This is part 3 of a series of articles I am writing to share my experience rebuilding my piano studio after relocating to a new place. I recently moved internationally from California to New Zealand. While I am able to continue teaching many of my students online, I am also keenly aware of the importance of recruiting new students. I am doing a lot of home renovations right now, and every time I need to find a tradesperson or a product, I immediately go online to search! If you are reading this, no doubt you already have a studio website. If not, you need to get one! Mine desperately needs updating. Here are some of my considerations.
3 Ways To Update Your Music Studio Website
- Static homepage versus blog format. I have tried both versions over the years. Static homepage means your visitors always see the same main page every time they go to your website. Blog format means the content on the home page refreshes whenever you post something new. My first website was built in 2006, as part of my portfolio when applying for MTNA National Certification. It was a static website, with a simple navigation menu that tells people about who I am, what I do, and how to contact me. Then over the years I turned into blog format, so my website became sort of like a newsletter of my studio activities. That worked very well and I believe is what made my studio thrive; people could read all about the latest studio events and student accomplishments, and it gave them a reason to keep coming back. These things drove more traffic to my website and increase its search engine ranking. But then I became a mom and time is a luxury! I am almost too embarrassed to refer people to my website now because the content is so old! I think I will go back to a static homepage for a while, especially now that I just moved. People just want to know the basic information!
- Keep it simple. My current website has a ton of information. Too much to digest for a new visitor. I will be doing a lot of trimming. As I navigate through home renovation websites and search for the tradespeople I am looking to hire for various jobs around the house, I find that I am really only interested in 3 things: their expertise/experience, reviews, and price!
- Social media. While I don’t have the time anymore to update content on my website, I do post frequently on my studio Facebook page. It is just much easier to do. I need to make it easy for people to click onto my Facebook page, should they be interested. Right now that button is buried somewhere! Same goes with my YouTube channel. And may be one of these days I will actually try Twitter and Instagram...
I will use both Wordpress and the free studio website that comes with my DuetPartner account. I am very happy to find that there are mobile-optimized templates for Duet Partner. Wordpress will still be my homepage, but I will be able to update much more easily on my DuetPartner page. I think this will give me the best of both worlds! And if anyone doesn’t yet have a studio website, then you definitely just need to sign up for Duet Partner and start building one.
Are you also thinking of revamping your studio website? How often do you update it? What software do you use? How much information do you put on your website? Share your comments!
