A few years back, I bought Dreamweaver and I proceeded to create the most pretentious, poorly designed, boring website on the Internet.

Basically, I think that anything that needs to close the deal and generate a phone call or email to me about recording in my little project studio can be done in one or two pages.  I don't need the studio tour of the two rooms I have.  I suppose I could include the laundry room and the upstairs loft (which would actually be a great place to record live drums if I could keep the dogs from barking) but really, what was I thinking?

Maybe a little box with some buttons to play some sample tunes, a small list of my best namebrand gear (that would be a short list).  I've got to maximize my strong points and minimize where my studio falls short.

I think something simple along the lines of this guy's brief description of his "B" studio is what I need to do. http://www.cleartrackstudios.com/studio/studio-b/ 

 As far as what it would look like, I'd prefer something more in line with a Facebook page (see mine www.facebook.com/Gatortraks ) with a splash screen panorama, maybe a picture of me, a few shots of my best stuff and a phone number.  I think that posting rates wouldn't be good for me because, I will either be perceived as too high or too low and immediately dismissed before I get a chance to state my benefits.  I don't want my site to be the sole basis for a decision but I want it to generate a call.

I do this part time and I'm not ashamed of that because, quite frankly, I make a decent buck.  This allows me the freedom to adjust rates depending on how interesting the project or artist is or what my schedule looks like.  IOW, I would rather work with a really talented artist on a lower budget than a twit who suck-o-las and has plenty of dough.  (Although I take them when there is a piece of gear I want.)

Anyone that want's to make suggestions, point to great sites, lend a hand or give me a proposal for a turn key site, I'm cool with it.  

Keep us posted Dave. I would like learn something here as well. I'm going for more of the artist/songwriter motivation. I use soundclick premium and have put very little effort into soundcloud, reverberation, facebook and myspace. Marketing is not a strong suit here.

As far as my tastes,

Flash and background audio playback are out.  I hate waiting for Flash animation to load and I've had the beegeebers scared out of me from audio suddenly blaring out of my speakers when I didn't expect it.

Mod Bod


As far as my tastes,

Flash and background audio playback are out.  I hate waiting for Flash animation to load and I've had the beegeebers scared out of me from audio suddenly blaring out of my speakers when I didn't expect it.

I think flash and all that background stuff is killer. It also shows you've spent a little time and money on your site so people will take it more serious. The key to it is to always add the "skip intro" or "skip flash" button for those that may not want to see it. For those that do, kick their butts with a killer presentation. It's nice to have a choice and it's nice to have some impact.
 
I don't have flash on my "in need of a huge update" site but there's a totally new site in the works for me that will have all those bells and whistles becasue I just think it rocks. The new site is costing a bit and will take some time, but it's well worth it to me. And if someone doesn't want to see it, press the "skip intro button" and they can do whatever they want.
 
As for showing off gear or bragging about it...I've gotten more work from word of mouth than any bragging I could have done. I don't brag about any of my gear, I don't have any pictures of my studio up and I've gained more clients than I've lost because I've worked with people that liked working with me so much, they told others.
 
I've lost a few that either asked for samples, asked me to do a 30 second spot to their songs, asked for a gear list...I sent them 20 references to talk to instead. So I send a sample of someone else's tune...that does what? Right...absolutely nothing because their song won't turn out the same. How many guys have smokin' gear that can't use it anyway? Right...too many to name. So I don't mess with any of that stuff, Dave. I got great stuff, I got middle of the road stuff and I got some lower line stuff. It all works and has its place. If I told people some of the little toys I used...I'd either get laughed at to where no one would believe me or I'd wind up selling more of those little toys for the companies that make them.
 
See I'm not trying to grow my business so I really could care less if someone says "sorry, you don't have pro tools and an SSL console so we can't use you". (we do have Pro Tools though LOL) I had a guy 6 months ago tell me he didn't want me to master his material because I didn't have DDP capability at the time. His loss. I got it now though just in case someone hits me with that again. But it's not super important yet. Call disc makers or some duplication house...they aren't demanding DDP's yet to where that's the sole format everyone should use or invest in. I've only done 1 DDP master for someone in the last 6 months. All the duplication houses I've dealt with didn't want them.
 
You run your business....don't allow others to run it. The greatest advertisement is word of mouth from those who have enjoyed working with you so much, they went out of their way to give you a mention. Just do what you do, use your site as an online business card and don't stress over any of it. If you are good at what you do, they will come. :)
 
-Danny

Dave, if you'd like your site designed, my good friend Tim Wilkinson is a freelance designer, I'd be happy to put you in touch.

I think the best option for website design is Wordpress. It is simple to use and there are many free "themes" that you can customize to give your site a distinct appearance. There are also many excellent free plugins covering a variety of needs such as search engine optimization and making your site mobile phone friendly.

Another vote for a Flash-less page and minimal graphics. You're not selling your services to children who need to be entertained to get their attention. A few photos, preferably including at least one of a pretty girl singing into a microphone. If you've done some bands, ask them for jpegs of their promo pictures. Prospective customers want to see smiling people like themselves (as opposed to pictures of your mixer). 

I think flash and all that background stuff is killer. It also shows you've spent a little time and money on your site so people will take it more serious. The key to it is to always add the "skip intro" or "skip flash" button for those that may not want to see it. For those that do, kick their butts with a killer presentation. It's nice to have a choice and it's nice to have some impact.

I guess it's a matter of taste.  For me, the skip intro button usually turns into the skip website button.  I surf for information and not entertainment.  I know the guy with the fancy flash stuff most likely paid someone else to do it so that part of the site doesn't impress me.  I want to quickly see if we have common ground and how to get in touch with them if we do.

And we are in agreement that word of mouth is the best salesman.  But you have to get there and if you have kept your studio private for the most part, you've got to overcome inertia to get some things rolling.

NW Smith


I think the best option for website design is Wordpress. It is simple to use and there are many free "themes" that you can customize to give your site a distinct appearance. There are also many excellent free plugins covering a variety of needs such as search engine optimization and making your site mobile phone friendly.

I've done a bit of investigation of Wordpress.  I don't quite get how it works but it seems like it would be something along the lines of what I want.

jamesg1213


Dave, if you'd like your site designed, my good friend Tim Wilkinson is a freelance designer, I'd be happy to put you in touch.

As long as he doesn't mind tire kickers, I wouldn't mind getting in contact with him.