Build your musician/portfolio website in 90-minutes at AMAS19
Synopsis
Get noticed online with a clean, modern site that says “Yeah, I’m a pro". Build and launch your own Squarespace site in a step-by-step tutorial with the Squarespace Authorized Trainer who designed & built the Arcadia Music & Arts Symposium site.
Bring your laptop & walk away with a shiny new mobile-first website, complete with: a fresh new logo, placeholders for your bio & headshot, your music/video/photo content, social media links, Instagram/Twitter/Bands In Town feeds, a contact/booking form, and a professional email address. (No experience or content required… just bring your laptop).
Where & When
Thursday June 26, 2019
2:00pm - 4:00pm
The 2019 Arcadia Music & Arts Symposium
Arcadia High School- Lecture Hall
180 Campus Dr. Arcadia, CA 91007
www.arcadiasymposium.com
Note: This is a three day event, at which I am teaching this (and one other) session as an elective course totally pro-bono. The bulk of the symposium is targeted at musicians (percussionists, woodwind, and brass students), music educators (band directors, percussion instructors, private instructors, etc.), composers, and music producers. If you do anything as just described, I HIGHLY encourage you and anyone you know who does this stuff to attend. It is truly a life-changing experience, and I am VERY honored to be a part of it.
Who It’s For
Any attendee of the 2019 Arcadia Music & Arts Symposium
Freelance Musicians
High school/college students who are currently or thinking about pursuing a music career
Music Educators
Private Instructors
Band Directors
Percussion/visual/brass instructors
Composers
Music Producers
Studio Musicians
Band Managers, Band Members, Band Parents
Anyone interested in pursuing a career as a web designer or web developer
Anyone who needs their own personal website to showcase their art, services, or ideas
What You’ll Learn
In a Nutshell:
I’m going to walk you step-by-step through building a musician/personal portfolio website from scratch in Squarespace from picking a template to launching your new site, without skipping one step… all in 90 minutes (hopefully, as long as I don’t go on too many tangents, which I tend to do… like this one).
I’m going to teach you WHY you need a website in 2019 to be taken seriously in the music industry (and really almost any industry these days).
I’m going to teach you what the difference is between a bad/good/great website, and how to design one that is easy-to-use but also represents your unique personality.
I’m basically giving you a free website, so now you don’t need to hire a web designer for thousands of dollars or spend years trying to figure it out on your own.
Detailed Breakdown:
Picking the perfect Squarespace template
(there’s lots to choose from, but I’m going to show you the best ones)
Learning the best practices for designing a MODERN, CLEAN, and USER-FRIENDLY website that WORKS
Mobile-first design
Fast, functional, and frictionless
What you need on your website to be considered an actual professional in the music industry
Structuring your website with the “must have” pages:
A modern, scrolling homepage which hooks your users
An about page (for your bio)
A music page
A video/photo gallery
A blog- to create fresh, original content
A contact page
A tour/calendar page- to show your performance schedule
A footer with your social media links and a newsletter signup
Finding high-quality stock photography (for free)
Connecting all your social media accounts
Instagram feed
Twitter feed
Soundcloud
Apple Music
Spotify
Bands-In-Town feed (for show dates/tickets)
Your Artist Facebook page
Email
Adding your music to your site
Creating a custom “Album” page for when you release new music
Drag and drop your audio files into the site
Styling your website to match your personal branding
And discovering your personal branding if you don’t have it yet
Basic color/contrast theory
Typography
Customizing the look and feel of your template
Designing a fresh new logo for yourself and embedding it into your site
Creating custom mobile styles for your mobile users (probably 80% of your audience)
Creating a “Hire Me” contact form
Creating a “Lessons” form to get more students if you teach
Connecting your forms to a Google Drive spreadsheet to store & organize for later
Creating a Newsletter Signup form
Creating your own blog to post new original content and keep your users coming back
And how to post your new content to all your social media accounts in one click
Adding videos to your site
Video backgrounds, embedded Youtube/Vimeo videos, video galleries, etc.
Adding photos to your site
Securing a custom domain name
Securing a custom professional email address (name@website.com)
Choosing the right Squarespace plan
A two week free trial to keep tweaking your site before you launch it
AND ON TOP OF ALL THAT
I’m going to give you a 20% discount code to use toward your first year of Squarespace hosting. BOOM!
What You’ll Walk Away With
A brand new Squarespace website
A brand new simple, yet effective custom logo
A 20% Squarespace discount code
Step-by-step instructions on how to launch when you are ready
Professional insight as to how to create the content you need
Answers to any website-related question you can possibly think of
A big ol’ smile cuz now you FINALLY have a website (or a way better one)
What You Need to Bring
A charged laptop that can connect to WiFi
This is pretty key, but if you don’t have one or can’t bring yours, no worries. I am recording the session so you can hang at the session to learn everything but make yours later.
Doesn’t matter if it’s a Mac or PC.
A personal hotspot if you’re fancy.
There will be WiFi at the school, but it might get a little slow with all of us on there at once.
An “I can do this” attitude… because you really can. I’m gonna show you how… pinky promise.
Who's the Teacher
Nick Arocho
Owner- Boldly Fine, LLC
Front End Web Developer- Hot Topic, Inc.
www.nickarocho.com
Before I was a web developer I was a musician. I grew up playing drums in a reggae/funk/rock band, marched 5 years of DCI (Academy ‘07-’09, Blue Devils ‘10-’11), one year of WGI (RCC ‘12), got a Jazz Performance degree in Drum Set from Arizona State University (go devils! Oh also, you might know me from this embarrassing viral video), and been all around the world playing and teaching music (Universal Studios Japan, Disneyland, Top Secret Drum Corps, Blue Devils International, System Blue, and countless dive bars).
I built my first website for myself as a freelance musician after taking a web design 101 class at ASU. After moving to LA I met some ridiculously talented people in the music industry who needed their own websites but didn’t know how to make them, so they offered me money return for helping them build a simple Squarespace site. This was pretty eye opening, and ultimately led to me pivoting hardcore in my career as I started building websites FOR musicians more than I was playing with them. This turned into making more sites for artists of all shades, freelancers, entrepreneurs, non-profits, restaurants, small businesses and large businesses.
This turned into owning my OWN business (a la, the site you are on now) called Boldly Fine, which is a design & development agency offering web design and web development services for all sorts of exciting projects and budgets. I fell in love with coding, signed up for a full-stack coding bootcamp at General Assembly which led me to the job I have now working as a Front End Web Developer at Hot Topic and BoxLunch headquarters in City of Industry, CA.
WHEW! And now we are here.
Wanna see some examples of my work? Here are some musician sites I’ve designed and built over the years which you may recognize:
(the bolded sites use the same template we will be making YOUR site with!)
So needless to say, I speak musician. I understand your challenges, desires, and personalities… but I also speak tech… and design… and drum corps nerd… and percussion instructor…
With all that said, I’m really excited for this unique event because we are going to build you a dope website this week at the Arcadia Symposium which you get to go home with and USE in your own career. Go sign up now if you haven’t already.
FAQ
Do I need to bring a laptop?
Yes, if you want to build your site step-by-step with me during the session.
If not, you will ABSOLUTELY still learn a crap-ton if you come and just watch.
Can I watch the session later if I fall behind or show up late or don’t follow along?
Yes, I will be recording the session and launching it on YouTube in July.
Can I get a Squarespace discount from you to launch my new site?
Yes. I will be giving everyone who attends in person a 20% Squarespace discount code. I got ‘yo back like ‘chiroprac (…Outkast).
What if I’m not a musician? Will this site still work for me?
Absolutely. 90% of what this site contains is critical in 100% of any decent “personal” or “portfolio” website. So whether you are a photographer, composer, designer, drill writer, bass drum instructor, tour director, painter, poet, screenwriter, WHATEVER… this site will have basically everything you will ever need.
How the hell are you going to get through all of that in 90 minutes.
Good question. I’ve been working on this session for months now and have a minute-by-minute game plan for how we are going to do this.
In addition, I will be supplying you with a link to a .zip file with ALL the content you need to build the site, so most of it will be drag and drop/click where I click.
Do I need all my content (headshot, photos, videos, bio, logo, music, blog posts) ready to go to make my site?
Nope. I’m giving you all the stuff you need to put hold as placeholders while you take the time to create and gather your content.
What if I don’t like the template you pick or the design we make?
I’m picking the most flexible Squarespace template out there (and the most modern, with the most features), so if you want to change the look and feel it will be very easy to do down the road. Plus, I’ll teach you how to do it. PLUS, I’ll show you how to switch templates if you don’t like the one you’re on.
If you are building our site in 90 minutes, does that mean there won’t be time for questions?
I am making it a priority to leave at least 15 minutes at the end to answer all your questions.
Where can I buy tickets?
Can I come just for your session?
Yeah sure, but you still gotta buy tickets 😋
How much are you making from me when I buy a ticket?
Nada! I’m doing this pro-bono.
🤔 Why?
I thoroughly enjoy teaching and sharing what I have learned over the past 6 years of my life. I struggled HARD when I was trying to figure all this website stuff out, so if I can help just one person build their site without pulling their hair out, I will feel like I did a good job.
And in full disclosure, I am currently in the early phase of building a 12-hour online course which will teach you everything that can possibly be known about Squarespace. It will break down every single Squarespace template, all the inner workings of each setting in Squarespace, building an online store from scratch, and even how to build your own web design business using Squarespace!
I needed to start somewhere, and I thought it would be a good place for me to start spreading the word about the class and giving me some practice while I start recording the lessons.
Also, in full disclosure, I am an affiliate partner with Squarespace, so when you use the link I give you to get your 20% discount I get a small payment from Squarespace at no extra cost to you! But don’t let that freak you out as to whether Squarespace is the right option for you… it probably is. I’ve been using it for five years before they offered me this incentive.
How can I get a hold of you if I have more questions?
You can contact me here. Ask away!