How to Build a Website for Your Cover Band

This guest post by Melanie Kealey originally appeared on the Bandzoogle Blog.

Making a living playing music is the dream for many artists, and building a career out of entertaining others can be a rewarding business. 

Whether you’ve created the ultimate high-energy party band, or you supplement your original music by playing covers at the local pub, a website is a powerful tool for promotion. 

“Why would a cover band need a website?” There are many reasons to build one.  A dedicated website allows you full control over the visitor’s experience. Without unwanted advertisements, design limitations, or restrictive algorithms, you can build a website for your cover band that will directly help people hear the music you’re making and come out to your shows.

If you create original music but also pay the bills by playing covers at the local pub, a dedicated website (perhaps with one page for your cover project) can help you separate those stage personas.

Let’s look at how to build a website for your cover band:

Cover band website templates

As a performer, you probably don’t have time to fuss around with code. Choosing a cover band website template removes the stress of making a website from scratch. Plus, in this digital age, a template provides mobile responsiveness so that your website will work perfectly across all devices. 

Look for simplicity when choosing a cover band website template. You’ll want a layout with a stunning header, clear content area, and direct navigation. This will ensure that your website is modern, and organized to be quickly understood. 

The structure of your cover band website will fall into place from there, and you can simply add and update page content. Here are the important pages to include:

Homepage

A cover band website’s homepage should offer a quick look at what the band is all about. Think of it as a summary of the rest of your website. 

To create an impression that will resonate with your visitors, use a good quality image of your band as the central focus. A live shot is always a good choice, to show your band in action. If you play a certain genre (or decade) of music, try to communicate that in the photo.

If you are looking to book more shows, add a call-to-action on your homepage to encourage people to click through and book your band. You could also use a call-to-action to encourage your visitors to view your Shows page, which should give them a sense of your band’s live act.

Within the content of your homepage, include a brief introduction to your band – adding a description of its members, the music you play, and where you are located is a good way to include information that will help your band website’s SEO. 

You can also include a testimonial or two on this page, a blog for news, and your next few events to round out the content and engage your audience. Add social media icons for any platforms you post content to regularly, as well.

Another important element to include on your homepage is a mailing list sign-up form. Building your mailing list subscribers is key to getting a good turnout at your shows,  as you can contact fans when you’re playing near them. If you keep in touch with people who have seen you perform, they’ll be more likely to think of your band when they’re booking entertainment for weddings, parties, or corporate events.

About the band

Building a bio page for your band is not only good for search engines – it also helps your fans get to know you better. To create a nice flow on this page, start with a band bio at the top, explaining how your group formed, how long you’ve been playing together, and your live show highlights. 

Following this, create columns with text plus an image for each band member. You can write a musician bio for each band member, focussing on their individual story.

Add a band photo or two to help people get a sense of your look and sound. 

Shows page

This is where you’ll want to hook in your website visitors. An important part of playing covers is getting a good turnout to the venues where you perform, especially if you hold a residency gig. If you play a lot of private events, it’s important to show that your band is active.

Create a compelling Shows page for your cover band by adding your upcoming events, and listing out a few key figures. Have you sold out a venue, or played more than 50 weddings to date? Add a bit of text to draw attention to your live accomplishments on this page.

Make sure your show dates stand out by adding a poster or simple image of yourband for visual interest. Then, choose your best live videos and post one or two on this page. A highlight reel of your shows would work well here, if you have one.

Include your contact information on this page, or a link to your Contact page, to be sure you’re easily reachable for a booking.

Song List page

If a potential venue or client is thinking about booking you, they’ll likely head over to your Song List page to get a sense of the kind of music that you play. Be sure to organize the list so that the song titles are easy to scan. 

Start off this page with a bit of text about your band and the music that you play, noting different genres of music and if you create custom sets on request. If you offer the opportunity to select songs or learn a new song for a wedding or event, note that here.

Then list out all of your songs in a simple, clear font. You can organize the songs by era, genre, mood, or simply in alphabetical order by artist or song title.

If you have live recordings, adding an audio player or a video to this page will help promote your sound and clarify the kinds of functions for which you’d be a good fit. 

Make sure to update your Song List page regularly as your repertoire expands.

EPK for a cover band

Creating an EPK (Electronic Press Kit) for your cover band is a great way to draw in website visitors. It should act like an online resume, and offer a complete look into what a client would get when they book you. 

To shape that vision for your potential clients, start with a testimonial about your band. Choose a quote that describes how versatile your cover band is, or the size of crowd you can draw, or how strongly you can get the party going.

Next, you’ll want to add high-quality photos and a video. This is especially important for a cover band, to convey the energy of the live show through the website page. You’ll want to offer a few options with your photos, in case a venue wants to make a poster, or an event organizer needs to distribute an image to promote your upcoming performance.

Your EPK is also the place to highlight a few reviews on your website. This is an important section for your cover band’s EPK since positive reviews will help get your band get booked for more gigs. 

Virtual tip jar

Whether you play shows online or want to create a virtual option for in-person attendees, adding a virtual tip jar to your website gives your fans a simple way to support you.

You can create a page just for tips, and add some text about how contributions support the band. Or, you can add a tip jar to your Shows page. 

If you tend to play background music at restaurants, or provide ceremonial music at weddings, you don’t have to include a tip jar.  However, it is nice to add if you do play gigs where you might normally pass the hat – this gives fans and friends a digital option to support you.

Contact page

Create a contact page with its title clearly placed in your website menu,  so that anyone wanting  to contact you can easily see where to reach out. It’s easier for you and for clients to manage bookings through your  website than through social media, so make this page work for you.

The contact page is typically the last page in a website’s navigation, so people are used to finding it at the far right, or bottom, of your menu.

On this page, be sure to clearly list a way to contact the band by email and by phone. Many clients will still want to pick up the phone and talk to someone directly, both to get a sense of who you are, and to work out details for an event. 

You can also place a booking form on this page, setting a few parameters such as budget, show length, and desired date. Make sure that this form is set to notify a band member who will respond quickly. If you do play original music as well as covers, consider creating a dedicated email address for your cover project and send all form submissions for cover requests there. 

Keeping all of your promotional details in one place creates a seamless booking experience for clients. A website also helps fans see what your live show is like with just a few clicks, encouraging them to turn out at your events.

Whether your cover band pumps up a crowd with high-energy hits, or you provide sophisticated background sounds, having a cover band website will convey your professionalism to fans and clients alike, and help you book more gigs.

Melanie Kealey is the Communications Manager at music website platform, Bandzoogle.

Create your own cover band website in minutes with all of these features and more, and seamlessly integrate with GigSalad’s booking tools. Try Bandzoogle for free!

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