If you’re looking to work with a designer on developing a website for your music, it’s important to make sure you’re prepared. As someone who has worked with numerous musicians on their websites, there’s a common theme that runs throughout all of the projects that have run smoothly – and that is advance preparation. I always try to work out all of the details before beginning a project so that there can be a quick and efficient turnaround, but what can you do before contacting a designer to help make the process an enjoyable and productive experience?
As a guide, these are some of the main things that you should have and consider when you’re approaching a designer:
- Plan as far in advance as possible
- Have a registered domain name and hosting (and don’t lose your logins!)
- Know what the main purpose of your website is going to be
- Have some design ideas and/or references to hand
- Have your content prepared and ready before starting the project
- Set up a mailing list platform
- A list of links to all of your social platforms for reference
Planning in Advance
The further ahead you can plan, the better. No-one likes working to tight deadlines, and many designers are booked up for weeks or months at a time. Contacting a designer well in advance of when you need the website to be completed can help to ensure you’ll be able to work with the designer you want, and will also give you time to discuss ideas, concepts and get a clear vision in place.
Discussing ideas, concerns and needs in advance helps to put both parties at ease; if you’re on the same page, the results are going to be far better. I always try to make my projects as collaborative as possible, and find that when I’m able to spend time getting to know an artist before working with them, we end up with a much better end result.
Domain Name/Hosting
Your domain name should ideally be your band or artist name. If this is unavailable, then you may have to add the word “music” or “band” to the end of the name.
If your designer is setting up a content management system for you (and really, in this day and age, they SHOULD!) then they will need access to your FTP account and cPanel details. Not sure what these are? Don’t worry. Your designer should be able to care of these for you as long as you can provide them with logins. Make sure you keep these in a safe place once you’ve registered your domain name and hosting so that you have them to hand when your designer asks for them.
The purpose of your website
What do you want to achieve from your website? There may be multiple goals that you want to reach, but it’s important that you know what you want to achieve from it so that you can convey these to your designer. Generally, most artists will be wanting to:
- Grow their mailing list
- Sell more music
- Attract more fans to their shows
Knowing what you want your audience to do and to get from your website will help to drive the design and functionality.
Design ideas and/or references
Hopefully you will have some ideas about what you would like your website to look like. This is an area that comes easily to some artists, but not for all.
Many music websites are driven by photography, especially when it comes to unsigned and independent artists, as YOU are your brand.
Try and have a few reference points for your designer to look at before starting work – just a couple of websites that you like (and maybe even a couple that you dislike) can help them to see what common elements are there, and can help them to shape a vision that is going to help drive the artistic direction.
If this is an area that you are struggling with, try and think about artists who are in a similar genre or style to you, and see what they are doing. Your website can (and probably will) be completely different to these, but a point of reference can be incredibly useful to a designer when they’re putting the initial concept together.
If you really don’t have any ideas or strong feelings about the design at all, be honest about that. Your designer should be able to design something that will suit your musical style, but knowing your personal and artistic preferences is definitely beneficial.
website Content
Having content prepared in advance can make a big difference in delivery and development time. In my experience, the projects that have taken the longest to deliver are the ones where content is not prepared in advance. This causes delays in communication which decreases productivity and efficiency.
It’s likely that your content will include (but is not limited to) a bio, music for streaming and/or download, video content, press materials (photos, press bio, quotes). The more you have prepared prior to beginning work, the better.
A Mailing List Platform
You need a mailing list as you need a direct route of communication with fans. If you can have this set up in advance then it prevents any delays in getting this integrated. There are many platforms available which all have different benefits and features. I use Mailchimp but other platforms such as Aweber and MadMimi are highly regarded amongst many marketers and designers. Compare options, shop around, and decide which one is going to suit your needs best.
Social Platforms
Let your designer see your existing social platforms during the initial consultation or contact. This will let them see what your online presence currently looks like, and will help them to get an idea of what you’re like as an artist. This may spark some design ideas, too.
You will definitely want to link to these from your website, as your website should be the central hub of all of your online activity. Many artists include also feeds on their websites so that there is some dynamically generated content on show. Let your designer know which ones you want to integrate when discussing the initial outline of your design so that they can factor this in to the layout and structure.
Are you ready to create something awesome?
So, you’ve planned ahead, you’ve got some ideas and content together. What next? If you’d like to discuss a new website for your music, get in touch and let’s put your music on the map!
