How can I obtain a web address and ensure we control the website?

Q: “As a struggling artist I figured one of the best ways of establishing a name for myself would be to develop a website. How can I obtain a web address and ensure we control the website?”

A: You’re absolutely correct that a well maintained, updated and interesting website can be a very powerful marketing tool. It’s a great way of generating an active community of fans – as Irish bands like The Frames have recently shown, growing communities of over 10,000 fans and potential customers. However, it’s also important to remember that a website is only passive advertising; you need to make your presence felt through advertising, promotion, live work and so on, to enable it to have the desired effect.

The first thing to do is to settle on an easily memorable site address (normally containing your band/artist name) and run a brief check to see if anyone else is using that domain name already. Domain names don’t always have to be “.com” – “.net” is pretty routinely used and “.ie” is an acceptable standard here. One important point though, “.ie” is a managed domain name, so you will have to register your band name as a business name with The Companies Office (this only costs €30 and is a good idea anyway!).

Then simply go to a register/hosting company to get started. It’s a good idea to use an Irish based company, both for ease of contact AND because they’ll be able to process .ie domain registrations. Hosting365.ie provide a great service which will have you up and running in no time. There are other companies with similar packages though, so have a look around.

At that point, for less then €200 a year, you’ll have all that you need to operate a site. It’s well worth a small amount of investment, rather then trying to rely on ‘free’ services which tend to be of hugely varying quality.

If you take this route, everything will be in your name, so you’ll always be in control of the domain name and therefore the website. How you then develop the website is up to you, but start simple, and keep updating.

All answers supplied by O.J. Kilkenny and Co. Chartered Accountants, specialists in the entertainment and music industry. You can contact them at [email protected] or call Michael McKenna (01) 661 1588