Websites are a crucial part of every DJ’s marketing effort. Even the most underground jock needs to engage and connect with fans about new releases, tours and Twitter feuds. While this might sound like highfalutin talk, a solid digital strategy is a necessary evil for DJs who desire a sustainable career. Knowing how websites are essentially calling cards for DJs, Denis Doeland, a web consultant in Amsterdam who runs DDMCA, decided to investigate best practices in the DJ arena. In a unique exercise, Doleland pitted the website of 2012 number one DJ Armin van Buuren against the website of the 2011 number one DJ David Guetta, using data compiled over the last 90 days with the help of Sitebeam. The paper used an array of quantitative and qualitative metrics to determine which DJ had the better site.
The results were interesting: Guetta received high marks for regularly updated content and popularity while Van Burren got kudos for superior content, easy-to-understand text and stories that are easily shared. Though Guetta has a stronger presence on Twitter, Doeland concluded that the Frenchmen’s site had errors, wasn’t updated regularly and didn’t have contact details.
“Since my start at ID&T in 1993 I always have been fascinated by the way how EDM moved in the music industry landscape,” says Doeland, who worked at the Dutch event company responsible for events like Tomorrowland and Mysteryland for almost 18 years, before leaving in 2011.
“With the entrance of the technological era I asked myself what the meaning of data is and how we need to interpret this data,” notes Doeland, who has consulted for Ferry Corsten, Armada Music and Junkie XL. “Since lots of EDM brands are really enormous communities now I want to learn what’s going on — who’s doing what and how are they performing. Do they have a strategy and what can I learn from from? I also developed my own vision towards where the internet goes.”
In the end, Doleland’s paper [read it in its entirety here] declared van Buuren the winner due to his superior content, marketing and technology. Doeland days he will continue analyzing websites in the dance music realm in an effort to be more effective for his clients. “I constantly compare this with what’s going on.”