# Making your own website?



## Resoded (Jan 31, 2015)

Time moves fast and it's getting to the point where I want to set up a website to promote my composing services and such. I've been setting aside a budget for hiring a webdesigner, but then I just recently found out that there are much cheaper services with premade website templates. So I was wondering, does anyone here have any experience with these things? Any pros and cons? Do they work even for someone with zero webdesign skills or are the problematic somehow?


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## d.healey (Jan 31, 2015)

I've always built my own sites but I've heard good things about wix.com, and a lot of folks use wordpress and drupal but I think these two are a little more complicated for the novice.


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## TheUnfinished (Jan 31, 2015)

I find using WordPress, with a template from Theme Forest, an extremely easy and rewarding way of looking after your own website.

One thing though... make sure the person who creates the template offers decent support. Nothing more frustrating than a really great template that has a designer who never responds to help requests.

I've been using WP sites for four or five years now.


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## musicformedia (Jan 31, 2015)

Just so happens that I actually wrote an article about this!

http://filmandgamecomposers.com/guides/ ... r-website/


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## gsilbers (Jan 31, 2015)

i used squarespace and its cool and its easy to use and modify


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## Greg (Jan 31, 2015)

I made my own by finding a template I really liked then modifying it quite a bit.

www.SecessionStudios.com

I had absolutely no web design knowledge, just fired up dreamweaver and learned via trial and error / youtube tutorials. Learned quite a bit about website design, now it's ez pz to update anything myself.


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## SymphonicSamples (Jan 31, 2015)

TheUnfinished @ Sun Feb 01 said:


> I find using WordPress, with a template from Theme Forest, an extremely easy and rewarding way of looking after your own website.


Totally agree with TheUnfinished , that was my path when I created my site . Relatively easy to setup , maintain and customize .


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## Richard Wilkinson (Jan 31, 2015)

Themeforest/wordpress also here - wilx.co.uk . Far less stressful than my previous html efforts!


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## rgames (Jan 31, 2015)

This topic has come up several times in the past - in my experience, a website for a composer is not much use unless you're trying to build a fan base. If you're just trying to get scoring gigs, I don't think it does much for you.

Certainly nobody loads up a browser to look for a composer. The only reason someone would go to your website is if you were already in contact regarding a gig and the person was looking for more examples of your work. But odds are he'll ask you to provide demo material directly, or go to your YouTube channel or SoundCloud page long before he looks at your website.

In nearly 10 years the only correspondence I've had via my website is from other composers.

So a web page is a nice touch but, in my experience, not much use. I have yet to meet the composer who says "I was having a hard time getting gigs, but then I put up my website and WHAM! I got gig A, then gig B, then gig C, etc." Alas, it doesn't work that way...

rgames


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## Hannes_F (Jan 31, 2015)

Hmm, it might be different for different people ... I know examples of composers that started with a nice website and good demos and went into business with that. I don't mean that necessarily the website was the all-deciding factor but it was a part of the puzzle.

On the other hand I know of composers that had a poor website or none at all and went from there. So there are examples for both.


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## David Donaldson (Jan 31, 2015)

We've made 2 websites lately using the wix.com templates. We also just wanted the ease of being able to update the site easily, which you can with wix. They are really easy to use. It's worked out all good for us so far. 

www.plan9.co.nz 
www.modwheel.co.nz

In answer to rgames who thought they were a bit pointless, I don't agree. I reckon it has helped us get a couple of jobs.


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## Marius Masalar (Feb 1, 2015)

This topic has come up before and I always recommend that people stay away from Wix/Weebly/Wiffle/Wibblywoo and all the rest of those platforms. 

If you want to be taken seriously, your website needs to have a certain degree of polish, and the Wix templates are anything but. It's better to have no web presence at all than a bad one.

The Wordpress + Themeforest option is great for those who are willing to do a bit of legwork, and the more you're willing to do the more you can customize it to your liking. SquareSpace is the only prebuilt system I ever recommend because theirs is a very good platform.

And the absolute best solution is—as always—to hire a professional and trust their expertise. Admittedly I have some bias here, but really...we complain that people cheap out on music instead of hiring us, but we in turn are perfectly willing to cheap out when it comes to web development. Doesn't seem right.

As to the question of value, that's a tricky one. I've had a lot of work come in through my website, but others have not, and that may be a matter of different niches, or it may be a matter of how that site is used, or it may just be a matter of how good that website is.

Personally I wouldn't want to be without a website, and I'm glad I invested the time and energy I did into making one myself.


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## Resoded (Feb 1, 2015)

Thanks everyone for the replies! I think I'll definitely go for a selfmade one. Wordpress+theme forest seems interesting.

rgames: May be true, but I have multi purpose intents with the website with other work related things so it's ok if it doesn't land me any composing gigs. 

Marius: May also be true, but the value a professional can give must be weighed against costs and income aswell.


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## AC986 (Feb 1, 2015)

David Donaldson @ Sat Jan 31 said:


> www.plan9.co.nz
> www.modwheel.co.nz
> 
> In answer to rgames who thought they were a bit pointless, I don't agree. I reckon it has helped us get a couple of jobs.



I like the Plan 9 one. Great photo on the home page. Where is that?


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## David Donaldson (Feb 1, 2015)

adriancook @ Mon Feb 02 said:


> David Donaldson @ Sat Jan 31 said:
> 
> 
> > www.plan9.co.nz
> ...



Thanks. It's a still showing Scott Base and McMurdo Station from a film we scored last year "Antarctica A Year On Ice" It's an awesome doco about what life is like for people who work in Antarctica by Anthony Powell, who has wintered over down there something like 14 times! There's a trailer for it on the Plan 9 work page.


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