Topic: Band website, how to do it on the cheap?

[Mike Pavor]

Hey guys,

I would like to know if any of you had any past experience about creating & having a band website?

I am not a programmer and I do not want to learn how to code HTML just to create that one website.

Here are the things that we want:
- Our own .com domain
- Servers included, with unlimited transfer
- Unlimited content/songs
- Music player on the website
- Fans can contact us directly on the website

It would be nice if it had Facebook & Twitter integration too.

How much should I be looking to spend for a custom website from a professional webmaster (including the requested features above)? Many people told us between 1,500$ and 3,000$ is the average pricing nowadays, is that true!!!? Do you guys have any suggestions? Is Myspace still good?

Thanks,
F.B.F

[Larry Rankine]

I've used (and am using) GoDaddy.com.  They do it all (domain, hosting, site design, etc.) for a reasonable price including a feature called Website tonight.  I have looked into getting a "custom designed" site and the figures you've quoted are accurate.  And that's only for site design, not the domain, hosting, etc.  Check out our site at www.westside10.com and you'll get an idea of what I've been able to put together for my band with no special "web" skills. 

Forgot to mention they've got integrated FB and Twitter support too.

[Mike Pavor]

Larry, thanks for the reply.

I made some research and ended up on Bandmo (http://bandmo.com) a website generator designed especially for music artists & bands. It’s pretty cheap considering that it includes hosting + domain + everything else. I think it might just be more simple to deal with them instead of ordering every element I need from different companies.

The reviews I found are looking pretty good, I am going to try it now and let you know what happens...

Thanks!

PS. If you guys have more suggestions, please reply to this thread!!!!

[Dave Kayser]

i might be late weighing in on this, but I like some the CMS (Content Management Systems) like Wordpress and Joomla.  There is a little learning curve but I've found them pretty easy to work with.  You'll still need to get domain name and a server to work from but that's not that expensive.  I spend about $85 a year on a shared server with e-mail and unlimited webspace. 

[Mike Pavor]

UPDATE!

I did it! Here's my new band website:
http://sunholesmusic.com/

What do you guys think? I like it!!!

I chose to do it with http://Bandmo.com - It's 100 % worth the price IMO. Took me about 1 hour to do everything.

[Alfred Brendel]

Cool site! I've just been telling my band we need a site too but was scared about the difficulties of building one.
I love your sites clean and simple design.

[Scott Hutton]

I used Bigcommerce.com for my last site. Really easy to use and pretty cheap.