*** The Musician Advice Section - Websites ***
Key Words "Easy-To-Find"
There are a LOT of free webservers out there. Heck, if you've
got a Rogers or Sympatico internet connection, chances are
you can get a free website on their servers. Of course, the
difficulty there is that most of these free webservers will
give you a LONG website address name.
There are a number of what are known as "redirect" name
servers available out there. I've linked to a few below, but
there are tonnes. Essentially, what these servers will do is
allow you to have a shorter website address to give to people,
which will connect them to your actual website. The downside
is that most of these services use popup ads as a way of
generating revenue. Avoid the ones that say they'll make an
advertising frame - I've seen some websites with redirects
where the "advertising frame" is so large you can't see the
actual website!
If you are willing to invest some cash in getting a website, try
to find a good priced domain registration and web-space company.
I paid $77Cdn for 2 years of domain registration and 20MB of
hosting with unlimited bandwidth - depending on what you need,
you may be able to get it for less, or you might have to shell out
a chunk of cash. Again, it all depends on what you need - if you
need more space than your current deal will give you, consider
getting a free backup server - I managed to find one that gives
me 50MB of free website space, although it is riddled with pop-
up advertisements.
Not only should your website be easy to find, it should also
convey important information about your band. Try to make
every part of it reflect who the band is and what you're about.
If you want to be a band that's shrouded in mystery, a site
that only has a little information on it may work vry well. In
general though, you also want your website to have essential
information about your band, like what type of music you play,
where you're located, how you can be contacted for bookings,
and perhaps even when and where you're playing next. If you
haven't already, take a look at some of the other band websites
and get some ideas.
Some advice on websites:
- Whether you're making it yourself, or hiring someone else to
make it for you, you need to plan out what you want your website
to look like, how you want it to be navigated, and what you want
on each page. Plan it out in a big flowchart. I know it doesn't sound
very metal, but it saves one hell of a lot of time and aggravation
later on.
- Also, make sure that there is an easy way to update your webpage,
or at least the pages that you will most often need to post new information
to. If you've got a Shows page, make sure you can update this yourself,
same with a Band News/Latest Info. page.
I want to know what you think about this section - please e-mail your
comments, suggestions, and additions to the advice herein to:
djdaimon (at) ontariometal dot net
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