A blog post is something I’ve been toying with for some time, but I just didn’t have the content. Over the last 2 and a half years, my little business kicked it off with some great accolades… Best Website 2016 for the music. simply. site at the Qld Music Design Awards, speaking at a MIIO connect night, winning the opportunity to exhibit at the Click Digital Expo (Brisbane) in Nov of 2016, and gaining the support of friends and local musicians around the coast. Turn the 2017 calendar page and I had pumped out around 15 websites for friends, musos and some small businesses. Then I learnt a major lesson! My passion for starting this business was to help musicians get online. I had been organically pulled into the business growth vortex where I was looking for more clients, and those clients (small businesses) didn’t fill the need I was seeking: My original reason for starting this project… Helping musos get online at an affordable cost. Some of my completed sites just weren’t hitting the personal fulfillment button!
My advice to the local (and beyond) industry
Facebook and Insta, Spotify, Unearthed etc etc, are all well and good for putting your music out in the internet universe however…. we gotta remember one thing. Social media platforms are there own businesses at the end of the day, and if the coins aren’t filling pockets, they will adapt and change their algorithms to benefit the shareholders. Where does that leave you? Remember myspace? Well I’m old enough to do so, and when that went down, it did so spectacularly. Time will tell how bullet-proof the current platforms we’ve grown to know and love will be. But… the old adage of holding all your eggs in a basket, means a hell of a lot in this day and age (online of course). HAVE YOUR OWN SPACE ONLINE! I can’t stress it enough. Use the platforms listed above to drive traffic to your hub (your website), and by all means grow your fanbase and announce your tours, events, and local gigs as much as possible on social media. But mark my words, one day (and it has changed a lot in a short 3 years) you will be a slave to the FB or Insta-like platforms if you don’t have your own website. I’ll say it again for good measure… HAVE YOUR OWN SPACE ONLINE!
So, this little biz has come full circle, from day one when I built my own site, to helping some local musos get online (like TOWN – new friends), refurb a few sites, and just helping peeps out with simple coding and social media. Getting into the guts of expanding the business to helping small businesses get online, social media management, and more… right back to the first stages. But now I’ve learnt more, I’ve grown as a (self taught) website designer, albeit a novice compared to those who have legit studied coding and CSS etc etc. and I can confidently drive sites up the google ranks. My latest 2 sites have ended up on page one, and in one case it is number one! Sooo stoked that I can finally put that down in writing! Yes, you can have a good, affordable website, but you can get a full package now too with the services offered by music. simply.- (yep, that was the shameless plug)
Thanks for reading my first (long time coming) post and by all means feel free to check out my live sites, clients I’ve helped (and how) and more on my clients page.