WEBSITES

As mentioned earlier, basic website giving dates, times, contact details and line-ups can be very useful. Websites can vary greatly in their complexity and cost.

There are free website templates available online that allow you to upload your own information within a pre-designed template. For example:
http://www.webs.com/
http://www.doyourownsite.co.uk/
http://www.webstarter.co.uk/
http://www.ning.com/
http://www.mrsite.com/

These range from being completely free, to charging a small monthly fee.

If you choose to have a site produced professionally, the costs can be much more. You will pay for the design of the site, the building of the site, the hosting and site domain name. Following this, the site will need regular maintenance and you will have to take on managing the uploading and updating of information on the site. Consider the kind of image you want to give out, so for a small community event a simple free website will probably be sufficient, but if you want to attract large levels of sponsorship or visitors you may want a professional looking website. See if you can use a local web design company, who may be able to offer you a discount on their pricing.

There are two ways of managing the information/content on the website, either the content can be uploaded and edited by the website designers, or you can choose to have a 'Content Management System (CMS)' which allows you to log in as an administrator and edit the content yourself as often as you like.

One option is to start small with a basic site giving programming information, contact details and box office information and use audience feedback to find out if the site meets the needs of your target audience and then make a decision as to whether to expand it further and include more information on your acts, or events, or venues.

You may also wish to add an online ticket sales facility to your website, either through Paypal or an external ticketing agency, such as Quay Tickets (see Ticketing section for further information).

Once your website is up and running, you will be able to access information on user statistics, such as how many people visited your site, how long they stayed on your site, how did they find it and what words did they search for in Google. There is also further marketing activity that you can do to promote your website, this is usually called 'Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)'.

It is important to remember that your website should be branded in the same way as your printed materials so that audiences can recognise your event and your brand remains strong. You may wish to consider designing a logo to help with the branding, which can be used on all printed materials, such as letterheads, business cards, posters, flyers, brochures, as well as on the website.  A logo is a simple, visual design that can effectively show who you are and what you represent, it will also make you stand out and be easily identifiable.

Resource
It is helpful to get advice on developing website, or to start with a guide, like the one provided by the Arts Council on Developing Websites. It is a practical guide to developing and managing websites: Guide for arts organisations looking to develop a website for the first time, or improve their on-line presence.