Fix Up Your Website

What's worse than having a website that you haven't updated in a while?

Having a site that is hard to use, takes forever to load, has links to nowhere or makes finding contact information next to impossible, that's what.

Any of those things can cause folks searching for information on you or that thing you do to close the page and keep it moving.

According to a KISSmetricks Blog survey, the time it takes your website to load can greatly alter the user experience. Forty-seven percent of Internet surfers expect the URL they just clicked on to load in two seconds or less. Forty percent actually abandon a site that takes more than three seconds to load.

Basically, that means you've got a very tiny window to show 'em what you're working with.  If your site takes five seconds to load, a potential set of eyes that may have been interested in what you have to say just went onto something else.

We all love flashy pages that spin and glow when they pop up, right? That "WOW!" factor is a big thing. But the take-away here is that if that wow is causing your page to gurgle and stall, it may be costing you more views than it will ever gain.

But even if your site loads quickly, how does it help keep interest if the person at the end of the mouse can't find what s/he is looking for? If your page has 10 tabs or is very text-heavy, it might actually look like a cluttered mess that users deem too overwhelming or frustrating to use. Seriously - how easy is it to find the address to your location or your email information on your site? (Go check, I'll wait...)

Another thing that may spell trouble for your site is the ease of use of its mobile version. Late last year, Google announced that more than half of its searches are now done from mobile devices. Just imagine all the folks who can't see your beautifully laid-out web page because your site isn't optimized for smartphone or tablet use. Believe it or not happens all the time.

To really evaluate your site, log onto it from a computer other than one you normally use. Study the load time and see how long it takes the graphics, text and banners to become visible. Ask someone who's never been to your site to find a piece of information you consider important (like the links to your social media feeds or your SoundCloud page). Check it from an iPhone, a tablet and an Android device. If anything seems off, convoluted or messy, fix it as soon as you can.

Remember, you only get one shot to make a first impression. Make that shot the best one you can.

A Note to My Artistic Brethren

Dear Creative Person,

I know that to you, the art is the thing and you often feel the creative process is almost sacred, but you really need to know something: If you don't take time to let people know you are an artist who creates music, pastels, novels, short films or poetry, no one but your relatives will ever know you are an artist who creates.

Promotion is not a dirty word. If you do what you do to share it with folks, promotion will help those folks know about you.

Think about it: the most amazing novel, the most poignant of sculptures, the most ethereal of music can't be enjoyed if they sit in boxes in your garage or in the corner of your studio. Art is meant to be shared. Isn't that kind of the point?

Why is garnering attention from what you do on a creative level a bad thing? Even if it is a hobby and not your livelihood (and you never hope it to be), how is having people know about that creative thing you do necessarily a bad thing?

If you want to remain obscure and known for your work only when your estate publishes your manuscripts or gets your canvases curated after your death, then by all means, don't ever update your website, use social media to self-promote or follow other artists who do. Just keep complaining about how putting together a bio for an electronic press kit or tweeting a photo of you creating just takes too much daggone time.

But haven't you done that already? And how's that working for ya?

The definition of insanity, according to Albert Einstein, is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. And he was a pretty astute guy.

Making art and letting the masses know about that art are not mutually exclusive. You can do both and still have time to create, have a life, sleep and do all the things "regular" people do.

If you owned a business selling widgets, wouldn't you advertise to let people in need of widgets know you're making he best daggone widgets around?

Why should your creative venture be any different?

Sincerely,
A Lover of All Things Creative

Why You Need a Press Kit

As a journalist who has worked in the newspaper business for almost 30 years, I can share this secret with you:

Journalists are busy.

It's not that we don't want to spend hours upon hours researching and writing - it's just that we can't. Especially in today's economic climate - when newspapers seem to be cutting staff every day and expecting the remaining staff to do more with less - your friendly neighborhood reporter has a lot to do during the workday. Because of that, s/he will not have the luxury of time - to pick information out of you or keep calling you back for more materials or details about your event, opening, new release or show. So trust me when I tell you that it's in your best interest to give them what they need to tell the world about you before they ask for it - because phoning to ask you for photos or emailing to find out when your band first got together can eat up time that many journalists just don't have.

And that's exactly why a press kit can be a creative person's very best friend.

Back in the days before electronic communication, press kits were often these big, bulky and somewhat expensive to produce glossy folder-using things that had to be mailed out. The more stuff you put in them, the more it cost to get it to that newspaper or television/radio station. And once you got it there, you couldn't be sure it was even going to be seen by the person you needed to reach.

The WWW and the advent of email and other forms of electronic communication changed all that. Now, press kits can be parked on a website and accessed with a simple mouse click, saving the marketer a whole lot of time and expense.

So what should the new version of your press kit - your Electronic Press Kit (or EPK) - contain?

Although it can include almost anything, there are a few things it should most definitely have:

A photo of a website-based EPK

1.  A Bio - whatever information about you and your art you want the world to know about.
2. High-res (300 DPI or better) Photos - of not only you/your band but of your most recent project (like photos of your paintings, a cover of your new CD or book cover).
3. Links to your website and your work - musicians might include links to a Soundcloud page, where a writer might include links to her blog or sites where work is archived. 
4. Videos - If a picture is worth 1,000 words, the power of a good video is worth 10 times more. Don't be afraid to visually illustrate what you do.
5. Your contact information - it's important to let folks who might have a question, find out where you are next appearing or want to schedule an interview know how to reach you via email and phone.

Many contain more info - like fact sheets, past press coverage or even a press release, but all contain the above.

There are a number of websites that can help you set up (via template) or host your EPK, but it shouldn't cost you and arm and a leg to get yours done. If you are a strong writer (or know one who could help you out), it shouldn't cost you anything to get your EPK up and running. If you need assistance, drop us a line :-)