KISS My A$$ – The One Thing That Could Save Your Band

What’s the one thing you can do online that could potentially save your band’s business?

I see this done wrong over and over again. It burns my eyes and brings my brain to an overdrive.

Remember, the biggest clichés normally have a grain of truth to them. So if common knowledge dictates that you have around 3 seconds to make a great first impression (there are zillions of other takes on the number of seconds by the way), then first impressions must be really important.

If a fan or someone interested in your music visits your artist website and finds himself in an ocean of moving pictures, lots of call to actions, different coloured text, music playing in the background, and he can’t friggin’ see through the maze you’ve created, then, my friend, you have just blown your chance of a lifetime.

I mean, who knows what this visitor wanted in the first place (maybe check out your songs, book a gig, interview you for a magazine), but you definitely won’t hear from him anytime soon.

So I repeat my question:

What’s the one thing you can and should do online that could not only potentially save your band’s business, but also increase returning visitors?

(drum roll)

…Keep it simple.

“What? Oh come on, Patrick, I thought you were going to give me some great formula for success.”

Well that’s your formula:

For this you have to consider how a person would navigate your website. Be clear on what they should see and what they should do. Then limit yourself to having only one call to action and only one subject per page, i.e., don’t display your photo gallery on the same page as your bio, this is only a distraction and keeps the eyes off the bio. And don’t ask them to click to listen to your music, while signing up for your newsletter and mailing list. That’s just overwhelming, but yet I see it all the time.

I’m sure you can come up with other ways to improve on your site’s layout to keep it simple and straightforward. Don’t ask a visitor to multitask, that’s what computers are for. If I actually have to think for a few seconds before I understand the core message of the page I’m visiting, then you lost me. Adios. Ciao.

To sum things up, the one thing that could save your band’s future business and increase returning visits is to (a) keep your site simple (b) keep your navigation simple (c) keep your message simple (d) keep your call to action simple. Just keep it simple, stupid!

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