Quote:
Originally Posted by flamestalker
That's what I gathered from this thread.. looking to start a website as well to promote my music. Any tips people have when starting up a website? This is going to be completely new for me
|
I know that many musicians use something like
http://www.hostbaby.com/ (since it's integrated with CD Baby), but if you really want something that you can control and that will grow with you, doing a self-hosted WordPress install like llama said is absolutely your best bet. It's quite literally a one-click install to get it up and running from most web hosts - and then it's a matter of making it yours, which you'll do through themes and to a lesser extent, plugins.
For WordPress themes, don't be afraid to go with a prefab, premium theme. I do a lot of work for clients who can't afford to go with a completely custom theme (or who frankly don't need something completely custom given their aims); given the plethora of options available, starting with a stock theme is the right choice. In fact, for many people and even small businesses, I think purchasing a premium theme is very smart - you can get a lot of mileage out of an option like that, especially in the hands of someone competent who can customize it as needed (code-wise and design-wise).
I'd suggest staying away from freebie themes, as they just don't have the level of support and quality overall (that's not to say there's not good options out there - there are, but it's a lot harder to find a quality free theme). Good off-the-shelf options can be found at places like
http://themeforest.net,
http://woothemes.com,
http://studiopress.com
Look for a theme that has good reviews, a decent number of purchases (more purchases means more chances that something would have gone wrong - if you see several purchases and a high rating, it's more reliable than a highly rated, infrequently purchased theme). Definitely look for a theme that's 'responsive' - some 60-70% of all internet traffic after 6pm happens on mobile devices.
I could go on at length, but that's probably more than enough info overload. If you've got specific questions, though, don't hesitate to ask (here or PM, whatever).