Bandvista Blog
Musicians: Get Your FREE .ME
This week we added .ME as an available domain name to register when publishing with BandVista. More good news...it's a FREE option with any package.
So who should grab their free .ME?
Solo musicians would be the obvious first choice. BandVista positions itself as the "Band Website Builder" but the fact is solo musicians make up a large part of our customer base. The .ME fits as the primary website for this group.
Existing members of your band should consider their own .ME. It's a sad reality that bands come and go. They breakup or change members on a regular basis, so why should your work be removed from the web when the old band's website is not renewed or you are wiped clean from it? Maintaining a musician website is easy and ridiculously cheap these days so consider maintaining your own portfolio site long term. Keep it as your online resume for future bands to review and enjoy just maintaining your own musical identity.
What are the benefits of .ME?
It's the only domain extension that is truly about YOU, clearly a great base for building a personal brand online.
The .ME is a great domain to have for a brandable email address your fans won't soon forget.
Availability is still really good. You are much more likely to get the domain you want here compared to looking at all the taken .COM versions.
Get Your Free .ROCKS
Great domain names are hard to come by these days, unless you love long sentences with hyphens between each word, ending in .biz or some other TLD no fan will ever remember. Dot COM domain names are still great if you can get them as we referenced in our Selecting The Perfect Domain Name post, but there are limits.
For those of you struggling to find the right domain name, we are here to help by offering .ROCKS! Why select a .ROCKS you ask?
Availability is still good, so you have a much better chance of getting the name you want. Pass on the hyphens, numbers and extra words so the urls will still fit on your merch and marketing material.
Bands and solo musicians alike will find this TLD very brandable. Fans are going to remember seeing .ROCKS. Hopefully, the word "rocks" describes your band.
The best news? Grab your perfect .ROCKS domain FREE when you publish with BandVista. You'll pay for this domain elsewhere, but this was such a perfect fit for our customers, we wanted to pick up the tab.
So what are you waiting for? Register now or login to search for your free .ROCKS domain right now!
Selecting the Perfect Domain Name
Selecting the perfect domain name for your band is the first and likely one of the most important decisions you'll make when it comes to connecting with fans online. Unfortunately, with so many great names taken or held for ransom by domain resellers, it is also one of the most challenging.
So what's a band to do? Consider these pointers before making your choice.
The .COM is still King
There are many other options out there these days, but you should start your process with the goal of selecting a .com for your band. Most of your fans make the assumption .com is the only TLD out there, and even if they see yours is different in passing at a concert, many will tend to enter .com out of habit when they get back in front of a computer. Adding words like "band" or "music" after your name is an acceptable way to get the .com you want while others add their genre.
There are some exceptions to this rule, so keep reading to see if another extension is a good fit for you.
Keep it short
The longer and more complicated your band's domain is, the harder it will be for your fans to type it in, increasing the chance they end up misspelling it, resulting in lost traffic or at very least a frustrated fan experience.
Shorter domain names display better in search engines, social media and every other place your URL should be like merchandise, band flyers, etc.
If the only available domain name is too long to be easily remembered by anyone you tell, keep reading.
Reject Hyphens and Numbers
Have you ever verbally given someone a website to check out and had to throw a hyphen in there? It's hard to do and even more difficult for the other person to remember. Remember point #2 above where the domain is getting too long.
There are a few exceptions to this rule of course, like say 311 has 311.com. Just try not to spell out numbers or use roman numerals.
Beyond the .COM
While we opened this post with our love for the .com, there are other options out there. The second most recognized would be .net. There are also many generic top-level domains (gTLD) out there, of which two make sense for bands. We like both options if they help you keep it short and avoid hyphens from the points above.
You'll find .band is a little more expensive and isn't a free option with many band website builders, including BandVista. You can still use these extensions with any builder though if you don't mind spending a few extra bucks for the year.
Still need help selecting the perfect domain name? Our team of musicians is here to help you. Email support@bandvista.com or give us a call at 1-877-875-4470.
