make sure the
text on your web site is easy
to read. There is nothing wrong
with using a solid color or
even just white for your web
site background. It looks much
more professional. Want a classy
web site? Just find a simple
graphic theme that uses a few
small images and repeat that
theme throughout your web site.
Make
It So! How to Make Your Site
‘Live’!
Once you have your web page
designed, the HTML document
and graphic files that make
up that page need to be transferred
from your computer to your web
host’s server via an FTP client.
I recommend CuteFTP's
software, but CoreFTP's free
FTP tool is a good alternative
for those of you just starting
out.
This ends
part one of this discusson on
web site design. What you've
been reading is an edited (shortened)
excerpt from the
book, How
to Promote Your Music Successfully
on the Internet. For more
on web site design, read Part
2.
-----
David Nevue
is the founder of The
Music Biz Academy
and Whisperings:
Solo Piano Radio. He is also a professional pianist,
recording artist, full-time Internet musician, and author of the book, "How to Promote Your Music Successfully on the Internet."
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