DIY Website Part 1 – Be Your Own Web Designer
Introduction
Hi! My name is Alex Thio and I am webmaster of this website. Thanks for dropping by!
Besides my life’s calling as a pianist and instrumental/vocal accompanist, I also busy myself with web design and current technology. I know those are very different hats to wear – but those are my passions. In a small way, I have shared both those passions with others – as a piano teacher to my students, collaborative pianist to musicians, web designer to clients, and web geek to my family.
I decided sometime this past month to begin a blog series on DIY Websites for the independent music teacher. In one time or another, you might have considered starting your own music studio website. You’ve probably searched online for web design services that would help you stake a claim to a small piece of land on the Internet that you could call your very own. You’ve also probably seen or heard how much it costs – and hesitated to move forward with your dream to have a music studio website.
I beg of you: Don’t give up that dream!
You CAN have a website of your own.
You CAN build it and maintain it yourself.
You CAN do both with very little cost involved.
You CAN do it!
This DIY Website Blog Series is just what you need to get started. And it is yours absolutely for the wonderful price of FREE.
Why FREE? Well, I’ve enjoyed the process of building and maintaining websites myself. The website you’re on right now is just one of them. I’ve also found freedom and independence in being my own web designer. I’m free to tweak the site, add new content, post new pictures, write fresh blog articles – anytime I want, any chance I get. And you can too!
Benefits of having your own music studio online
Here are some of the benefits of having your own website and music studio online:
- A central place where students/parents can visit to view your teaching schedule, studio calendar, recital information, studio policies, and studio fee information
- A channel of communication for your studio through online newsletters or a blog
- A place where students can book or reschedule lessons with you online
- A body of resources that you can make available for download, including scale and arpeggio charts, practice logs, music theory worksheets, music history outlines and other educational material
- An opportunity for parents to pay for their tuition online
Those are just a few of the many other benefits you could experience by owning your own website and running it by yourself. I’m sure you can think of a few more ways a website could specifically help you – but essentially, a website of your own is going to help you save time and money.
Do you have $8000 to spare?
There’s a website design company called WebpageFX that has a website project quote calculator which helps you determine how much a website project may cost if you should hire them to build your website. I decided to try it (on your behalf) to see how much actually a basic website might cost these days. We’re talking ‘rough’ figures here – so don’t roll off your chair.
Number of pages: 1 – 10
Style of design: Simple yet attractive
Copywriting # of pages: None (assuming you’ll write all the content of the website yourself)
SEO w/ Placement Guarantee: Search Engine Optimization (how to get found on the Internet) – we’ll skip this for now
Flash or Multimedia: Simple Header
Database Integration: Basic (we won’t worry about this for now, either)
e-Commerce Functionality: None (assuming you won’t be selling stuff)
CMS: Standard
Total Estimated Quote: $ 8,000
If you’re gasping in shock, I won’t blame you.
You see, a professional website design firm has within its company trained and talented web designers, web developers and graphic artists required to run a profitable business. They deserve every bit of the income they earn because website design and maintenance is time-consuming and an art in itself.
Don’t let me scare you, though. There ARE website design firms that will offer you a well-designed and functional website that will meet your music studio needs for MUCH less ($2000 – $4000) for a basic website.
But here’s the deal: do you know that you can build and maintain your own website (based on a wonderful and free platform called WordPress) for under $150 or less .. a year?
Again… If you’re gasping in shock, I won’t blame you.
Be Your Own Web Designer
And before you think you’d rather pay someone else to build your music studio website, STOP!
I want to encourage you that you can be your own web designer. I did it, and you can too.
Here’s what you will need:
- A computer (Windows or Mac)
- An internet connection (preferably high-speed broadband internet access)
- A domain name* (example, www.MyVeryOwnMusicStudioOnline.com)
- A web hosting service* (a company offering ‘space’ for you to build your website and have it accessible to all)
- A basic knowledge of word processing
- A basic knowledge of WordPress
*Price of a domain name these days: $8 – $10 a year. Price of a web hosting package: $6 to $9 per month
What do you think? Can you handle this so far?
If not, don’t sweat it! At the risk of putting myself out of business, I want to point you to a wonderful service online called Music Teacher’s Helper (www.musicteachershelper.com). Designed for music teachers, this service offers you an all-in-one package including professionally designed themes for your new website, automatic invoicing (accept credit card payments), a studio calendar and many more features you would need to run an online music studio.
If you want to take the challenge of being your own web designer, then I encourage you to continue reading this blog series on DIY Website for the independent music teacher!