Yes, You Should Have a Videos Page on Your Band’s Website
It’s no secret that video is one of the most popular content formats online. So a great way to keep fans on your website is by embedding videos
on your site. In fact, we here at Bandzoogle think videos are important enough to have
their own page on the main menu of your website.
However, many musician websites either don’t have a Videos page, or
simply send people away to YouTube. Having a “Videos” section on your
site with embedded videos allows you to curate which videos people see.
With YouTube, there might be hundreds of live videos filmed by fans
that might not be the greatest quality. Embedding videos on your site
allows you to control the video content that visitors will see so you
can put your best foot forward.
And remember, once you send someone away to YouTube, you’ve lost them
from your website, and you've sent them away to a site that is filled
with distractions. YouTube is a noisy site with tons of ads and lots of
other unrelated videos to watch (cat videos anyone?). In today’s music
industry, a fan’s attention is the most precious and scarce commodity.
Don’t waste it!
Here are some tips for setting up a Videos page on your website:
Organize the Videos
Embedding video on your site allows you to showcase your best quality
videos in a controlled environment, but chances are you have several
different types of videos to choose from. Similar to how you would organize photos
on your website, create different galleries for each type of video and
post a few for each category. For example, you could create separate
galleries for Official videos, Live videos, Cover songs, etc.
For more ideas on the types of videos you can create, check out the blog post “Musicians: 8 Killer, Cost-Effective Videos To Add To Your YouTube Strategy”
Don’t Overdo it
Remember, the point of embedding videos on your site is to curate the content,
so don’t overdo it. Having too many videos creates a similar problem
for the visitor as going to YouTube: which video should they watch?
Plus, embedding tons of videos on your page really slows down your site,
taking more time to load, and chances are a person is not going to keep
scrolling down and down to find more videos. Having between 2 and 8
videos embedded on your Videos page is probably the sweet spot.
With fewer videos, you should also take advantage of the design flexibility you have with your own website and embed large videos.
Don’t make people watch tiny videos on your site, or worse, force them
to click away to YouTube to see large versions. Give them nice big
videos to watch right on your website.
If you really want to lots of videos on your site, one option is to
create a playlist for specific types of videos and embed the playlists
onto your site. Not sure how to create a YouTube playlist? Read this
post: How to add a video playlist to your band website
Add Context: Titles & Descriptions
By posting videos on your website, it also allows you to add context to
them. Sometimes embedded videos from YouTube don’t show the video
titles, so first make sure you add a title for each video.
Then to really add context, write a description for each video, telling the story behind it.
Is it for a cover song? Why did you choose that song? Is it an original
song? From which album? Where was the video shot? By who? Did anything
funny happen during the shoot? Is there anything you’re particularly
proud of with this video? Give people as much information as you can to
encourage them to click play.
Keep it Fresh
And finally, don’t let your Videos page go stale. Have a new
official video? Add it to the top of the page. Older videos feeling a
bit stale? Filter them out. That being said, if you have older videos
that are still getting lots of views, by all means, keep them on your
site, but if you have videos that are performing better and need the
space on your site, don't be afraid of doing a little cleanup on your
Videos page on a regular basis.
Your website should not be static. You should update your site on a
regular basis to give fans a reason to keep coming back, so you’ll gain
valuable data about where they’re coming from, get them signed up to
your mailing list, and shopping in your Store. Videos are a great way to drive fans to your site, so make sure you’re using them to drive people to your own site, and not a site you don’t own or control.
Hypebot contributing writer Dave Cool is Director of Artist Relations for musician website & marketing platform Bandzoogle. Twitter: @Bandzoogle | @dave_cool
