The only thing worse than a terrible band with a terrible web site is a great band with a terrible web site.  This is unfortunately all too common, since most musicians aren’t Internet professionals and they don’t have the budget to hire a webmaster.  Volunteer webmasters often can only count their blinged-out MySpace page as relevant experience.

Without proper guidance, a band’s web site can turn into a cluttered, useless nightmare that turns off people  seeking more information and drains energy from the volunteers who maintain it.  While it’s true that a web site only gives back as much as you put in, a smart and focused approach means you get the most bang for your buck.

Where to begin? In this world of infinite online possibilities, ways to interact via the web, and demands from fans, labels, and everyone in between, it’s easy to be overwhelmed.  However, no matter what musical style, signed or unsigned, famous or obscure, the Golden Rule of band web sites is this:

The purpose of a band’s web site is to market the band.

If you do not market your band, your fan base will not grow.  If you do not market your band, you will not be profiled in the best possible ways.  If you do not market your band, you will not make the most of any media attention you receive.

Come back to this Golden Rule any time you question the direction of your band’s web site, and you will never be led astray.

How To Build Your Band’s Web World

Think of a web site as having layers,  like those models of the Earth we all saw when we were kids in school.  There is the solid inner core,  layers of padding around the core, and the crust is a thin layer of pretty, fancy stuff that gets most of the attention.  The crust, however, would be useless without the layers supporting it.

We will focus first on the essentials of a good band web site – our model’s Inner Core.  Every band web site should not only have an Inner Core, but the site’s focus should be the Inner Core.  A site that does not have this focus is wasting valuable time, energy, and web space.

The Inner Core

Talking about the look of a web site may seem more like Crust material.  However, keeping in mind the Golden Rule, it’s a fact that first impressions are crucial.  A band’s web site needs to set forth the band’s identity from the moment a visitor arrives.  A good, current photo of the band and a logo or album art are the best options for graphics.  Avoid cluttering the site with unnecessary skulls, crosses, naked girls, or anything else that might distract from the Golden Rule.  You want people to hit YourBand.com and know immediately they’ve come to the right place.

The Inner Core consists of only four pages.  Craft these pages with care and attention to quality and you will be in control of your band’s image, message, and web presence, as well as have a solid foundation for other web site features.

1. The Home Page

This page should load quickly, be easy to read, have valuable information right at the start, and have an obvious navigation.  Two Home Page essentials are “latest news” and tour dates.  Let people know what’s happening with the band and where they can see you next.  Link tour dates to venue and ticket information.

Make sure your navigation is easy to find and the items are clear (Don’t call the link to your music page “Da Toonz” – keep it simple and call it “Music”).  You don’t want language barriers to get between your visitors and your information.

No-nos: movies or songs that automatically play, splash pages, and huge flash animations.  You don’t want people to be so annoyed by your Home Page that they click away before it’s even loaded.

2. Band Info

You want media, industry professionals and fans to get a good sense of who you are and what you’re about in one click.  Your “About the Band” page should include a brief history of the band, a description of the band’s sound and influences, and basic information about each member (name, instruments, any other notable contributions).  Include one or more current group photos.  It’s also helpful to have small individual photos of each member, so visitors will be able to put names to faces.  Spend a lot of time on this page, and make sure it’s done right – it’s the virtual equivalent of a press kit, and it’s time well spent.

Venues, blogs, and other sites that want to feature or link to your band will often take band photos and information from this page, so you want it to be as accurate as possible.  You don’t want your listing for your next show to include a two-year old band photo with your ex-guitarist and your lead singer’s pre-makeover mullet.

Bio-inspiration: Think about how you want others to describe your band or what you would want to read in an article in a music magazine.  If your band has an interesting story about how the members met, include it.  If you’ve faced an inspiring challenge, describe it.  Use colorful, powerful language to describe your sound. (Hint:  read how bands that have influenced you have been described.)   This will be helpful for fans or writers who are looking for just the right words to describe your band to others.

3. Music

Make it easy for visitors to preview and buy your music.  Make use of sites like MySpace, PureVolume, or Last.FM to stream a couple of your songs.  If you have music for sale on iTunes or another online music store, provide links.  If you have CDs for sale, provide links to your online store.

Keeping it Simple: Having all of this information on one page makes it easy to find and pass on the link.

4.  Contact Info

List who to contact for booking, who to contact for media inquiries, and where fans can send fan mail.  Give names, email addresses, snail mail addresses, and phone numbers.  If this is all the same person and email address (not necessarily a good idea), then say as much.  People are much more likely to contact you if they feel confident they will be reaching a real person and they know who that person is.

Sign Here Please: If you have an automated mailing list for people to sign up for more information, you will want to include it on the contact page, as well as feature it on the Home Page.

But what about Message Boards, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and, and, and…?

Relax.  We’ve only covered the first layer here.  Once the essentials of the web site are in place, the band can focus on adding extended content, which tends to cater to existing fans.  A band will always want to please its fans and offer them chances to interact, get more information and help promote, but it’s essential that you not lose sight of the Golden Rule.  Too many band web sites become fan sites that are more focused on promoting the fans than promoting the band.  We know you love your fans, and your fans know you love them.  But the band’s web site is first and foremost for the band – not the fans.

Check back to Music Musing as we continue our Journey From The Center of the Web World to the Outer Core, which will cover how to incorporate social networking tools into your Web World while still following the Golden Rule.

I also am interested in your favorite (or least favorite) band web sites.  Who has a rock-solid core, and who desperately needs to remember the Golden Rule?  Let me know in the comments!