A typical DJ website: DJ Nova.
Last week I dove into the world of online promotion of your brand as a DJ, but I only covered social media and email. While those mediums are handy tools, a website is an essential if you want to go further as a DJ.
You look at any serious DJ, and they have a website. Even I just finished a redesign and revision of my own website, which I’ve had for the last 11 years. You need a central point around which all your other online efforts revolve.
Why a social media profile isn’t enough
I’ve had debates for years with many DJs and even some businessmen who believe a Facebook profile or page along with fileshare sites like Zippyshare or even Mixcloud is enough. I beg to differ.
Anyone remember MusicV2.com? For those who don’t, it was an online service aimed at DJs and music artists to have a profile, post music or mixes, and even promote themselves. In only a few years the site was finished because its owner could not maintain enough finances to keep it going, even though he charged people US$30 for a lifetime account. I remember how many DJs grumbled at how they lost their online presence.
I remember how many DJs grumbled at how they lost their online presence…
The same kinds of things happened with people who made their MySpace page as their “official website”, and even more recently when some DJs try to use SoundCloud in that manner. File sharing sites like MegaUpload and RapidShare have also cracked down and made it harder for DJs to use them as free hosting.
Can you imagine the day Facebook will die? Maybe one day it will…
Yet again I’m bringing up marketing and how important it is for you to have a brand. A website is your central online location for all things “you”. It’s the “Rome” that all roads should lead to. I cannot stress how important it is that you have a website as your primary online repository of information and such about your DJ efforts.
DJ Jam - not to be confused with the author of this piece - has an attractive website that's built in WordPress.
Social media pages only are there to supplement your marketing. You post that you have a new mix, but link it to a page on your website where people can download it.
You post that you’re playing somewhere, but link it to a page on your website with the full details.
Whenever you hand out demo CDs, your web address is on those CDs so promoters can find out more and even download a digital press kit (if you have one).
Websites are not hard, nor expensive
Outside of my life as a DJ, I am a web designer/developer as my career. I’ve heard many speak and believe that a website is some massively expensive item that the average person can’t afford, or people lament on how they can’t make graphics or write code.
I would partially agree with those ideas if this were the mid-to-late 1990s, but in 2011 literally anyone can have a website for a very small cost. How does roughly US$10 per month sound? You pay that much for half a dozen tracks off your favourite MP3 site.
To get a website, you need two things: a domain name and hosting. The domain name is your web address, like d-jam.com or digitaldjtips.com. It’s important of course because you don’t want to hand people an IP address like 192.168.101.214.
The second part is hosting. This is the actual web space where you will put your files, mixes, images, pages and so on. The domain name is connected to your hosting account and thus anyone who visits you gets to the main index page you designate. It’s that simple.
I currently use 1&1 and DigitalDJTips is hosted on Media Temple. Other hosts you can try are HostMonster and GoDaddy.
Most of these hosts will come fully loaded with complete site-building tools.
Building the site of course is a different beast. You can try doing it all on your own if you know something about HTML, but now most of these hosts will come fully loaded with complete site-building tools at your disposal.
The easiest solution is WordPress. (Digital DJ Tips is a WordPress site.) You would simply press a button in the hosting admin control page to install WordPress, and you’ll be handed back a web address with username and password.
Inside WordPress’s back-end control panel you can not only set up pages, sections, and use blog entries as content entries, but also easily install additional plugins for added functions (like an audio player) and themes to change the look of the website. No coding whatsoever.
Two tips to help you avoid problems
It is possible to buy professionally made themes to make your WordPress installation really shine.
Now there are two big tips I want to share that will save you some grief. The first tip is to get your domain name from a place separate of your host. I usually use Dotster for my domains.
I know it seems easier to just do the domain and hosting in one spot, but imagine a year or two later you decide you want to change hosts. It will become a lot of aggravation to get your domain free of the old host so you can transfer it. Plus you might end up paying added fees. Keeping your domain separate means you simply change two pieces of information on the domain service. It’s that easy.
The second big tip is to not use any free hosting services. In the past there were free services like Geocities and even now with Wix. I know it seems tempting to save that $7 or $8 a month, but trust me, a free host will only limit you. They will put banner ads on your website that will only annoy your patrons or even drive them away if those ads are laced with viruses. You’ll hit file size limits and even see your website go down here and there. The free spaces are for some girl’s Justin Bieber fan page, not a professional DJ. Make the investment in paid hosting and reliability.
What to put on your website
Now that you’re all set up in terms of hosting, domain, and even a back-end, the hard part comes – content.
The bare basics of a DJ website would be a news/events page. A bio is also an important page, and of course a page to post mixes and/or tracks you produced. Finally, a contact page where one can get in touch with you is necessary.
Now that you’re all set up in terms of hosting, domain, and even a back-end, the hard part comes – content.
Outside of those bare basics, other possible items you could add are event photos, a blog, links to other websites, or even to your social media connections.
Social media widgets are helpful as well as the means for others to share pages around on social media. If you end up going with WordPress, explore the plugins available and customise your site to fit your needs and desires.
Next week
Next week we conclude this series on how to succeed at DJing with how you as a DJ can go beyond just making demos and handing them out. We’ll explore other possibilities and how you can “make your own gigs” through different avenues and thus build your exposure and fan base.
• D-Jam is a Chicago nightclub and rave DJ by night, and a branding expert by day. Check out his website
Have you got a website? Are you thinking of getting one? Have you had a website on a service that discontinued? Do you think a website is unnecessary these days for a DJ? Let us know your thoughts please in the comments.
Now go to:
How To Succeed At DJing, Part 11: Promote Yourself Online
Why You Shouldn’t Post Your Mixes On SoundCloud
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Tags: dj websites, how to, promotion, tutorials
I chose my Dj name after doing a google search and finding no hits or signs it was already taken. Next I created a Yahoo email address w the name. Next I purchased the domain and ALL alias domains in one step on GoDaddy. I already have an account w them for my photography website http://www.cajphoto.com.
Next I created accounts on Reverbnation,Soundcloud, Twitter and Facebook. I spent a month designing my site in Photoshop and creating the site in MS Web Expression. It is a modified template that I searched and found free on Google.
After uploading the design and testing I made a few changes. Later I read that Soundcloud is coming down on remixes and it no longer let’s me upload music for copyright reasons. I opened an account on Mixcloud, uploaded songs and added that shortcut to my home page.
My site is simple w no audio or video and it’s only one page. But it loads very fast and looks great on a smartphone. One more thing I got 100 color 2 sided business cards from Overnightprinting.com. I also burn Lightscribe Mix CDs w all my contact info and 6 songs. 2 hip hop. 2 house. 1 semi-techno and 1 lounge.
Lastly I created a Facebook Fanpage instead of a dedicated page linked to my personal page after reading an article on THIS website. Thanks!
[ link ]Good job. Keep it up.
If you want to go further, make pages up for each of your mixes and post the flash audio player from MixCloud on them. If you want people to download, then get a MixCrate account.
When I was building my recent site, I used both those sites to make a temporary landing page. Worked out well.
Check and see if your host gives you the space and bandwidth for MP3. I know on mine I have a archive of mixes, and never a problem from my host.
[ link ]I used a mix of go Daddy and Flavors.me. The combination lead to http://www.MKoussa.com. Excellent and VERY important advice to anyone taking their career serious. Great post!!
[ link ]I use value-domain.com for domain name & a2hosting.com for the webspace. Then WordPress fir the web pages’ front-end.
[ link ]Nothing special at the moment, it’s under construction, and still need to change the header’s image.
http://www.centraldistraction.com
But I’m on the right track following this series.
First of all I was interested as to D-jam’s (author) career at the moment. Wondering as to how many new or been brought back to Dj’ing, through a technical industry. I myself am in the Web industry.
Anyway, back to my point. It is essential for anyone out there to get a web presence who is keen on getting a fair crack of the whip. Agreed that linking to any marketing materials to your site is essential, promotes a professional image.
I think the best route for anyone though is a content management system as mentioned in the article WordPress is a good start. Myself I use http://www.ModX.com with hosting on http://www.Bluehost.com. Very good hosting solution and pretty cheap.
Modx allows anyone with an understanding of HTMl to create templates pretty quickly, or a mate with an understanding of HTML can set one up quite quickly. Modx is free to install btw. Great place for ModX Tutorials (beginner to intermediate) http://codingpad.maryspad.com/category/modx/
Any CMS though is an advantage, as once setup entering any relevant info e.g blog entries is simple.
[ link ]I got into interactive media back in 1996. I originally was studying business when I was required to take an MIS course. In that course I built a website, but later this “hobby” ended up becoming the career.
In many ways, my work in design and web came about because of when I spent $600 to get 100 cassettes made back in 1994. I was aggravated that I spent so much for 100 cassettes with on-shell printing and B&W inserts. I was determined to get more do-it-yourself (DIY) and save money.
I dabbled in CorelDRAW and later Photoshop and just learned much on my own. It’s why I even tell guys to download GIMP and learn the basics. You grow over time (like many do in producing) and you get better at it. For me I wanted to be able to make flyers, business cards, CDs, and websites without having to pay anyone.
Your CMS suggestion is good, as well as others like drupal, PHPNUKE, and joomla. WordPress is one I’ve played with and liked how easy it is. It solved the problem for me when I have a client who wants to spend a tiny amount of a website.
Whatever any of you use, the key I’m glad you’re seeing is a website is necessary, and a Facebook profile won’t do alone.
[ link ]Hey, another chicago reader here. Good advice. All the same stuff I tell my clients. Even if you’re just going to tie all your community feeds in a homepage with something like Flavors.me, you need to have someplace that you can call yours and change to fit your needs. Get you domain and hosting separate. This is huge and solves so many potential problems. You can find good hosting for about $6/month. I also like to look for cpanel on my hosting.
Best place to buy wordpress templates is http://themeforest.net. They are usually in the $20-40 range and you can find something that will make your site a bit more unique and beautiful than the free templates out there. Plus you usually get decent documentation. The themes are curated for quality. The envato network (includes themeforest) also has posters, business cards, etc for cheap on the other channels. I’m helping another dj friend using all these same tools right now!
[ link ]Good tip re Themeforest. I always advise people to buy a theme they like (to save the web design cost) and get a good logo designed to fit the theme. That means you have a semi-custom site that looks great.
[ link ]This post is very useful, including recommendations digitaldjtips.com.
[ link ]I’ve chosen to promote the wordpress.com me, but uploading mixes, or else something else , most of them friend’s ask me to put on zippyshare because is easy to download.
I subscribe to your site and must thank you for the good work you do. I have had my website http://www.mmwmm.co.nz for the last nine years and had my Facebook profile for less than that. The face book site has not done much for me, but my site has. Just having a website is only going to help you partly. You will also need to know how to use Adwords by Google. you need for people to find your site so when they type in words such as “Hire a DJ” / “Local DJs”/ “Wedding DJ” etc in Google your site should be the one on the top of the result page.
[ link ]Wanted to point out a great host if you guys really need things done easily…
http://hostpebble.com/hosting.html
$4 a month, and I know the guy personally so you get quick response if there is a problem. Plus he’s put in a back-end so it’ll install WordPress or another CMS without you having to do anything.
I currently host my food blog there – http://www.culinariablog.com
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