***Building a band website***

[davo_guitarman]

Hi everyone, i was just wondering if anyone could give me a bit of a walkthrough of what to put on a band webpage i already have had experience with using dreamweaver so just the general things ie: how to attract people to your site, what pages to add, gig guide, i dont know where to start!!!! so any ideas are appreciated rep +++++ up for grabs or even more :naughty: lol

[NoMoreHate]

News
Band members profiles,
Mp3's
Lyrics
Gig dates
Links
Messageboard

Whatever you want. and to attract people just tell them, send emails or hand out flyers with your URL on it. My band is planning on handing out loads and loads of little cards with our web address on it at our next few gigs.

Add your site to as many search engines as you can. If not, then just google at:
http://www.google.com/addurl.html. It's completely free and generates loads of traffic for you.

If you can, merch with your URL on it is one of the best ideas, like t-shirts and badges. Or hand out free demos with the address written on the CD.

Oh yeh you might want to add a mailing list on your site to keep people updated. You can get one from www.bravenet.com.

Hope that helps, good luck.

[Implements Of Destruction]

It sounds stupid but have something on your site so your fans have a reason to go on it. Also don't forget your not a world famous band. I've been on alot of band site where it's just something like a bioand equipment page. It nice to know but frankly no one really cares about that stuff. Main things for putting on the site are Gig info, songs and merch.

As for way of getting people to go on it. Write the web adress on your demo. When at gigs say something like "if you wanna listen to anymore of our songs go to www." Use your friends too. Alot of people have sites now even if they aren't the most amazing site ever get them to link to your sites. Swap with other bands say you'll link to them if they link to you stuff like that.

[cramboli]

cool graphics and sounds are always a plus along with easter eggs those add an effect of mysterious and get other people with websites to put you on there links, put previews of music like a discography. and try to get an online community going/or an email thing for your fans.

[moaner]

I'd pass on the lyrics until you have at least a semi-widespread EP out.

[Kif]

I don't mean this in a bad way, but try to stay as clear away from free hosting and web-builders as possible. Free hosting and the type of page-builders you see on stuff like Geocities and Tripod look tacky and cheap and a lot of bands starting out use them. Get the band to chip in for hosting, it shouldn't be much.

If you want the site to look professional, find someone around you (maybe in school or something) who knows a little bit about page building or HTML. It always helps to have a nice looking website.

After that, it's all a question of the details about the band you want to release. Lyrics, biography, maybe an MP3 or two. Try and have something like a guestbook/forum so people have a reason to come to your site and feel they can talk about the band there (As IOD said)

E.G.
http://www.t-m-y.tk/
This is a local band from my area. As you can see, they have used a .tk ending. These are free, but are usually accompanied by pop-ups. As are Tripod, the hosting they are using. This has a page-builder, but it looks tasteless on the site. The logo looks out of place, and the pictures are badl resized.

http://www.madcrowd.com
Another local band. As you can see, this band uses paid hosting and a .com, which makes the site and band look more professional already. The site has a nice clear layout, simple colour scheme and clear headings. Granted, it again does look a bit tacky because of all the Bravenet icons at the side, but judging by websites I would say that latter was the better band already.

http://www.detonalstate.com/
The last of my examples. This is a metal band, and as you can see from the site, they again chose to have paid hosting and a .com URL. The site looks incredibly professional with smooth images and ellagant layout. One frame with all the information, which is all that needs to be said.

Paid hosting and a decent address ($5 per year from the one I use) shows the band is serious and are willing to pay for it. If you can, aim for the last website look, but if you can't manage to get something looking similar layout-wise, try something simpler.

[Implements Of Destruction]

Just like to say something about .tk, you can actually turn all ads and pop up off just go into the user cp then advertising and there's a little tick box. You mkae good points about the .com but to me the thing that makes .com look more proffesional is that they're are normally more professional built since people don't wanna pay for a .com if they have a crap site.

[XemoXmoshXpitX]

Check out other band sites to get ideas.

[sleepy1212]

Check out other band sites to get ideas.

Here's ours.
http://www.six7central.com
It's basically a place-holder until we get some professional help i.e., $$$

We used paid-hosting and Frontpage + Publisher to design it.

[RushHourSoul]

For a band site I think it's important to have an easily accessable menu as well as live page so people can see gigs coming up. Also some audio and video files are a good idea aslong as they make the band look good.

Also try and stick to basic layouts and simple colours.

[The Spliggity Splot]

How do U get a flash one like this>>>> http://www.kenandrews.com/home.htm

[ZaaR]

http://www.heartlessromantic.tk


This isn't my bands website, it's a friends. It's really stupid and the band is on the verge of breaking up. It has the basic outline of a band site though.

[relayer]

http://www.prowler.com.au
http://www.superflorencejam.tk
http://www.valhallarock.cjb.net

Some local bands, some simple ideas for site design...

[NotForSale.co.za]

you can check out my site - www.notforsale.co.za, we have forums, guestbook, news, gigs, membership (for newsletters), and a bunch more. check it out!