How to Build a Great Website for Musical Career

Are you a musician looking to make it into the mainstream? Whether you are in a band or performing solo, it’s possible to find fame in today’s tech-driven landscape. With platforms like Spotify and Soundcloud, you will be able to share your music with people who would end up becoming your biggest fans. It takes time and a great deal of effort to get ahead as a musician. Apart from landing local gigs, you also need to establish a presence online so talent scouts and major labels can discover you. You need to build a website for musical career that can promote your artistry and help you build a network in the music industry. Here’s what you need to do to build a website that can bring your music to a wider audience.

Website for Musical Career – Know What You Want to Do with It

Before anything, you need to know the specific purpose of having a website. In addition to sharing your music, you can also use your website for selling merchandise, getting booked for gigs and concerts, and sharing news about upcoming releases. You can also upload photos taken during a recent tour and give visitors a sneak peek of your recording studio. Once you have a good idea of what to include in your website, it would be easier for you to build one that will benefit your band or solo career.

It helps by building an illustration of how you are going to structure your website. Apart from a merchandise page and an artist bio, you can also add a contact form in case you are open to bookings and networking opportunities.

Look for an Easy Website Builder

After listing down the features you want to include in your website, you will need to look for a website builder that’s easy to use and highly customizable. There are numerous options to choose from, but you can always start with free platforms like Wix or Ucraft. Although you will need to pay to use advanced features, these sites are still worth checking out if you want to get started with a basic website.

As your musical career grows, you can upgrade to a more powerful website builder such as WordPress. This is a platform of choice for serious musicians since all aspects of a website can be customized. WordPress also offers greater security and performs better in terms of search engine visibility. Your choice of a website builder will depend on your goals and the amount of time and resources you want to allocate.

Getting a Great Hosting Plan

Since you will be sharing media through your website, you need to get a web host who can store all the content you want to include. Most website builders like Wix and Squarespace come with hosting plans. You may not get the most out of your website if you settle with the bare minimum. For instance, you won’t be able to come up with a custom domain for your website.

If you want full control over the design and functionality of your website, you may have to look for a hosting provider that provides the right amount of data storage to host all of your content. Since you are starting, you can look for a shared hosting provider that offers monthly plans starting below $3. Price should not be the only factor to consider when choosing a web host. You should also focus on their traffic limit, webpage loading speed, and the integrity of their user security features.

Website for Musical Career – Pick a Great Website Template

Before building your website, you need to select a theme that aligns with your chosen aesthetic. Whether you are fronting a metal band or promoting your career as a solo folk musician, you need to pick a template that captures the personality and creative style of your music. Considering that there are thousands of website themes to choose from, you need to look for easily customizable ones. Apart from the design, you should also look at a theme’s reliability. Is it compatible with the website builder you are using? Does it provide visitors with an easy way to navigate from one page to another?

More importantly, you need to check if the theme is optimized for smaller screens. Visitors could be viewing your website through their tablets or smartphones, so be sure to test the theme using a mobile device. The layout should look just as good on a smartphone as it does on a desktop monitor.

Create an Engaging Homepage

The homepage is the first thing visitors will see on your website, so you need to make sure it catches their attention and pushes them towards reading the rest of what your website contains. You need to start by designing a great header. You can choose a high-quality image of your band or yourself (if you are a solo artist). You can always play with the design of your website. Consider adding a video or an audio playlist that automatically plays once it loads.

Apart from a unique design, your homepage should also be navigable. Visitors are bound to learn more about you as a musician, so you need to place the navigation buttons in the right places. When it comes to designing a website, simple is always better.

Website for Musical Career – Write a Blog

Since you are a musician, you should be focusing on sharing your music with people who aren’t familiar with you, or at least, not yet. Old and new fans want to learn more about your life behind the scenes. Starting a blog provides a great way to engage with your audience. Apart from posting photos and writing about your experiences on tour, you can also write about your thoughts and philosophy on music. You can even go further by posting videos that let visitors learn about your creative process.

You can also use your blog as a platform for teaching beginners and sharing the benefits of learning how to play music. Sites like Musician Authority provide great examples of topics you can write about.

Keep It in Tune with Your Brand

For visitors to become familiar with your band or solo act, your website should also reflect your overall aesthetic. This is where effective brand integration comes in.  Everything from the color palette to the tone of the website content you are writing must match your artistic identity. When it comes to choosing visual content, opt for photos or graphics that integrate your creative personality into the website.

If your music has a retro feel to it, add vintage photos and illustrations to each webpage. It’s best not to limit yourself to design conventions. Knowing your identity as an artist is already enough to help you craft a website you can call your own.

Website for Musical Career – Final Point

Success in the music business is reserved for those who can put in the work. Nonetheless, you have a better shot at stardom if you know how to build an effective online presence. Keep these tips in mind as you craft a website that will bring you closer to fame.