SiteSmith

What a DJ website needs: pages, words and photos

SiteSmith · · 4 min read

A DJ website needs to answer, quickly, the questions a client has before they call: what events you play, where, what you bring, what it roughly costs, what you sound and look like at a real event, and how to check if you are free. Five or six pages cover it. The rest of the work is in the words and in photos taken at real gigs, not in effects.

Who is checking out your site

DJ clients are a mixed group, and each wants a slightly different reassurance:

  • Couples planning a wedding want someone reliable who will read the room, announce things properly and not play anything embarrassing in front of grandma.
  • Parents planning a sweet sixteen, bar or bat mitzvah, or graduation want energy for the kids and professionalism for the adults.
  • Event planners and HR people booking a corporate party want someone who arrives on time, dresses right and handles a microphone.
  • School and community groups want a fair price and clean music.
  • Bars and clubs want to know your style, your following and your mixes.

If you serve more than one group, the home page should point each to its own section in one tap.

The pages to have

  • Home. What you play, the area you cover, and a "Check my date" button.
  • Events. One section per event type with what a night looks like.
  • Packages or pricing. What is included and where prices start.
  • About. Who you are, how long you have been doing it, how you work with clients.
  • Reviews. What clients said, in their words.
  • Contact. A short form built around the event date.

If you have them, a gallery of real events and a page with a mix or two are worth adding. A separate page about equipment, lighting and add-ons is useful for mobile DJs; see mobile DJ websites: events, equipment and booking dates for how to lay that out.

The words on the home page

Many DJ sites open with a logo, a blurry photo of a crowd and "The best party in town". A visitor still does not know if you do weddings. Say it:

  • "Wedding and private party DJ serving greater Sacramento, with lighting and ceremony sound."
  • "School dances, proms and community events across southern New Jersey. Clean edits only."
  • "Open-format club DJ playing hip hop, house and throwbacks around Atlanta."

Follow with a short paragraph about how you work: whether you meet clients before the event, take requests, act as the MC, and how you handle a do-not-play list. Those details win bookings more than adjectives do.

Photos and clips: real events only

Clients want to see you at work and see what their event might look like. Useful pictures:

  • You behind your setup at a real event, dressed as you would be for theirs
  • A full dance floor at a wedding or party, with guests who agreed to be shown
  • Your setup in a venue, so planners see how much space it takes and how tidy it looks
  • Lighting at night, if you offer it
  • Venues you play often, which reassures couples who booked there

A short video clip of a dance floor can help, but keep it short and never set it to play with sound automatically. A visitor in an office or on a bus will close the page.

If you post mixes, link to them on a platform like SoundCloud or Mixcloud rather than uploading large audio files to the site. A wedding client may never listen, but a club booker will.

What to leave out

  • Flashing text, spinning logos, or a site that opens with loud music
  • Lists of every artist you have ever opened for, above the basic information
  • Stock photos of a festival crowd that is not yours
  • Prices you no longer charge
  • Explicit lyrics in any clip on a site that wedding and school clients will see

Reviews worth showing

Event clients trust other clients. Ask after every event, while people are still happy. Wedding reviews that mention specifics are the most useful to future couples: "He kept the dance floor full and handled our late grand entrance perfectly" says more than "Great DJ". Show the client's first name, the event type and the venue. If your reviews are mostly on Google or a wedding listing site, a few quoted on your own site, with a link to the rest, works well. Showing Google reviews on your website covers the options.

The contact path: date first

The event date is the first thing you need, so ask for it first. A short form:

  • Name
  • Phone and email
  • Event date
  • Event type
  • Venue or town
  • Rough number of guests
  • Anything else (a box)

Add your phone number at the top of the site as a tappable link and say if texting is fine. Many party clients would rather text a quick "are you free March 14?" than fill a form.

For keeping forms short and making sure messages reach you, see contact forms that people actually fill in.

What to do this week

  • Rewrite the first line of the home page: event types and area.
  • Add one paragraph about how you work with clients before and during the event.
  • Pick five photos from real events and replace any stock photos.
  • Remove any autoplaying music or video.
  • Change your contact form to ask for the date first.
  • Send your form to yourself from your phone and check you get it.

If your current DJ site is slow, cluttered or out of date, you can see your site rebuilt first with your own photos and words, and keep it only if you like it.

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