11 Elements That Will Make Your Band Website Rock
If you are part of a band or just a solo musician that tries to make his music more popular, you definitely need to create your own website. It will not only make you appear more professional in front of fans and media but will also give you all the control over the information that you want to share.
And if you want your website to be successful and really make you popular, you should be really careful with what information you include and how it is structured. Here are 10 things you definitely need to put on your band website:
Bio
No matter if you are super popular or still not, people will love to learn more about you. That’s why it’s a good idea to include a detailed bio of you and your band. Tell your fans more about your background – where do you come from and how you started your band. This information will be useful for your fans and for journalists when they want to write an article about you. Combine the bio with some good photos from tours and concerts and you will have the perfect About us page.
Contacts
One of the main reasons to create your own website is to let others get in touch with you easier. That’s why it’s essential that you provide some contact information. Put the phone number and email of your manager (if you have one) or just yours so that others could reach out to you. This could bring you a lot of new business opportunities, so don’t miss that opportunity.
Music
A band website without some music is nothing. Everybody wants to hear how your music sounds. There are several ways you can put your songs on your website. If you use Oxxy, you can directly embed songs from Spotify and Soundcloud. This way of sharing your songs is good as it gives your visitors the opportunity to listen to your music using their favorite platform.
Lyrics
Including the lyrics of your songs on your website is a smart way to boost your traffic. When people hear a song they like, they often go to Google and type the words they remember. You can benefit a lot if your site is the top result.
Videos
Putting music is essential, but why not put some videos as well. People like to watch videos and your site will surely be more appealing if you put some. If you are a small band and your songs still don’t have music videos, you maybe have some videos from tours and concerts to include. The easiest way is to upload them in a platform such as YouTube and Vimeo and then embed it to your website.
Press Kit
If you want journalists to love your band and to write about you, make sure that you include an easily accessible press kit on your website. Be sure to include high-resolution photos of your band as well as your logo that journalists and bloggers could use.
Latest news
If you want to boost engagement with your band and make your fans love you even more, make sure to include some latest news on your page. Share what’s happening with your band and you will see that your website traffic will go up. Keep your fans informed when you have new songs, new tours and gigs and every time when something important is happening.
Albums
If your band already has produced some albums, make sure to make them available for sale through your website. Include some relevant information about the album and some nice pictures in order to make it more appealing and you can even earn money from your website.
Merchandise
If you have some merchandise, be sure to let your fans purchase it directly from your website. If you offer some t-shirts or hats, for example, you don’t need a whole online shop. If you use Oxxy for your band website, you can link every product with a PayPal button, so that you can receive payments for the products you offer.
Tour dates
One of the most important things to include on your website is a detailed schedule of all your upcoming tours and gigs. Include information about where you will be next so that your fans could be with you and enjoy your music.
Make it shareable
Last, but not least, make sure that everything on your website is shareable so that fans could spread the news about you in social media. It’s absolutely essential to put social sharing buttons next to the most important content, such as the latest news, the tours schedule, and your bio. You should also put links to your social media profiles so that fans could easily connect with you.
How to organize it into pages?
OK, now you know what type of content is absolutely essential to be included on your website, but how organize all that into pages? There is no strict formula about that, but you need to make sure that everything is easily accessible and visitors don’t get lost on any page. That means that you need to put menus on all your pages and subpages so that users could easily navigate through your website.
Here’s an idea of how you can organize the content into pages:
You can put the most important information on your homepage. These are the things that you want everybody to see. The reason is that even if you have a great website, your homepage is still the most visible page of your site. For example, if you want visitors to know your next gigs, you can put your schedule on your homepage. You can also put the latest news there. This way you make sure that your fans will be easily informed about what’s going on with your band.
After that, you can have a separate page for your biography. Make sure to include some photos there too.
Your contact page should also be a separate one. It should be as appealing as possible for your visitors. Make sure also to include all the possible means of communication with your band, such as email, phone, and even social media. It’s also a good idea not only to write your email address but to make a contact form directing to your email address.
You can also separate your music in several pages and sub-pages. For example, you can create one page for your music where you can embed your songs and two sub-pages for lyrics and relevant videos.
The press kit should also be a separate page on your website. Make sure that everything you put there could be easily downloaded by journalists and bloggers. It’s also a good idea to put a link on the press kit page that directs visitors to the contact page so that everybody that needs some additional information could easily get in touch with you.
Finally, create another page for the merchandise and albums you offer. You can also divide them into two subpages. Be sure to include a detailed and unique descriptions and photos of all products that you offer.
We’ve recently launched a brand new template targeted for musicians and bands. If you want some design inspiration, you can check it out and experiment.
Want to create the perfect band website for you? Why not start now?
