8 Reasons Why You Need to Have Your Own Website

Original post from Music Think Tank by Michael Brandvold

I was asked to write a guest blog on the topic of why it is important to have your own website. Well for whatever reason the blog was never posted and episode two of The Music Biz Weekly podcast reminded me that I still have this blog and that I should post it. This is a topic that I am passionate about. Let me make this clear, you must have your own website. Let me say that again… you need to have your own website.

Great social networks will come and go, and they are all important. You should be active on as many as possible. They are all great places to extend your website, extend your brand and presence. But everything should come back to your website.

It’s 2011 and you would think it is obvious why you need your own website. I can’t tell you how many conversations I have had where the other party says “I have a MySpace page, or I have a Facebook page or I have a Reverbnation page… I don’t need a website.” Or how many people have their own website, but spend all their efforts driving everyone to Facebook. All they seem to care about is how many Likes they can get. You should care about how many visits you get to your website. Some people don’t look at a website as a significant part of their business or brand. They may see it as a afterthought, something they guess they should do. If you were to open your own restrauant is the building and location that last thing you would think about? It is your future, everything you hope to achieve depends on it. Your website is your bit of real estate on the internet and it will be yours potentially forever. Make sure you treat your online presence with all the seriousness you can.

Here are some important items to keep in mind.

1. Own your domain and site

Easier said than done, but you should make every effort to retain ownership of your domain name and website. Don’t change the Administrative Contact for your domain over to someone else unless you absolutely must. Try to avoid signing contracts that when they are terminated leave your domain and website under the ownership and control of another party. If that occurs you will have no control over what happens and you won’t see any revenue from a website with your name on it. During a contract you can let someone else manage and operate your website, but do not let them own it.

2. Do not redirect your domain to MySpace or Facebook

You should be using Facebook, Twitter, Reverbnation or any of a dozen other social network sites to generate traffic to your website. To redirect your domain to a social page is to give your traffic to somebody else, for them to monetize and you to not share in the revenue. Traffic on the internet is money. When you are finally ready to launch your own website how do you plan to get everyone who is going to Facebook or MySpace back to your site? You have already conditioned them to just visit Facebook or MySpace.

3. It is your brand which you own and control

Your domain and website is your brand and you have full control over it. You decide how you are going to be presented. Use MySpace or Facebook and you are not the brand, they are. You will never be more important than their own brand. They will always come first over your brand and your desire to promote your brand. Don’t let someone else control what you can do with your brand.

4. What is the future of MySpace, Facebook?

Ok this will date myself, but I remember when AOL was “it”. When everyone was trying to establish their business on AOL. Everyone was advertising their AOL Keyword. Where is AOL now? Ok, how about Geocities? Everyone was building their website on Geocities for free. Nobody wants to invest any money in their website and Geocities let them get online for free. Where is Geocities now? And just how good were all those free websites? Or what about MySpace? Everyone knows about MySpace. Just five years ago they were “it”. Everyone had to be one MySpace. Everyone was growing their friends list on MySpace. We were all spending time customizing our MySpace page, blogging on MySpace. Where is MySpace now? MySpace recently announced a partnership with Facebook in hopes of breathing some life into the ghost town. What is the point of all this you ask? Do you know where Facebook is going to be in five years? I don’t think they will disappear, but they sure could change. Don’t put your future, your brand, your money into the hands of another website. Tomorrow they could be the latest fade or worse sold to someone who has different plans. In the case of Facebook, why would you send your traffic to a website that requires registration for any sort of interaction. You don’t get to gather that registration information, Facebook owns it. You are sending your fans to Facebook, for Facebook to market and make money from.

5. TOS, Terms of Service – you want to define them, not the lawyer from another website

This is directly related to #4. Don’t set yourself up on a site that the Terms of Service, TOS, clearly state they do not support content you might wish to post. Anything of a adult or sexual nature is going to get deleted by Facebook. Nikki Sixx recently tried to post a image from the new Sixx AM album and Facebook kept deleting it. Even in rock n roll you might have something that Facebook feels is too sexual. MySpace and Facebook are clear examples. You spend your time and money establishing yourself and sending your traffic to Facebook or MySpace and then one day you log in and your account is deleted. What happened? Your content was most likely reported by someone and without any notice your account and work is gone. Build a website where you decide what is appropriate and what is not. Don’t let the lawyer at some other company decide if they like what you are doing. I am not saying to not use Facebook or MySpace, I am saying DO NOT make them your primary website. Use them as traffic sources to your website.

6. Sales – you can keep a bigger piece of the pie

You want your own website so you can sell whatever you want, and keep a bigger piece of the pie. Although selling on other sites is possible there are usually hoops you need to jump through, and back to #5, what you are selling might be against the TOS and be cause for your account to be deleted.

7. SEO

Good luck trying to manage the SEO on a Facebook or MySpace page. If you have your own website you have full control over your SEO, over how the search engines will see you and what your target keywords are for your brand. If you have a strong presence on the various social network sites with links back to your website, Google will see those links and give you some SEO juice.

8. Stay on the cutting edge

With your own website you can experiment with all of the new internet technologies and tools when they are released. You are not at the mercy of a corporate giant who will decided when and if they want to adopt a new technology. If you build a WordPress based website you can play around with 1000s of plugins that add new functionality to your website. One click and you are streaming audio, one click you have a podcast being served through Apple iTunes. One click you have a events calendar.

Your website should be the center of your online universe, with all the various social networks revolving around it. Use the social networks to send traffic to your official website. Use them to be social, to interact with your fans and customers. Don’t spend your time and money to build up another website, spend it on your brand… spend it on yourself!

(Michael Brandvold is a 20 year music marketing veteran who has worked with unsigned indie bands and international superstars. Michael owns Michael Brandvold Marketing a site dedicated to providing tips and advice for musicians.)

10 Pieces of Essential Content For Your Band's Website

By Hilary Brown. Original post from Music Think Tank

If you’re a musician or in a band that’s trying to get your music out to the world, your website is a valuable marketing tool. Your website helps your fans, bloggers, and journalists find out who you are, what you sound like, and where you’re playing. It’s important that your website contains content for all types of visitors, from fans - current and potential - to booking agents and media outlets. Below are ten essential elements that every band’s website should have.

Relevant information.
If you have an album out, include easily accessible info about when it came out or will come out, the track list, and the label. Post a tour calendar with upcoming shows so fans can see when and where you’re playing, how much it costs, and where they can buy tickets. Be sure to include links to the venue website, ticket sales, other bands who are playing, and your Facebook Event.

A current bio.
Your bio is your opportunity to tell your story, share your history, and talk about your influences and accomplishments. Press and bloggers often refer to band bios when writing features and reviews, so it’s important that your bio is current, interesting, informative, and versatile. Can your current bio be used on a venue website to promote an upcoming show? Does it convey the message that you want to your fans? If not, it’s time to refresh your bio.

Reliable contact info.
If journalists or bloggers have questions, they expect to easily find reliable contact info on your website. If you have a PR/publicist contact, list who it is and how to contact them. If you don’t have a PR contact, list who to get in touch with and how.

Hi-Res PR photos.
Journalists (bloggers, web editors, print editors) who want to cover a band usually accompany any given post with a photo, but sometimes it’s hard to figure out which photos are for the press. Be sure to have high-resolution photos available on your website for journalists and bloggers.

A way to showcase your music.
Your music is your art, and anyone visiting your site is going to want to hear it, so make sure you have a way for them to listen and sample it. You can share your music on your website with a music player, embedded tracks, or MP3 downloads.

Merchandise.
If you have merch and music for sale, let your fans know where they can purchase it. If you have an online store (iTunes, Bandcamp, CD Baby, Amazon) that’s separate from your website, be sure to link to those online stores. Also, if your music is for sale locally at coffee shops and/or local record stores, be sure to list those addresses too.

Sharing features.
Think of your website as your home base and all of your other digital presences as extensions of that presence. Each social network potentially has a unique audience, demographic, and benefit for your fans (with some crossover). That’s why it’s important to integrate, or at least link off to all of your digital touch points from your website.

You also want your fans to be able to share the content on your website with their friends. Social bookmarking plug-ins to allow your fans to easily share content from your site on their favorite social networks. With over 500 million users, a Facebook Like Button, Like Box or Activity Feed is a no-brainer. Want to keep your fans in the loop on what you’re working on? Be sure to add an RSS button or “subscribe via email” widget to your site, so that your fans can subscribe to your posts.

Newsletter signup.
Even if you’re not regularly sending out a newsletter (yet), you should have way for your fans to sign up for one. Newsletters are a great way to directly reach your fans and create a more personal connection with them about new releases and upcoming shows. We recommend MailChimp, Constant Contact, orFanBridge. In addition to having a newsletter sign-up on your website, you should be collecting e-mail addresses at every show.

Videos.
The key to getting your music heard is always building more fans and attracting new people through creative marketing. Music videos are just another form of creative marketing for your band. They allow you add another layer to your artistic capabilities and capture the full attention of your audience by combining your audio with visuals. Music videos also make your band look more legitimate and professional, help you stand out, provide your fans a sneak peek at what they might experience at your live performance, and give any prospects a more personal look at you as a band.

Google Analytics and Feedburner.
Want to know where your fans are coming from and find out what parts of your site are getting the most traffic? Google Analytics can provide this information. Using such analytics can help you measure your website performance, help you drive traffic to your site, and cater to your fans’ online behavior. FeedBurner’sservices allow publishers who already have a feed (RSS) to improve their understanding of and relationship with their audience. Once you have a working feed, run it through FeedBurner and realize a whole new set of benefits.

A daily/weekly/monthly checklist for your band

Original post from Live Unsigned blog

It’s really easy to spend lots of time online and not actually get anything done to grow your audience. A simple daily check list can keep you motivated and stop you spending three hours staring at a twitter #catjokes hashtag. Better to spend an hour a day getting stuff done for your career than a whole day achieving nothing.

The following is an example of things you can do regularly to make things happen (and it goes without saying your music has to be brilliant and remarkable for it to work). Some bands may do things at different times (i.e. only blog once a week or post videos more often) but this is a general example of a social media tasking sheet for a band.

Read more here

SEO Band Names: How To Choose A Band Name So You Will Be Found Online

Original post by Chris Bolton from Music Think Tank

Make it easy for your fans to find you online.

Choosing a band or artist name that is search engine optimized (also known as SEO) can help your career down the road.

Yes, many bands have managed to achieve success in spite of unsearchable band names (the band Girls come to mind), but why not make it easy on your fans and choose a name that is easy to search for and find?

Many musicians have discovered (the hard way) that an unsearchable band name can hurt sales, reduce concert attendance, and frustrate fans.

And it’s not just major search engines like Google and Bing that you should be concerned about. A poorly chosen band name can make it hard for fans to find your music on iTunes, your videos on YouTube, and your band profiles on social networks like MySpace and Facebook.

Below are some dos and don’ts for choosing an SEO friendly band name. Just remember, these are only suggestions. The real keys to musical success will always be rooted in hard work and great music with mass appeal.

SEO DON’Ts

Don’t use common names, words or phrases
Common names and phrases are often searched for. So it’s difficult to place at the top of search results for these terms. Avoid band names like Blue, Harmony, Hot and Cold, or El Nino. These sorts of everyday names and phrases present an uphill battle for good search results.

Don’t get too creative with spelling
Using creative spelling will actually increase your search engine ranking, but only if your fans spell your name correctly. Take the band Gorillaz. Gorillaz fans know how the band name is spelled and therefore don’t have a problem finding the band online. But if I heard of Gorillaz from a friend, and didn’t know they used an “z” instead of an “s,” I might search for “gorillas” with an “s” and find myself knee deep in articles about big hairy monkeys.

Don’t use special symbols %@#!
Do you know how to put an umlaut over a ü when you type it into a search engine? Chances are, a good portion of your fans don’t. Many special characters will be unrecognized or ignored by search engines. Also some special characters can be misinterpreted by computer programs as code and it can cause errors. Keep this in mind before you name your band: < bl@st% >

Don’t piggy back
If you name your band The Katy Perry Experience you may get some traffic from Katy Perry fans who stumble upon your site, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to buy your music. Collateral traffic isn’t always the best quality. Also, popular news about Katy Perry may often supplant your good rankings and there’s always the possibility you get sued or the world gets tired of Katy Perry.

SEO DOs

Use more than one word
A single word band name will only be easily searchable if your band name is very unique such as Jamiroquai of Fugazi. But a unique band name can be hard to spell. Why not use a cool juxtaposition of a few common words such as Arcade Fire, Daft Punk or Kings of Leon. This way you can have a unique name that almost anybody can spell and easily find.

Test your band name in Google
Let’s say I’d like to call my band Unicorn Bluff. Let’s search for that name in Google. For a more accurate result, I’ll put “Unicorn Bluff” in quotes so that Google only searches for those two words strung together. In this case, there are only 307 results for “Unicorn Bluff.” The top results are related to a unicorn poster. This looks promising. There are no Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, or music related results on Google’s first page of results. My only concern with this band name is that “unicorn” has been a popular word in recent years for band names. So I might also do a search for “unicorn band” to see what my competition looks like.

Research Your Domain Name
A good domain name that is close to your actual band name will make it easier for people to find you online. If my band name is Unicorn Bluff, my ideal website is www.unicornbluff.com. Unicornb-forever.net would be less than ideal because it does not contain both keywords of my band name and it may be hard for my fans to remember.

If my first choice wasn’t available, I might go with:

www.unicornbluff.net

www.unicornbluff.co

or

www.unicornbluffmusic.com

Make sure to check on the availability of domain names while you do your research. A good domain name will make it much easier for your fans to find you.

Trademark Your Band Name
Once you’ve found the perfect SEO friendly band name, you should trademark it so nobody else can lay claim to it.

When will the band start making money?

Original post by Live Unsigned Blog

Many musicians refuse to do anything unless they are paid. This is completely understandable if you are playing covers, doing sessions or TV work etc. However if you are looking to build an audience this approach will slow you down. Ian from Topspin Media (who has worked with David Byrne, Moby etc) recently said:

“Our advice to artists is to not attempt to sell ANYTHING until you have at least a couple of thousand people on your email list.”

You can’t make money from an audience you don’t have (and as we have said before an email list is essential). You probably also need at least several thousand connections across a few social networks (not Myspace, social networks that work) that you are actively engaged with. This will most likely take years, so it requires a serious investment of time and hard work to build this literally one person at a time.

Read more here