How to Build a Fansite

Many popular performers have tons of fans creating websites dedicated to them. Ani DiFranco fans have created over 500 fan sites dedicated to their favorite performer. Other performers have fans or friends who create a homepage for them. Some fansites are dedicated to a style of music rather than a single performer - like bluegrass. You can create one for your favorite artist or musical style too - promoting the music you love and linking you to a larger community.

Difficulty Level: hard     Time Required: many, many, many hours

1. Check to see if the artist has an "official" site by searching one or two major search engines. If so, figure out what it does well and what it lacks.
2. Also, check to see if there are any fansites dedicated to your artist and ask yourself the same questions.
3. If there are none or few sites already up, you can make a big contribution with yours. If there are many, you should consider specializing in one area.
4. Some ways to focus your site: create a photo gallery, write/collect concert reviews, collect a library of links, create a detailed discography, hunt down old interviews and articles that can be republished, create a bulletin board or chatroom.
5. If there is a web ring dedicated to your artist, join the ring.
6. Be creative when naming your site. Many draw their inspiration from a lyric or bit of trivia. It is bad form to use the artist's name (ie. johndoe.com), since this can create the impression that your site is the official site or somehow has the endorsement of the artist/label. It also preempts the artist him or herself from getting that name. Some artists who were slow to get on the internet have had a problem with this. On the other hand, I had a client I was designing a site for and when I went to register her (very unusual) name, found it was already taken. When I looked into it, it turned out that a fan had registered it years ago in order to save it for her. Very classy. In the end, some fan sites have become so good that the artist adopts them as their official site. This is considered the highest honor. Next best: getting a prominent link from the official site.
7. Let people know about your site by contacting other webmaster fans and requesting links. Get on some of the newsgroups, mailing lists and discussion boards appropriate to your topic and announce the site's existence. Be sure to let the artist know too.
   
   
   Tips:

1. If you are an accomplished webmaster and your favorite artist has an ineffective site or one that is not updated, you might offer to run their existing one. Depending on the artist, credentials and references might help.
   

Hugh Blumenfeld, Editor
hugh@balladtree.com