Dave Cool

This post was written for Bandzoogle, a website platform for musicians. Bandzoogle is a Montreal-based company, founded and run by musicians, and has every tool a musician needs for their website. Visit Bandzoogle.com to take the tour or get started right away and build your website free. When creating your website, you have to think about the different kinds of people that will be visiting it. These can be yourcurrent fans, potential new fans, as well as media and industry people. For that latter group, they’re likely looking for different information than your fans are, and you have to be sure to make it easy for them to find it. This can best be done by adding a Digital Press Kit to your website. Here are the essential elements to include in your digital press kit:

6 Essential Elements for your Digital Press Kit

1. Bio First and foremost, have your most current bio available. It would also be a good idea to have a few different versions of your bio, like an elevator pitch, a short bio (1 paragraph), a medium bio (a few paragraphs) and a long bio (4+ paragraphs). This way you’ll have options for whatever needs the media or industry person might have. 2. Images The next element to have in your digital press kit is a section with images available for download. Make sure some of these are hi-resolution images in case the media person or festival programmer needs to use the image for print. You should include a few different band photos, with vertical and horizontal options, as well as black & white versions. Be sure to also include the image for your most recent album coveras well. 3. Music Of course, you’ll need to have your music available to listen to. You should also make a few tracks available to download and/or embed, and if a media person wants to have a copy of your full album or EP, place clear information on who they can contact to get a copy. 4. Video Many blogs and online newspapers love to embed videos of the artists they’re covering to make the article more visual and engaging. Embed your best 2-3 videos in your digital press kit to make it easy to find a quality video that best represents your band. 5. Press Articles/Reviews It wouldn’t be a press kit without some press, so post links to a few of your best reviews and interviews. Be sure to pull the best quote from each review and include it underneath the link, don’t assume that people will click on each article and read them in full. 6. Contact info Even though you might have a “Contact” section on your website, include detailed contact info in your digital press kit to have everything in one place. You might also want to put a phone # where a media person can reach you if they need to speak to you in a hurry.

Where to place a Digital Press Kit on your Website

A digital press kit is an important element of your website, so create a “Press” or “Press Kit” section and include it as part of your main menu navigation. This will make it easy for bloggers, bookers and festival programmers to find the information that they’re looking for, and hopefully help you gain more exposure for your music and get more bookings for your band.

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Previous Website Quick Fix posts: Musician Website Quick Fix #8: Use a Contact Form Musician Website Quick Fix #7: Add Social Links Musician Website Quick Fix #6: Host Your Own Blog Musician Website Quick Fix #5: Add a Mailing List Sign-Up Musician Website Quick Fix #4: Make it easy to listen to your music Musician Website Quick Fix #3: Focus on one Call-to-Action Musician Website Quick Fix #2: Lose the Intro Page Musician Website Quick Fix #1: Turn off auto-start music