Good advice from unexpected quarters
Yesterday’s Guardian film & music section carries an interesting article about website design. It begins:
In the mid-noughties, Northern Irish power-poppers Ash were signed to a major label and had the website to prove it. "We had a fancy flash site that looked great," says singer/guitarist Tim Wheeler. "It was set up to launch an album, but there was no way of maintaining it or updating it regularly ourselves. It was frustrating because we had to go through webmasters. It was one of those sites you look at once and think, ‘Oh, very good, but why am I here?"
The writer argues that bands need web sites (and, interestingly, that MySpace and Facebook don’t meet this need) and that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Regularly changing content is essential ("The worst thing a fan can see when they visit a website is the same thing they saw last time"). Beyond this, go for a style that suits you: don’t feel pressured to be more formal – or more informal! – than is comfortable. A site that reflects your personality is more likely to appeal to your fans.