 |
 photo credit: Darius Baužys |
As per previous ‘contest entry’ posts, this one focuses on my progress through a specific chapter of the ‘Music Success in Nine Weeks’ book. I’m a little behind schedule, for various reasons – I’m not a very linear person, for starters – but definitely making progress. Progress is good.
So. Chapter 3 is about web optimization. Now, I suspect my internet presence is a bit more complex than that of most musicians… partly because I am attracted to complexity (some might say I have ‘complexity issues’…), which is something I am trying to work on in terms of presentation… but also because I have a lot of albums and a number of ongoing projects to present.
Furthermore, I’ve been doing this online music thing for a long time. I’m not saying that this makes me any better at it than anyone else, or that I have been doing it particularly effectively – quite the contrary in fact, which is one reason I’ve undertaken this course.
However, the fact remains: I’ve been mucking about with various online versions of my musical brand for the better part of fifteen years, and I’ve ended up with a fairly complicated set of sites to maintain and try to optimize. I also usually end up being the somewhat-web-savvy member of every band I am in, so I end up maintaining those spaces as well.
This tends to keep me away from making music rather more than is probably healthy or useful, and that’s certainly something I’d like to change, but it’s not something I can just walk away from. I need to kind of clean up the mess a little. So, where to begin?
Begin at the beginning.
Ariel’s short but punchy chapter on websites is a good jumping-off point. It’s not technical at all, in fact she seems to assume that we have hired or will hire a designer who will implement the changes she suggests… which is not the situation I’m in. I tend to set up most of my sites personally – partly because I’m interested in coding and design, partly because money has been tight for a while and I’m a control freak (did I say that out loud?). Nevertheless, the chapter gives some valuable advice and overall direction.
The two main focus points are a) to clearly present your 15-second pitch prominently and clearly on your site(s) and page(s); and b) to clearly present your ‘bribe’ or ‘Lead Magnet’ as it’s called in many of the other Internet Marketing material I’ve been working through.
OK, I can do that… but it will involve more than a few tweaks. In fact, to be precise, it is going to involve a total rebuild of my personal/brand homepage, tobiastinker.com. Why? Hmmm, let’s see. It’s rambling and unfocused; it’s about 6 years old and was mostly hand-coded in basic HTML – so, not very efficient. It also uses frames (major bad) and is completely non-interactive and very ‘Web-1.0′ in concept. Finally, it presents a previous version of my ‘brand’ that I have pretty much abandoned at this point: ‘Subtle Arts‘. To be clear: I happen to like subtlety and will continue to strive for it as a creative goal, but I have realized that as a marketing platform it is a bit of a non-starter.
So I’m starting from scratch with a Wordpress-based site that will be simpler, faster, cleaner, more modern, more interactive and Web-2.0-oriented… you get the picture. This process is underway and the results will absolutely reflect Ariel’s lessons, but I’m afraid I can’t present the results quite yet – it’ll take a bit to iron out the wrinkles. I’ll definitely unveil it here when it’s finished baking…
Zooming in: details, details…
Ariel’s book also mentions loading time, brand clarity and consistency as areas to optimize. Looking deeper into any of these subjects can lead you down a pretty much bottomless rabbit-hole, which is possibly why the chapter doesn’t delve deeper into them. Suffice to say: it’s all somewhat easier said than done.
The basic idea, however, is straightforward: create a simple, clear, recognizable and memorable online presence that loads fast, makes its point and doesn’t overwhelm with detail. It should say ‘here’s what we’re about, and here’s what’s in it for you, and here’s how to to get involved…’
So that, in a nutshell, is the goal.
Zooming out: the big picture.
However – and I will note that I am drawing on numerous other resources in my research and development process here – it is also apparent that besides consistency, the major goal is ubiquity. Be everywhere. The more often people stumble across your stuff ‘out there’, the more likely it is that they’ll say ‘Oh, hey, I know that artist/band/whatever, here they are again, I’m going to check them out…’
To that end, I am in the process of building and refining a kind of multi-pronged attack involving a number of sites and projects. Each site should in and of itself be clear and effective, but it should also link to and cross-promote the other cogs in the wheel – and contribute to the development of the overall brand. Of course this campaign will also involve heavy use of social media, but that’s for the next installment.
To wrap up, then, I will briefly describe the major current projects that are on my front burners just now (there are several others waiting in the wings, which I will keep to myself for now).
- tobiastinker.com – the homepage and central hub. Complete rebuild is underway. This will present the core brand and featured content, and link to other sites for more detail.
- aeosrecords.com – an online label, presenting my own music alongside several other bands and projects I am involved with (several of which have their own sites, which also need some work…)
- symetrk.com – my online ‘novel with a soundtrack’: Symmetricity. Other posts tell a bit more about this; suffice to say it’s basically the major creative focus of my life right now and for the foreseeable future. (The paint is still drying on Chapter 1, why not check it out?)
- Cliffjump.net – this blog, which will remain a kind of ‘personal creative journey’ kind of space. I am also developing a more generalized blog as well, lending itself better to eventual monetization… more news on that presently.
OK, I guess I’d better get to work!
Have a fascinating day, and as always please leave your thoughts and reactions below!
tobias
