If you have decided to move your music website to Bandzoogle, you will want to set up your website account, hosting, and domain name seamlessly. To make the transition easier, you can backup and reuse your previous website files on a website here, and create a similar design.

This help article includes the following:

  • How to save your current website files
  • Creating pages and a navigation menu
  • Adding text and images
  • Adding music
    • Using the Bandcamp integration
    • Using the SoundCloud integration
  • Adding integrations to your website
    • Adding a Blog feed
    • Adding shows with Bandsintown
    • My Sites feature
    • Video feature
    • Smart Links feature
  • Upgrading your website account
  • Connecting your existing domain
  • Maintaining your Google rank
  • Customizing your Bandzoogle template

How to save your current website files

As you’re getting ready to move your website to Bandzoogle, you may want to decide what you’d like to keep, re-use, and what you’d like to change from your current website. To make the transition easier, you can create a basic archive of your website contents on your device or in cloud storage.

Here are a few tips for cataloging your current website:

  • Take screenshots of your pages, making sure to screenshot from the top to the bottom of the page
  • Save images from your website to your device as JPEG or PNG images. If possible, export the high resolution images
  • Copy text from your website and paste it as plain text into a word processing document.
  • Take note of your page names and the urls of your pages Be sure that you have your music files saved for future use

Some advanced archiving tips:

  • Export your transaction history so you can keep it for your records
  • Export your mailing list member database (usually a .csv file)

Creating pages and a navigation menu

If you’d like to follow a similar structure to your existing website, start by adding pages to create your menu and general layout. You can choose one of Bandzoogle’s pre-templated page types, or start with blank pages.

Here’s how to add pages:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’
  2. Select ‘Add a page’
  3. Select a Page Type
  4. Name your page in the ‘Title’ field
  5. Adjust your page options
  6. Click ‘Create my page’

Once you add a page, you can populate the pre-selected features or add your own. To learn more about page types and page options, please read the ‘Adding Pages’ help article.

Adding text and images

Bandzoogle offers options for adding text and images to your page. The most common features are the ‘Text’ feature, the ‘Image’ feature, and the combined ‘Image and Text’ feature. With these features, you can add an artist bio, professional promotional images, or live shots. To re-use your existing content, paste in text and upload the images that you have saved.

How to add a ‘Text’ feature:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Select the ‘Text’ feature
  4. Use the placement arrows on that page to set the feature’s location
  5. Add your text and apply any formatting

To learn more about the ‘Text’ feature options, please read the ‘Text Feature’ help article.

How to add the ‘Image’ feature:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Select the ‘Image’ feature
  4. Use the placement arrows on that page to set the image location
  5. In the next screen, choose ‘My Uploads’, ‘Stock Imagery’, or ‘Dropbox’
  6. Click on the uploaded or stock image
  7. Click ‘Apply Image’
  8. Select your image options
  9. To save these changes, click anywhere in the content area outside of the ‘Image’ feature

The ‘Image’ feature includes additional customization settings, including filters, SEO alt text, and cropping options. To learn more, please read the ‘Image Feature’ help article.

How to add the ‘Image and Text’ feature:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Select the ‘Image and Text’ feature
  4. Use the placement arrows on that page to set the feature’s location

The ‘Image and Text’ feature will pair text with an image of your choosing. The text options include a heading, subheading, and description text. The image options include cropping options. You can also add a button to link to promotions on your website or external pages. To learn more, please visit the ‘Image and Text Feature’ help article.

Adding music

As a musician, you’ll want to feature music prominently on your site. You can add singles, full albums or EPs, and even a tracklist of fan favorites. Upload the music that you have saved from your previous website to any music feature.

To add music to your website, follow these steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Select the music feature you’d like to add and use the placement arrows to set the feature’s location

To learn more about the Single, Album, Tracklist, or Compact Player feature, please read the ‘Adding Music’ help article.

To save time, you can also use our features to import music from Bandcamp or SoundCloud directly.

Using the Bandcamp Integration

To add a track or an album from Bandcamp, follow these steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Select the Bandcamp Player feature and use the placement arrows to set the feature’s location
  4. Copy and paste a link to a Bandcamp album or track Click ‘Save’

Using the SoundCloud Integration

Here is how to import a track from your SoundCloud account:**

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Select the music feature you’d like to add and use the placement arrows to set the feature’s location
  4. Click the ‘Import a Track from SoundCloud’ tab.
  5. Click “Connect to Soundcloud” and enter your SoundCloud login information
  6. Select a song from your list of imported SoundCloud tracks to add it to the player

Integrating content into your website

Adding a blog feed

If you have an existing blog feed on your previous website, you can import the posts directly to a blog feature here using a url.

To import your blog posts, follow these steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Choose the ‘Blog’ feature
  4. Enter a name for the blog feed and click ‘Add a New Blog’
  5. Click ‘Import Posts’ on the left of the screen
  6. Click ‘Add Blog Feed’
  7. Paste in the url for your blog and then click on ‘Import Feed’

To learn more about the options available with this feature, visit the ‘Blog Feature’ article.

Adding shows with Bandsintown

If you have been using Bandsintown to promote your upcoming gigs, use our Bandsintown feature to add these dates to a calendar on your Bandzoogle website.

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Add feature’
  2. Select the ‘Bandsintown’ feature
  3. Use the placement arrows to set the feature’s location
  4. In the feature setup, enter your Bandsintown account name
  5. Choose your 'Display format'

To learn more about the different display formats available with this feature, please see the ‘Bandsintown Feature’ article.

Adding integrations to your website

Adding links to your social media pages or videos from other networking sites is a great way to centralize your content and encourage fans to engage with you on the platform of their choice.

My Sites

Add links to your social media or streaming platforms. Here’s how:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. In the the ‘Basic Features’ section of the list, select the ‘My Sites’ feature
  4. Use the placement arrows to set the feature’s location
  5. In the feature, choose a site from the drop-down menu
  6. Enter the URL for your profile on that website
  7. Click ‘Add Site’
  8. Repeat these steps for each new site button you’d like to add
  9. Choose your ‘Display Options’
  10. Click ‘Save’

This will display buttons that link to your social media or streaming profiles directly on your website. To learn more, please read the ‘Social Media and Music Store Links (My Sites)’ help article.

With Bandzoogle’s ‘Video’ feature, you can connect your YouTube, Crowdcast, or Twitch videos and they will appear seamlessly in your website content. If you had embedded videos on your previous website, re-adding them here is quick and easy to do.

Video feature

Here’s how to add videos to your website from YouTube or Vimeo:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, select ‘Add feature’
  2. Select ‘Video’ and use the placement arrows to set the feature’s location
  3. In the ‘Video Link/Embed Code’ field, paste in one of the following:
    • YouTube or Vimeo video URL: You can find this in the address bar of your video page. Make sure the "http://www." portion of the URL is included in the address.
    • YouTube or Vimeo embed code: Use this option to add an embed code with specific settings such as start time, size, or playlist.
      • Instructions on getting embed code from YouTube: Click here
      • Instructions on getting embed code from Vimeo: Click here
  4. Set the video display size
  5. Click ‘Save’

Repeat these steps for multiple videos. To learn more, please visit the ‘Adding Video’ help article.

If you’ve been promoting and selling your music on your previous website, use the ‘Smart Links’ feature to re-add your links here. The ‘Smart Links’ feature creates stylized buttons and you can use the ‘Reports’ tool to track engagement.

Smart Links

To add ‘Smart Links’ to your website, follow these steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’ and open the page on which you’ll be working
  2. Click ‘Add feature’
  3. Choose the ‘Smart links’ feature
  4. Use the placement arrows on that page to set the feature’s location
  5. Customize the options and click ‘Save’

To learn more about the options available with this feature, visit the ‘Smart Links’ help article.

Upgrading your website account

Once you have finished building your website with Bandzoogle’s tools, you can upgrade to a paid plan to register or connect a domain name. To upgrade and publish your website, follow these steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab click the arrow next to your username in the top right corner
  2. Select ‘Account Details’ from the dropdown menu
  3. Choose the plan that’s best for you
  4. Decide on your payment frequency
    • Monthly: Automated billing every 30 days (on the same day each month)
    • Annual: Automated billing every 365 days (our 2-month discount is automatically applied!)
  5. Click the ‘Subscribe’ button
  6. You’ll be redirected to Stripe’s secure payment portal. Enter your payment details
  7. Click on the blue ‘Subscribe’ button to confirm

To learn more about plan options, please see the ‘Bandzoogle Pricing’ help article.

Connecting your existing domain name

If you have registered a domain name for your existing website, you can bring the domain name to your Bandzoogle account so it loads the website that you build here.

Connect your domain name to Bandzoogle using nameserver records, or transfer your domain to manage it here.

To connect your existing domain name, follow these steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click the arrow next to your username in the top right corner
  2. Select ‘Account Details’ from the drop-down menu
  3. Click ‘Set up my domain’
  4. Click ‘Connect existing domain’
  5. Enter your current domain name
  6. Click ‘Use this domain name’
  7. Click ‘Connect ‘yourdomain.com’
  8. Log in to your domain registrar account and change the domain nameservers to point to your Bandzoogle website:
    • dns1.sitezoogle.com
    • dns2.sitezoogle.com
    • dns3.sitezoogle.com
    • dns4.sitezoogle.com

To help with this process, please see the ‘Adding Domain Names’ help article for more information on locating your domain registrar, and the steps to connect your domain name.

Maintaining your Google ranking

Google and other search engines index information on your website. When you change website providers, adding a 301 redirect for popular pages on your website can help search engines redirect traffic to your new website to maintain Google ranking results.

To add a 301 redirect for a page on your website, follow these steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Content’ tab, click ‘Pages’
  2. Click the pencil icon to the right of the page name for which you want to create a redirect
  3. Click ‘Advanced settings’
  4. Next to ‘Redirect path’ enter the original url
    • Example: If you want visitors to the original page https://yourdomain.com/audio/music.php to be directed to the page you are editing, enter https://yourdomain.com/audio/music.php in this redirect URL field.
  5. Click ‘Save’

301 redirects may not be necessary for all members. To learn more about 301 redirects, please visit the ‘Domain Redirects’ help article.

Customizing your Bandzoogle template

Bandzoogle offers mobile-ready templates that you can customize to mimic your previous website design. You can create a design that suits your current branding, and change your template at any time.

If you are looking for a certain design to closely match your previous website, contact our support team to find out which template will work best for you.

To customize your website template, follow these steps:

  1. From the ‘Edit Theme’ tab, click ‘View themes’ at the top of your theme panel options. You’ll be taken to the theme chooser
  2. Hover over a theme variation, then select ‘Try theme’ or ‘See variations’ to preview the theme in the theme chooser
  3. Hover over a theme and click ‘Apply theme’ to test it on your website
  4. At the bottom of your theme editor, click ‘Save’ or ‘Cancel’ to apply your new theme or discard it. You’ll be presented with the following options:
    • Save
      • Click ‘Yes, publish’ to apply the changes to your live website
      • Click ‘No, not right now’ and the theme will be saved in your ‘My Themes’ chooser
    • Cancel
      • Your changes will be discarded and your theme will revert to your previously applied theme
  5. Use the options on the left to customize your design colors, fonts, and more.

If you decide not to apply this new design, you can save it in your ‘My Themes’ tab in the theme chooser.