What Is The Purpose Of Your Website? Part 3

Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

This series of articles on websites assumes that one reason you have a website is to grow your audience of fans. As I've written before, there are lots of good reasons to own a website. The purpose of the site might be to draw more people to your performances; sell more online music, books, or merchandise; or simply to promote yourself to other musicians, record labels, or the press.

The point of this article is to show you ways to keep people engaged in your site so that they leave you their name and email and maybe even buy something if you have stuff for sale. Unless you really just want a tombstone as a web site, which is perfectly fine, you probably want people to engage with your website, right?

How can you attract the right audience to the site and give them enough value to hold their interest enough to engage? That is the question. In this final part of the series on websites, I want to give you some thoughts about how you can engage more of your site visitors and motivate them to do what you wish them to do.

Build your audience The first step is to think about who your audience is and what they want from you. If you are a teacher, your audience likely wants to learn something that makes them better in some way. If you are a player, your audience probably wants to hear you play or discover where to hear you. As a venue, your audience probably wants early notice of performances and discounts on tickets. Put yourself in their mindset to get a good sense of what your audience values and desires. Knowing these things is more than half the job of Marketing!

Once you know what your audience wants, provide them some of that value.

One tool for building your audience is a way to collect and store their names and email addresses. An online form on your site is a great way to do this. Ask for their first name, last name, and email. You can collect other details like the instrument they play or a phone number, but keep in mind that the more you ask of people in an online form, the less likely they are to complete it. For now, gather first name, last name, and email.

You can display a pop-up or a banner offering a discount on products. "Enter your name and email and get 10% off your next purchase." That assumes you are selling stuff on your site and that you have the skills and tools to provide that discount.

Instead of a discount, consider giving people something more tangible in terms of value since not every visitor to your site wants to buy something, which is the only value of that discount offer. Marketers call this "more tangible something" a Lead Magnet.

My classical trombone quartet client created a PDF eBook on how to play more in tune. Intonation is crucial for an a cappella group so it makes sense that this would be attractive in exchange for a name and email address.

Another client sells his original jazz lead sheets on his site, so his giveaway is a PDF demonstration of arranging for a jazz combo using one of his lead sheets. After all, if you can show people how best to use your product, that's a home run as a trade for name and email.

If you are extra ambitious, give people a choice. On my musicsavvy.com website, I give visitors a choice between an eBook series with tips on:

• Improvising more melodically;
  
• Developing a better ear;
  
• and learning basic music theory.

I originally offered five options, and that allowed me to see which three were most popular. You don't need to be that nutty.

What does your audience want that you can provide them? Remember, it should not be expensive to make or lengthy—maybe a dozen pages or so—and it should be of obvious value.

A common mistake people make is holding back on what they give away as free samples. If you decide to provide an eBook called, Three Tweaks to your Improvising that will make you sound professional, give the reader your best three tips. Resist thinking that if you give away your best advice, there won't be anything left to sell. Your audience isn't going to be impressed by second or third-rate advice. If all you can possibly come up with are three tips and nothing else, you're not thinking it through well enough.

Time to engage with your audience Now that you are building your list, how can you engage with your audience for mutual benefit?

Email them something. But email what? Don't just send out promotional emails because people will quickly unsubscribe from your list. Create a rhythm to your email that provides a balance between promotional messages and value.

Here are some ideas for value-based emails (these could also be Lead Magnet topic ideas):

• For private teachers: "How to find the best teacher for your particular needs"
• For private teachers: "Reviews of upcoming summer music camps and workshops"
• For private teachers: "5 tips for establishing a regular practice routine that you will stick to."
• For a performing artist: "Insights from my recent record date rehearsal."
• For a performing artist: "Three things that really surprised me during our recent tour."
• For a performing artist: "Changes in the music industry and how I am adjusting to them."
• For a performance venue: "How we are using AI to enhance our recent concerts."
• For a performance venue: "5 tips on increasing your chances to be booked at a high profile concert venue."
• For a performance venue: An interesting time-lapse video of some behind-the-scenes stage setup.
• For a musical instrument manufacturer: "How to find the perfect (fill in an instrument) for your personal playing needs
• For a musical instrument manufacturer: "A three-minute behind-the-scenes tour of our factory the public never sees."
• For a musical instrument manufacturer: "An extremely odd source for (fill in a material) used to make a (fill in an instrument)."
• For a music publisher: "Music markings that confuse most musicians."
• For a music publisher: "Clearing up confusion about printed music rights."
• For a music publisher: "Composer spotlight: Keith Jarrett."

There are thousands more. Think about questions you get from customers or things fans seem to find interesting about what you do or make. Chat GPT is an excellent source for topics. In fact, I used it to come up with a few of the above!

To conclude, very few people will stumble onto your site, fill out a contact form, or email you, and ask for correspondence. Give people a reason and an easy way to engage with you by letting them trade their name and email for something they find valuable. Then regularly send them emails on topics they will find interesting (once every week or two). Periodically intersperse your pure value emails with offers or announcements of a sale. Train your audience that your emails are worth looking for and opening.

Success in all of this demands that you embrace two mindsets: 1. You are a value provider who is dialed into your audience, and 2. You are a publisher of value-oriented content (text, audio, or video).

Embrace this and you will grow your fan base and sell more of what you offer to the world!

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