Creating a band website: A complete checklist

As a musician you may be keeping active on social media and streaming to build your fanbase. But in this age of busy online chatter, a musician needs a website to create an actual online presence that shows you’re professional, and serious about your career in music.

Your website is your online home. Social and streaming are where fans discover you. Your website is where they commit. It’s the one place you control—your story, your design, your data, and your sales.

This checklist clarifies the things you should add to your music website, step by step:

Creating a band website: A complete checklist

▢ Get professional photos

The most important thing you can do for your band website is get professional photos. Band photos should reflect your sound at a glance, and appear crisp and compelling.

Pro tip: Shoot both horizontal and vertical options, plus one clean background image for banners and Smart Links. Upload high-res files—Bandzoogle will automatically optimize them for fast loading.

▢ Choose a modern template

Pick a fresh website design template. Explore Bandzoogle’s latest minimal and bold templates (like Timbre) to give your site a modern look that’s automatically mobile-friendly and easy to customize.

Pro tip: Start with a template preset, then tweak section styles and image focal points to keep your brand consistent across pages.

▢ Organize your menu

Select pages to display in your website's menu. In addition to your Home page, you can add an About, Music, Shows, Photos, Videos, Press Kit, and Contact page so visitors quickly find what they need.

Pro tip: Keep your website navigation menu to 6–8 top-level items. Use nested sub-pages to reduce clutter on mobile.

▢ Create an effective homepage

Your homepage is the gateway to your website.Feature a striking image, a short intro, a music player, and a clear next step (like "join the mailing list" or "Listen to the new single").

Pro tip: Place one primary call to action above the fold using a button or the dedicated Call-to-Action Header feature.

▢ Add an artist bio

An effective musician bio helps fans, venues, and media learn about you, and it can be copied easily for press. A concise, current bio also supports your website's Google search results.

Pro tip: Add short (50–75 words) and long (150–200 words) versions. Use the Quote feature to highlight a standout press pull-quote with attribution.

▢ Upload music to stream and sell

Showcase your latest release  or essential tracks on your Home page, then create a dedicated Music page for your catalog. Fans can stream, buy digital downloads, or purchase full albums directly.

Pro tip: Enable track previews, set pay-what-you-want pricing on select songs, and add lyrics/liner notes in the track descriptions.

▢ Add an events calendar

Whether it's a cross-country tour or local residency, include a gig calendar and keep it updated. Add location, time, ticket links, and set a reminder to update past dates.

Pro tip: Instead of directing fans to an external website, you can generate and sell event tickets directly through Bandzoogle's 'Calendar' feature.

▢ Add photos and videos

Feature a gallery of your best images on a Photos page, and embed YouTube or Vimeo clips across your website (homepage, EPK, and Videos page). Include a few high-resolution press photos on your EPK page.

Pro tip: Use descriptive alt text on images and clear video titles. This improves accessibility and can boost SEO.

▢ Create an EPK (Electronic Press Kit)

An EPK is essential for meida and promoters. Choose from Bandzoogle’s preset EPK page options, then add a short bio with photo, press images, a sample track, a video, quotes, and contact info.

Pro tip: Include quick-hit facts (hometown, genre, "For fans of…" details), and highlight a downloadable press photo. Add a separate 'Stage plot & tech rider' section if you tour.

▢ Add an online store to sell merch

Merch drives revenue  for musicians. Set up CDs, vinyl, apparel, posters, product bundles, and more in your online store. You can also connect your Printful account to sell print-on-demand items without holding inventory.

Pro tip: Feature a 'New Merch' section on your Home page to spotlight fresh drops. Keep in mind that merch sales can go far beyond the typical CDs or digital downloads, so be sure to explore creative band merch ideas you can offer.

▢ Add an email sign-up form to build your mailing list

Email remains the best way to reach your most invested fans. Grow your email list by adding a sign-up form to your Home and Contact pages, or on a dedicated landing page that supports your promotion campaigns.

Pro tip: Offer an incentive (exclusive track, discount code, or early access to a release) to increase sign-ups.

▢ Give fans clear ways to support you

Encourage fan support with features like a Tip Jar or paid subscriptions.  These options help fans back your work beyond buying music and merch.

Pro tip: Add supporter-only perks (behind-the-scenes posts, exclusive demos, monthly livestream). Use tiers to keep fulfillment manageable.

▢ Customize your design with colors and fonts

Once your content is in place, customize your website's look by choosing colors and fonts that reflect your style and sound. Keep contrast high for readability. 

Pro tip: use page sections shapes, colors, and custom image backgrounds to perfect your website's style to match your branding.

▢ Choose a custom domain name

Select a custom domain name for your music website. This gives you a professional, memorable URL where fans can always find you.

Pro tip: Register alternate domains (e.g., bandname.com and bandnameband.com and bandname.band) and point them to the same site—handy for branding, side projects, or common misspellings.

▢ Set up custom email

With your custom domain in place, create a custom domain-based email address for communication. It looks professional and is easy to manage from your phone.

Pro tip: Use aliases (press@, booking@) that forward to your main inbox to keep outreach organized.

▢ Promote your music with Smart Links

Boost your visibility with Smart Links, sharing one page that routes fans to your music on any platform, and automatically adds structured data to help search engines understand your release.

Pro tip: Create Smart Links for pre-saves before release day, and add the Smart Link button to your homepage hero section.

▢ Use dedicated landing pages

Spin up focused pages for singles, albums, pre-saves, contest entries, or tour announcements. When you're promoting a specific project, a music landing page with a single goal can convert better than sending fans to your full site.

Pro tip: Pair a landing page with an email form and limited-time offer (discount, bonus track) to turn clicks into subscribers and sales.

▢ Optimize your website for SEO

Google considers your official website a primary source of information. Fill out page titles, meta descriptions, image alt text, and use clean URLs to help your site rank in search results.

Pro tip: Bandzoogle automatically generates sitemaps and supports custom metadata. Review this SEO checklist to ensure that your music website's SEO is as strong as possible.

Then you're set!

Work through the list, checking items off as you go, and you’ll have a beautiful band website that’s easy to manage and exciting to share with the world. When you’re ready, revisit this checklist anytime to tighten design, update content, and keep your fans engaged.