Back in 2003, a new social network emerged that would take the music industry by storm. It was called MySpace, or Myspace or My_____, depending on your preference. Remember it? Believe it or not, it’s still going! Although has significantly fallen out of favour over the years.
MySpace (that’s the spelling I’m going to use) was an instant hit with bands and musicians because it gave them a platform on which to setup a web presence. Maintaining a blog, posting upcoming tour dates and uploading songs, videos and pictures was suddenly incredibly easy – not to mention cheap!
Moreover, MySpace allowed bands to grow a fan base. It seemed to be the real deal. But MySpace was its own worst enemy. Its poor coding allowed people to heavily customise their pages and it soon became an unwieldy beast.
Then along came Facebook and the writing was well and truly on the wall for MySpace.
But why I am telling you all this? Especially if MySpace is past its best.
Simply because the importance of an active online presence for bands hasn’t diminished. Quite the opposite in fact! And that’s why your band needs its own website.
Now I could just leave this post there, but that would provide you with little value and here at Mission0ps, we’re all about value.
Instead, I’m going to give you 15 rock solid reasons why having your own website will significantly benefit your band. And, if that’s not enough, I’m also going to point you in the direction of a fantastic resource to get your band website dreams rolling.
So, in no particular order…
1. Your Band Needs Its Own Website To Improve SEO
Search engine optimisation is a buzzword that gets bounded about far too much nowadays, but when it comes to band websites, it absolutely applies. When your fans or potential fans search for you in Google (or any other search engine for that matter) they’ll be far more pleased to see a dedicated website than a social media page.
You can even sculpt your content so that you rank highly for specific keywords/phrases – how powerful is that!?
2. Become a Band That Blogs
People love blogs and if it’s one about their favourite band, they’re going to love it even more. With your own band website you can create a blog and record your antics on a regular basis. If you can captivate your audience then they will keep coming back again and again.
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3. Boost Your Revenue With eCommerce
Why line the pockets of other companies by letting them sell your band merchandise? Whether it’s digital downloads, clothing or other branded goodies, you can sell them all from your own band website. By offering a retail element you will also show that you want to please your fans. Value: priceless.
4. You’ve Got Total Control
As it’s your own website you have total control over ALL of the content. If you want to use colourful language, display endless pages of images or upload entire videos, you can. The limitations of social networks can be frustrating, but if it’s your own site, you’re the boss.
5. Earn Extra Money From Advertising
As well as being your band’s online presence, your website can also earn you a passive income. This is especially true if you’re getting a lot of visitors. Advertisers would love to get some of your traffic action and a few choice ads could prove pretty lucrative.
6. Gain Valuable Insights With Google Analytics
Google Analytics is an incredibly powerful set of tools which allow you to track all the visitors to your site. You can see how many people have visited, what countries they’re from and a lot lot more. With a complete picture of your audience painted, you can tailor future marketing, competitions and even gigs accordingly.
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7. Start Building a List
Your fans will jump at the chance to signup to your mailing list if it means they get to hear about hot-off-the-press news concerning your band. And a large mailing list means lots of opportunities to cross-promote. Got a new album coming out? Ping an email to your list. It may even arouse the curiosity of some of your fans who haven’t checked in with you for a while.
8. As Much Media as you Want
Sure, social networks allow you to upload pictures, soundbytes and videos, but there’s always a limit. With your own website you can upload and make available as much media content as you want. Feed your hungry fans with the media they love to gobble up and never have to worry about hitting your limit.
The only thing I will say is that if you choose to have a media player on your homepage, make sure it doesn’t autostart. People tend to spill drinks on their keyboards when music booms out of their speakers without warning.
9. Publish Your Gig Schedule
If you’ve already got a schedule of your gigs for the year agreed then why not post it on your website? Your fans can see where you’re going to be on what dates and the turnout for your gigs will inevitably be bigger. To keep your fans informed is to keep them happy and every band wants that, right?
10. Provide Accurate Historical Information
Don’t let Wikipedia be the number one resource on the Internet about your band. The information it holds isn’t always accurate and as a band, that’s something which is important. Your own band website means that you get to decide what you tell your fans. It can be as simple as how you got together originally or you publish full bios for each band member. Remember, your fans love engaging content.
11. Showcase Your Discography
Don’t keep your fans guessing about how many albums you’ve recorded or what your first song was. With a chronologically ordered discography you can tell them everything they need to know. By publishing more information you will ultimately make your band website a one-stop-shop for anything and everything to do with your band.
12. Be Seen as Credible and Professional
Nothing portrays professionalism and affords credibility like a dedicated band website. Your own unique domain name, branded images and blistering performance all show that your band is serious about its online presence. A bespoke band website looks far better than a two-bit social media profile, every day of the week.
13. Gain the Commercial Edge
It might be the case that there’s a band similar to yours in your local geographic area. If they’ve got a website and you haven’t then they have already got the upper hand commercially. If they haven’t got a website then the commercial edge is yours for the taking.
14. Use it as a Hub for Everything Else
Your band website should act as the hub from which all of your other marketing material originates from. By all means connect it to your social media accounts, print it on your flyers and mention it at your gigs, but always remember that everything should point back to it, not the other way round.
For example, use your social media accounts to alert your fans about a new blog post and give them a reason to visit your website. Don’t send them from your website to check something out on your social media pages – make sense?
15. Your website is here to stay
Last, but by no means least, is the fact that your website will remain for as long as you want. MySpace fell from grace and all the band profile pages it contained fell with it. Your own website should be built to last and with annual hosting solutions so competitively priced nowadays, it won’t even make a dent in your profits.
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Finally, as I promised at the start of this post, there’s one place where I would advise any band thinking of creating a website to start and that place is the Wealthy Affiliate program.
Get started today for free and boost your band’s influence, reputation and online presence now.
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