How to create a music website and earn money

How to create a music website and earn money

How to create a music website and earn money

If you’re passionate about music and will love to make some decent recurring income online then this guy on How to create a music website and earn money is definitely for you.

How to create a music website and earn money

How to create a music website and earn money

We’ll look at 4 ways to make money from a music website and How to create a music website in just a few minutes. The good news is, you don’t need a ton of cash to do this but first, it’s good to know the importance of having your own music website.

Among other things:

  • You’ll have total control of it, which will make it easier to set up an effective sales funnel.
  • Unlike pages you can make on other sites, it won’t become useless pretty much overnight (think MySpace).
  • You’ll have more storage space available to you.
  • Many potential fans will take you more seriously if you’ve your own site.
  • Etc.

How can having a music website make your music career more financially sustainable? Well, I’ve got the answer! ?

Here are four ways to make money from your music website. You don’t have to use all of them, some you may not feel is right for you. I suggest you read to the bottom so you have all the info, then use as many or as few as you feel is necessary.

1. Selling Your Own Product

This is the thing most musicians do to make money from their website: selling the products you personally make and provide.

What kind of products I hear some of you asking? Well, any music you make is a product. So digital downloads of your songs, CDs you press up, and vinyl if you make those.

Other products you could also offer is merchandise. If you’ve made any merch, for example, t-shirts, posters, magnets and the like, you should also sell these from your website. The more good quality and good value things you can offer to fans, the better the chance you’ll make a sale.

Lastly, tickets to come and see you at gigs will also fall under this category. It’s a product you can sell online, so give this option to fans. Either do it directly from your own website or as most musicians do, do it via a third party ticket website and link to it from your own site.

I won’t go into too much detail about this here as this is the advice most others give in terms of monetizing your music site. So instead, let’s look at some of the less used methods you can try out.

2. Selling Affiliate Products To Fans

4 ways to make money from music websites

One of the things not many musicians do is monetize their audience via affiliate products.

An affiliate product is a product that belongs to someone else. They make it, ship it, and deal with any customer service issues attached with that sale. You simply refer people to that product, and if the person you refer buys it, you get a percentage of that sale.

So why would someone else give you a cut of the profits from each sale? Because they need to get their product in front of new people! If you have a fanbase, you have access to people that they wouldn’t usually be able to reach. They want you to promote their product to your audience, and they’re willing to give you money any time you successfully do so.

Fans of yours will often want to live small parts of your lifestyle, so by casually mentioning some products you use here and there, you’ll get people looking into those products themselves. If they go on to buy it through your link, you’ll get some of the profits.

I’ll do another post covering affiliate marketing in more detail in future so you can get up and running, but for now, know that this is a good option to make extra money from your music site. If you have any questions before I write the guide, ask away in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer.

3. Advertising

Advertising is another way you can make money from your music site. You might already be familiar with advertising as a business model, even if it isn’t in terms of the music industry. Many of the biggest websites in the world use advertising as a way of making money from their site.

How it works is people pay to get their message in front of your audience. They may feel the people who like your music are a perfect fit for the product or service they’re trying to promote and would like to team up with you in this way.

There are a number of different types of advertising that are usually available. One common one is banner adverts. This is where they put an image advert on your website, usually in your sidebar or near the top/bottom of your site.

Another option is to advertise in your mailing list or on your social profiles. Many big musicians and celebrities allow people to put a banner advert in their mailing list, or send out a sponsored tweet for example.

One important thing to remember is the amount you can make from advertising is usually based on how much reach you have. So if you have a big fan base, you can charge more for people to advertise on your website. If you haven’t got a decent-sized fanbase however you won’t make much from this if anything.

4. Selling A Service

Another option you can use is selling a service you personally provide. So for example, let’s say you’re a singer. You’re well trained, and you can also teach other people how to become a better singer.

If you’ve got a decent-sized fanbase, chances are there will be other people who want to know how to sing like you. Furthermore, some will pay to get taught by you personally, either face to face or maybe even via a video chat service such as Skype.

So this is something you could offer to fans of your music. The once in a lifetime opportunity to be trained by you if they so desire.

If you have any other relevant services you can offer fans, offer those too. The key word though is relevant. There’s no point offering fans of your music a professional cleaning service just because you’re good at cleaning up; it’ll detract from your brand, and it’s not what people will be interested in when viewing your site.

There you have it, four ways you can make money from your website. Which way is best? Well, I personally recommenced you do numbers 1 and 2 100% definitely. Number 3, advertising, isn’t usually very profitable unless you have a lot of visitors. If you decide to go with it though, make sure the adverts are relevant, as again it can take away from your brand as a musician if they’re not.

Number 4 is a good idea if you have a relevant service to offer and you have the time to deliver. If not, stick to the first two.

So what’s your view? Do you have any other ways in which you can make money from your music website? Let me know in the comments.

Now, let’s see how you can create your music website in just a few minutes.

How to create a music website

If you’ve been putting off the decision to set up a music website because you assume it will be complicated or time-consuming, don’t worry. Creating a personal website or an eCommerce site is remarkably easy to set up on a WordPress content management platform. In fact, most people can go from start to finish in about 30 minutes — without any advanced tech skills or special training.

While there are literally hundreds of free hosting platforms out there, the self-hosting options available with WordPress.Org gives musicians and small business owners much more control over their site. WordPress is better for creating websites than a site builder because of the flexibility it provides users with the website building experience.

If you aren’t sure which approach is best for you, take a couple of minutes to review the differences. Because you’ll need to choose a hosting provider to use WordPress.org, this tutorial will walk you through launching a self-hosted website with Bluehost optimized WordPress hosting.

You could choose any other host but we recommend Bluehost since it’s the best WordPress hosting platform and the only one officially recommended by WordPress. To make things easier for our subscribers we obtained a good discount from Bluehost through our long-term partnership. By using the links on this page, you’ll get a free domain name and up to 67% off your hosting.

Here’s how to create a WordPress music website in five quick steps.

Step One: Getting Started and Choosing a Domain Name

Before you can begin building your music website, click here to get started on the Bluehost which will direct you to select your domain.

Get started and create your music website with Bluehost - How to create a music website and earn money

Your domain name is what people type into their browser to get to your website. Though it’s tempting to choose something funny or flashy, pick a domain that both represents your brand and makes it easy for people to find you.

For example, “bobsmithmusic.com” is better than “bobdoesmusicshows.com” because searchers that are looking for Bob by name or for music services are more likely to find him. The decision to register your domain name will depend on your reasons for building the music website.

One of the advantages of using a hosting service like Bluehost (which WordPress recommends) is that you can purchase your domain name and hosting service from the same provider. Simply type in your desired domain name, click on the “next” button, and the system will verify whether your choice is available. You can also choose an alternative top-level domain from the drop-down menu. For example, you may want .club or .us instead of .com.

select a domain for your music website

Step Two: Choose Your Package and Set Up Your Hosting Account

Once you have established your domain name, you’ll need to create an account for your hosting package. Enter your personal information into each field and then scroll down to the package lists (Basic, Plus, or Business Pro) and choose an option that fits your budget and service needs. Prices vary across hosting providers, but most offer add-ons, like extra security features, tools to boost search rankings, and site backup. For the best music website, we recommend the Choice Plus Plan which features domain privacy protection and site backup for your website.

bluehost hosting plans

Check the appropriate boxes and scroll down to enter your billing information. Take a moment to read through the terms of service, cancellation policy, and privacy notices, then click the box to confirm that you agree with the policies. Follow the on-screen instructions to create a password and, boom, you are ready for step three: choosing your WordPress theme.

password successfully created for hosting account

Step Three: Choose a WordPress Theme

If you’ve chosen Bluehost as your web host, WordPress will be automatically installed for you. All you have to do is click, ‘Log in‘ and choose a theme. if you aren’t sure which theme you want, don’t worry! You can go back and change it later. If you don’t like the generic themes, you can upgrade to one of the premium
themes.

select a theme for your music website - How to create a music website and earn money

The next screen will ask if you are building your website for Personal or Business reasons. This will help Bluehost provide you with accurate recommendations to help on your website building journal.

welcome to wordpress

Step Four: Learn Your WordPress Dashboard

Now that you are ready to start working, you should find yourself on the Dashboard, or the back-end, for your new website. This is the service area that allows you to control what your website visitors will see when they land on your pages. Spend some time learning this dashboard by reviewing features that you will use most often.

learn how to use your wordpress dashboard

Step Five: Customize Themes and Pages

Let the fun begin! You are ready to start fine-tuning your music site with your color choices, font styles, and special elements that will help you express your company culture or personality. You can dive right in and write your first post, but it’s beneficial to get to know the features and functionality of your site first.

On the left-hand sidebar, you’ll find navigation links that allow you to customize your site. The best way to get to know your way around is to click on each tab and explore the options.

  • Browse the themes; there are paid and free options available.
  • Customize your theme with colors, headers, and social media buttons.
  • Upload photos to inspire your site visitors and add clues about your values and services.
  • Create your first blog post and main page content.
  • Add a contact form

Don’t forget to set up Google Analytics in order to collect data on visitors coming to your site and link Google Search Console to make sure there are no errors.

These five steps will have you running a WordPress music website for your small business in no time — okay, about 30 minutes. Ready to get started? Get a free domain name and 67% off your self-hosted service package at Bluehost today!

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