When creating a website, there are several things that one should consider to make sure a new website meets every need and achieves everything expected of it.

Below is a short introduction to help you in planning your website and also to  let you know what is involved in the process of making a new site. We hope you find it useful and encourage you to contact Musicianet should you need any more information about planning and designing a website for you.

1. Domain names

Unless you already own a domain name, you should consider several options here. Many people choose a .COM domain name because it is considered an international domain extension unlike others such as .CO.UK or .ORG.UK. Other international domain name extensions are also available such as .ORG or .NET. All these are slightly more expensive than if you decide to go with a regional domain name extension such as .CO.UK. An important consideration is to think about which countries your users are like to come from. If you wish to work mostly in the UK then a regional domain name should be sufficient.

Having decided what type of domain you are interested in, visit www.whoischeck.co.uk. Here you will find a form that allows you to search the Internet database for existing names. As time goes by, more and more domain names are bought by other website owners, the chances of purchasing your first choice domain name becomes less possible. Using the above web address you can, however, check which names are available for use with your site.

2. Site Structure

The way in which a website is structured is crucial. Several studies have suggested that if a user has not found the information they are looking for within 30 seconds they will leave your site. This means the choice of page structure and also the text that fills each page is crucial. You may also wish to think about the ratio between text and images per page. It is not always the case that each website owner uses a similar level of text. You may wish to publish as much information as possible on your website while others may wish to showcase selections of their material such as a short biography, a small number of MP3s and photos, rather than allowing all visitors to see their complete press pack.

A standard website structure for an individual musician would be as follows:

• Home/welcome page

• Biography

• Repertoire

• Performance listings

• Gallery of photos

• Media page featuring MP3 and video samples

• Contact page

This is merely an example and we can add or remove pages according to your needs.

3. Text and Images

Once a site structure has been decided, the final step before beginning the design process is to organize the text and images you wish to use with your website. The best way of organizing this is to create a new document using Microsoft Word or another word processing programme. This document should then have Page Titles for each of the pages you desire followed by the text for each page.

It is important to consider key words when writing your text. To help your site reach the top of the search engine rankings, it is recommended that you make use of keywords in your text that you believe visitors may type into site such as Google in order to find your site.

All photos and illustrations you wish to use with your site must be sent in advance of the design process. The choice of photos has a large influence on the style of website we can design for you. It is very important that any images used are of high quality as they impact greatly on the overall quality of your website. We would recommend the use of a professional photographer wherever possible.

4. Multimedia Site Content

If you are interested in adding MP3s to your site there are several options to consider. You can either offer a larger number of short excerpts from performances and recordings you have made or offer a smaller number of complete MP3s. These MP3s are delivered on your web page using what is called an MP3 Jukebox. This allows the visitor to select and listen to any of your MP3s via a graphic-based MP3 player on your website without actually allowing them to download the files.

If you do decide to use excerpts, we can edit your CDs for you and add a ‘fade in’ and ‘fade out’ to the excerpts of your choice. Your choice of MP3 recordings can either be sent as MP3 files to us via email or on a CD by post.

If you have videos you wish to add to your site, we highly recommend using www.youtube.com to host them. This will increase the number of users that come to your website as a result. We can upload the videos for you that are sent either as computer files or on CD/DVD format. Once they are added to Youtube, we can embed these files onto your page so that, like with your choice of MP3 recordings, users can view the videos without being able to download the content.

5. Additional Features

There are many additional features we can add to your site that you may not have thought of before. Below is a list of scripts and services we can add to your website should you desire:

• E-commerce facilities - sell your recordings online as CDs or protected MP3 downloads.

• Blogging facilities - keep your visitors up-to-date with your latest news using web-logging facilities.

• Email and SMS marketing - we can add a newsletter sign up function to your website and arrange SMS (mobile phone text message) marketing campaigns to help you promote your events.

• Webcasting/podcasting - we can help you set up a Podcast where you can publish regular MP3 samples of your latest work.

• Website translation - if you would like your website to appear in multiple languages, we can arrange the translation of your site so that people can view the same design but in multiple languages.

• Improve your website rankings with major search engines by purchasing keywords - this will help visitors find your site by placing you much higher with numerous search engines.

6. Hosting and Maintenance

Once you have a domain name and the web site has been designed, hosting is required. Included in all our quotes is 1 year free hosting and maintenance. Depending on the size and complexity of your site, hosting and maintenance will cost between £35 and £65 per year once this year has passed.

As well as the hosting we offer, we can take care of updating your site for you and can also make small adjustments to pages once the initial design process has been completed. For example, if you later wish add more photos to the gallery or update your choice of MP3s that are published on your site, we can take care of this as part of the maintenance agreement. Significant changes to the design are, however, not included in the maintenance agreement.

Included in all of our websites is a free ‘administration system’. This is an easy to use online editing software that allows you to log on to your website from any internet-connected computer and edit the contents of your website with complete ease. This system is password-locked and works in a very similar fashion to standard word processors such as Microsoft Word or Email clients such as Yahoo or Google Mail.

7. Website Statistics

Included with all our website designs is implementation of a site statistics service. Using this technology you can track how many visitors you receive each month. It allows you to receive in-depth analysis of who is visiting your website, at what time of the day, and also how they are reaching your site (i.e. from which search engines and from which key words).

These reports are delivered to one or more email addresses of your choosing on the 1st day of each month.