7 Best Website Practices for Musicians
By Caleb J. Murphy for Bandzoogle
One of the main things indie musicians want is control. Heck, humans in general want control.
And when you’re hustling to build a career in music, you need all the support you can get.
This is why you need a really good looking website for your music. You are in complete control of it.
Your website is a central hub you can link to from your social media and streaming profiles. And you control the experience people have on your website. It represents you, the artist.
Plus, you want to appear professional so visitors know you’re taking your music career seriously.
So to help your fans and potential fans get the most out of your website, here are 7 of the best website practices to adopt…
1. Use Professional Images
If all your website photos are clearly phone selfies, it will look like you didn’t put any thought (or money) into yourself as an artist. Which subconsciously tells visitors that you approach making music the same way.
Save the selfies for social media.
Professional photos help you create clear branding around your artist name. Whether you have a stage persona or if your brand is simply your regular self, you have a brand.
And professional photos are a huge facet of that brand.
Here’s how to get professional images:
● Hire a professional photographer
● Ask a friend to take photos with a smartphone
● Use the timer on your smartphone to take photos on your own
● Always have a clear vision/look you want for the photos
2. Ease of Navigation
Getting people to visit your website is one thing. Making their experience easy is another.
Visitors should be able to move around your site with ease. It should be so simple, they don’t even think about it.
The two biggest ways you can make your website easy to navigate are to 1) label page names clearly and 2) ensure you include the necessary pages.
And the pages you need on your site are:
● About: how people get to know your story
● Music: the most important page on your site
● Store/Shop: for merch and concert tickets
● Contact: so fans and music industry people can connect with you
3. Create a Clear Visual Aesthetic
Aesthetics are part of your brand. So as you’re designing your site, you need to pretend like you’re a new visitor.
Where do your eyes naturally land? Is your site easy to look at?
Here are a few ways to make your site more aesthetically pleasing:
● Choose an easy-on-the-eyes and consistent color palette that fits your brand
● Use no more than two types of fonts, and use the same fonts across your whole site
● Make your homepage background an image or short looping video
4. Make It Mobile-Ready
Most people use their phones more than a laptop or desktop. So if you want people to stream your music, buy your merch, or follow you on social media, your music website has to be mobile friendly.
And not just mobile friendly ‒ it has to look really good on a phone. A seamless mobile browsing experience will encourage your fans to stay longer, experience your music, and shop for merch.
You should be able to design your site, preview it for mobile, and have it look great with little to no extra effort.
5. Feature Your Music Prominently
Your music is obviously the most important part of your website. That’s why the music page needs to be clearly labeled and easy to navigate.
But it’s also smart to write a short paragraph about your music on the music page. Not only does this give the listener a quick intro and backstory to your music, but it can also help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
SEO is when the content on your site helps it rank higher in online searches, usually Google.
And you never know, someone (like a music industry professional) may search some keywords that lead them right to your music website.
6. Include an EPK
An Electronic Press Kit (EPK) is a promo package housed on your website. It includes everything the press may want, like your new music, professional photos, and your backstory.
This way, journalists, bloggers, playlisters, publishers, and concert promoters can easily and quickly access everything they need in order to work with you.
It’s kind of like an online resume for you as an artist. Creating an EPK page ensures the press gets what they need while keeping the rest of your site fan-friendly.
7. Update It Regularly
Whenever big news happens in your music career or you get new photos or you add show dates, your website should be the first place you update.
Your super fans visit your website, and they deserve the most accurate and up-to-date info. Music industry folks check out your site to learn more about you, so it should paint the clearest picture of who you are.
Your site is your home on the internet. You need to keep it clean and current.
Wrapping Up
Creating a music website is so much more than just putting your music and bio on a page.
It has to show people who you are, with your backstory, professional photos, and the most accurate info about you.
It has to be easy and pleasant to navigate for both fans and music industry people on both a computer and mobile device.
And, most importantly, people need to easily find your music.
Because it’s all about the music. And your website is the best way to share it.
Create a mobile-ready website to showcase your music career in minutes. Try Bandzoogle today!