The following is a proposal to upgrade bobmcchesney.com with the objective of creating a more attractive and engaging site that sells more CD, books, and lessons.
Specific aspects of the website that I would address are as follows:
Improve the main page: Change this from leading with your Christmas album to showcasing the availability of your CDs, books, and lessons. The question to ask and answer is, what is the central purpose of your site? It can do many things but it should have a purpose. I’m guessing that, as I wrote above, it is to create a more attractive and engaging site that sells more CDs, books, and lessons.
But a site can also be a static “billboard” that waits for people to visit and buy. It can be an educational resource. It can build a community. And it can be a store marketing its wares.
Enable a better payment gateway: Upgrade from exclusively using Paypal buttons and cart to using WooCommerce. WooCommerce is a free plugin that provides much greater flexibility in the look and functionality of the selling process. It provides for creating upsells, bump offers, and other ways of increasing purchase activity while still accepting payment from Paypal (and others).
Say someone buys Doodle Studies. Right after the checkout a page appears that offers them a one-time savings on Harmonic Dexterity. Another example is when someone buys a CD, they could be offered 50% off on a digital album. The combinations are many, but the idea is that when someone is in the checkout, they are offered related impulse items at a discount.
Create a more compelling book store: Write more appealing and persuasive descriptions for books. As an example, consider the Jazz Etudes and Duets. Currently, descriptions and the features of the book are listed, but not so much the benefits they can bestow to the owner. Display the attributes that make the books more benefit-oriented to people. Answer their question, “How will my life be made better if I buy this book?”
Upgrade the way the books are displayed in order to make them stand out more on the page. Include some written glowing testimonials from people like Tom Scott and Arturo.
Freshen up the overall site esthetic: Notice that every page has the same black background. Variety by adding some color and imagery will make pages more enjoyable for the visitor. Black may be your esthetic (and it does have a distinctive look) but remember that your site is not as much for you as it is for your visitors so make it a more fun and appealing experience. Getting people more engaged with a site encourages them to stay longer to explore and buy something. I would never create a look that ran counter to your personal likes, but I would encourage a direction that would visually appeal more to site visitors.
Upgrade your hosting: You have the option of hosting your site through Jazz Digital Marketing. The advantages are that security and backups will be set up and Google analytics will be enabled and monitored by me to give you simple and clear reports that help us understand what is happening with your site.
Marketing Services I can provide are as follows:
Design email automation: Today’s successful websites, especially those that sell goods and services, are not static billboards. They are interactive experiences providing value to each visitor. Let people interact with the site by allowing them to leave their name and email. Give them a reason to interact by offering them some free piece of value in exchange for their name and email. (Similar to the intonation book offered by the STL Trombones or the Reluctant Marketing eBook I offer.)
Regularly communicate with your growing audience. Send them emails that give them value and let them know about new products (CDs, books, etc.), and offer occasional sales. The amount of time and effort put into this determines the amount of money made from the site. Even for someone with your notoriety, “build it and they will come” doesn’t usually work out well. Remember what I wrote in All About Jazz.
Create and implement a launch promotion: Once the website is redesigned, a promotion will be set up to launch the new site with special offers and giveaways. I will write emails (with your final approval) that will be sent through Mailchimp or another email provider. Those emails will be sent to a list created by you consisting of your professional contacts, previous and current students, and educators.
I will create a series consisting of at least three emails that will be sent on a “drip” spaced out chronologically that will provide value and promote products.
Setting up a blog
A blog is an excellent way to attract visitors to a site. Google wants to see activity and growth from a site, plus by writing posts that answer common questions, it is more likely that players will see your post answering their question within the Google search results. For a blog to be effective, however, you must write regularly and enjoy the process. Otherwise your blog will turn old and become ineffective.
I will give you ideas for writing and show you how to easily post on the blog. But, again, you have to want to write because if not, setting up the blog can actually be detrimental to attracting traffic.
I will give you ideas for writing and show you how to easily post on the blog. But, again, you have to want to write because if not, setting up the blog can actually be detrimental to attracting traffic.
Options and pricing
1. Upgrade the home page and the writing throughout the rest of the site: $450
I will rework your home page as described earlier to put the focus on books, albums, and lessons. I would also rewrite the product descriptions of books, albums, and lessons to be more persuasive. No major site redesign or marketing.
2. Redesign of the entire site: $1,200
Migrate the site to a WordPress foundation using Elementor as the editor, and redesign the site as described above for a more attractive and appealing look and organization.
The site will contain the current pages of Home, Bio, Videos, Books-Music (“Store”?), Gallery, Instruction, Clinics (within the Instruction page?), and Contact. Terms and Conditions and Privacy policy pages will also be created.
Additional pages such as a blog, if desired, can be added at an extra cost. The home page will be created first. Once designed, I will provide you with a link to view that initial page so as to get your approval on the style and language. Once that approval is given, the continued build of the site will proceed with frequent links shared with you so that you can monitor the evolution of the new site and provide feedback throughout the process.
If desired, the eCommerce cart and checkout platform can be converted to WooCommerce as described above. For the site’s current products, the conversion will be done for an additional cost of $350.
3. Redesign of the site along with marketing implementation: $1,900
A site redesign in WordPress will be completed as described in #2 above along with marketing as outlined earlier. The marketing will include: setting up the email database and automation, a launch promotion including social media materials for you to post, and assistance in creating a “lead magnet” that will solicit names and emails from site visitors.
Included will be the conversation to a WooCommerce cart and checkout platform.
Hosting will be provided for $25/month payable each year in advance ($300).
One half of the website payment is payable upon acceptance of this agreement via a email response, and the balance is due upon mutual agreement of the site being complete and online.
Payments can be made through Paypal, Venmo, or Zell.
Web hosting will be billed annually for the upcoming year. Any additional work requested that is outside the scope of this proposal will be billed at $50/hour.
Any stock photography needed for the site will be approved by you and charged back at cost. Any AI-generated imagery will be created at no cost.
