my first website

January 18, 2011 6:20 PM

I'm making a small website for my band.

We'd like to host mp3s, have a page of youtube clips, upcoming shows, and a place to post pictures/art. we don't need comments.

I'm a decent computer sound engineer and poster/tshirt/album artist but I have no html skills. (are those even the skills you need?)

Here's the question: do we just make a tumblr that has links to youtube and soundcloud?

Do we want to have a domain name and pay for hosting?
No one has any html skills or anything. We have a small budget and a ton o' art to scan.

What steps do we take to get off of myspace, host some free downloads and have it look semi-awesome?

posted by kittensofthenight to computers & internet (11 answers total)

Have you tried setting one up on flavors.me?

Link in your band's twitter account, sound clips from soundcloud, updates via tumblr or posterous, free form text fields, live preview etc.

No html skill required.
posted by special-k at 6:31 PM on January 18, 2011

Definitely buy a domain. There are tons of options for that. Godaddy seems to be popular in the US, though I wouldn't even begin to consider that a recommendation.

Take a look at flavors.me. Simple and attractive. It'll give you something to start with. Cargo is also quite good and relatively simple.

I also suggest you look at Bandcamp. They go into some detail about setting up a custom domain name here.

I'm sure there'll be alternatives following this too.
posted by Magnakai at 6:35 PM on January 18, 2011

Nthing the suggestion for a domain name and hosting. $50 max a year is what it costs. Checkout the posts here or on lifehacker.com for hosting plans. Most hosting providers do throw in a domain name free.

Does chronological separation make any difference to you? In case it does, then a simple wordpress blog with a band-oriented them would take care of your future needs, in case you need additional functionality.

Setting up a wordpress blog is super easy with simple install scripts provided by the hosting company.

No HTML skills needed and wordpress has probably the best support groups in the world for this sort of thing.

Let me know if you need additional help in case you decide to go through this route.
posted by theobserver at 7:04 PM on January 18, 2011

I like dreamhost.com for what it's worth. If you can camp it long enough, they'll have random sales for like... $9.99 for an entire year with a free domain, I think.

Also has 1-click installs of wordpress, which I also like. You can totally get by with no HTML, and there are awesome plugins like gig calendar, etc to help you along.
posted by jlunar at 7:18 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

Get a domain name at the minimum. Basic Html can be picked up in an hour or two and semi-basic css can be picked up soon after, but it's your call if you want to do the wordpress or go html. It's not difficult to point your domain name at anything (you could have your www.kittensofthenight.com point to your wordpress or tumblr, your facebook, the obits page of the nytimes), but rather a question of whether or not you want to make your site from scratch or learn how to use an existing system (i.e., wordpress or tumblr). Either way, after you choose, you'll do best if you do a little research and find someone who's already doing it that way (making their own html page or using wordpress regularly), who'll patiently sit down and explain the basics to you over an afternoon. After that, gravy. Seriously, if you can do sound engineering and basic design, you'll pick up the basics in an afternoon.
posted by history is a weapon at 7:23 PM on January 18, 2011

It is nice to have a domain, but there are enough free hosting sites that you won't need to pay for the hosting of your webspace. I like http://www.000webhost.com/.
posted by saxamo at 7:46 PM on January 18, 2011

Buy a domain and and hosting from some where that offers 1-click wordpress installation.
posted by WizKid at 8:36 PM on January 18, 2011

Bandcamp or Topspin
posted by AugustWest at 8:39 PM on January 18, 2011

Yeah. Dreamhost, Wordpress with Bandcamp. Easy to set up, easy to work with. I suggest also making sure you have your own Facebook page and Twitter feed to control your social networking directly.

You'll find it easy to use (in my opinion, but I've been a computery type for a long time), and you will have good control.

You can also put in a forum plugin - if you use Dreamhost there's a couple installable - if you want to have forums for interacting with the fans, but that may be a 'a bit later' thing for you.
posted by mephron at 11:28 PM on January 18, 2011 [1 favorite]

It's free, so consider a glance at Google Sites.
posted by asymptotic at 5:26 AM on January 19, 2011

Thanks!

This will be a fun weekend.
posted by kittensofthenight at 1:46 PM on January 21, 2011