Hi,

I happen to have some freelance jobs recently but my online presence is quite a mess. I bought a domain name a few years ago, a bit familiar how this works (website hosting, template platforms, etc.).

Could someone provide some input about the topic, did you make it yourself using Adobe Dreamweaver, or template platforms (free / paid), or hire somebody? What about all this SEO stuff, how important it is? My recent idea is that I need to be able to show to my existing clients a nicely organized page of examples, options and costs, the task which SoundCloud can't accomplish by itself.

I just built a website on Squarespace for a new studio and it was awesome. Definitely took some time and needed to go back and forth with customer service a few times to get what i wanted, but in the end for $16/month month to month contract its hard to beat. Check em out: https://www.squarespace.com/

And here is my new website https://www.stfelix.nyc/

I also use Squarespace and think it's a pretty decent website service. Easy to use and looks decent. It really just depends on what kind of web layout you want and how customized you want your site to be.

I couldn't stress enough that SEO is extremely important for an online visibility. Want Google, etc.. to find your site? Then you'll need some decent SEO.

Feel free to check out my Squarespace site:
American Recording Company,LLC

Much luck on figuring out what will work best for you!

How much are SEO services charging

I really have no idea what rates are for SEO. There is a little SEO built in with a Squarespace account so that was another plus for using Squarespace. Outside of that I've just researched on my own with youtube videos and google searches to see what all I could do to make my SEO better but I am by far not an SEO expert lol.

Something very important though is to make sure all of your info across all sites/ads online all have exactly the same info in the exact same format. Everything is spelled the same way, phone number is typed out in the same format, if you have street address abbreviations that those all match across the board, etc... Google will be looking for matching stats everywhere and that will help.

Oh OK thanks. Those sound like good tips.

Squarspace is ok, but really just ok, and not much better then that.

Most month to month pre-builts are usually not the best thing to go with.

They are of course convenient, easy and perhaps seemingly affordable.

There are downsides of course. You don't own it, you are contained within limitations, there are restrictions on numerous things, and overall are still tied to some company for a multitude of things. In the long-run it can cost you more and leave you stuck! You can't brand as effectively and it becomes harder to realize modern aesthetics. You will often times lack the ability to offer an up-scaled look to help differentiate yourself from the competition.

The best way is to either learn web design and development yourself or, of course, hire someone.

If you find the right agency or freelancer you can save yourself money in the long-run, take control of your brand and business, and ultimately can change with the times as well set yourself apart with a better website. If its the portal to your livelihood and business then you should want that portal to be top choice.

Some cool agencies will even throw in peripheral services to those working to budgets or in need of some help such as logos and photos. Some like mine even offer affordable hosting and renewals to help offset the fee over the long-run and therefore will save you money in the long run.

SEO is a beast in itself and constantly changing. The minute you think you have the three main engines figured out is often the second they change. It is easy enough to learn for those that have the desire but time consuming enough and boring enough to have most not bother. Some don't do any, some just make sites available to and ready/optimized for SEO, some toss a bit in, very few go the whole way without a rather large sum of money.

It is important to note, and remember, that SEO and your ability to compete is largely down to your competition, the competition for certain words and then of course your site, its content and how its put together. If you want to compete in a deluded vague area, it will be more expensive and difficult to organically compete for top spot first page search engine placement.

Overall it really just gets time consuming, you as well as I have to constantly judge and evaluate where time is spent and what cost or affect that may or may not have on business and the bottom line.

Dreamweaver - is it still 2005?!

Wordpress is the way to go if you’re not a coder. It’s relatively easy to set up a basic site (mine isn’t fabulous but I don’t rely on it for work; I still have embedded Spotify, SoundCloud and YouTube playlists, contact forms, discography and blog etc).

Plus if you want it can then be customised by an expert, SEO optimised etc.

I’m sure squarespace is great but it’s a much more closed off system.

I went with Squarespace and had decent results. I'd highly recommend getting your hands on DSLR and taking some high quality photos and getting someone to design a logo for you (if you are like me and couldn't draw to save your life).

Your website is usually a client's first impression of your studio. If it looks professional, they will presume that you are also.

I put mine together myself and I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. SEO is pretty tricky, but i'm slowly moving up the ranks.

Wundenberg's Recording Studio, Adelaide, South Australia if you want to have a look!

I recently deleted my wordpress website for audio, it is not the best platform in my opinion for a serious audio website, my only option now is to hire someone to make me a custom website from scratch, it might sound crazy in 2018, but I genuinely think it's the best option (for me anyway), outsourcing is now for me the way forward, instead of trying to do everything yourself, if you do that you WILL burn out eventually and want to give up.


it's hard enough being an engineer and all what you have to juggle with tracks, reverb, file management, dealing with weird and eccentric clients, and a million other things, web development is equally complex and feels like a never ending void of learning, it not something that comes naturally to me, knowing yourself is half the battle.

I'm pretty handy at coding, or at least I am once every two years when I shake off the rust and sit down and do it, and I still use Dreamweaver in a weird, off-label way. With my two current sites, each page is a single jpeg with a bunch of hotspots slapped on it, and Dreamweaver is a good tool for that. Or at least it's the Devil I know.

But I'm in the midst of banging out a first draft of a Wordpress site.

I totally agree re hiring a pro, that’s on my radar - but many pros build Wordpress sites too! I’d bet most engineer style sites are based on it...you just need it done right. It’s so easy to update then.

I am in the process of getting my website up and running and I'm doing it on WIX, any experience with it?

the problem with wix is it's not searchable, if you want people to find you, forget it, don't let the lure of how nice the website looks tempt you, if you can't be found, you don't exist.

Hey thanks for the reply! Not searchable? As in getting found on google? How does that work, I thought you just need to link the website details to the google brands for that to happen?

I am more of a hobby musician, but my main work is web development, (front end, working close with seo experts). Working on a 1million visitor per day website, as there is a lot to learn from.

I see people have this issues when they are smaller companies or just by themselves.

I can tell all about code, but nobody is helped with that. There are a lot of tools from Google that give you insight in your website. Before you hiring a professional, try just adding these two services from google. They are free.

- Google webmaster tools
- Google Analytics

Both are amazing tools to get started. The learning curve is in my opinion not too bad at all. (Alot easier then learning a DAW)

Hiring an SEO specialist is...not worth it. They will help, but they cost more than your revenue.

The reason why is as follows:
You need to be wanting to find. How many people in this area will need your services. If you are recording and not be able to work from remote, and you do say...4 clients a day, 20 days a month. You need 80 converting visits. (Conversion is a goal you set, and to get that (i.e. 'visitor will call you for your service')). For that, you need to set a ratio that is reachable. I.e. a wild guestimate, your current reach is 200 visitors a month,10% calls you. If you are lucky. Do the math.

These numbers are way too low to properly analyze your content and site for an SEO action plan. Your sole business is most likely you want to focus on, but if you need reach, you gotta be smart and throw yourself out there. In any SEO action plan is about content. Make movies, more music/sound and write blogposts, be active on the right forums. It means a lot of time you need to spend, other than simply being findable in Google.

So back to my suggestions. Install those two services and you will get a good baseline in your visitor's behaviour on your site.

When you optimize that (make sure all links work ok, dont let users navigate away from your site, write proper text and images, and proof you are the best for your customers). Then start with Google Trends. Its a tool that give you key searchwords and how they will perform in google.

Say if you think your customers want to work with 'studio with SSL desk' is important. You can check if that search is often performed. If that is the case, but hardly any results, a good chance that you can use those search terms in your content.

I would suggest to have a good basic site with proper content, install the google stuff, ask your customers how they would search for you (as if they didnt know you, or know you via word of mouth), and use that input to create your text around that.

I hope that helps.

If you want a budget but working website, i would suggest a wordpress template that is free. Its the best of worst systems that is very searchable. Skip single page sites. Really. Its fine if you know what your doing technically, otherwise it will waste your online presence.

Resurrecting this thread to ask if Wix is now searchable? I read that this may have happened in May of last year. If so, has anyone tried it since then?

Fot those of you out there, still trying to DIY your websites - people come to you because you know what you are doing as recording engineers. They respect your skill and are prepared to pay you for that skill.

Go to a professional website builder and he/she will do for you, what you do for your customers.

Just make sure that you and only you have control of the domain name.

As for Wix, it is sort of searchable, but only just - stay away!

and yet you resurrect it another year later, you complete and utter hypocrite

No big deal -- it's a yes/no question, so a one-syllable answer either way.

Amen. I got mine done for about a day and a half's engineering work. It'd have taken me 5 times as long and wouldn't work half as well!

Just weighing in on some SEO stuff - its wildly expensive if you want to rush your link to the front page of google and I think money is better spent on Google Ads using keywords and also making sure your business is properly registered on Google maps and other location search engines. It really depends business to business, but for us its the people and the space that sell the studio, less the location or SEO results. 90% of my business comes from referrals. If you're looking to reach new clients not via referrals I would look into hiring a digital marketer who is savvy w Google and Facebook advertising. Better use of $$$ than SEO imho

The sponsored “studio” ads on google always seem to be the bottom feeders in my experience too!

Initially, designing a good website may seem like a never-ending challenge, but once you understand the process, developing a website with a great design won’t be that difficult. As my experience, I get my knowledge by reading useful blog & articles an example like this one https://clockwise.software/blog/

Sure. But you could spend that time getting better at music instead.

Depending on your ambitions of course.

No it's not, if it's built well.

As a senior software dev and business consultant [20+] years who has led development of countless websites and web applications [some costing several millions of dollars], I might want to qualify your question. I doubt anyone much here is looking for high-end web development, but. . .either way:

Start with a query like: What all specially do I want the website to accomplish?

Most websites don't accomplish much of anything. Many even reduce value from a company's brand. . .and would be better taken down. But there are several alternatives that will present you moderately well with a little effort and not much, if any, additional cost.

At an entry level to the primary query, I might suggest looking at YouTube videos from guys like Antoine Dupont. There are very many other men and women marketers, but I think Antoine's videos will help you understand basic first-pass questions and entry-level costs.

For a more advance perspective, look at the Google Web Developer conference videos and resources - particularly look at UX and performance guidelines and associated returns on investment. And look at research firms like the Nielsen Norman Group.

Web tech changes pretty often, and there can be real value in creating compelling websites and non-trivial investments to keep them compelling. It can make for huge impacts for a large or small firm's bottom line. But must be tied to business objectives, right?

These references - even if studied in depth - are just a small toe in the water. The subject is not something effectively addressed in a forum like GS, I think. Don't try to accomplish everything - that will stall you. Just get to wherever you can, and continue to make progress over time.


Best wishes,

Ray H.

IMO, home pages are a very 90s thing. Unless you want to be in the situation where you are constantly updating a site, it's better to go with social. The worst thing I ever come across is someones home page web site which hasn't been updated it 10 years.

If you really are going to go for a personal site, you may want to think of ways to integrate lots of social into your site. vidoes and audio embedded and linked.

some ideas below..
https://www.lconofficial.com/
https://www.brennanmercer.com/

Yes and no.

Socials are important, updating the page is important (I'm definitely not great at updating the "latest news" section), but yes - you can integrate stuff that updates automatically. Spotify playlists, youtube and instagram galleries, and so on.

But there's still some things that a website is better than social media for (I still can't bring myself to create a "producer" facebook page - feels so posture-y!).

when you have a facebook page, who owns that? you or mark zuckerberg? they can also shadowban you and stop promoting your page because of political views or if you are not politically correct, this has happened to several people I know.