Frequently Asked Questions

Before I build, what can I do to prepare for my website?
Scan magazines and surf the internet to get an idea of styles you like, and share this information with your developer. Collect and organize the materials you'd like to feature, including photographs, reviews, audiotapes and video footage. As much as possible, decide in advance how you'd like your site to be organized. The possibilities are endless -- here are just a few ideas to start you out:

Can I build my own website?
If you have the time and inclination, building your own website might be an option for you. There are a number of products you can use that make the underlying code invisible to you, and many of these products can be bought over the internet. It is best to keep your website quite simple if you are going to be maintaining it yourself and still want time for music. Remember, you will want to make changes at least every few weeks to keep your content fresh and interesting. Click here for the story of the development and maintenance of one of our client sites.

Should I pay a host or use a free provider?
If you can easily afford it, then pay for your website hosting. When cost is a concern, free websites can still be an excellent way to publicize yourself and your ensemble. Most hosts of "free" websites use your site to display advertising, collect information about visitors, limit storage space, and have rules against commercial use, such as selling your recordings or soliciting bookings. Many display their advertisements in "pop up" windows, which can cause your website to be disqualified from consideration for website awards.

When you own your own website, you are free to use the space as you please, and can purchase more space when you need it. Paid websites generally offer better response time and customer service, as well as other technical advantages. They are also more reliable and less likely to lose your files. Compare for yourself by visiting hosts that charge money, such as Webwizards, and hosts that do not, such as geocities and xoom, and by exploring the internet. You can expect to pay around $6-9 per month for a personal site, more if you need additional file space.

I have a website - now how do I promote it?
Once your website is built, you will need to make sure that people can find it. Our clients benefit from our experience promoting musicians' websites, getting them listed at standard search engines and those specializing in music, and running promotions to guide traffic to your website. If you build your own website, this job is up to you. You can visit each search engine individually submit a "request to add URL" or you can use one of the services listed in our links page to submit your site to many search engines at once. Note that submitting the website manually to each search engine allows you to avoid being added to the search engines' mailing lists.

What about joining webrings?
You should certainly consider joining webrings that relate to your subject matter. Webrings are a way to link related sites, providing surfers with a simple and efficient way to find content on the Internet. Joining a webring costs nothing, and any visitors to your site who arrive via a webring are already interested in the subject matter in a general way. When considering a webring, look for one which has a large membership and has good quality websites as members. Some webrings require a notice about their ring on the very front page of your site -- We can minimize the impact of the webring code on the look-and-feel of your website.

What about blogs?
The intimate feeling of web-logs (blogs) can be both a benefit and a drawback. They can bring your fans a more intimate feeling of connection, but they require constant upkeep, and because they feel like a journal, you might be tempted to post things you will later regret. Our advice: only post on blogs you can edit later, and only post something you'd be ok having both your grandmother, your parents, and the chief of police reading -- they just might.

I have a new site - why am I getting junk email?
Some unethical advertisers scour websites for email addresses to use as targets for unsolicited mail or "spam." We now use the latest software coding techniques to make it difficult for spammers to find and harvest the email addresses that are posted on your site, but that will not completely eliminate the problem. To reduce the amount of spam that you receive, NEVER respond directly to the spammer's "remove" address or call any telephone number listed. This is usually a tactic for verifying active email addresses and collecting new telephone numbers for further use. Instead, visit the anti-spam links listed on our links page. Signing up with an anti-spam service can greatly reduce the amount of unsolicited email you receive.

You built me a new site - how do I update my calendar page?
It is very easy to do, and you don't need any special software to do it. Just be sure to stay away from Microsoft Word, please! We code the calendar in tables and include a special blank entry that you can simply copy and paste into the appropriate date location of your calendar file, and modify with the actual date and gig details:

• open a browser such as Internet Explorer or Netscape
• go to ftp://ftp.yoursitename.com (e.g., ftp://ftp.joemusician.com)
• enter your username and password to logon. you'll see folders.
• click on the folder that has your website files in it and look for the calendar file (e.g., calendar.html).
• On a PC: drag the calendar file to your desktop and edit it with Wordpad, then drag it back
• On a Mac: drag the file to your desktop and edit it (check back for recommended editing tool) then drag it back.

How should I serve my media clips?
That depends on your host capabilities (see file sizes) and how comfortable you are with technology. We've begun serving our media clips in two ways, both directly (users click on an MP3 icon, for example) and using a *free* Flash player nicknamed 'spiff.' If you're feeling adventurous, learn more about the xspf player here.

How much music can I fit on my website?
That depends on the format you keep it in and how much space you have available to you on your website. You might have used 200k of space per minute for a streaming Realaudio soundclip, and mp3 clips can be encoded in a wide variety of sizes. As you would expect, higher quality MP3 files require more space per minute.

What is streaming?
When we say streaming media, we mean audio or video files that begin to play before they have been fully downloaded from a website. The visitor begins to hear your music moments after requesting it, while the file continues downloading in the background.

What file format do you use for video and audio clips?
That depends on what your host supports. Some hosts disallow MPEG files because of copyright concerns; others provide special media servers. For audio, we generally recommend stereo files in a streaming format. For video, you may want to offer two formats, a lower-quality streaming video that plays quickly and a higher quality videoclip for visitors who are willing to wait. You can learn more about file formats by visiting other websites, including: RealNetworks (streaming audio/video), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), and Apple Computer (Quicktime movies).

How can I upgrade my browser or sound player?
Go to our links page and click on the icon for the product you need. If we don't have your browser or sound player plug-in listed, please

We hope these questions and answers have been helpful. More questions and answers are planned, so please check back again.