Band Web Site HELP

[phsycoandy]

Im starting to put together a web site for my band, im new to this, so help...
Questions: where is best/cheapest way to host it. are the software tools templates to help,can u post links to ur sites so i can get some ideas, i dont like the myspace sites, any other info would be cool, thanks

[OldGit]

Hiyah
Technically: you can rent enough webspace for band site for about £30-50- quid per year from places like UK2.com or the hundreds of places that advertise in the back of .NET magazine. Renting a URL will cost about £10 per 2 years.
Software: it depends on your skill level and PC or Mac, but if you are a beginner there's a pretty steep learning curve to building a website that will support your band and promote it well.

And .. the marketing is different for different types of bands:

If your band plays originals, is building a following and you have no web design skills then Myspace is your best bet by a very long way. The stock designs are fairly rubbish but you can do a lot with myspace and end up with a good looking site that sells your band well, there's encouraging ways of communication with fans and followers n remind them of your gigs etc... and most people know what myspace/bandname on a poster means ...

If you are a function band then you need a pretty professional looking website, just as you need professional and reliable gear, as it promotes the kind of image that draws bookings. So... should spend about 1 or 1.5 times the fee you get for a wedding on it and get a pro-ish looking site with good design, good marketing, good photography and lots of other stuff covered in my band website thread linked from my sig.

If you want to learn to do web design yourself then PM me and I'll suggest a few very good books and websites.

[jakenewmanbass]

Hi OG, I'd be really interested in the books and websites you mention as I'm in the process of learning to do upkeep on mine. Cheers.
Jake

[Prosebass]

As has already been said good web design and writing code are very time and brain hungry.
Have a look at [url="http://www.frewebs.com"]Freewebs[/url]
You can have free hosting but it will be "yourname.freewebs.com" which is crap and has ad banners but they also do cheap domain hosting and all the site content is web based and templates and no ads if you pay for the premium service.
If you pick a good simple template you can have a reasonably good looking site quite easily. You can add video and music and pay dependent on bandwidth and hosting space, I found them quite good.
You will be up and running in a day and about £45.00 plus you'll have your own www.********.com which always helps, nothing looks worse in my book than a website name with an extension (ie myspace) as no one will remember it.

[Jean-Luc Pickguard]

You could have a look at [url="http://www.wordpress.com"]wordpress.com[/url] - its free to set up a site on a .wordpress.com subdomain with a preset design, but for $15US you can register your own domain with wordpress as part of their "premium features". Other premium features that are available include full control over the style sheet.

I use the self-hosted version (wordpress.org) for o5b.co.uk & other sites I build (eg [url="http://www.croydongpvts.co.uk"]http://www.croydongpvts.co.uk[/url]) - the difference is that I need to sort out my own hosting, setting up the database etc.

If you want to learn all about xhtml & css, the best book to learn from is probably [url="http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/059610197X/numeeja"]Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML[/url] @£21.49.

For a good a free editing tool instead of buying dreamweaver etc I'd recommend [url="http://www.kompozer.net/"]Kompozer[/url].

Edited September 9, 2008 by Jean-Luc Pickguard

[Adee]

Worth looking at [url="http://www.moonfruit.com"]www.moonfruit.com[/url]
Easy to use

Have a look at our site [url="http://www.boxeddy.com"]BOXEDDY[/url]

Done using Moonfruit SiteMaker with NO web building experience at all !

Edited September 9, 2008 by Adee

[phsycoandy]

This is good guys, im checking the links as I type, well not exactly as I type, but u know what i mean.........& sorry oldgit i hadnt spotted your sticky on this subject.

Edited September 9, 2008 by phsycoandy

[OldGit]

[quote name='phsycoandy' post='280729' date='Sep 9 2008, 10:00 PM']This is good guys, im checking the links as I type, well not exactly as I type, but u know what i mean.........& sorry oldgit i hadnt spotted your sticky on this subject.[/quote]


No worries mate,

It's really about making your site work best for marketing your band. Mostly for function bands though it is all transferrable.

I don't do techie stuff but there are a few experts on here.

All I'd say is to remember that a good website will help your band - whatever your objectives - a crap one will [i]seriously[/i] hurt it, [b]seriously[/b].

So by all means learn to do a website but start with something less dangerous like a website about your Elvis Wart collection* or some other hobby. Make your mistakes and learn your craft there where you can try things out without causing yoru wedding punters to run away and book someone else... ... Only then make a website for your band.

OG

* ah too late
[url="http://www.ericwagoner.com/weblog/cameraphone/archives/001676.html"]http://www.ericwagoner.com/weblog/cameraph...ves/001676.html[/url]

[OldGit]

[quote name='jakesbass' post='280612' date='Sep 9 2008, 07:13 PM']Hi OG, I'd be really interested in the books and websites you mention as I'm in the process of learning to do upkeep on mine. Cheers.
Jake[/quote]

PM sent

[OldGit]

What do you not like about Myspace?

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='OldGit' post='281179' date='Sep 10 2008, 03:42 PM']What do you not like about Myspace?[/quote]

MySpace is where it's at. Free, simple, quick and a format that most venues are used to. Easy.

[OldGit]

[quote name='EBS_freak' post='281193' date='Sep 10 2008, 03:50 PM']MySpace is where it's at. Free, simple, quick and a format that most venues are used to. Easy.[/quote]


Absolutely! for that kind of band.
Psycocandy what kind of band is it?

Myspace is not right for a function band.

[EBS_freak]

[quote name='OldGit' post='281196' date='Sep 10 2008, 03:52 PM']Absolutely! for that kind of band.
Psycocandy what kind of band is it?

Myspace is not right for a function band.[/quote]

I would kind of agree. I think MySpace would be an additional bonus as a function band (a function band should have it's own pro looking website).

For your originals bands and your typical pub band, MySpace is great.

[mike257]

Loads of useful info here as always... I'd be interested in those books/websites too, OG, if you could see your way to dropping me a PM. Muchos gracias!!

[Muppet]

OldGit helped me loads in setting up our website and I started with zero knowledge. We're pretty close to top if not the top of Google rankings for covers bands in our area and get more business from it than we can handle.

Check out Si's [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=142"]thread[/url] first off - I tried to follow it pretty much to the letter and then Si 'audited' it for me. It's still not perfect but does the job for us. Ours is [url="http://www.burlesquerockband.com/"]here.[/url]

MySpace is a good backup too, so we have both.

[OldGit]

[quote name='Muppet' post='281474' date='Sep 10 2008, 10:17 PM']OldGit helped me loads in setting up our website and I started with zero knowledge. We're pretty close to top if not the top of Google rankings for covers bands in our area and get more business from it than we can handle.

Check out Si's [url="http://basschat.co.uk/index.php?showtopic=142"]thread[/url] first off - I tried to follow it pretty much to the letter and then Si 'audited' it for me. It's still not perfect but does the job for us. Ours is [url="http://www.burlesquerockband.com/"]here.[/url]

MySpace is a good backup too, so we have both.[/quote]


Thanks for the kind words, Steve, and glad it's working well.
Mostly for a covers band it's about saying where you are, what you do and then doing as much as possible to induce a feeling of confidence in the potential booker. Good pictures are essential ... People will choose a band primarily on looks ...

You don't have to have super dooper modern state of the art site but an old style home built looking site won't really imply the professionalism most bookers (and punters) are looking for.