Do I Need A Website?

Do you need a website?. Well that depends entirely on how you wish to market your Mobile Disco and the type of clients you hope to attract. Do you want to increase business?. Most people now have some form of access to the internet, whether at home, at work or through their school or university. For many, searching for a service or product using Google is now much the prefered alternative to opening a phone book, or scanning the Yellow Pages. With the increase in Broadband technology and the rapid fall in prices then this trend is very likely to continue and grow, with more and more people of all ages having some form of regular internet use. Do you want to miss out on this potential and growth?

Many DJ's think nothing of spending hundreds or thousands of pounds on conventional advertising in Yellow Pages and similar directories, and yet are still missing out on the earning potential of having a website presence. For some this is simply through not having the relevant skills or feeling that they have no webdesign capabilities to even begin to build their own site. However with many webhosts now offering WYSIWYG web creation tools and web builder packages, anybody who is capable of booting a computer now has the posibility of creating a basic website to promote their business.

After word of mouth, my website accounts for nearly all of the new business which my own Mobile Disco gets. I get around 50 unique visitors and several enquiries every week from the site alone. Given a price versus bookings comparison, it is the most competitive form of advertising which I have ever used, and the one which yields the most success when it comes to confirmed bookings!.

 Remember that the more professional your website looks, the greater chance of impressing potential clients, and of getting an enquiry. For this reason, employing the services of a webdesigner may be a prefered alternative. Let’s talk about how you can build your website with even limited knowledge. Your options are popular software such as Microsoft FrontPage, or other software such as x-site pro. Many DJ's have found great success in designing their own websites. Some webhosts such as Easyhost offer free website building tools included in their hosting packages. Whichever option you decide to choose, when building your website and promoting its existance, there are a few points to consider, and we will discuss those below.

Always avoid free hosting. These are webhosts who allow you to upload your own site for free onto their server. However in return they often add Advertising banners and pop ups onto your website, and these can prove very annoying to internet users, look cheap and tacky and not portray a professional, business image. You may have a very professional looking website, however if masses of pop ups great your visitors, then they'll often close their browsers or surf away without bothering to read any further. Professional webhosting without any form of banners is available for as little as £25 a year - far cheaper than one advert in the local paper!, so don't skimp when it comes to reliable hosting.

Buy a domain name. This promotes your unique company identity. If your business is called bloggs mobile disco then consider a domain name such as www.bloggs-disco.co.uk. Domains ending in .co.uk are often cheaper than .com and will also boost your search engine rankings in country based search engines such as google UK try and incorporate a keyword such as 'disco' within the domain name. We will get to other keyword use later.

The most effective websites are the ones which load fast and offer a clean, smooth appearance free of useless information and are uncluttered. Make sure that your name and description of your business appears on each page, and that if your site has more than one pagem that they are all linked together using an HTML Menu. Do not be tempted to use flash or other fancy image type menus, because search engines will not be able to index the site easily.

Keep the site simple. Remember that you have to make the site appealing to search engine spiders as well as human visitors in order to get your website onto the search engines. After all, it is pointless having a good, professional looking site, if nobody can find it!. Avoid the use of fancy flash based websites and splash pages, although they may add an initial wow factor to the first impression, they are often impossible for search engines to spider and index, plus they may take forever to load on a slow connection. Very few visitors will wait 30 seconds for pages to load, or install special viewers so avoid going over the top with these types of presentation!

Keywords are the words that people use to enter into search engines in order to find a site. Consider which keywords people will be using to find your website. Don't just concentrate on words such as 'Mobile Disco' look for other niche search terms and phrases too. Your website should contain as many keywords as possible on each page. Don't be tempted to just add loads of raw keywords in meaningless strings onto your page, since search engines are wise to this practice of cheating and will penalise your site, plus it looks messy to your human visitors too!. It is far more effective to incorporate these keywords into text paragraphs and try and vary their frequency, so for example if you were a mobile disco based in Milton Keynes you could try the following:-

Bloggs Disco, a professional Mobile Disco serving the Milton Keynes Area. We offer entertainment at Weddings, Childrens Parties and Birthdays.

And then later in the page...

Contact our DJ today for a quotation all of your Mobile Disco requirements in Milton Keynes.

By doing this, and varying the phrases whilst keeping them keyword rich, you are effectively giving Google something to work with. Hopefully, by adding as many keyword strings as possible your site will appear for several different search terms such as 'Mobile Disco Milton keynes' or 'Mobile DJ Milton Keynes' or 'Wedding Entertainment Milton Keynes'

A Picture paints a thousand words, so don't forget to add pictures to your website!. But keep the, fairly small so that the site loads quickly. Often 640 x 480 resolution is ideal. Also consider building a dedicated gallery area with pictures of various functions which you have done in the past, and remember that potential clients will probably prefer to see full dancefloors!.Avoid long descriptions about how much equipment you have, or that you use the new super dooper extra powerful laser. Comparing equipment is only of interest to other DJ's and rarely of concern or top priority to our clients. Besides they can see just how good and how neat and tidy your roadshow looks from your pictures!.

Always display clearly your contact information, and this should include a telephone number. Avoid Hotmail and other free web email addresses such as MSN or Yahoo because this doesn't look professional and can also be blocked by your recipients spam filter. If you have registered a domain name for your site you will be able to set up email based on this, and cutomise it to your own requirements, for example:- sales@bloggs-disco.co.uk or enquiries@bloggs-disco.co.uk . Offering an enquiry form on your website is also a good idea, since it will prevent your email address being copied from your site to be used for Spam (Unsolicited Emails), and ensure that you have all of the relevant information from the client to be able to quote accurately for the booking.

Getting your site onto the search engines is the hardest part of the excercise, and this may take between 3 and 12 months to get a decent rank. The more you promote your site the easier it is, and the more successful the results.Simply submitting your site URL to Google's Submit a Site page is not the most effective way of listing your site and neither is it the quickest. The most effective way of getting your site visited by Search Engines is to add your link to Existing websites and directories which already have a search engine presence. Two such directories which allow free site listings are www.uk-mobile-disco.co.uk  and www.your-wedding.info

Probably the most effective way of boosting search engine presence and getting your website onto search engines quicker is to swap links with other sites. Why not build a links page on your website and use this to return links?. Remember that it is only polite internet etiquette to link back to websites which link to you, so it is often expected that you will have a link already in place on your own website, when you contact another DJ and ask to add your link to his /her site!. Don't just limit swapping links with other DJ's - also consider adding other Wedding Service providers such as Photographers, Wedding Cakes etc

Useful Links

Uk2.net webhosting - High Quality UK Webhosting for just £3.99 a month!. Includes 2500mb of webspace and 100gb of bandwidth.

Easyspace Webhosting - Webhosting Packages from £25 per Year. Features free .co.uk domain name included in hosting package and a free website builder on £49 packages to help with the step by step creation of your website.

1&1 Internet Limited - Domain Name Registration and Hosting, UK Domains from £1.99 a year!