Whether you’re just starting out as a musician or have been playing for a while and know it’s time to update your online presence, you probably want to know what should be on a music website .
Reading: How to create a band website
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This comprehensive guide will show you how to create an effective music website that will impress your fans and industry professionals, and help grow your fan base as your music career expands.
Here’s how to create a music website:
1. Choose a music website template 2. Add a header image 3. Choose your colors and fonts 4. Set up the website navigation 5. Create your music website pages 6. Insert an EPK 7. Choose a domain name 8. Optimize your website for SEO
The first step in creating a music website is getting started. You may feel that it is beyond your ability to map content and create a beautiful design. This guide should help you through every step.
1. Choose a music website template
First, choose a music website template that suits your sound. A website template can be as flexible as you want, but it also gives you the freedom to choose a modern, good-looking design and fill it with your music, photos, and text.
Rethink your branding
If you’ve already established artist branding, look for a music template that works well with your style. This can mean something simple and clean with room for black and white images, or a template with room for a large logo.
Menu layout and position
Your music website menu should be 5 to 8 pages long. Your menu is ideally placed above, below, or to the left of your main image where your visitors will find it immediately. A horizontal menu is common, but a vertical sidebar menu also offers a creative touch.
As you grow your site over time to include more pages, such as B. discography sites or fan subscriptions, you will want to use a template with a horizontal menu. This allows sub-pages to cascade neatly under the main page elements.
Think about the content
If you plan to add a lot of content to your website (eg (e.g. bios for all your bandmates or your music catalogue) choose a template that offers a simple content area.
This gives you room to create aesthetically pleasing layouts for your images and text page by page. To give your pages a spacious look, choose a template that includes a full-width content option.
Template for mobile sites
Templates are in Generally perfect for musicians to create a website as they seamlessly adapt to mobile devices with no additional coding required. A mobile-responsive template also helps in optimizing your website’s SEO.
One Page Sites
You should also decide early on whether you want to build a multi-page site or commit to building a one-page site. One page sites are modern and sleek, with content scrolling down a single page when the menu options are clicked.
If you decide to create a one-page website, choose a template with a wide content area and the ability to add sections and section background images to give your site a dynamic flow.
2. Add a header image
Your artist image is a great way to instantly engage with your visitors and give a taste of how your music sounds. Make the most of it by sourcing a high-quality image to use in the header of your website template.
Conveys who you are
Don’t underestimate the images as a first impression to convey who you are and what you do. Your main image can tell visitors that they’re in the right place to continue exploring your music and learning more about your band. Use this to your advantage to create a lasting connection by choosing an image that tells your story at a glance.
Optimal Image Size
The optimal image is landscape format with space around the edges of the subject. This gives you the most flexibility when choosing a website template and ensures your image will scale well on mobile. Use a high quality image so it can be cropped if necessary.
Header Text and Logo
If you don’t already have a high quality artist image, that’s ok . You can still create a music website with a large text title or logo at the top of your page to grab attention and use images throughout your content.
Sample music website: OCEANDVST
3. Choose your colors and fonts
To match your website design to your image, you should consider your fonts and color choices.To make this easier, we’ve added several preset color palettes with coordinated fonts and moods (somber, playful, bold, etc.) for many music genres.
You can also customize your website template’s colors and fonts to match your artist image and customize your website design to match your brand.
Stick to a few main colors
The focus of your website should be you and your music. To not distract from that focus, pick a few core colors and use them consistently throughout your site. If you’re just starting out with a music website, choose a neutral palette and let your images provide additional color. If you have a header image with different color choices that suit your style, add those colors to your sections, titles, and buttons.
Easy to Read
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After setting up your website colors, make sure that the text on each page and in each section is legible. A classic example of contrast is black text on a white background or vice versa. You should be sure that your content is easy to read, your songs are easy to listen to, and your show info is easy to access.
Simple font choices
Also, keep the typography consistent on your site. Choose a content font and use the same font on all your pages. This is especially important if you use different font colors in your sections. For clarity, try using a simple serif font for the content font throughout your site.
Use a fun font for accents
You can choose yours Show creativity by using larger, intricate fonts sparingly in focus points. This draws attention to specific areas and provides visual points of interest on the pages of your site. For example, this could be the titles of your EPK page or the album names on a discography page.
4. Set up website navigation
A clear goal when making music Website should be such that that your visitors can easily interact with the content, giving them the opportunity to connect further. To make your experience as seamless as possible, make your site navigation clear and concise.
Make your menu stand out
It could be this be the first time many of your visitors have reached your website. Adding a menu that is easy to find is essential to make your site navigable. A horizontal list that spans the page or a vertical side menu are ideal places to navigate your site.
Limit yourself to 8 pages or fewer
Thumbs generally, limit your pages to 8 or fewer so your menu doesn’t become cluttered or overwhelmed with choices right away. If you have additional content, add subpages extending from the ‘Main Page’ of the site to keep things organized.
Choose unique page names
Use simple page names that accurately describe the focus of each page in your menu. This helps your visitors discover your content quickly, and it also helps with your band website’s SEO, making it easier for Google to know (and index!) what’s on each page.
5. Create your music website pages
Once you have your template, design and page structure in place, you can create the pages for your music website.
Don’t feel overwhelmed; If you have a lot of content and music to share, break it down page by page to create a music website that’s organized, professional, and conveys your career or current project.
Make a mobile-friendly music website in just a few clicks. Build your website with Bandzoogle today!
Example music website: Cara Louise
Home Page
An effective website home page should give your visitors a sense of who you are and what you just do. Use a large main image to introduce yourself, then place additional content on the page for context.
First, add a relevant call-to-action to buy your latest album, book you to a show, or watch your latest video. Then add some content that will remain constant on your homepage. This could include your musician bio, a mailing list signup form, your social media and streaming links, and some tracks.
Your home page is the most visited page on your website, so you’re going to want it choose content carefully and update it regularly.
About Page
The About page is an important place for potential new fans to get to know you by you read your whole story. It’s also a good place for media and industry representatives to learn more about your background and accomplishments.
You can include multiple versions of your musician bio on this page. Conferences, festivals and media have different needs for artist information – make it easy for them to copy and paste the details they need.It’s also a good place to add a photo of you or your band that is different from the one on your homepage
Music page
A central part one musician’s website is the music page. Treat it as the main hub for everything you need to know about your music. When posting an album, include a detailed description and the locations where it can be streamed. Add some context to your songs. Be sure to add options to buy your music on this page as well.
For more information on setting up your music page, see How to create a perfect page to sell music on your website.
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Store Page
One concrete way for fans to support their favorite artists is to buy merchandise directly from their website, commission-free . Your dedicated store page is where you can do just that. On your own music website, you can sell anything you love, from t-shirts to mugs and stickers, or digital options like lyrics, sheet music, PDFs, lessons, and more.
For Merchandise- For ideas and more details on setting up your online store, visit The Ultimate Guide to Selling Band Merch Online.
Photos Page
It’s no secret that fans love looking at photos of their favorite bands. Embedding a photo page allows fans to surf your site for longer. This is also a good opportunity to show different angles of your personality and show that you’re an active musician.
To keep your photos organized, create separate galleries containing your promo shots and Live show shows, studio photos, or musical collaborations.
Video Page
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Instead of sending your fans to YouTube, embed videos in a video page to attract viewers to keep your music site up to date. This way you can curate which videos people see and you have more control over how your band is represented online.
Place your newest or most popular videos at the top of your videos page and rotate them regularly to keep the content fresh. Display no more than 6 to 8 videos on this page to ensure your visitors aren’t overwhelmed with a choice or left with an endlessly scrolling page on mobile.
Showing page
If you’re a performing musician, another essential element of your music website is an events or shows page. This dedicated page makes it easier for fans to get information about your upcoming gigs, with details on show times, cover fees, support acts and venue. You can also sell tickets for your shows directly on this page.
You can round off your page with shows with performance photos, press quotes or a live video.
Contact page
Make sure you have a contact us page on your music website. Placing this page as the last item in your menu makes it easy for site visitors to contact you.
To create your contact page, provide information about how best to contact you for bookings, media inquiries , and fan correspondence. Use a custom form with fields that require specific information to be filled in, and compile the details into a concise email that’s sent directly to you.
You can also add your social media links and a mailing list signup form to your Contact Us page to give fans additional ways to get in touch with you.
Other Sites
If you create a music website using the sites above, you’ll end up with a well-rounded, professional website. However, you can certainly add more pages to complete your online presence. An example of this would be landing pages to measure your music marketing campaigns. If you want to take this further, check out How to Use a Music Landing Page on Your Website.
Ensure all of your page content stays current and engages your fans by building a community around your music and your marketing efforts.
Music website example: The Brothers Blue
6. Add EPK
Another important page on your music website is your EPK, or Electronic Press Kit. If you want to actively promote a new album, collect press for your music or book more gigs, create an EPC to centralize information for media and bookers.
Your artist EPK should include:
Artist bio: Add a short and a long version of your bio to your EPK. This allows venues or promoters to simply use the bio that works best for them.
Photos: Add a selection of your most recent promotional photos with vertical and horizontal options. You can also add your music critic album art if you want to attract press for a new release.
Music: Make your latest music available on your EPK, with links to Spotify or Apple Music so fans can also listen to your music on their preferred streaming platform. If a reviewer would like to download your full album, be sure to provide clear information about who to contact for a copy.
Video: Embed a video or two of your best. If your goal with an EPK is to get more shows, add high-quality live video to give bookers an idea of what to expect from your live show. If you want to receive press coverage or reviews about your music, embed your favorite music video or the video for your latest single.
Press Coverage/Reviews: Add relevant quotes about you and your music, with links to your best reviews and interviews. This makes it easy for moderators and media to get a quote related to your music.
Notable achievements or recent highlights: If you’ve won awards, you’ve had success on Streaming platforms , your songs have been placed in movies/TV/commercials or performed at notable festivals or conferences, include this information in your EPK.
Contact: Include detailed information to obtain in contact with you, your publicist or booking agent. You can also add your social media links to give bookers and media quick access to your social profiles.
Book more shows with a professional digital press kit that fits into your own site is integrated. Create your EPK with Bandzoogle now!
Sample music website: Simba Sax
7. Choose a domain name
Once you have your music website complete with design, pages and content, you need to choose the website address or domain name. Having a custom domain name means owning a little piece of the internet for your music and your brand – so choose your name carefully.
Although other domain extensions are available, registering a ”.com” is still the default. Ideally, you’ll find yourbandname.com, but if it’s not available, consider yourbandnamemusic.com or yourbandnameband.com to keep your branding consistent.
If you already own a domain name, you can always keep one and point it to your music website through your band website host. You can also create a custom band email address with your domain name for an extra professional touch.
Once your domain name is set up and your content is more or less in place, you can submit a sitemap to Google , which essentially tells the search engine what to index on your site.
8. Optimize your site for SEO
To drive traffic to your site, you will need to make sure it’s easy to find. This is where SEO (search engine optimization) comes in.
SEO is free and a very effective tool used by millions of businesses to drive traffic to their websites. For musicians, it’s a great way to get more fans listening to your music and exploring your content.
To promote your website, post your URL on all your social media profiles, the websites of the venues you play at and on your business cards. This will help position your website as the main online hub for your music and create the knowledge panel that will show up in Google.
Optimizing your website for SEO is not as difficult as it sounds. Check out this quick checklist to try it out with your site: Complete SEO Checklist for Musicians
Sample music website: Wolfmother
From teaching music lessons to releasing singles, selling previous albums to applying for festivals or grants, a professional website is a must for any musician. We hope this guide to creating a music website helps you walk through the steps to create a website that showcases your brand and music online. Let us know if we can help.
See also: Create and View a Web Page on Your Computer
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