Mar 29 2005
(Not So) Obvious Website Techniques
Quite often when an artist hires us, we are asked to assess their website and make sure it is doing all it can – collecting as many email addresses as possible, selling as many CDs as possible, etc.
I am sometimes appalled at the condition of artist’s websites. With SO many good examples out there (and so many brainiac 16 year olds to do the coding and Photoshopping) I often cannot believe how bad artists sites are. So, here are some suggestions and tips that we base our assessments on.
1. Make sure people know exactly what the site is about. Are you a band, a record label, a zine, or do you sell cardboard and cardboard related accessories? Sometimes it isn’t so easy to tell. Your imagery and text on the home page should convey the precise image and message you are looking to communicate. Far too many sites shout “We are a death metal band into neon green who hate the government but love artwork by 6-year-olds.” Really.
2. Lead your visitors to the ideal destination. Are you looking to sell CDs? Are you focusing on collecting email addresses? Do you want people to chat up the message boards? Then why is the natural flow of your website leaving people stranded on the “Band Member’s Pets” page?? Often people involved in a band (or company) are too close to it to really see it generically. This is especially true if you are involved in designing the site. Just because you naturally go to the Order page doesn’t mean John Q. CDShopper does. Have friends or ideally strangers navigate your site and watch where they go and how they get there.
3. Read your logs and statistics. Most webhosts come with a statistics program that lets you see how many visitors you’ve had, where they are coming from, what they view, etc. This is mega-valuable information, yet most people choose not to use it. Every morning, first thing, I look at the previous day’s logs for all my sites. I like to know where people are coming from, the search words they used to find me, and what pages received the most traffic. Marketing gold, I assure you.
Well, that’ll do for today. Feel free to email me.
