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Tanya Janca
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Basically, most artists only need a basic, but nice, webpage. You need it to contain
a biography, a few photos, a list of upcoming performance/exhibists (very important
you keep this up to date), and if possible, some music clips (or other examples of
your art). It would be even more nice if you had some lyrics, tab, links
or even a way to purchase your stuff online on your website, but let's start small.
Let me explain a few things now for everyone who isn't very technically inclined or internet savy. Please don't get scared and run away, read the whole thing, it might not be as bad as you first thought. The way a webpage works is, when you type in a web address or URL, like http://www.tanyajanca.com for instance, your web browser sends that name over the internet to something called a "Domain Name Server", and it takes that name, goes through it's huge lists of names and it finds the "IP address", a 12 digit number, the coresponds with the name you entered. Your browser then uses the IP address to go across the internet again and find where the page is you want. So it goes across the internet and finds the "web server", a computer perminately connected to the internet for people to "host" their webpages one, that has the page you want on it. Your web browser then looks at the "HTML code" and this displays the webpage for you. In order to have a webpage that people can see on the internet and find through a search engine you need these things: 1. A Domain Name (you can rent one or piggyback onto someone else's) A domain name is what the person enters into the the web browser to find you, www.tanyajanca.com is mine. 2. A Web Server Host this is where the code for your webpage is stored. It's a big computer somewhere that has given you permission to store information there and point your domain name there. 3. Web Page Code and content This is the webpage itself, the code that makes the information look the way it does and all the photos or MP3s etc. You now have to decide how much money, if any, you have to spend on this project. You CAN do this for free, but it will look much more professional if you shell out a few dollars. Okay let's do #1 and #2 at the same time, domain names and server space. You can get a free domain name and server space from http://geocities.yahoo.com/, http://angelfire.lycos.com/ and many more 'free' places on the net. There are a few catches though. They put ads on your site, so your site is a bit less professional looking. The also offer a domain name, but it has their name first, then yours. (i.e. http://geocities.yahoo.com/tanya_janca/) which also looks a bit less professional. It's also harder to remember. It all depends on what you are looking for. If you only care about "have a website" or if people finding you through using a search engine is all you need, you just want to relay some bsic information to a few people, this is great, and this is what you should use. If you want to have a very professional looking site, and you have a few dollars, read on. For $10.95 you can get a URL that ends in .com, .biz, .net, .org, etc at http://www.godaddy.com/. I have purchased a domain name from them before and it went well, no complaints here. But you still need server space for your website. That's where Sonic Cat comes in, for me. They host my webpage(s) (www.tanyajanca.com and www.problematic.ca) for a VERY reasonable rate. They charge $15/month, which is much less than many other hosting services, and the service I get is spectacular. There are also many other hosting services and domain name registering companies, but I can't vouch for any of them. The point is, for $XX/month you can have a very professional looking page, with higher space limits (you can put mp3's up and many photos, have many inter-connected pages, etc). Make sure to ask your hosting service provider for helpful information that you will need when you purchase your domain name, so it points at the right spot! So now you have a domain name and some server space to put your site, but how will you MAKE your site? You can do three things here, pay someone, get a friend to do it, or do it yourself! #1, you can pay someone, the company the hosts my site, Sonic Cat, also does site development for $60/hr, which may sound high, but they are SUPER-FAST and can do a basic site in an hour or two. Both of you have to negotiate exactly what the site will have on it, etc, but this is something that you can get done for probably under $150 CND (This price is through Sonic Cat. There are many other site development places that you can check out, they may be more, they may be less!). This is probably the fasted, but also the most expensive way. #2, you can get a friend to do it. I have learned over and over again that asking a friend to do somethg for you, for free, can be a very bad idea. Friends can take a long, long time to finish things they are not being paid for, depending upon the friend. Or they can do a very bad job, depending on the friend. They can also then ask 100 more favours of you that are 10 times more complicated that what you asked from them. You can choose this path, but be SURE before you do who you ask it from. If anyone ever comes up and says they want to offer you something for free after seeing you perform/viewing your art/etc, be VERY wary that they may want more than it first seems. Just a few words of caution. #3 D.Y.I.! You can do it yourself, like I did! There are many tutorials on the web that can help you learn HTML. (http://www.davesite.com/webstation/html/, http://www.cwru.edu/help/introHTML/toc.html, http://www.mcli.dist.maricopa.edu/tut/, and http://www.w3schools.com/html, to name a few). It's not as hard as it seems, once you learn it you'll think "Wow, and I thought that would be hard?". You can also steal web sites (or portions of) from other people, see how they did something, and then incorporate it into your own site, being careful not to seem like it's plagerism... All you have to do to see the code to a website is: visit teh website, go to the "view" menu on your browser and choose "view source". It will show you the code for the entire page, you have to figure out which is the part you wanted. I suggest only doing this for simple pages, not for pages that use FLASH. I give anyone who wants it persmission to use parts of my webpage for their own. * It would be nice if you added a link to mine in exchange. * There are also many HTML editors, some deluxe ones that you have to pay for PageMaker, Cold Fusion, Front Page and some for free like HTML-Kit, 1st Page 2000 or just a view a big list of free editors here: http://www.thefreecountry.com/webmaster/htmleditors.shtml. How To Get Your Page Noticed Links, links and more links. Web search engines look for key words within your website, as well as links to other sites. The more links you website has, the better chance you have of getting your webpage noticed. Put links to every other artist you perform with, every venue you have played at, all events that you were part of, even issues you care about that pertain to teh type of art you do. All of these things will get you more 'hits' from search engines. Everytime your name comes up in a search is a chance for someone to se your site and maybe visit it and discover the amazing artist that is YOU! Ask other pages to link to you. Ask the people/band/community/etc that you have a link to, to link back to you. The more places you have a link, the more people will follow that link and find about about the amazing you! Also, join communities for local artists/bands/musicians/etc that have lists of bands and ask for your name and website to be added. When people are looking for a local act to contact, they usually go to someone they have heard of or to a local run website like that. Include key words that you think represents you. If you think you are "blunt and obnoxious" or that your music is "anti-oppression" or your artwork is very "femminist", include those words, at least once, throughout your site. That way when someone looks up those words, they will find you! You might not think of it, but people look for the oddest things on the net, "folk punk", "arty punk photographs" and "punk make you mad" lead right to my site, and more than a few others I would not have thought of. If you can think of anything else I should add here, or anywhere in my site, please drop me a line! |