- Best WordPress themes for music experts
- WordPress Plugins you need
- CMS for Music Experts
- All you need is Love and Analytics
- Cut the WordPress GDPR Drama and get it done
So many people in the music industry have to maintain a website or even multiple outlets. Therefore, a Content Management System like WordPress is making its way into everyday work life.
Very often it is treated as a no-brainer add on in the job description. As if caring for a website is something you can do between two emails. However, that is most often how much time music experts have for the task.
As a matter of fact, WordPress is one of the most used CMS out there. (This website runs with it, too). So the argument made here bases on a WordPress CMS installation.
In other words, here are five points to remember when taking care of a website.
Best WordPress themes for Music Experts
First of all, I want to make a point and urge you working together with a programmer. By all means, they are the professionals for all things website related.
A good programmer can save you not only a lot of nerves but also money in the long run. Likewise, let your programmer write you a custom theme.
A programmer can help you achieve your WordPress goals
In other words, let your programmer help you achieve a unique look and the exact key applications you need.
If hiring a programmer is totally out of your world, then at least get a decent WordPress theme.
By that I mean, a WP theme that is fast, responsive and has mobile-first written all over it. One that is made with SEO in mind and with a slim code.
With attention to very good customer support. Because if you use your theme and WP installation as much as you should do, you’ll have questions.
And please, don’t fall for the cheap folks that promise you a brand-new website for basically next to nothing. Especially, if they are heavy-handed with page builders.
You’ll probably forget how it all worked and it never delivers as promised. Keep the site as simple as possible with as little fuss as needed. Great content will always be the way to the fans’ heart, anyway.
WordPress Plugins you need
The beauty of a CMS and especially WordPress is that it comes with the opportunity to outsource coding into plugins. There are more plugins under the sun than Oasis cover bands.
So be careful to only choose those you really need. Don’t be tempted to load up your backend with numerous plugins. It only slows down your website and confuses you anyway.
However, there are some gold standard plugins that are tried and tested.
Yoast SEO: the mother of all SEO plugins. It is a major plugin when it comes to search engine optimization. It helps you remember all points necessary to amp up your content to Google search standards.
AntiVirus: a simple plugin to help you fight off all the webs’ nasty bits that you don’t want or need on your web page.
GDPR Compliance: a plugin to help you sort out the major pains when it comes to GDPR. Keep in mind that you have to do more to ensure GDPR compliance on your website than to install a plugin. But it’s at least a start.
Speed Booster: this will help your website to speed up and to get that all-important ranking factor.
CMS for Music Experts
Now onto a little CMS housekeeping. Please make regular updates of your WordPress. Also, don’t forget PHP; that is the coding language needed for writing WordPress installations.
Keeping both up to date ensures the safe running of your web page. Just keep in mind to make a backup of your web page beforehand.
Do the updates! But make a backup beforehand
If that all sounds like bananas to you, well maybe you really should get that programmer after all.
Granted that you have great pictures here is a little reminder to save them for web usage. Photoshop and other programs have the option to save pictures for the internet.
That ensures that the picture is not heavy and will not weigh down your site. Remember the page speed!
Implementing SSL is important
If you haven’t done so already, implement SSL within your site. Most web hosts now offer easy top-up packages that help you switch with ease.
And last but not least, keep a bit of SEO basics in mind. A point often overlooked, but you can do a little SEO at all times. You don’t need to roll out the big SEO attack all the time. Just a little heading care here and a bit of image effort there.
All you need is Love and Analytics
Let me share a secret with you. A lot of would-be web designers will promise you heaven on earth when it comes to analytics.
They’ll murmur it frequently when you talk about the work that needs to be done. Making it sound like its one of the seven world wonders.
They may even invoke it on your site. But then, they’ll disappear, leaving you with no idea how to use it.
Not the nicest analytics will help you if you have no time to evaluate the data. Or if you don’t have a set questionnaire helping you formulate your key product indicators.
At least make sure to make the usage of any analytics GDPR compliant. The last thing you’ll need is getting into trouble for some analytics that you don’t even use.
Cut the WordPress GDPR Drama and get it done
Having ranted about the lack of analytics expertise, let me get to my last point. And firstly make a disclaimer: I’m not a lawyer, if you are in any doubt about the GDPR, please contact your attorney.
The ill-famous GDPR, short for General Data Protection Regulation: this beast of data regulation is a follow-up of the already existing EU data protection.
The new motto: Privacy by Design / Privacy by Default
It shouldn’t surprise anyone. However, that is exactly what happens. The due day was May 2018. More than a year you might say?
Yes, and I still find music industry websites that are in danger. Don’t make the same mistake and ensure your site is living up to the responsibility.
There are still too many websites at danger
The list of things to change is very long indeed. For example, you have to make sure to give the reader the chance to get the collected data deleted.
As well as you have to take care to inform them appropriately on any data collection you are doing. The best is to rewrite your privacy policy.
There, you now have to state all the plugins, social share buttons and what have you that are contacting a 3rd party when processing data.
Make sure to do a proper cookie notification
You’ll also have to do a proper cookie notification when a user visits your website. The best is to make them confirm by clicking a button.
Make sure that if you use Google fonts, they are integrated locally within your database. Otherwise, Google will make a server connection every time your website is loading Google fonts. And this is a potentially hazardous moment because a hacker can use that moment to steal data.
To sum it all up, taking care of a website is more of a job than most people think. I hope my explanation has helped you find some clarity.