Have You Been Framed?

Free your website from frames
I’ve mentioned frames a few times in past columns but haven’t gone in-depth about why frames are bad and why you should make sure your website doesn’t use frames. Here’s some information for why you want to avoid frames:Some search engines don’t recognize pages that use frames.
Some browsers don’t render a frames page properly so the page will look weird to people looking at it with some browsers.
From the Google help center: “Frames can cause problems for search engines because they don’t correspond to the conceptual model of the web. In this model, one page displays only one URL. Pages that use frames display several URLs (one for each frame) within a single page. If Google determines that a user’s query matches the page as a whole, it will return the entire frame set. However, if the user’s query matches an individual frame within the larger frame set, Google returns only the relevant frame. In this case, the entire frame set of the page will not appear.”
It’s old technology. Years ago frames was the main way websites kept their navigation structure separate from the rest of the website to make for easier updating. Now, there are many other options like PHP and ASP.
Frames pages can limit the flexibility of what you can do with your design.
Questions
Have a question about websites or anything to do with marketing your business online? Send your question to jim@discoverydjs.com for possible inclusion in a future column.

Website reviews

Would you like your website reviewed in an upcoming column? Send your website address to jim@discoverydjs.com.

http://www.sweetsoundsdj.com

Good:

Location, phone & e-mail right at the top of every page.
Nice pictures on the home page.
Flash testimonials are nice (just slow it down a little….went too fast).
Suggestions:

Shrink the ‘Sweet Sounds Entertainment’ graphic on the home page by about 75%.
Right now, you have to scroll down quite a bit to get to any text. Try shrinking the graphic and pictures and do a text wrap so the images show up next to the text.
Drop the picture on the top of the weddings page and start with the text about weddings (same with the parties page & FAQ page).
Add a bio page.
Add a pictures page.
http://www.a1dj.net

Good:

Location & phone at the top of every page.
Professional looking design.
Impressive list of country clubs & hotels as well as corporate referrals.
Nice music suggestions and very neatly organized.
Suggestions:

Allow users to click on pictures on the schools page to see larger versions.
No ‘call-to-action.’ While you have your phone number all over your website, how many people are visiting from work where they can’t call? Or what about people who just want to see if you’re available?
Copyright information at the very bottom of the music page is much larger than the other pages.
When someone clicks on the ‘Clients’ button why not take them right to the login page instead of making them click another link?
Add a bio(s) page.
Vendor links currently open in the same window. You want them to open in a new window so if they click on the links when they’re done looking at that site they’ll end up back at your site.
Jim Weisz has been a DJ since 1999, primarily serving the wedding and school dance markets. Jim is originally from Chicago, having lived there until relocating to Dallas in 2003 to take a position with JonesTM (formerly TM Century). Jim has spoken at several national DJ conventions about websites and has also written more than a dozen articles for Mobile Beat magazine about websites and a variety of other topics. Jim can be reached at jim@discoverydjs.com.

Keeping It Fresh

Keeping your site freshMany of you probably have a list of websites you visit every day or every few days to check out any new content. While people aren’t visiting your DJ website that often you should have people visiting your website every day so it’s important to make sure the content is fresh. How often should you update your website? That’s completely up to you but I think at a minimum once per quarter you should review your website page-by-page to see what needs to be updated. If you use Outlook or another program for your business calendar, set a reminder for once per quarter (or if you’re really ambitious once per month) to go through your website.
What exactly should you be looking for? There may be some time specific text on your website like “We’ve been in business for 10 years” that needs to be updated. Other content like pictures and testimonials should also be updated on a pretty regular basis. Finally, it’s just a good idea to read through the text on your website to make sure it still reflects the image you’re trying to portray.

Questions
Have a question about websites or anything to do with marketing your business online? Send your question to jim@discoverydjs.com for possible inclusion in a future column. You can also send requests for a web site review as well.
Website reviews
http://www.djkingslex.com

Good:

Phone and location at the top of the home page.
Good video.
Good staff page (although punctuation, grammar & capitalization could really use some work!)
Suggestions:

Remove the spinning mirror ball on the home page.
Remove the effect of having your company name as the cursor..
Why do you have a picture of some guy that links to the NBC website? (Just figured this out. Seems like something cool for you personally but this remember, this is a business website, not a personal website so you should remove that).
In memory of Uncle Chuck link should be remove too. It’s a nice gesture but again it’s something for a personal website.
You have an image of a screen shot of PCDJ, then a graphic EQ below that and a mixing board. That really doesn’t serve any purpose so you should just remove all of that.
Overall your video was good but some of the grammar & punctuation needed some work. Something I noticed a lot in the video and a lot on your website is words being capitalized that shouldn’t be capitalized.
You have to scroll down pretty far to get to any text about your company on your home page. You should move that all the way to the top.
You mentioned in your e-mail you designed the site and it does look like a home made site. I would recommend hiring a professional to design your site and then you can make any updates you want (that’s what I’ve done with my website).
Part of a good website is consistency. All of your pages should have a consistent header with your company name, logo, phone possibly even your location.
Drop the sound from your website…or allow the user to start the music themselves.
I clicked on some of the pictures on your weddings page and it took me to a weddings website…why? You should remove those links. Also, it would be nice if you could click on those pictures to enlarge them.
Song listing…why not use a tool that allows people to search and even build their request list online?
Vendors links should open in a new window.
Jim Weisz has been a DJ since 1999, primarily serving the wedding and school dance markets. Jim is originally from Chicago, having lived there until relocating to Dallas in 2003 to take a position with JonesTM (formerly TM Century). Jim has spoken at several national DJ conventions about websites and has also written more than a dozen articles for Mobile Beat magazine about websites and a variety of other topics. Jim can be reached at jim@discoverydjs.com.

Mitzvahs & Reviews

After a short hiatus I’m back with a column that includes a question about a website just for mitzvahs & a couple website reviews. Check them out below as you might see something that could apply to your website too.Question
My name is Brian Babcock, and I’m 15 and currently running a mobile DJ company. I have been DJing for around 3 years, and this year has really taken off for me. I finally got a website up, but I know it could use a thing or two. My future plans are to use DJ Intelligence services such as quote generator, availability checker, etc. But as I’m only getting 1-2 gigs a month now it’s all a question of money. My other question pertains to bat/bat mitzvahs. I want to design a page dedicated to bar/bat mitzvahs because I do DJ for them, but would like some tips on how to successfully put one together. My website address is www.djbrianbmobile.com I’d eventually like to have a flash template, but that will be in a long time because adobe flash is very expensive.

Brian Babcock

Answer

I personally don’t have any experience with mitzvahs so I can’t give any advice for a mitzvah-only website. However, in my opinion a website for a specific event type can be a great way to target a market. In my case, I have a main website for my business that’s pretty generalized and can appeal to a variety of events types. I also have a weddings only website that’s very basic and was specifically written & designed for weddings. If you’re looking to build your mitzvah business or just think a separate website for mitzvahs would be helpful then go for it.

As far as Flash, I usually recommend against it for a variety of reasons. The main reason is the problems it can cause with search engine placement. It can also be difficult/expensive to update. I would recommend saving some money and hiring a designer to create a cool HTML based website that will appeal to that market.
Website review

Have a website you want reviewed? E-mail it to jim@discoverydjs.com.

The first website this week is: www.djbrianbmobile.com

Good:

Location right at the top of all pages. (Why not put your phone number up there too?)
Nice looking design and overall good copy.
Good flow to the website-you link to other pages in your site to guide visitors to relevant information

Suggestions:
If you can make changes to the design, I’d recommend re-designing the top 1/3rd of your pages. It takes up almost my whole browser window for just your buttons, logo & phone number, so I have to scroll to see any text. If you can shrink some of that stuff down so there’s some text visible without scrolling that would be good.
Remove link/banner for ‘A DJ Revolution’ from the home page-why direct someone to another website, especially from your home page. Either remove the link all together or put it on a links page. Also make sure the link opens in a new window.
On some pages only the word ‘Teen’ in ‘Teen Events’ is a link….make both words part of the link.

You mentioned in your e-mail adding DJ Intelligence to your website-I think that’s a great idea. Right now there’s no real call-to-action. DJ Intelligence will help with that and give some interactivity to your website.

Button on the ‘Teen Events’ page that says ‘Contact’ goes to the services page when it should go to the contact page.

Link your logo so if someone clicks on it they go to the homepage.

The next site is: www.gjentertains.com

Good:

Great looking design.
I like the text on the home page-it’s a bit of a different approach from other sites and I think it works well.
MP3 clips on home page are great!
Good pictures on the weddings page.
Nice photo gallery…pictures look great.
Good pictures by the testimonials.
Nice integration of DJ Intelligence tools.

Suggestions:
No mention of your location anywhere on your home page. The only tip is the link to the San Diego ADJA.

I like the design of the site but I wonder if you could better use the space on the left where your image currently is. Since you already have your picture on the home page I’m not sure it’s needed on every page. I’d recommend either cutting that out all together or making it much smaller and putting something else there. What else could you put there? Maybe some testimonials? Company news/announcements? Pictures?

It looks like this is a frames based website. Most search engines don’t like frames and it could hurt your search engine placement. You should consider dropping the frames ASAP.
Jim Weisz has been a DJ since 1999, primarily serving the wedding and school dance markets. Jim is originally from Chicago and lived there until relocating to Dallas in 2003 to take a position with JonesTM (formerly TM Century). Jim has spoken at several national DJ conventions about websites and has also written more than a dozen articles for Mobile Beat magazine about websites and a variety of other topics. Jim can be reached at jim@discoverydjs.com.

Why Bring Your Crew to a Conference

So I just back from the International DJ Expo in Atlantic City and, as usual, following an industry convention I am fired up and recharged. But instead of talking about how I feel, I’d like to focus this article on my staff and how attending these Expos together are beneficial for us as a group.First of all, the sense that we are a “family” is always strengthened when we go to a convention. At my advanced age (41 … ack!) I don’t often go out and party with my crew, certainly not as much as I used to ten years ago. But at a convention, even when I have a seminar to deliver the next day, there’s too much going on for me to be in my room by 10pm. So what happens, and what happened last week specifically, is I get to hang with my DJs. Last week we were at Jay Z’s 40/40 club one night, partying at the Casbah in Trump’s Taj Mahal another night. Then, on the last night, jumping from one party to the next. Those nights are fun but they are also important for maintaining the bond we all have.

Another reason I think bringing your crew to a DJ convention is essential from time to time is the feeling that what we do is an industry. This is something you as a business owner or manager may take for granted. Of course it’s an industry, right? I mean it’s my full-time career, it better be an industry. But for your part-time DJs, especially the new ones, showing them that the DJ Industry is a legitimate career, even if part-time, can help solidify their commitment to what you want them to do. And how does this happen at a convention? Just let them walk the showroom floor and see all the new electronics that are on display, or belly up to the ADJA booth and have a five-minute conversation with Dr Drax, or even sit in on some of the seminars and listen to the kind of experiences that veterans are sharing with everyone. These are tangible moments that will make your staff (again especially the new ones) nod their heads and realize that this can be a long term, satisfying career.

Finally, I want to address one of the concerns I hear from time to time from Multi-Op owners. It usually goes a little something like this: “If I bring my DJs to a convention they are going to discover all the secrets of marketing and selling and also find out where to buy the gear and then they’ll realize they don’t need me.”

I’ll break my argument down into two phases. First, your crew is only going to attend the seminars you want them to attend. And even then, good luck getting them there bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. What I do before a convention that I am bringing my crew to is hand out a list of the seminars and have them circle the few I think they’ll benefit from, like a “Games Seminar” lead by Scott Favor or Randi Rae, or a Performance focused seminar like Randy Bartlett’s “1% Solution.” I don’t highlight the “marketing” or “sales” seminars and you know what? They don’t show for those. Like I said, they barely drag themselves to the ones I ask them to attend and even then they are probably working on 3 hours of alcohol-soaked sleep. As far as gear goes, if the only tie that binds your staff to your company is access to equipment, you better start training new DJs pretty quickly because like the Pharaoh Ramsey, I see an Exodus in your future.

In today’s day and age of Internet technology, guys can investigate and even purchase equipment with no problem. Instead of fearing that, I welcome it. I tell my new DJs before they get started to look into their own equipment, go to Guitar Center and sample different pieces even, and then let me know what you want. The days of “my DJ’s won’t leave because where would they get the gear” is over folks! I’d rather have my DJ’s committed to working for me because Elite Entertainment is a great place to work and I get them a fair amount of gigs and pay them generously. Those are concrete reasons to work for me and I don’t have to worry that one of my DJs might stumble onto the Musicians Friend web site and discover where he can buy his own Mixer and CD Players.

So with the Mobile Beat show still months and months away, let me recommend that you start making plans, not only to attend this great convention but to bring some of your crew. Maybe make it an incentive thing like the DJ with the most referrals get to go, or something like that. But bringing a few (or all) of your staff can be a big boost to your company morale.

Hope to see you there!

Mike Walter’s emceeing career began in his hometown of Queens, New York in 1984. With an eye towards radio, Mike attended Connecticut School of Broadcasting in 1988 where he was chosen from his class of 25 as “Most Likely to Succeed.” After school, Mike helped to develop a staff of DJs from 12 to over 50 by training new recruits and handling an increasingly complex schedule. In early 1993, Mike felt an increasing desire to venture out on his own and by March of that year he became a partner in a much smaller Mobile DJ company, Elite Entertainment. He quickly had an impact on the Elite staff, imposing his high standards of emceeing and DJing. Mike bought out his partner in 1998 and Elite Entertainment has continued its growth (21 emcees in 2006) and sets the standard for excellence in New Jersey. Mike has always believed in training talent from within and his message has helped show hundreds of DJs from across the country that it is possible to grow their companies without sacrificing quality.