by Lou Paris

Unless you have been under a rock you are more than aware of the juggernaut that is social media. And while Instagram and Facebook dominate the landscape there are of course a litany of other platforms out there, all vying for peoples eyeballs and clicks. But in this era of social media one should not lose focus on the most important presence one has in their arsenal, your website. 

Your website is your interactive business card, a platform for which you have complete control of, a source where you can shape your message and image like no other platform can. Social platforms or other properties like Wedding Wire or The Knot have a very specific design to adhere to making your presence at these locations very generic and ordinary.

With your own website you are presented an opportunity to wow your audience with amazing visuals, unique layouts, and engaging content. 

Now don’t get me wrong, social media is extremely important and you would be foolish not to have claimed at least your business name for each one, even the obscure ones. But these social outlets should be leveraged at the beginning of your sales funnel. You should reach out to your clients with engaging short content and images through these properties and lead them to your website where they can poke around and read the wealth of quality information that you can have on it. 

(I go into much greater detail on sales funnels and how to manage each aspect here) 

There are some professionals that to this day do not have a website and I can say with certainty they are missing out on opportunities. Survey after survey, poll after poll, people are looking to research and validate their choices.

If you lack a website presence some will simply
turn to the next vendor that does. 

And if you do already have a site but have not tended to it over the months and years, it could bring more harm than good. Outdated designs, mobile compliance, even pictures that look dated could signal to a potential client that you are not keeping up with the times and could leave your business to slowly wither making you wonder why business has dried up. 

So what can you do? The good news is with the right amount of effort you can have a stunning website. There are a ton of beautiful pre-designed templates out there that can start you off on the good foot. It’s time to take the following steps to get your web presence in the modern age: 

a) If you have no website at all, and you don’t know where to start, hire a professional. Just as you feel a client should hire a DJ for their experience one should seek a professional web designer to establish a great web presence. If you have an existing site and it looks like it was made in 1998 and you feel overwhelmed I advise taking the same advice. 

b) If you don’t understand terms like SEO, see bullet point a. Just having a website is one thing, but ensuring that it can perform well in organic searches is paramount. It would be akin to having a new sporty car in your driveway but never taking it out for a spin. 

c) Sell on your services, not on your equipment. I see this repeated time and time again. Do not chat up about the specific model of equipment you have, or that you have millions of songs, or that you have moving heads. Clients do not care about this (for the most part). They are looking for an experience. They are looking to see how you set yourself apart from the crowd and how you will make their event extraordinary. Sell on your services. Sell on your quality. Sell you. 

d) Produce quality content. Sites will become stale if you are not nurturing what you have established. Pen the occasional article that will speak to your audience on a more personal level. Create reasons for people to come to your website, 

Realize the opportunities that you have to promote your business with a quality web presence. More than ever, it’s the most important tool in your arsenal. 

About: Lou Paris started his DJ career in 1988 and also a successful IT career in 1996 with stints at the DOJ & the FBI. He is the owner of Paris Creative, a solo wedding DJ operation in the Hudson Valley area of NY and founder of eCUEity, building the next generation event-planning platform. Email:  lou@pariscreative.com