new website - comments and promotion ideas?

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cardiff jon

cardiff jon

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I've got a (fairly basic) website up at www.nboyd.net, but no traffic yet as I won't start gigging for a while. There are samples of all my tracks on there - anyone want to go there and suggest how I can promote it? Some comments on the website b board would be appreciated.
Thanking you in anticipation,
Jon
 
Here are my thoughts, take them for what they are..

First off, I like the site design. It's nice and compact and fairly modern. Much better than my sites anyway. :)

Second, the question you should be asking isn't how to promote your site, but how best to use your site to promote your music. Look at how bands are traditionally promoted and incorporate that into your site. I mean, when I go to your site, I don't get told what you're about, who you are, anything. All I see is a big picture of a cat and some very terse news points. If I hadn't linked to you from homerecording.com I might think you were a cat show or something. Well, not really, but the point is you need some kind of bio/about thing right off the bat. "This is who I am, this is what I do, here are my influences, here's what I'm all about". In otherwords, tell me in the first ten seconds why I should still be at your site in another ten seconds and not hitting up google to find out what movies are playing tonight in Bangkok.

Next, consider your album; which song is your first "single"? I don't want to hear 30 second clips of a bunch of songs. I want to hear one song that I can get to know and like, and eventually say "hey, I like this song; I need to get the album". If you just tell us to listen to the clips of your album, I guarantee you 99% of all people are going to click on the first song, and if they liked it maybe the 2nd. Are those your best songs? Are those the songs you want everyone to judge you by? If not, you need to tell people what to listen to. On the front page of your site, have a thing saying "click here to listen to [your best song here] from my new album". Then let them hear the whole song.

Two minutes ago I listened to the clips of your first two songs. I can't remember anything about them other than the fact that it kind of sounded like early REM. If I'd spent 3 minutes listening to an entire track, I can bet you I'd remember more about your music.

A lot of people make minimal websites because they want to get people "intrigued" about the band, not tell them too much. I don't agree with this idea. I think your website should tell people everything they would ever want to know about your band. It's a point of reference. Chances are, if I"m at your site, i'm already "intrigued". Now you need to hit me with the goods.
People look at the website as a tool to introduce fans to the band. But more than likely fans will be introduced to you by magazines, other websites, seeing you at a show, hearing you on the radio, etc. They'll come to your website to find out more, so you've got to give them more to find out.

Finally, you need some press. Send out CD's to magazines, online zines, local newspapers, etc. Is your URL on the CD? If not, print it up on some stickers and stick them to the CD case.

To summarize:
1. write a bio and stick it on page 1
2. pick a single and promote it
3. fill your site with information
4. get some press coverage.


Hope that helps...
 
also, just a slight annoyance of mine...the forum page creates a BARELY usable horizontal scroll bar. if it wouldn't be a hassle, strecthing out your main window enough to get rid of that would be more appealing. (i know it's not that big of a deal, i'm just kinda anal about scroll bars...I HATE THEM!!! :))
 
Good thread. If you get time check out a site that I did for some friends of mine and their band. It's the first band website I've done, and the first website I've done in a long time. Let me know what you think.

http://www.thestilettoformal.com
 
ASMS said:
Hi lykwydchykyn, You seem to know what a website should look like. Please review mine and give me some advice on how I can better my site Thanks Mike
http://premium.xanga.com/home.aspx?user=AmbientSynthmusic_Studio

Well, I'm not a website expert, just a guy with an opinion. If you looked at my websites, you might be saying "physicial heal thyself".
But nevertheless, here are my thoughts (sorry if we're hijacking your thread, jon):

First off, What are you trying to promote with this site? Your studio? Your music? Your skills as a keyboardist/synthesist? It's not clear. I see at the top a logo for "Ambient synthmusic studios", but then I scroll down and I'm reading your bio as a musician. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to come away from the site with. Are you looking to be hired? Do you want people to buy a CD? Looking for clients? it's not clear.

Next, I don't care for the layout. I'm not a layout expert, and a lot of people say my website layouts are dated, but what I see on yours is a basic text heading at the top, a large graphic logo in the middle of the page, and some rather cryptic menus on the side ("subscribe to ambient synthmusic studios" -- what am I subscribing to?? A newsletter? A blog? Special access to something? I'm not clear on what or why I would subscribe). I have to scroll down to find information about what this site is or why I'm at it.

I'm not sure how much of the page you control and what Xanga is putting there for you, but you might want to look at a different host if you can't do more with the layout.

Hope that's helpful.
 
EleKtriKaz said:
Good thread. If you get time check out a site that I did for some friends of mine and their band. It's the first band website I've done, and the first website I've done in a long time. Let me know what you think.

http://www.thestilettoformal.com

Well, I don't go for the look, but once again I'm no expert and my sites get criticism for the layout and look too.
Like Jon's site, I think it needs a bio. Pictures of the band are cool, but if someone comes across your band online, they'll want to know some facts about the band. For example, where is the band located? What style of music do they play (in case I want to know before downloading the song)?

I used to use a splash screen, until someone asked me why. I couldn't come up with a good answer, so I ditched it. I put the same question to you. Why the splash screen (i.e. your first index.htm)? If you do keep the screen, you might want a smaller image on it, that one took several seconds to load even on my T1 connection (it's possible that the server is just slow). Dialup users are never going to wait for it to load.

Just my thoughts.
 
I agree with some of the things you pointed out. I just mainly wanted to see what people thought of the look.

There aren't any bios because the band hasn't given me that information yet. But I do agree bios are needed.

My original design didn't include the splash page, but again the band asked for it, so I obliged.

Thanks for the input.
 
Thank you for your observations of my site lykwydchykyn, I do apprieciate your view of my site."as bad as it might be". You made alot of very insightful observations that after reading your comments became crystal clear to me This is my first attempt at making a webpage and I will use your observations to repair my trainwreck of a site. LOL
Thanks Mike
 
While we are on the topic of websites....and hijacked threads :) I recently made this website for my brothers band. Let me know what you think. www.endlessfight.tk Please forgive the popup ad...that's what you get when you are too cheap to pay $6/month for real hosting.
 
Site looks pretty good. Nice and tidy and logicaly set out.

I looked at the lyrics page. There are some spelling errors and gramatical mistakes which should be looked at - eg using 'there' instead of 'their' for example, silly things but they give an amateurish feel and destract from the lyric. A spell checker should catch any errors, but the grammar needs careful proof reading by someone whose good at English.

Good luck.
 
I just copied and pasted the lyrics from an email the band sent me...I was too lazy to fix it, but I did see the mistakes :rolleyes:
 
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