How to create a store page to sell music & merch on your website

With your website being your main hub online, it’s important to monetize your music. This includes setting up a great Store page for band merch that’s easy to scan and shop.

If you’ve been wondering, ‘how do I sell band merch online?’ you’ll want to get started by creating a compelling, well-organized Store page on your website. This page will serve as the all-in-one stop for your fans to check out your merch, from t-shirts to CDs, or anything else you’d like to sell. 

Why sell merch on your own website? The first reason is that it’s a space created just by you. There are no distractions, news items, or other ads competing for your fans’ attention. You’ve curated this page so that it reflects you as an artist, and immerses your visitors into that experience.

Secondly, you can collect email addresses - this is still the most important way to maintain a valuable connection with your fans. If someone is willing to purchase your new album, chances are they’re invested enough in you and your music to continue to support you.

Finally, when you sell merch online directly to your fans through your own website, you get to keep more of the revenue. And with Bandzoogle, all music and merch sales are commission-free. 

There are a few elements that will go into building the perfect Store page to sell music and merch on your website. You’ll want to design the page, decide what merch to add and how to sell it, then promote your products. Updating your Store page regularly is a must, as well.

Let’s take a look at how to create a Store page on your music website!

1. Design an organized page just for your store

A Store page is a key component of an artist website if you plan to monetize your music. You’ll want to add a dedicated ‘Store’ page in your website menu. This will make it easy to locate. Then, your Store page itself should be dedicated to just that: selling your music and merch. 

If you’ve already gotten started making your music website, you probably have your template set up and customized to match your brand. If you’re starting off from scratch, but plan to build out a robust Store page on your website, choose a template that is simple, with clear colors and a plain background. 

You can choose a design that allows for the content to go full-width. You’ll also want to be sure that the fonts you are using for any content text on your Store page are easy to read, and offer a high contrast with your background (black on white, or white on black are classic options).

To create a pleasing layout on your website Store page, add titles to organize the Store sections or different merch areas once you’ve set up your products.

Artist: Piper Cole 

2. Decide what band merch sells best for you

The most important part of creating a Store page to sell your band merch online is deciding what to sell. Over the past year, merch has made up the biggest group of sales for Bandzoogle members, so if you haven’t created merch to go along with your music yet, now could be the time!

To figure out what you’d like to sell, think about your genre of music, and the demographic you appeal to. Then look at your recent work: do you have a great logo or stunning album design? Try applying those to a range of popular items. Some might include T-shirts, hoodies, tank tops, long-sleeve shirts, or leggings. For non-apparel, try tote bags, or stickers. See what looks good and might sell well.

Once you’ve decided what you’ll sell, determine how you’ll organize your products on the Store page. This could be all digital music together, all physical music items together (CDs, Vinyl, and so on), and all merch items together. If you are planning to sell digital files, those can go together. If you have merchandise that goes hand-in-hand with an upcoming or recent album release, those items could all go together (CD, t-shirt, poster, etc).

Finally, determine how you’ll lay out the page to accommodate these groups of items. An easy way to create a stylish page that differentiate areas is to use styled sections. You could also add sub-pages to your Store page in the menu, and set those to jump down the page to a specific merch section when clicked.

3. Sell print-on-demand

Nothing makes a Store page come alive more than plenty of merch options. If you are totally unsure about what you might sell, but want to try a variety of merch - then selling merch items using a print-on-demand service might be the way to go for you. 

If you decide to forego the typical inventory options, you can create products using Printful and then add them directly to your website Store using our Printful integration. The beauty of this option is that there are no upfront costs to you, and no inventory to store. 

Making print-on-demand items work with your website’s Store page is seamless. The products will import into your Store, and you can add them to whichever section you like. If you do decide to group merch for a new album, you can add CD, Vinyl, plus any print-on-demand items you like, all in one section.

Since there are so many options with Printful products, you’ll want to look at the page layout again once you’ve added your merch. Setting your Store into a grid layout will make it easier to scan. You can also give your Store its own background section to draw attention to that group of items on your page.

4. Sell both music and merch products

While selling band merch from your website can be lucrative, don’t forget to also include your music on the Store page. If you have tons of CDs to move, add those. You can offer different options and prices on your Store page - a regular, and an autographed CD, for example. You can pair a download with your CD or vinyl products, or set them up to sell by themselves. 

You can also place your full digital albums on your Store page, if you’re focusing on selling those instead of (or as well as) physical copies of your music.

Another way to draw attention to your music is to bundle it with a merch item, like a hat or a shirt. This works especially well if you’re selling theme merch that’s related to a recent release. 

In terms of design, you’ll want to be sure that your page isn’t too cluttered to sell your music online successfully. If you’re using colorful album covers, a simple, plain background is best. If you are focusing on just one album, use a color or image in the background drawn from that artwork. For a muted, modern look, add a background image and then reduce the opacity of your image - making it fade slightly so that your Store stands out.

This is especially important if you have many products on your page. This goes for a record label, for example, or a longtime performer offering their entire back catalogue for sale.

Artist: The Way Down Wanderers

5. Sell extra items that are meaningful to your music

The great thing about creating a Store page to sell your music and merch through your own website is that the options are endless. From albums to digital files like videos, pdfs, to physical items - anything you can dream up, you can sell. Simply list your product with a thorough description and set the price. Then be sure to fulfil the item when a sale is made. 

If you’re looking to monetize your career beyond the usual music and merch, try selling special items that are relevant to you. For example, you could add virtual music lessons, special one-time concerts, handwritten lyrics, transcriptions of your songs - there are no limits on what you can sell. These types of options might also serve to create a deeper connection between you and your fans.

Selling special items will require a clear description and price. Be sure to use a font that’s easy to read, and add enough text that someone will know exactly what they are getting. You can also use a button with a pop of color that matches the rest of your design to create a coordinated look.

Artist: Miu

6. Promote your merch from your website

If you’re planning to really make a go of selling your merch, don’t just create a Store page and let it sit there. Devote some time and care into promoting your music website and the merch items you’ve created. Reach out personally to friends, family, and your fans to let them know you’ve set up a page which is complete with all of your products.

You can also add a “buy now” button as a call-to-action on your website’s Homepage, encouraging people to head over to your Store to check out new items. Then dream up a few ways to promote your merch as far and wide as you can. 

Just restocked your debut album? Give that a shout out on social media with a link back to your Store. Added face masks with your logo on them in response to the pandemic? Let people know they can pick them up at your Store. Use your email list to remind people when you restock merch, or add new and different items.

7. Keep your Store page up to date

Just like with all of the pages on your website, keeping the Store page up to date is important. Any time you go to add a new item, check the text on your current items to be sure it’s up to date. If you ran a holiday special, update that to something new once January hits. 

Keeping your pages up-to-date increases your chances of selling more merchandise online through your Store page. It means that you show attention to detail, and that you care about your music and merch, which will carry across to your fans. It’s always good to take stock from time to time as well to determine what items are selling (perhaps adding more variations on those), and which aren’t performing as well.

Finally, adding a contact option to your Store page is a good idea. That way, if your fans have questions about merch they have an easy way to ask about it.

Artist: Oceandvst

Creating a Store page on your website requires some planning and content creation, but is a great way to make some money as a musician. Once you’ve got your merch items decided and added to your page, take a step back to be sure that the design is simple, clear, and reflects you as an artist. This is an important page on your website to put the work into if you plan to monetize your music career online. Keep it well-organized, and up-to-date - and your efforts will pay off.

Build a professional website in just a few clicks where you can sell music and band merch commission-free! Sign up to sell merch online with Bandzoogle now.