When DJs evaluate all the digital marketing opportunities at their disposal, they’re faced with a large and growing array of choices, including the latest in social-media and mobile marketing. With so many choices in the marketplace, navigating this terrain can be a bit overwhelming.
This is the first post in a series aimed at helping you identify, choose and maximize your presence on various web-based communication channels.
Launching and maintaining a website for your DJ business is far easier today than just a few years ago. There are all kinds of low cost services available to help you turn out a site that will allow people to learn about your products, book your services and pay for them all at the same time. Already, a business without a website is at a distinct disadvantage over one with a site and you do not want to fall into this latter category.
Planning Your Website
The most important aspect of producing a website is the planning phase. The purpose of your site should be for the visitor to want to hire you or at least encourage them to meet with you by phone or in-person. Make it easy for them! Also, when planning and designing your site, keep its visual image consistent with your other marketing materials for branding purposes.
Areas to consider when planning your website:
- Navigation - How the client will get from one page to the next
- Content - The information contained on the site itself
- Maintenance - How you will keep the information updated
- Mechanics - Where your site will appear on the Internet and how much it will cost
- Marketing - How will people find out about your site
- Design - How the site will look (should reflect your brand image)
Layout
- Home Page - Includes headings, your logo, a few photos and links to other pages
- Services Pages - Pages for each division (e.g. weddings, schools, mitzvahs, etc.) with action
- Photos and Video - image and video gallery of past performances
- Staff Page - Page with names and pictures of your DJs and their bios
- Music Library Database - A list of all the music you have available to clients
- Company Profile - An “about” page that profiles your company
- Contact Page - Page that allows potential clients to contact you
Costs
The cost of producing a website ranges from next to nothing if using a program like WordPress, to a few hundred and up to several thousand dollars depending upon the complexity of the site and the features it has available.
To cut down on costs, consider hiring a company that will bundle all the development, design and maintenance costs into a single monthly fee. This is a good way to provide for regular updates to the information on your pages.
The costs for your website include:
- Hosting
- Maintenance
- Marketing and Promotion
Content
A good starting point for writing website copy is to utilize your existing company brochure. It is a relatively easy task to simply put brochure information and even photos or diagrams on your site. Since you have already developed these ideas and words, you know they are correctly targeted, and they can help your website developer to understand your business and direction.
Unlike a brochure, where there are limitations on the amount of copy you can fit, your website can hold all the copy you can generate.
The visual look, content and graphics in your DJ service’s website should be based on your target market(s) and goals.
Examples of goals may include:
- Inform prospective customers about your company’s services
- Provide specific service and product details
- Book events online
- Provide a forum for communication with prospects and clients
- Enhance your professional look
- Provide an easy way for clients to do an event agenda and make music requests online
Here are some things you can include in your website:
- Online payment and form processing
- Links page with local vendors (a great way to network)
- Animated graphics, buttons, menus, banners, background, animations, tables, frames, sound and video
- Streaming video of past performances
- Testimonials and press (including any press releases you’ve written)
- Employment opportunities
Marketing
To ensure the success of your website, you will need to actively market it. There are a myriad of ways to do this.
Let’s cover the basics:
- Add URL to business materials (business cards, letterhead, brochures, pens, company vehicles, etc…)
- Bring up the site in all consultations
- Get your site indexed by the major search engines
- Link to other complementary sites such as photography and video services
- Get listed in disc jockey association directories
- Promote it through social networking sites (see part 2 of this series)
- Start a monthly newsletter that includes promotions you are running
Next up in this series, we’ll take a look at the top social networking sites and show you how to get the most out of them. Stay tuned…
