#2. Hit them with your best shot which means music

Hit them with your best shot, Pat Benatar

Put the important stuff on Page One of your musicians website.

People want to listen to and watch music – put your best songs and videos right on the front page.

Make sure the music starts within 5 seconds. Check out the Pat Benatar video on Vevo after the break. The music doesn’t start until 1:20 after a 15 second advertisement.  Why are they giving us 60 seconds of crowd shots?

You have about 5 seconds tops to keep the viewer’s attention, unless you are a # 1 star. Then you might have maybe 10 seconds. Most people have moved on to another site.

Make sure the music player works on all browsers including Apple iOS (iPhone, iPad, and iPod).

Host your videos on an Apple compatible site, not YouTube. Apple supports the H.264 video codec.  I’m not saying you shouldn’t be on YouTube because you must be there. YouTube, however, will clutter your website with their advertising messages which is what you want to avoid.

You don’t want people to get a message saying they need to load a “Flash player.” 

Make sure no one is cluttering up your music and videos with advertisements.

While this sounds logical, surf MySpace and see the junk people use to cluttering up their websites.

One musician wanted me to put his family pictures on the front page of his website. It’s nice he has a family but people want the music.

Give them one compelling statement that sums up why you are in the music business. Don’t make people guess you are goth, folk, eurotrance or Chess blues.

You should be checking the site regularly to make sure the music or video isn’t down for some technical reason.

[yframe url=’http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JRgHol94Xc’]

Yesterday’s Tip – Have a compelling WIIFM message

Tomorrow’s Tip – Give then something Free

With material from CD Baby