Hello everybody

I already have a website to promote my singer-songwriter activities, but I'm looking to get one generic website which includes my teaching as well. I'm just struggling with where to start: potentially there's a lot I could put on there, but I'm not sure whether to hold back on certain pieces of information.

Firstly, I'm looking forward to putting videos on for my students, of their own performances (with parent's permission of course), so they can watch each other. I figured it's just another thing to be able to aim for, along with proper performances and exams... I imagine perhaps people on here will throw up some child protection issues, but I figure that as long as I don't include any personal details, that should be ok?

A few things I'm not sure about for my website, though. Should I include my phone number? At present, I advertise on two websites, purely for teaching, and my phone number IS there. However, for the performing I do, I tend to play in pubs and bars, and sometimes meet people who I wouldn't necessarily want to have my phone number! If I had one big website for all aspects of what I do, these people might get my number! But similarly, if I had only email contact, maybe some potential students would be put off?

Also, I'm wondering whether to discuss my fees and the hours that I teach. I have a few older students on an older, cheaper rate, but the majority on the newer rate. This isn't a problem and I wouldn't mind explaining this to any of my students if I needed to. Still I honestly don't think it's any of their business and don't really want to volunteer these details. Am I wrong in this? I do make reductions for families or for particular students in certain circumstances, but I wouldn't want to advertise this, as it's purely at my discretion. On the other hand, when a new student asks my prices, if they seem to fall into one of my 'categories' for some kind of concession, I duely mention it and perhaps it clenches the deal for students who may otherwise not start up.

I teach Monday - Wednesdays and Saturdays privately, Thursdays in a school and generally give myself Friday and Sunday off if I can. But occasionally I do teach on Fridays if otherwise, I'd have more than one student missing a lesson, and if I've not got other things to do. But, I think it'd be a bit messy and unprofessional to describe this on a website, so is it best to just be vague and say 'I teach throughout the week at various times. Contact me for more information'?

Of course, if anyone has their own website, it'd be useful for me to look at them. I hope you don't mind me stealing ideas!

Any more website issues at all? I can think of loads, but don't want to write a novel here before anybody else has commented!

Hmm. Interesting point. How would I know which pieces are copyrighted or not? And if they are, how would I try to get permission?

But my situation is slightly different in that I'm a young woman who plays in bars and pubs. I'm really dubious about including my phone number...

Yes. Point taken. There are five students who are on my older rate and pay £17 per hour instead of £20. They have all been with me for 5-7 years and are loyal students, but don't have lots of money. I do increase their fees periodically, as I do for those on my higher rate. But the reason there is a higher rate is that a couple of years ago, I decided that I wasn't a complete beginner-teacher any more, and that I should charge higher (£15 instead of £12 per hour). At the time, I'd recently increased the fee from £10 to £12 and I couldn't justify increasing any more. So I started taking new students on at the new rate instead. This all arose because when I started, teaching was a hobby and so I only charged £5 per half hour! I never imagined that some of those students would continue with me for so long! So you see, I'm in a difficult position. I worked out I'd only make an extra £10.50 per week if I leveled it out so I think I'm resigned to keeping things as they are.

In which case they wouldn't be viewing my website anyway?!
Maybe I could put some kind of contact form on there and offer my phone number after a brief email vetting... You're right. People do like to talk first as do I).


It's good to know someone else has been in this predicament. With that in mind, I might change now. Problem is, though, my higher paying students are up for an increase soon (probably to £22). So do I increase the cheaper lessons by £5?! Ooh...it's a tough one! But actually, if everyone were paying £22, then I would definitely notice the difference in income, which would be greatly appreciated: it may even help cover the cost of setting up and maintaining the website...

I don't know if this is the same of other people, but I would prefer to have an e-mail contact instead, and the phone number could come later. Of course, thats maybe because speaking on the phone terrifies me, but I do know that some of my friends and family prefer e-mail, so long as the replies are quick.

Aw. Sounds horrible....although not an option for me - I have to vet my students before I decide to take them on, and if I do this in person, it's harder to tell them if I decide for whatever reason that I shouldn't teach them!

I guess Phone would be better. I'm ok speaking on the phone if it's someone I know, but if it isn't, I just chuck the phone at my mum or sister instead

I suppose that's a luxury you can afford when you're living with your folks, still! Not possible when you move out! My boyfriend would rely on me to do the same if it were possible, though. It's not that he's scared, he just hates people 'bothering him'!

Anyway, this is a bit . I hereby steer this thread back to the subject of .... WEBSITES!

Haha, sorry...!

I tend to put my mobile rather than landline number on most things.
I would include information about fees and teaching hours.

It depends how you do it. Loads of us put videos up on Youtube and as long as you don't give out names etc, it's usually okay and the parents love it.

For more 'private' videos, you can store them on your website server but make them accessible only with a password. I tried that last year for an ABRSM exam timetable, just as an experiment and it worked very well. I won't be doing it again though. Too much work!

Steve

Yes you could do a contact form which would be sent to your email address, but your email address remains private. You could set up the form so that their telephone number and email address was mandatory if you wanted, but they wouldn't know yours unless you gave to them it after you'd vetted them

David already mentioned it: This is a copyright-issue. The 'composer has to be dead for at least 70 years'-rule is a good one, but if in doubt whether a piece is public domain or not, you have to contact either PPL or PRS (which you always should do anyway if you perform or record something that is not your own and make it publicly accessible).
The other issue is that I would make sure your students/parents are okay with it - let them sign some sort of waiver. If they won't, I wouldn't use it ...


You need a reliable way for people to contact you. If you don't want to put in your landline, at least provide a mobile number. There are people out there who find e-mailing more comfortable, but there are also the ones who would rather chat with you. In case of a (ideally Pay as you Go) mobile, you can simply change SIM in case you get stupid calls.


My rates are on my webpage, and I charge everyone the same - I think this is how it should be done. If you want to give concessions, you can do this discreetly, but I don't think it is good in general to treat people too differently. Don't put things like that on your webpage - one rate for all. I had people commenting that they think it's great that I am so open about my rates etc. I am also aware of the fact that it makes it easier for competitors to check out prices, and some people won't contact me in the first place because they think it is too expensive. I'd rather have it this way though, because they don't turn into business either if they phone and enquire about rates, so at least they don't waste my time by trying to haggle straightaway. I don't do concessions for people I don't know, because it is too easy to whinge about hardship, while people who are genuinely short of money sometimes just don't make a fuss about it. Again: Everyone's the same to start out with.


I have my general availability on my webpage - this doesn't mean though that all these slots are free, and it also doesn't mean that I will teach them all. It just keeps the ones at bay who are only looking for weekend-lessons or think I am still teaching at 10 at night, both of which I don't do (personal choice down to work-life balance).

A few of the teachers here have webpages, you just need to look at their profiles. I think you can even do a search for Forum members with webpages ...

On the grounds of professionalism you should have a phone number and email address on your website. I've got both of mine on there and have never had a problem so far. A contact form is a good idea instead of providing your email address as it limits spam. However on my site I present my email address in a hidden way - people can still see but it can't be picked up by spam spiders. The reason I did this is because if someone emails you directly you will know what their email address is to reply to. However if they use a contact form you have to rely on them not mistyping anything, which happened to me when a student contacted me through a teacher listing site. They mistyped their email address so I had to guess what was missing and luckily that time it worked.

You should also have one website that covers everything - teaching, playing and composing etc. That way you will get higher search engine rankings and it will be easier for people to find you.

Lucid

Good that you mention this. I started doing this as well, because the amount of Nigeria-connection and Viagra-adverts I got in the past was a bit steep. I just replaced the @-sign by the written word 'at' and advise people to replace it. Seems to work

Hi,

I've had my own website since February this year http://www.keridegg.co.uk and I find it really enjoyable keeping it updated and adding new bits and bobs. I have a secure eare where only my students can access it (they have their own username and password).

From feedback, it seems that my students really do value the website, enjoy reading my humorous blogs etc. It's also easy for them to search for info, even at 2am in the morning! I have also gained a number of new students since having the site. You'll see that i haven't gone into too much detail about my teaching but tend to prefer to talk on the phone to potential new students.

I use 'doyourownsite' as it's very reasonable, only £5.88 a month, plus you can see all your statistics, for example when i first started I was only getting one or two visits a day, now it's between 30 - 50.

Best of luck with it,

Keri (Saxgirl)

to hear my original compositions / performances, please visit;
http://reverbnation.com/keridegg

I use this place which is much cheaper: http://3ix.com/uk_web_hosting.php

Having had a quick look however, I think your provider is more user friendly.

Your site is very nice. Easy to navigate. I can't stand these sites that immediately start playing music and animations. A local piano teacher here has the most dreadful site which is impossible to see unless you have the latest flash player. Crazy!


Steve

http://www.moonfruit.com/pricing.html

I have the Lite-version, but even the free version is without ads now. It just has limitations that wouldn't be practicable for me (15 pages limit, smaller bandwidth). I pay under £3 a month ...