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How To Make Your Best (Affordable) Band Website Step-By-Step

How To Make Your Best (Affordable) Band Website Step-By-Step

*This article may contain links to affiliate products & services. We have reviewed these services to try and ensure the highest quality recommendations*

MY WEBSITE ACCOUNTS FOR OVER 80% OF MY SALES... YOU NEED TO MAKE A WEBSITE

A lot of musicians find the idea of creating a website daunting. Mostly because they still think it's difficult and they're not confident enough they can do it on their own.

While a huge amount of business and growth takes place on social media, if you don’t have a nice website to point to, you’re going to have a hard time impressing the big players (bloggers, managers, A&R reps, etc.). More importantly, you're not going to make NEARLY as many sales as you would.

A common complaint among independent musicians is that building a customized website is very expensive; a few artists have shown me quotes for more than $5000. It’s not 1997 anymore, and you don't need to spend that kind of money to get started. It is perfectly possible to create an effective website at an affordable price.

There is a global marketplace of fabulous platforms and talented designers who can help you build a beautiful site for a few hundred dollars.

Personally, I recommend doing a site yourself though! I built my site without any prior knowledge of coding. I use templates that make it super easy to set up and I have complete control over my work.

I don't have to call somebody every single time I want to add something new to my site because I'm the one who makes all the changes INSTANTLY!

A lot of artists drive themselves crazy building websites because they forget that simplicity is key. Your website exists to do two things:

Number one: Help you engage with and make new fans.

Number two: Make you money.

That’s it.

Here’s how to set yourself on the right path…

The easiest way to register your domain name and hosting is to use Hostgator. You can register a domain in almost any country through them.

Register the domain that you would like to use. I highly suggest a dot com (.com) with no slashes and underscores if possible. Hostgator will guide you through this process, and if you have any questions, their customer service is great.

TIP: Try to purchase a domain name that matches the URLs on your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc. This way, if someone Googles your band, they’ll easily find your website and all your social media channels.

Example: Mine is a site for Hip-Hop instrumentals simply titled www.omarimc.com

Click the image below for a discount with Hostgator!

2. SET UP WORDPRESS

So now we've got our website name and hosting set up, the next thing we need to do is add a content management system to our site. This is just a fancy way of saying we need to set something in place that's going to allow us to organize the items we want on our page.

If you knew how to code, you wouldn't necessarily need this, but since you most likely don't this is going to make things a wholeee lot easier.

WordPress is by far the best content management system on the market. There are some others, Wix, Squarespace, etc. But there's not nearly as many plug ins and functionality available as there is with WordPress.

In order to install WordPress, you'll need to be logged in to your Hostgator cPanel. You should have gotten an email after you signed up with your hosting and domain name. Log in to the cPanel with the credentials they gave you.

Next, go to that WordPress button at the top of the cPanel. It's super easy to set and can be done in a couple minutes.

After you go through that process you'll be emailed a username and password from WordPress.

You'll be able to log in to your site at www.yoursite.com/wp-admin

So mine would be www.omarimc.com/wp-admin. This will bring you to your dashboard that looks like this. Yours won't have all the plug ins on the left that mine has, but it will still look similar.

I go over in full detail the WordPress dashboard in my marketing course, but you can familiarize yourself with the basics before enrolling too. Then once you're ready for the advanced material, you can join.

3. INSTALL A GREAT LOOKING THEME

You're almost done with the basic website set up now!

All you have to do is add a theme. A theme is a pre-made design that will make it easy to build your site.

There are a couple options you can choose

  1. You can choose a free theme from the WordPress market place
  2. You can buy a premium theme (More functionality and features and best for maximizing your control and revenue)

Personally, I use a premium theme called Optimize Press, here’s why:

  • They look way better. No one is going to take your career seriously if they come to your site and it doesn't look professional. Free themes just don't look as good and you can't do as much with them. Your fans will know the difference.
  • There isn't a single thing I can't customize. Optimize Press allows me to have complete control over my site. It's unique to my personality. I think of premium theme as investing in myself with a greater return. This theme cost as little as $97, but if I would've went with a free theme from the beginning of my site, who knows how much money I would've lost from my site not looking professional.
  • You get support. Some free themes don't work with WordPress whenever they update the platform. This isn't the same with Optimize Press. There are dedicated support staffs who can answer all your questions and set you on the right path. In the end, you get what pay for!

You can click the button below you get started with Optimize Press. I watched all their tutorials on the site after purchasing to set up my music website professionally.

4. BUILD IMPORTANT PAGES

Some sites look great, but they're not designed for selling. Your goal is to do both!

Your entire website should be easy to navigate with a navbar across the very top of each page so visitors can see it (not buried where they have to scroll down).

There will be tutorials in Optimize Press to set up your menu. (I also go over all this in video tutorials in the Advanced Artists Academy)

Remember – your site needs to support your brand! The colors you choose, your music logo, the pictures you use… these things are all incredibly important, and help tell your story. Figure out what story you want to tell, and then keep your brand consistent. Try to make your socials match your site colors and style as well.

Your homepage should feature your name and your pitch, or specifically what you sound like. I have my 'About Us' section written on my homepage. If you feel weird creating a “pitch”, use one killer press quote or fan quote, which sums up the way you sound.

Another very effective addition to a homepage is a ‘free download in exchange for an email address’ box. This is an easy way to capture data on new fans, and get your music into their ears. There are tons of ways you can do this with Optimize Press.

Take a look at the button on my homepage:

I run my mailing list with MailChimp. It's super easy to integrate with my theme and you can get started for free!

Don’t forget to link to your social media! Your website should be a focal point, where a new fan can find everything you’re doing in cyberspace. A Spotify follow button is also a good addition to a homepage.

I also use the Access Press Social Media Counter plug-in in WordPress for my social buttons.

Sign up through that link and you'll automatically get a $30 credit when you sign up for the premium version of MailChimp. You will have to sign up for the premium version to activate the discount, but you'll be given a $30 credit, so it will be free for 3 months!

5. SPICE UP YOUR SITE

1. A place to buy music

    Make sure people can find where to buy your music (iTunes, Amazon, etc.). Building your own storefront is always a good idea. I recommend putting some of your music up on streaming services like SoundCloud and Spotify (you can now monetize your SoundCloud streams too).

    Personally, I have a widget from Beatstars with all my music listed in it. (This will be key once you learn some more marketing techniques in the Advanced Artists Academy)

    2. Your tour shows or performances

    We recommend using Bandsintown for this. This allows you to link your shows across different platforms.

    3. Your Blog

    Blogging is a great way to connect with your fans and build your brand. My music marketing blog is a key attribute of my site. Setting up a blog will surely boost your sales and get you connected with fans. There's way to much to write down about how to build a good blog, but there are video tutorials on this in the Academy as well.

    4. Media/Press

    Embed your best videos, put up your best press quotes, link to an interview you did with a music blog… Basically, talk yourself up. The more legit you look, the more legit people will think you are.

    5. Your Contact Info

    Make sure that you have your contact information with an e-mail address or a contact form so people can contact you for online publicity, booking, or just to tell you they like your music. Don’t make it hard for anyone to connect with you online.

    After your site is done, make sure to keep your social media sites updated!  That means daily.  This way your whole site remains interesting and dynamic and fully updated.

    Good luck, be creative, and have fun!

    This is a great blueprint to get you started, but once you're ready to dig deeper and learn what emails to write to get fans to buy your music, what headlines actually get people to sign up to your email list, how to get targeted traffic to your site, and how to scale your music business, I highly recommend joining the Academy. You can click below for details.


    When your song is ready to go, it's time to start promoting it to potential fans! Omari has the best organic promotion services money can buy. With packages for Spotify, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, we will get your music the traffic and attention it deserves! Click below for more information.  


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    SPOTIFY CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

    *Here are some small samples of the playlists in our network. Obviously, we aren't able to share every single list for confidentiality reasons, but these are a handful of examples out of the hundreds of playlists we have in our network.*


    Playlists This Song Was Featured In

    Contemporary Christian Music (33K Followers)

    Louvores - Gospel (62K Followers)


    Playlists This Song Was Featured In

    Clean Rap & RNB (25K Followers)

    Top Hits From New Artists (20K Followers)

    Chill Music (38K Followers)


    Playlists This Song Was Featured In

    Today's Pop Hits (38K Followers)

    Gaming Playlist & Workout Radio (23K Followers)


    Playlists This Song Was Featured In

    Forest Gump Soundtrack (50K Followers)

    Stagecoach (15K Followers)

    Best of Country Hits (2K Followers)


    Playlists This Song Was Featured In

    Acoustics For Relaxing (48K Followers)

    Chill Music (9K Followers)


    Playlists This Song Was Featured In

    Hard Rock Workout (70K Followers)

    Rock Hits (5K Followers)


    Playlists This Song Was Featured In

    Funky Songs Playlist (190K Followers)

    Clean Rap & RNB (10K Followers)


    [EDM/Future Bass] Melvin - Luv Again

    Playlists This Song Was Featured In

    Top Hits From New Artists (20K Followers)

    Electro-mania (6K Followers)

    Best Workout Playlist (14K Followers)


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    SMALL CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

    MEDIUM CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

    [Hip Hop] K-Rich - We Workin  

    LARGE CAMPAIGN EXAMPLES

    [Hip Hop] Surve - Found My Way  


    *Note: Songs may have ordered promotion from other sources as well. Small, medium, and large only denote the amount of promotion that was ordered from our service.  

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    KID TRAVIS (R&B, POP)

    With an already buzzing YouTube audience of over 400K+ subscribers, Kid Travis wanted his Instagram profile to start gaining some of that same traction.

    While you can get some spill over audience from YouTube, Kid Travis knew that Instagram ad campaigns could boost his presence on IG even further!

    He discovered that trying to run Instagram ads yourself vs. having us add our years of experience and expertise to them made a huge difference!

    His main goal was to achieve new followers who are seriously interested in his journey as an artist.

    Kid Travis already had amazing talent but needed to combine his music genius with some marketing expertise to get the best of both worlds.

    We were able to bring out the heart of his music through paid ads by editing & optimizing his existing videos and properly researching and structuring his ad campaigns.

    The end results: We were able to consistently and predictably gain followers averaging between $0.25-$0.35 per follower (including a bulk of the promotion being done in high cost English speaking countries such as United States, United Kingdom, Australia, & Canada) resulting in around 4,000 new, engaged followers/month on Instagram.

    Kid Travis Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kidtravis/

    Kid Travis YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/kidtravisofficial


    *Note: Previous campaigns are not a guarantee for results in future campaigns. However, we do our best to ensure each client gets the best results possible.  

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