No matter how good the music, today’s bands have to communicate with their fans. If you are part of a new band and have not established an Internet presence, do it now. If you are starting a new band, while you are preparing for performances, start getting your potential fans involved with an exciting website.
There are several things your website needs to do for you. Take the time to learn about how to create a website for your band. There are several essential things the site should do.
* Collect information for a mailing list so you can keep your fans up-to-date. This also gives you a captive audience that wants your attention and wants to spend money on what you offer – your music.
* Have rockin’ biographies about each member of the band. Your fans want to know about you.
* Provide samples of your work to drive up sales. People like to hear a part of a song before they buy.
* Have a store that sells things fans will want to buy. This is free advertising for your band. The more people walking around in hats and t-shirts with your name, the better for you.
* Create a calendar that shows all your upcoming gigs. Your fans want to know where you are especially if you are going to be in their area.
* Let members know what individuals in your group are doing. Some members may be involved in other projects. Fans like to keep up with their favorites.
* Start a blog so that fans can talk about your music. You can chime in, too. This keeps the buzz alive, and that is exactly what you want.
* Sell advertising space to events or merchandise that would be of interest to your fans. If your band plays jazz, jazz venues might want to advertise on your site.
* Have links to sites of interest to your fans, and make sure those sites link back to you. This is a valuable way of moving up in search engines that is legitimate and attracts the right kind of attention.
* Make sure appropriate meta tags are included in the code. This is a quick, easy way to get the attention of search engines without being obnoxious.
* Include links to articles about your band, and keep a copy in case they go away. If there is a good review, you want everyone to know it. If the review is bad, well, you could conveniently “forget” it.
* Be extremely visually appealing. Invest in graphic art. People react to visual stimulation, and your fans are no exception. Make it memorable. You don’t want your fans to have a chance to forget you.
* Provide a way for fans to contact you, and be responsive in some way. Have automatic responses to email. You might need a staff to keep up with communication if you are getting thousands of emails a day. Fans like to feel they are part of the overall experience. Don’t make the mistake of forgetting that.
If you’re “all about the music,” it still makes sense to put up a website. That attitude is something you want to share with your fans, and a website is the most efficient and cost-effective way. When you develop your website, keep fans in mind. Make sure they “get it.” Keep the site true to your musical objectives.
If you do the right job with your website, the results will be music to your ears. Make sure you understand how to create a website for your band.