Remote Recording Website??

[Gravity]

Ok so my website blows. I'm no webdesigner, though I know how to physically code the page. I'm also really not the best marketing guy out there. So guys, what's yoru best advice for setting up a website geared towards remote recording? And how much business do you think your site brings you in?

I don't need flashy, i jsut need some advice one what to include and not include :-)

[Remoteness]

Don't ask me, I think my website sucks and I haven't updated it in about a year...

But, we still get gigs from it and I don't understand why.

I've seen plenty of really cool looking sites out there that must be moving well for them.

I want to get on track with changing and upgrading my site but I'm dragging my feet.

You never know, I may get it together sometime soon...

[drakewire]

By Remote recording what you talking about... File Transfer services like online Sessions????
I am a web programmer and your post confuses me

[bishopthomas]

I am in the same boat as you. I can program HTML and work with Flash and Dreamweaver, but it's the design that I can't get past. I have absolutely no eye for graphics design and layout. I have most of the information gathered that I want on my site, I just have to talk my friend who does this for a living into taking on my project.

[thenewyear]

I bought a domain about two years ago. www.location-recording.com I think. Anyway I've never done anyhting with it since. I get most of my sessions from reputation and amn't really looking for any additional work right now.

I think a website might be useful to bring in one or two bits of work but the sustained stuff comes from building good relationships with clients and getting known as a safe pair of hands.

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by drakewire

By Remote recording what you talking about... File Transfer services like online Sessions????
I am a web programmer and your post confuses me

This must be the first time you ever read a thread in the "Remote Possibilities in Acoustic Music & Location Recording" forum.

Take a moment to check out the forum and all this will be much clearer to you.

I promise!

[noamraz]

Few items i would put into a my remote-recording site if i had one:

1. PICTURES - Pictures of the crew @ work (Venue/Known faces)
2. AUDIO - Some streaming audio of your work + Pictures of the CDs
3. BIO - Information regarding what you've been doing, which artists/labels you've been working with and in general what your company capable to do/
4. TECH - GEAR list/Pictures - Well, it sure catches the eye of the gear-head producers.
5. SPACE/FTP - If you're purchasing a space, make sure you've got a way to publish files for secured download, that's been a real time-saver for me (Though i am using yousendit.com ;))

I am not sure about the whole internet as a marketing media for a VERY specific service like remote-recording though i think that it cannot harm anyway.

Best regards, Noam.

[videoteque]

Don't ask me, I think my website sucks and I haven't updated it in about a year...

It's doesn't suck, it's just so 90s. If you keep another 5 years it can come back into fashion!!!

To have a nice web it's a plus for a company!

[LX3]

Re getting a good-looking site built, I would sit down and carefully map out what you want from your site. Don't come up with anything too huge and all-encompassing, because whatever you put online, you're bound to want to change it later. Better to keep it down to the essentials and add to it as you figure out what else you need.

Then find someone with a great eye and a head for "useability" to design and build it for you. But I would ask them to build it with a development tool like Dreamweaver or GoLive. Then you can teach yourself to do the updates with that same tool. You don't want to have to rely on someone else to make every last little update.

It'll cost you a few hundred bucks to get DW (or GL) but when you need to change the content a bit, you'll be very thankful you're not having to edit the code directly. Making a quick, minor change is easy in DW, but can be a headache to do by hand (and if it's a pain to do, you can bet you'll hardly ever do it).

I'm always editing my website (mine's built in GoLive), not necessarily because I need to add a lot more content, but because the wording never seems quite right to me! Trying to come across as professional, yet keeping the wording simple and unambiguous is a challenge... but I'm getting better at it. My perspective on what the site should say is always changing, and as the market shifts (or should I say, I learn more about what the market actually wants) I try to re-focus my site slightly to suit.

(I'm in the middle of doing a slight re-jig of the site at the moment, for precisely that reason).

I also try to change photos on the front page from time to time, and add to my list of credits regularly. Firing up GoLive, making a couple of changes, and uploading them, typically takes ten minutes at the most.

Good list noamraz. I must say, on the occasions that I'm working with a big name artist/producer/engineer, I never have the nerve to ask for a photo with them! Steve R always seems to manage it though... where do I go wrong?

Mind you, I think I need a haircut and some new clothes before I appear on my own website

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by videoteque

It's doesn't suck, it's just so 90s. If you keep another 5 years it can come back into fashion!!!

To have a nice web it's a plus for a company!

You're right.

It is so 90s, especially since I built it in the 90s.

[charlienyc]

Originally Posted by LX3

Then find someone with a great eye and a head for "useability" to design and build it for you. But I would ask them to build it with a development tool like Dreamweaver or GoLive.

totally in agreement - good advice, Paul

i am going through the same thing. i'd go so far as to say my site looks like it's from the 80s if there were sites back then

anywho, my first attempt came about as i became panicked to get my site revised right before AES. i put up a post on craigslist specifying the basic requirements, stressing design and user-updatability and asked for quotes. of the hundreds of responses over two days (!), i got two seemingly qualified people, one of which had particularly aesthetically pleasing designs.

i went with her, and we worked out an agreement and started with the "what do you want" conversation. we went back and fourth on email (never spoke over an entire month). she came back to me with something less functional than i had hoped for. it eventually turned into a mess, crashing and burning. next!

there IS a question in here where do you find someone with the skills to design and with a sensibility towards the remote recording business? i swear this task requires both. God knows my 1997-level html skills don't cut it

(p.s. notice my site is conspicuously absent from my sig? )

[LX3]

Originally Posted by charlienyc

i went with her, and we worked out an agreement and started with the "what do you want" conversation. we went back and fourth on email (never spoke over an entire month). she came back to me with something less functional than i had hoped for. it eventually turned into a mess, crashing and burning. next!

Crumbs, that's a bit of a shocker.

One thing I'd be wary of is anyone who promises to do the job for a few hundred bucks. I'd have said that building a small site to a good standard is at least a week's work, even for an experienced web designer (which is one of the reasons I'd suggest keeping the site fairly conservative - otherwise costs can spiral).

Alternatively, if you want to save money, think about doing the entire site yourself in a tool like Apple's iWeb - where you're essentially choosing one of a selection of templates, inserting your own text, pictures and other media, choosing styles... then when you're happy, it creates the site and uploads it for you. If you're happy to work within the boundaries that the template imposes on you, these "web design for idiots/those with better things to do" sites can look very professional.

Paul

[drakewire]

This must be the first time you ever read a thread in the "Remote Possibilities in Acoustic Music & Location Recording" forum.

Take a moment to check out the forum and all this will be much clearer to you.

I promise!

Okay Super Moderator... Why cant you just be Moderator or Super... Why do you have to be both

Perhaps it would be easier to explain in a quick sentance.. So that people like me can understand... Ask jules, I can be kinda dumb sometimes

[LX3]

Originally Posted by drakewire

Perhaps it would be easier to explain in a quick sentance.. So that people like me can understand...

"Remote Possibilities in Acoustic Music & Location Recording
Jazz, Classical, Choir, Acoustic Music environments & beyond
+ Live Performance, Mobile & Location Production & Broadcasting"

[Remoteness]

Originally Posted by drakewire

Okay Super Moderator... Why cant you just be Moderator or Super... Why do you have to be both

Perhaps it would be easier to explain in a quick sentance.. So that people like me can understand... Ask jules, I can be kinda dumb sometimes

If you cannot figure it out by reading the title of this forum there is nothing I can say that will help explain it any better.