As you will no doubt have realized by now, as an independent hip-hop artist, promoting and marketing your music to the right people is probably the hardest and most time-consuming of all your responsibilities.

Outside of word of mouth and fans doing it off their own back, or being spotted and covered by a media source through your talent, you will find that nobody is really prepared to give you any free publicity.

Therefore, you need to be able to find some form of funding along the way that will help you deal with this problem as soon as possible – creating a small fund and using it with a web developer can be one of the smartest decisions that you ever make.

As we’ve stressed over and over again – independent artists need to have their own website.

A website is like a flexible and unlimited hub of publicity that acts as a gateway for you being noticed. If you have a website then you have a place and potentially community for storing your tracks, your information, your blog, your tour dates, everything.

It’s like the world’s best business card and just because websites are usually owned as businesses in a more traditional sense does not mean they cannot play the same role for you.

Here are a few tips to help you get a website created today as well as how to make the process work in your favor so that you can get everything that you need from your promo and marketing objectives.

Work with a professional web designer

Work with a music-related web designer who knows the script and can help you get something that relates to your fans and to everyone that you are going to be dealing with. A simple and specific design that is easy on the eyes and matches your style and philosophy as an artist is an absolute must – without it, you just have a husk that people will look at!

Check their portfolio

Go with a designer who has plenty of experience too. If they have a portfolio ensure they have marketed for a musician before; this makes it easier to get something that actually ensures the website will work for you and will have all the proverbial boxes ticked that you would want when trying to promote yourself using the power of a website in the future

Marketing experience is a bonus

Another huge positive of a website, though, is the way that it helps you focus on other aspects of your career other than marketing. As artists, creating your music is your passion so you don’t want to be wasting that time worrying too much about the details of promo.

This is why working with someone who is a marketing guru at the same time as web designer is so important. They can help your website more or less automatically bring people to you, ensuring that you can have the help that you need in becoming the kind of noticed musician that you intended.

A website may not seem like a priority at this stage of your career but the profits and profile they can generate for you certainly should be. It’s going to be a good way for you to drive your own marketing, give yourself a powerful platform to work from and not have to rely on other people to push your content.

All you need is the skills of a solid web designer as a DIY job is going to be far more negative in terms of what it will bring to the table.

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Written by Stop The Breaks
Stop The Breaks is an independent music marketing company focused on showcasing independent hip-hop artists. Our goal is to help motivate, inspire and educate independent artists grinding around the world. We provide branding, content marketing, social media, SEO and music promotion services.