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Dear John

Websites as promotional tools

First published 17th March 2005 (updated Feb 2008)

Question:
I'm thinking of getting a website to promote my career, but I'm not very technical. There seem to be lots of services available but the costs and offers vary alarmingly. Can you advise me?

Answer:
I'm not very technical either, so my brother Donal who designed my own site and the hard-working Stage online team are the ones I rely on for advice. But one thing I have learned is that no matter how basic or flashy your site, it will do you no good unless people visit it. So, like every other person selling a product 'online' to get the best value from your site, you will need to spend time marketing and promoting it.

Perhaps a better way to ask your question would be "how much time am I prepared to spend on marketing myself and what would be the best way to invest that time?". As I have said many, many times in this column, fair or unfair as it may seem, in the real world marketing yourself as a performer is so essential that it has to be primarily YOUR responsibility, with whatever your agent or your webmaster is doing as a bonus.

Having said that, when you do take on professional support whether it’s an agent or an IT person, you should both be clear on what is being offered and how results are to be assessed.

If you are still keen to go down the website route (and yes, I do think it's a good idea) a company which specialises in low-cost but good-looking sites for even the most non-techie performers is Rach Web Design. You can email them via their site www.rachwebdesign.co.uk