Want A Full Blown Electronic Press Kit (EPK) For FREE? Let Me Show You How…

Basic Guidelines And Recommendations

After you have signed up for a Blogger.com blog…

Here are some basic recommendations for turning a Blogger.com blog into a professional Performing Artist web platform (EPK – electronic press kit) for agents, talent scouts, bookers, and talent buyers:

1. Don’t use this electronic press kit as a “blog”. The only “post” you need to make is the first post which will be your “home” page — which says a little about you and your performing art and provides an invitation to review the rest of your site.

Consider this professional web presence as a “static” site, which you can use on business cards, physical promotional pieces, with email and linked from any social media site (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, etc.)

If you want to use a Blogger.com platform as a blog, then sign-up for another blog for that using a different email address and password.

2. Don’t advertise using Adsense or any other advertising medium. Your pro Performing Artist web presence should be focused entirely on you as a performing artist.

3. I recommend that you use the Simple, one column template. Add the Pages Gadget beneath your header for your navigation.

Once you have selected your template, take out any unneeded attribute you can using the Design tab.

4. Stick with a white background and black text for the pages/post on your site. While a black background with white text may look “cool”, it is very difficult to read.

5. Don’t remove the Blogger.com navigation bar at the top of the page. It can be done but is a violation of the terms of service and can result in your site being removed.

6. The basic pages you need for your Pro Artist web presence using a Blogger.com blog (or an independently hosted website for that matter) are:

- Home page (which is just your first “post”)

- Bio

- Comedy Resume (performances)

- Contact (this is one of your most important pages and I have a section on this below)

All other pages are optional until you have the information to put in those pages (Videos, Photos, etc.).

I put notes for you to review on all my pages at http://topcomedyguru.blogspot.com.

Making Your Pro Artist Web Presence Look Great With FREE Graphics

Here’s what I did to make the example site look very professional:

I did a search on Google for:

free brick background

Once I found the background image I wanted, downloaded it to my computer — then I uploaded it to my Blogger.com site.

For the header, I did a search for:

free wallpaper stage

Then, I simply “cropped” a center piece of that wallpaper background I found to use as my header graphic.

Additional notes:

- For the background, you can upload a JPG, GIF, or PNG file up to 300k in size. For a full background, use images 1800×1600 or greater.

- You have the ability to center the background (or wallpaper) that you choose if needed. And let me say, there are some fantastic free backgrounds and wallpapers available.

Click the Template Designer link when you are in the Design section of your control panel to manage your background and header images.

You have the ability to keep your background (or wallpaper) “static” — as a visitor scrolls down any particular page. That’s what I did (I like the “static” effect better than the scrolling background).

- You don’t want to deal with your header graphic until you are solid on the width of the blog that you like.

Your Contact Page

One of your most important pages on your comedy artist website is your Contact page. But you DO NOT want to put your email address directly on that page because…

It will be harvested by spam spiders and you will start getting all kinds of spam email.

So what you need is an email form (which is not provided by Blogger.com).

Well, here’s where I got the FREE one that I put on the example site:

http://www.emailmeform.com

Here’s one thing I recommend that you do when using that free service for your email contact form:

Make sure you set-up a redirect page that your visitor goes to once they have submitted an email to you using the form.

Also make sure that page is NOT included in your navigation (just click on the Pages gadget on the basic template configuration screen to exclude any page from your navigation).

Hint: You can exclude any page from the navigation using the Design tab and clicking the edit link on your Pages gadget.

Here’s a link to my “Thank You For Your Inquiry” page visitors are redirected to when using the form so you can see what I put on it:

http://topcomedyguru.blogspot.com/p/thank-you.html

Here’s a page I found with screenshots on setting up your form using the service I use:

Email Me Form Instructions

Again, you can probably find YouTube videos on how to set-up and install a contact form on your Contact page no matter what free service you decide to use.

Wrap Up

Update: You have a visitor stats function built right into your Blogger.com account. Make sure when you use the Stats tab that you click the link that says “Don’t track your own pageviews”. Otherwise, you will think you are getting traffic when it is actually just you!

Expect to spend a good 15-30 hours to set-up your artist site the way you want it. Much of that time will be spent looking for the graphics you want and figuring out the various functions in your Blogger.com account.

But none of this is difficult.

And if you get stuck on any of your pages (ie: Bio page), simply look at the websites of the more popular/famous comedians to get some ideas.

And as you can see, it doesn’t have to cost you a dime to set up a very professional Performing Artist EPK to show to talent pros — one that allows you to have complete control over the look, feel and contact with minimal skills needed.

If you do spend anything, it will be very inexpensive and should only involve a very few things:

- A custom header graphic (optional). But you should be able to find a killer wallpaper to use as your background for free online. And you should be able to crop your own header graphic from that wallpaper (or different one) for free as well.

- A very inexpensive toll free phone number (optional) for a permanent and professional contact phone number (click here for an article I wrote on the service I have been using for years and I love it).

- A top level domain name if you want to redirect it to or point to your Blogger.com site (ie: JohnDoeComedy.com). That’s only about $10 bucks or so per year (optional).

I believe this to be a perfect solution for ANY up and coming performing artist on a budget (all up and coming performing artists are on a budget) and can give them a competitive edge until they are in a position to lay out the bucks for an independently hosted website or electronic press kit (EPK).

So, if you know any performers (comedians, ventriloquists, singers, bands, DJ’s etc.) who would also benefit from the information I have provided, please pass this page along to them. They will appreciate you for it I’m sure.