5 Things Your Band Website Needs (That You Probably Don't Already Have)

OK, you’ve got your website together, but is it really together? I see a lot of indie band websites and most of the time they all look OK, but sometimes when I go to find something…it’s not there. In my internet travels I’ve seen some great and terrible websites, but the majority of the time, my problems with a band’s website come about because of a lack of the following 5 things.

Press Kit

I can’t tell you how many times I hop online to find out more information about a band and can’t find their press kit or press information ANYWHERE. Now, I know that some bands outsource their PR to 3rd party firms, but for indie bands it’s an absolute must to have proper press photos, a biography, and a “one sheet” of everything I need to know about the band. Press outlets don’t usually have time to dig through the bowels of your website to find what they need. They want to hop on, click download, and get on with things. Don’t only have press photos on your Facebook or your Twitter. Put them in plain site so everything is easily accessible by the people who need it.

Lyrics

I still can’t figure out how lyrics websites are able to get the lyrics of indie band songs so quickly, but they do. When someone hears your song in their local coffee shop or on the radio and they jump for their phone to Google the words they remember, why not make sure your website is the top result? Don’t lose out on website traffic and a potential sale because you don’t have your lyrics on your website.

Updated Blog

Gah! This kills me. I don’t care if all you’ve done since your last album is play 2 shows in the local McDonalds. Tell me about it. Your blog should provide meaningful content (and sometimes you’ll have to throw in a McDonalds post here at there to keep things going), but most of all it serves as a beacon that reads “I’m still alive and still working on music.” When your Twitter, Facebook, and blog go untouched for weeks and months at a time, it makes visitors think that you’re on hiatus from music or that they’re probably not going to see you on tour anytime soon. Keep your blog up to date and maybe even integrate it with a Tumblr/Instagram so that you can always have new content flowing to your website.

Contact Information

Why bands don’t put their email addresses on their website still baffles me. I promise that I’m not going to trudge through your website, find your Facebook page, hunt to your About section and see if I can find an email address for how to contact you. Put a “Contact” tab right there on your site and put all relevant contact points on there. You need to have booking, press, and general email address all listed to help save the headache for press people. Do it already!

Proper Search Engine Tags

I’m not here to give you a lesson in search engine optimization, but do a quick Google search and see what you need to do to make everything on your website more optimized. The difference between copying and pasting your lyrics, blog, and Facebook URL all onto the same page and having your website organized with headers, body text, and sidebars means that your results are easier to organize on search engines.

Conclusion

I hope that all bands have things like social media links, tour dates, and a music player on their website so that fans don’t have to go very far to get what they came for. The above things are just some minor things that will take your website from amateur to professional with just a little bit of work.

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Based out of Nashville, TN, “Sunshine Promotion” at sunshinepromotion.info helps artists achieve real goals with hard facts, case studies, and templates of music business plans to follow. 

Comments

[HCWinn]

I definitely agree with all of the above. Thanks for sharing these tips.