Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Is Your Magic Website Getting You Enough Bookings? Really?!
Discover our top website strategies for magicians and how the 80/20 rule can work for you.
Magicians seem to be the masters of DIY business. We direct our own shows, write our own scripts, make our own videos. Most of this is done in an ad hoc and reactive way. By that we hear that we should be doing this or that and we launch in and solve the immediate problem. It’s sort of like running around during a wild fire stamping out spots fires as they arise while never stopping to think how am I going to put the main fire out. This is so true of websites.
A quick look around and you will quickly see that most magicians websites are not up to scratch. Some look pretty but a quick peek under the hood and you will see they are all show and no go. Some perform quite well but look dreadful, like relics from an age passed. These sites could be doing better with attention to functional and modern, relevant design. So, which is better? An ugly functional site or a pretty non-functioning site? Come on. You know the answer to that already: neither. Then where do you get the skills and knowledge and time to get your site doing what it is meant to do; that is get you bookings? This is the thrust of the episode of the Magician Business Podcast.
In this episode we talk about:
Right and Wrong approaches to building websites for magicians:
- your competition is not other magicians
- it is the default thinking of the market that is your competition
- Just as much as one dozen tricks does not equal a magic show, so too a handful of handful of pieces of online software do not equal a strong magic business
- Building a site yourself is often not the smartest move. You don’t buy a kit car, assemble it, then drive it to your show (we hope not). Why are we as magicians reluctant to getting a professionally built magic business website?
Magicians lack real planning
- focusing on the individual parts but forgetting to step back and look at the whole
- Writing a magician’s life plan
- making a business plan for your magic
Web designers don’t understand magicians
- So much bad advice out there
But also magicians don’t understand the web
- Just what is Google and how does it affect your magic website
Running a website is a daily job
- stats
- comments
- software updates
- software renewals
- WHO IS checks
- scam domain name renewals … beware the mailing scam
- social media
- broken links
Companies do what is most profitable
- 80/20 rule it’s about making more money for working less
Best Practice is to test test test
- The importance of learning to test and why your website is worthless if you fail to grasp this basic concept.
Links and resources mentioned:
magicianbusiness.com/business-planning-for-magicians
magicianbusiness.com/write-a-life-plan
In This video Julian made about Google is a must watch if you are new to internet marketing for magicians and don’t understand terms like Panda and Penguin.
Watch how Ken lost his magic business overnight by trying to play the system.
https://www.magicianbusiness.com/internet-basics/
See the drudge report http://www.drudgereport.com/
An article on the staggering money this daggy looking site creates for its owner
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/drudge-report-is-worth-2012-10
The perplexing issue of having a Google #1 website that works against you. See exactly how Julian’s website birthday-party-magician.com ranks around the world with these screenshots
Tools you can use
SEM Rush http://www.semrush.com/ Google Webmaster Tools https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools Google Analytics http://www.google.com.au/analytics/ Open Site Explorer http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/ Market Samurai http://www.marketsamurai.com/ Long Tail Pro http://www.longtailpro.com/
https://expresstext.net/blog/what-is-seo – a detailed guide on SEO
Thank you for listening
To get more Magician Business Podcasts sent directly to your device as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!
Please help by leaving a review on iTunes, they are really helpful and we appreciate you taking the time. Reviews help our podcast get noticed by entertainers, magicians and performing artists all over the world which grows our community. A larger community means more experience to share with each other so please feel free to share your comments below.
Thanks again, Ken and Julian
