Creating a website yourself or having one designed for you is not as difficult or exclusive as it once was, but getting a site up and running is just the first step. A good website needs a bit of care and attention or you risk making yourself look bad. Here are three things that may be wrong with your website and which you should fix if they are
1 Outdated Info
Casting Directors, fans, agents, potential clients or customers will visit your website to find out information about you and what you’re up to. Whilst some of that information might not change much over time, it doesn’t really look very good when the last thing you’ve got on your homepage or ‘news’ section is from 2009. At the least, it will look like you’ve not worked on anything worth mentioning since then, but it can also give a bad impression. After all, if you’re not bothered enough to update your own website, what does that say about you? (This goes for Twitter bios too. If you still have ‘currently appearing as…’ and it’s outdated, change it).
Some people will say that they use Facebook or industry directories like Spotlight to make updates of all their latest goings on. Whilst that’s somewhat better than an outdated website, it kind of goes against the point of having your own site in the first place. Facebook and other sites will usually have the same look and feel for all users on there; you can’t really stand out or put your own personality into the look and feel of what the viewer sees, which is why most professionals want their own site to begin with. Also, if like most performers your website address is some variation of your name, chances are your website is what will show up top in Google when someone searches for you – not your social media pages.
Absolutely, social media should be part of your online strategy, but use social media to drive visitors back to your own site – don’t rely on it to be your site. You don’t control the look and feel (in some cases you don’t even own your own content once it’s on there!) and who knows when the plug might get pulled on a particular social network taking all of your content with it.
2 Not mobile friendly
It used to be that having a mobile version of your site was ‘nice to have’ but not necessary. Times have moved on since then and we’re all used to the convenience of having the internet in the palm of our hands to look up train times or Google for that bit of info we’re after. Just so you get an idea of the inroads that mobile browsing has made in the past few years, here are some quick statistics for you1:
- There are more mobile phones in the UK than people
- 28% of internet usage is from a mobile phone
- 19% of search queries in the entertainment industry are from mobiles (was 10% in 2011)
- 20% of all YouTube views are from a mobile device
- In three years time, tablet sales will be bigger than PC sales
Many web design agencies use a principle of ‘mobile first’ these days, whereby they design your website to be optimised for mobile devices first and then desktop; so if your site is fairly recent, you should be OK. Do make sure that your site is not created entirely in Flash as this won’t work on many mobiles and tablets and also isn’t readable by Google when they come along to index your website.
3 Not promoted anywhere
You’ve got a website, great… You need to tell people about it. If you’re updating your website often, that’s an ideal time to post a status update or Tweet about it and drive traffic over to your site. Also make sure you include links to your site at the bottom of your email messages, in your Twitter and Facebook bios, as well as on any industry directories you’re listed in.
This article is just a quick look at some of the more common website issues that can affect your website. If you’d like us to take a look at your website and recommend any improvements, or with help getting online if you don’t already have a website, please contact us.
Sources: 1 https://www.gpmd.co.uk/blog/2012-mobile-internet-statistics/