While it’s not an official service of ours yet, our team has been building websites, press kits, and custom designs for over 20 artists in the last year. Surprisingly, half of them already had their own websites before hiring us, but they couldn’t convert any sales, fans, or even simple e-mail signups. Why? The top common denominator: single-page websites. And we know some YouTubers have been screaming their heads off at musicians to build one-page websites for a while now but none of them can or will prove the benefits of that. Why? Because they’re making sh*t up to make you feel like they know better than you thus convincing you to pay THEM to build your brand presence. And after those artists got burned and scammed, they turn to us to fix their websites and in most cases, scratch the whole thing and rebuild their identity. The hardest part? Convincing them that things are a lot simpler and easier than the hundreds of videos they’ve been brainwashed with. Subsequently, we’re gonna show you, the music artist, the 10 irrefutable reasons why a multiple-page website is better for you than a one-page website.
10. Multiple Pages Prove Brand Depth.
One-page websites very much resemble a campaign, announcement, or event type of experience. Do you know what a campaign, an announcement, and an event have in common? They’re things that only last for a moment. A day, a week, or probably a month at most. They do not fit the branding required for a musician trying to convert visitors into long-term fans. Accordingly, having multiple pages on your website shows people you’re invested in your career and have enough things to show and talk about.
9. You Will Satisfy Multiple Audiences Simultaneously And Separately.
Let us show you how a journalist/ media outlet judges you. The first thing they (we) wanna know is: What are their achievements? So they head to the Bio section of your website. Then they wonder how many fans they got? They head to the Social Media tab. These two sections qualify or disqualify you from further time investment. No press outlet will consider you if you can’t bring them a minimum amount of eyeballs on their potential piece on you. So first they have to know if there’s any interest in your brand. Once that is confirmed, the media reps will head to your visuals and audio material. Then they will match the 4 elements into one final decision. But usually, if you’ve got them to check out 4 pages of your website, you’re in. In conclusion, the trajectory from journalists will 9 times out of 10 looks like this: Bio, Social Media, Music, Videos.
Then we have the fans who think very differently than the media. What’s her music like? They head to the Music tab. How do they look like? They head to your Videos tab. What are they selling? They head to the Shop tab. Are they having any shows in my area? They head to the News/Shows tab. And finally, if they’ve been intrigued by all of the above, they read your bio. So a fan’s trajectory, on the other hand, will look like this: Music, Videos, Shop, Shows, Bio.
And guess what? You can convert both media outlets and regular visitors into permanent fans if you have these pages on your website. Whereas if you have a one-page website… Good luck staying anonymous forever.
8. You Will Get Better SEO.
With multiple links available at your disposal, it is infinitely easier to drive organic traffic to your multiple-page website. And if you’re an artist guest writing for blogs like Medium or BuzzFeed, they can embed your content within their much bigger platforms thus boosting your website’s traffic and ranking your links higher on search consoles. Also, with multiple pages, you give freedom to everybody to link back to you for different reasons. So if a fan is gushing over your new hairstyle, they’ll link the Photos page link. If another fan is excited to come to see your next show, they’ll very likely link the Shows tab on their own social media. It is much easier for people to focus on their different interests in you when you separate your content into categories than it is to just box everyone’s needs and curiosities of you on one single page. Not to mention when fans will be searching for your lyrics, if you’re intelligent enough to anticipate this need and embody it in your website, Google will prompt them to your official website BEFORE services like Genius or MusixMatch.
7. Your Credibility Won’t Be Questioned.
Here’s some bad news for you one-page website fans. Scams and fictitious companies are always structured into one-page websites. Naturally, people are wary of this format. Add a pop-up e-mail signup form and your bounce rates will be through the roof ’cause you’re scaring people off. Pop-ups equal potential viruses. That’s one reason why you’ll never catch us doing that on Blue Rhymez Entertainment. Equally, when you have multiple pages available, people can take their time to research you thus build a trust relationship with you as an artist.
6. You Can Start Your Own Trends.
Peep what Beyonce is doing in the above screenshot of her official website. She dedicated two entire pages to two hashtags in order to draw attention to her causes of interest. These hashtags belong to her brand and her brand alone. And every single time a visitor hits the menu button on beyonce.com they are reminded of the existence, importance, and relevancy of those trends. Whether you’re on Instagram, Facebook, or TikTok, you can connect with other Beyonce fans through these two hashtags thus feeling like you’re part of something bigger than yourself. Granted not every independent artist has enough momentum to start their own trends but it is definitely doable and something to strive for. Oh yes, that’s impossible with one-page websites.
5. Everyone’s Experience Will Be Intuitive And Easy
Because people have been trained to consume multiple-page websites for decades, they won’t have any trouble finding their way around for seeing your new videos, shopping, e-mailing you, or reaching out to you on social media. Whereas a one-page website representing a music artist feels like a clusterf*ck of information that’s hard to digest and engage with.
4. You Will Get More Sponsorships And Collaboration Inquiries
Because you have will have a dedicated Contact page with all required information for every and any business to reach out to you in the simplest of forms. A one-page website turns into a scrolling experience, and usually a boring one too, that defers people with money and power from building a connection with you. Time is money for the one-percenters and if you take away from their time, you’re also cutting off your own potential endorsement deals.
3. You Will Have A Much More Engaged Audience.
2021 is all about aesthetics and experiencing the brand rather than being presented the brand. That experience is short-lived and superficial if it’s all crammed in one page. By putting in the effort to build a seamless multiple-page website fit for both computer desktops and smartphone screens, the optimized experience you offer your listeners will stand out from the bunch. Rightfully, you will be rewarded with higher-quality fans and listeners because you’ve given them value first. Give the people what they want and they will stick around.
2. Easy To Scale And Update
Let’s say you had a great 2019 filled with shows and live gigs but then something happens in 2020 and you’re stuck at home for months on end. Oh yes, that was the very reality for ALL musicians around the world for almost 2 years. Back to our point now. If in 2019 you had the Shows page in your main menu, you can easily take it off/make it invisible when you got nothing lined up and create another page named Fan Collabs for example, and show all duets you performed with your fans during the lockdown. It is incredibly easy and beautiful to make your multiple-page website continuously reflect your strengths and not weaknesses. On the other hand, a one-page website is just… devastatingly standardized and monochrome.
1. A New Design Will Make A Huge, Memorable Impact.
Let’s imagine you’ve had the same template for a good two years and now you’re about to go on tour. The first thing we’d recommend you to do if you were under our management is to completely change the look of your website by adopting a new striking template. Why? Because it would create a sort of shock value for all those eyeballs used to the old color scheme and layout. The first thoughts of your fans are gonna be: What happened? Why is the website so different?? What’s going on??? And this momentary feeling of panic will trigger the visitor into snooping around a lot more than usual to find out the reason behind the change. And that’s when they’ll bump into the News and Tour sections and realize you’re making a huge move! You’re going on your very first tour! Now it’s not just a simple little social media announcement. Now it’s a heightened experience of being part of your career. Now they’re seeing and meeting the elevated you. The more successful you. They’re feeling the change themselves. Something a one-page website COULD NEVER.
From Avant-Pop to Rap and Rock music, these 50 talents need and deserve support more than the ones you hear on the radio. So pay us back for the free articles by hearing THEM out. Thank you.
Image Credits: All images are courtesy of Unsplash.
Blue Rhymez Entertainment 